Both the English caramel and the Italian caramella derive from the Spanish caramelo, which in turn can be traced back to the Latin calamellus, the diminutive of calamus (sugarcane). Caramel and caramella can be considered false friends, however, in that the Italian word refers to any piece of candy or sweet made of sugar, whereas …
In Italy, in addition to the three main meals – colazione (breakfast), pranzo (lunch) and cena (dinner) – there is a fourth that occurs between lunch and dinner called merenda. Like most words in Italian, merenda derives from the late Latin merere (to deserve), and literally means “things you have to deserve”. /me·rèn·da/ Merenda is …
Today we have a phrase that was requested by one of our pasta-loving readers! Mi piace la pasta! I like pasta! If you want to say “I like [X]” in Italian, you need to memorise the expression “mi piace [X]“. Before we take a closer look at this phrase, it is important to point out …
A survey carried out by YouGov in 2019 discovered that over 80 percent of people in the world count Italian food among their favourites, followed by Chinese and Japanese. Indeed, I’ve yet to meet a single person who doesn’t rank pizza and pasta highly on their list of go-to foods! If you are wondering how …
Cooking dinner is one of the most labour-intensive chores of the day, especially when you’re tired and your children insist on performing acrobatics between your legs as you try to juggle the pots and pans on the stove. (And yes, I am talking from experience!) This is why many of us resort to take-away food, …
A spuntino in Italian can be defined as a quick, light snack eaten either between main meals or in place of one of them. According to Treccani, its etymology is unknown, whereas Il Devoto–Oli maintains that it derives from the word spunto. Spuntino is a masculine noun, and the plural is spuntini. lo spuntinouno spuntino …