Italian Language Blog

When I lived in England, bananas were my favourite fruit. But I have to admit that I was never a big fruit fan until I came to live in Italy. I still like bananas of course, but the variety of really fresh and tasty fruit available here leaves me spoilt for choice. Plus, I now have my own apricot tree, from which I can pick fruits that resemble little globes of liquid honey, infatti mi fa venire l’acquolina in bocca solo a pensarci! (in fact my mouth is watering just thinking about it!) Most Italians prefer their fruit ‘Made in Italy’, and when you consider the amazing topographical and climatic variety of the Italian peninsula, from Sicilia in the south to the Pianura Padana (Padana Plains) and the Alps in the north, you’ll see why we are able to produce such a large variety of fresh fruits all year round.

The banana is one of the few fruits names that is written and pronounced (more or less) the same in both English and Italian, the only difference being the pluralisation: banana (banana), banane (bananas). Other fruits that share the same name in both English and Italian are: kiwi, which in Italian doesn’t change when pluralised: un kiwi, due kiwi (one kiwi, two kiwis), and avocado which also doesn’t change in the plural: due avocado (two avocados).

Now let’s have a look at the Italian names of some other fruits:

albicocca, plural albicocche = apricot/s

ananas, plural ananas = pineapple/s

anguria, plural  angurie = watermelon/s (also known as cocomero/i)

arancia, plural arance = orange/s

caco, plural cachi = persimmon/s, sharon fruit (the singular caco is colloquial, officially the name should be cachi, or kaki in both the singular and plural)

castagna, plural castagne = chestnut/s

ciliegia, plural ciliegie = cherry/cherries

cocomero, plural cocomeri = watermelon/s

dattero, plural datteri = date/s

fico, plural  fichi = fig/s

fico d’India, plural fichi d’India = prickly pear/s

fragola, plural fragole = strawberry/strawberries

lampone, plural lamponi = raspberry/raspberries

limone, plural  limoni = lemon/s

mandarino, plural mandarini = mandarin oranges

mela, plural  mele = apple/s

melagrana, plural melagrane = pomegranate/s

melone, plural meloni = melon/s

mirtillo, plural mirtilli = blueberry/blueberries

mora, plural more = blackberry/blackberries

nespola, plural nespole = loquat/s

pera, plural pere = pear/s

pesca, plural pesche = peach/peaches

pompelmo, plural pompelmi = grapefruit/s

prugna, plural prugne = plum/s

ribes nero/rosso (doesn’t pluralize) = blackcurrant/redcurrant

susina, plural susine = plum/s

uva (doesn’t pluralize) = grapes

uvaspina (does not pluralize) = gooseberry

Here’s a little challenge for you: Name, in Italian, the fruits in the two photos above. If you’re feeling brave you can post your list in the comments section.

Allora, qual è la tua frutta preferita?

(So, what’s your favourite fruit?).

Ciao! is probably one the best known Italian words in the world. It’s an informal greeting which can be used at any time of the day and is also used to say goodbye. Just out of curiosity let’s have a quick look at the etymology of the word: ciao comes from the Venetian dialect word sciao, which in turns derives from sciavo, an abbreviation of sono vostro schiavo (lit. I am your slave!).

However, notice that I say that ciao is an informal greeting. This means that you need to be careful not to use ciao in formal situations. Let’s say that ciao is more or less equivalent to the English ‘hi’, or ‘bye’. When I was growing up in England in the 60’s and 70’s it was considered rude to say ‘hi’ to a stranger or someone you had just been introduced to, and in fact when I go back to England for a holiday I still feel a bit offended if I go into a shop (or even a bank!) and the young employee greets me, a complete stranger, with the word hi!, or even worse hiya!

Italian culture makes pretty clear distinctions between formal and informal situations, not just in terms of social etiquette but also in the grammatical structure of the language used, and personally I hope this doesn’t gradually disappear, as has mostly happened in England, although sadly in some of the big chain stores here in Italy (I remember entering a well know international DVD rental store in Lucca and being greeted with ciao! … yuk!) it seems to have already become the norm to greet complete strangers as if they’re your best friend!

But you dear reader are not to pick up these horrible habits!

So … when do you use ciao? You use ciao with friends, close relatives, children, and, if you like, animals.

And how do you say hello in formal situations? One of the most common formal Italian greetings is ‘salve’, and for some strange reason it rarely gets taught in Italian language classes or books.

Salve comes from the Latin verb salvere (lit. to be well, to be in good health), which is related to the Italian noun salute (health). It can be used in a friendly informal way, similar to ciao, e.g. Salve! Come va? (lit. Hi! How’s it going?), but it’s usually used as a polite form of salutation without being too formal, in fact the word salutation itself comes from the same Latin root as salute.

You can also use buongiorno (good day) and buonasera (good afternoon/evening) to greet strangers or people whom you normally address in a more formal way, such as doctors, lawyers, and so on.

If you are introduced to someone new, or they introduce themselves to you, then use the word piacere (pleasure, pleased to meet you).

Okay, now for a few practical examples:

I meet my friend Claudio in the piazza and I greet him with: ciao bello, come stai? (hi handsome, how are you? don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal for grown men to greet each other in this way!)

Then I bump into my doctor, Dottor Arrighi, and I say: buongiorno dottore, come sta? (good day doctor, how are you?)

Dottor Arrighi introduces me to his wife, whom I’ve never met before, so I say: piacere (pleased to meet you)

…and his six year old nephew to whom I say: ciao! (hi!)

