Italian expressions Archives

Italian gestures in pictures: learn Italian expressions

17 April, 2020

We’ve seen world famous Italian gestures in this hilarious Italian video, and here we bring you a post on Italian gestures - in pictures! Ever wanted to know exactly what the guy was telling you when you hired your car…

Video: Italian hand gestures. How to express yourself in Italy

15 April, 2020

Italian people are famous for the expressive way of communicating. Now, they will often combine the Italian gestures in this video with fast-paced, angry soliloquys, hysterical outbursts, sweet, ironic smiles or even as part of general conversation when relating anecdotes,…

Italian words in English: "al fresco"

13 April, 2020

English and Italian borrow words from each other, with Italian words in English generally of the culinary variety. After I was roundly criticised by one commenter for making fun of Italians and their use of the word ‘trendy’, we thought…

Learn Italian and Italian traditions: the mozzarella and cheesy insults

8 April, 2020

After our mini course on cappuccino, espresso, lemons and pizza, today we look at more food. These three cheeses are the golden boys of the Campania region: the three most famous Italian buffalo milk cheeses. Before modern times, a cheese…

Italian expressions: in Rome, living on clogs or prostitute street?

5 April, 2020

One of the more unusual streets in Rome for its name, is that of the Via delle Zoccolette. The name appears to have originally derived from the fact that on this street there was an institution for orphans, commonly called…

Miss Mamma beauty contest for mothers

1 April, 2020

Italians (especially Italian men) and their mums are famous the world over, in a stereotype that characterises the country as much as pizza, pasta and the mafia. We’ve already looked at Italian sayings regarding the word mother, including “mammone” and…

Learning Italian from Mozart: "Così fan tutte" translated "all women are like that"

30 March, 2020

Recently we spoke about Geri Halliwell’s and Fabrizio Politi’s split, and I mentioned the phrase “Così fan tutte“. The words are the title of Mozart’s famous opera set in Venice, which takes up the theme of “fiancée swapping”.In a complicated…

Italian men: expressions "mammone" and "La mammasantissima"

18 March, 2020

The figure of the mother in Italy is almost a religion, venerated to the point where a man, as long as he has a mother in his life, has no need of other women. A “mammone” in Italy is a…