The word for adventure in Italian is the similar-sounding avventura (feminine, plural: avventure)!
Both words are based on the Latin term adventurus meaning ‘about to happen‘.
Il nostro viaggio in Galles è stato un’avventura.
Our trip around Wales was an adventure.
Whereas in English, the significance of adventure is generally limited to an unusual, exciting and often somewhat risky experience, the Italian word has two additional meanings.
The first is a romantic fling.
È stata soltanto un’avventura per lui. Non cercava un rapporto serio.
It was just a fling for him. He was not looking for a serious relationship.
The second is found in the set phrase per avventura which can be both a synonym for per caso (by chance) or another way of saying forse (maybe).
Se per avventura capiti da queste parti, vienimi a trovare.
If by chance to happen to be in the area, come and visit me.
A few interesting words related to avventura include:
- avventuroso = adventurous
- avventurarsi = to venture, to take a risk
- avvento = arrival, coming, advent
- avvenimento = happening, occurrence
- avvenire = the future (noun), to happen
Lucio Battisti – Un’avventura
Lucio Battisti was a famous Italian singer-songwriter and composer who had an immense influence on Italian music in the 1960s and 1970s. It was after he performed the song Un’avventura (A fling) at the Festival of Sanremo in 1969 that his popularity exploded.
Non sarà
Un’avventura
Non può essere soltanto una primavera
Questo amore
Non è una stella
Che al mattino se ne va
Oh no no no no no no
Non sarà
Un’avventura
Questo amore è fatto solo di poesia
Tu sei mia
Tu sei mia
Fino a quando gli occhi miei
Avran luce per guardare gli occhi tuoi
Innamorato
Sempre di più
In fondo all’anima
Per sempre tu
Perché non è una promessa
Ma è quel che sarà
Domani e sempre
Sempre vivrà
Sempre vivrà
Sempre vivrà
Sempre vivrà
No, non sarà
Un’avventura
Un’avventura
Non è un fuoco che col vento può morire
Ma vivrà
Quanto il mondo
Fino a quando gli occhi miei
Avran luce per guardare gli occhi tuoi
Innamorato
Sempre di più
In fondo all’anima
Per sempre tu
Perché non è una promessa
Ma è quel che sarà
Domani e sempre
Sempre vivrà
Perché io sono innamorato
E sempre di più
In fondo all’anima
Ci sei per sempre tu
It will not be
A fling
It can’t be just one spring
This love
It is not a star
That leaves in the morning
Oh no no no no no no
It will not be
A fling
This love is made only of poetry
You are mine
You are mine
As long as my eyes
Have light to look in your eyes
In love
More and more
At the bottom of the soul
Forever you
Because it’s not a promise
But that’s what it will be
Tomorrow and always
It will always live
It will always live
It will always live
It will always live
No, it won’t be
A fling
A fling
It is not a fire that can
Die with the wind
But it will live
As long as the world
As long as my eyes
Have light to look in your eyes
In love
More and more
At the bottom of the soul
Forever you
Because it’s not a promise
But it is what it will be
Tomorrow and always
It will always live
Because I’m in love
And more and more
At the bottom of the soul
You are there forever
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