Here are a couple of colloquial greeting:

Chi si vede! (look who’s turned up/look who’s here. lit. who does one see)

…and if someone happens to appear when you’re talking about them you can say lupus in fabula (speak of the devil. lit. wolf in the fairy tale)

As a rule of thumb however, play it safe and stick with salve, buongiorno, or buonasera unless you know that you’re on ciao terms with someone.

Ciao Ciao

On the 25th of April, Anna Proclemer, one of our greatest Italian stage actresses, died in Rome at the age of 90.

Click on the image below to visit her official website .

Born in Trento in 1923 Anna Proclemer began acting in the early 40’s. I first saw her many years ago at the Teatro del Giglio di Lucca where she was performing in Chi ha paura di Virginia Woolf? (Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?), and immediately fell in love with her: she had a deep voice and a great stage presence. I still have an image from that play impressed in my mind: Anna Proclemer, dressed in red, was sitting on a sofa, her left arm stretched over the back, and with just a simple rolling movement of her left hand and the lifting of an eyebrow she managed to perfectly express her character’s annoyance. For me, this little gesture was so powerful that, from where I was sitting up in the loggione (gallery), I had the impression that all the other actors/characters had disappeared and she had grown to fill the whole stage.

A few years later, by a strange coincidence, I was very lucky to see her once more:

Era il luglio del 1992. Io mi trovavo per la prima volta in vita mia in Grecia, ad Atene. Ero lì per lavoro, perché facevo parte della Commissione di Maturità al Liceo Scientifico italiano di Atene e ovviamente al fine settimana non si lavorava, così decisi di approfittarne per visitare alcuni dei siti che avevo studiato sui miei libri di archeologia e prenotai una gita di due giorni in autobus. La sera del primo giorno ci fermammo in un albergo in una moderna cittadina sulla costa, vicina all’antico teatro di Epidauro, famoso per la sua meravigliosa acustica. Mentre visitavo la cittadina aspettando l’ora di cena, fuori dall’ufficio turistico vidi un poster che pubblicizzava proprio per quella sera una rappresentazione dell’Edipo Re di Sofocle al teatro di Epidauro. Non mi soffermai nemmeno a leggere il nome della compagnia, pensai solo che non potevo farmi scappare un’occasione simile, e senza pensarci due volte entrai e comprai il biglietto.

It was July of 1992. I found myself, for the first time in my life, in Athens, Greece. I was there for work because I was part of the end of Secondary School Exam Board at the Italian Liceo Scientifico in Athens, and obviously one doesn’t work at the weekend, so I decided to make the most of it by visiting some of the sites that I’d studied in my archaeology books, and I booked a two day bus trip. On the evening of the first day we stopped at a hotel in a modern town on the coast, close to the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, famous for its wonderful acoustic qualities. Whilst I visited the little town waiting for dinner time I noticed a poster outside the tourist office advertising an interpretation of ’Oedipus Rex’ by Sophocles that very evening at the theatre of Epidaurus. I didn’t even hang around to read the name of the company of actors, my only thought was that I couldn’t miss an opportunity like that, and without giving it  second thought I went in and bought a ticket.

Dopo cena andai nella piazza dove ci aspettava l’autobus per portarci ad Epidauro. Appena arrivata al teatro, la prima persona che incontrai fu un illustre professore universitario italiano, docente di Greco, che avevo conosciuto un paio di anni prima al Cairo ad un convegno internazionale di studi classici. Dopo un breve saluto andai a trovar posto sugli spalti del più famoso teatro antico, e subito una nuova sorpresa: nella fila sotto di me venne a sedersi un gruppo d’italiani e sentii uno di loro chiamare: “Piera, siamo qui!”. Forse per la suggestione del luogo, io pensai immediatamente a Piera Degli Esposti, grande attrice teatrale, ed … era proprio lei, col suo profilo inconfondibile! “Beh, sono in buona compagnia stasera” mi dissi.

After dinner I went to the square where the bus was waiting to take us to Epidaurus. As soon as I got to the theatre the first person I met was an illustrious Italian university professor, head professor of Greek, that I’d met a couple of years before in Cairo  at an international conference on classical studies. After a quick hello I went to find a place on the seats of the most famous of ancient theatres (designed by Polykleitos the Younger in the 4th century BC) when, immediately, a new surprise: in the row below me a group of Italians came and sat down, and I heard one of them call: “Piera, we’re here!”. Perhaps because of the setting I immediately thought of Piera Degli Esposti, a great theatrical actress, and … it was really her, with her unmistakable profile! “Well, I’m in good company this evening!” I said to myself.

Sopra: Piera Degli Esposti

Ed ecco cominciare lo spettacolo: io mi ero mentalmente preparata ad una recita in greco antico ed ero pronta a cercare di riconoscere qua e là qualche parola sopravvissuta alla ruggine degli anni, ma con mio grande stupore gli attori parlavano in italiano! Erano italiani e famosi!: Giancarlo Sbragia, Mariano Rigillo, e lei, la grandissima Anna Proclemer nel ruolo di Giocasta. Si può essere più fortunati di così?

And now the show began: I was mentally prepared for a performance in ancient Greek and I was ready to try and recognise, here and there, a few words from my rusty vocabulary, but to my great amazement the actors spoke in Italian. They were Italians, and famous!: Giancarlo Sbragia, Mariano Rigillo, and her, the great Anna Proclemer playing the part of Giocasta. Could one be any luckier?

Grazie Anna per le indimenticabili emozioni che mi hai regalato! Riposa In Pace

Thank you Anna for the unforgettable emotions that you gave me! Rest in Peace