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 Italian.
No one knows exactly where his home is, though many claim that the city of Rovaniemi in Lapland (Lapponia) is the most likely candidate.
Ma tu credi davvero che Babbo Natale viva al Polo Nord?
Do you really believe that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole?
Lapland is the ideal home for Santa Claus and his reindeer because, being in the Arctic Circle, it is cold and snowy all year round. It is also the location of Santa Claus Village (Villaggio di Babbo Natale) which thousands of families visit each year.
A fun expression in Italian is Potrebbe vendere ghiaccio al Polo Nord (He/she would sell ice at the North Pole). It can be used in reference to a clever and cunning individual who is able to persuade people to go against their best interests. The equivalent expression in English is He/She could sell ice to Eskimos.
È davvero un venditore furbo. Potrebbe vendere ghiaccio al Polo Nord.
He really is a cunning salesman. He could sell the ice at the North Pole.
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.
