The word for eve in Italian is vigilia (feminine, plural vigilie) and Christmas Eve is known as la vigilia di Natale. Alla vigilia di Natale, gli abitanti del villaggio si recano in chiesa. At Christmas Eve, the inhabitants of the village go to church. Interestingly the Italians also have a specific term for the day …
Christmas is just days away, so it’s high time we mentioned the big man himself: Santa Claus, otherwise known as Babbo Natale in Italian! The word babbo (masculine, plural: babbi) is another term for father and is popular in certain regions of Italy such as Romagna, Toscana, Umbria, Marche and Sardegna. The closest translation in …
Today’s word of the day is part of our Italian Christmas Word Advent Calendar series. Each day throughout December, we’ll post a word that is related to the holiday season. Enjoy! It is said that the Santa Claus lives is in an unspecified place at or near the North Pole, which is known as Polo Nord in …
The Italian word for cookie is biscotto (masculine, plural: biscotti). As you probably guessed, it shares the same origin as the word biscuit. The custom of leaving milk (latte) and biscotti for Santa Claus and his reindeer comes from Germany, where it was once customary to decorate the tree not with decorations but with apples, …
Today’s word of the day is part of our Italian Christmas Word Advent Calendar series. Each day throughout December, we’ll post a word that is related to the holiday season. Enjoy! The word for manger in Italian is mangiatoia (feminine, plural: mangiatoie). It is made up of two parts: mangiare (to eat) + the instrumental suffix -toia …
An icicle is a column of ice (ghiaccio) formed when dripping water freezes in sub-zero temperatures, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Italian word for icicle derives from the word for ice: ghiacciolo (masculine, plural: ghiaccioli). I ghiaccioli che pendevano dalle case scintillavano come diamanti. The icicles that hung from the houses sparkled like …