Italian Language Blog

There are many popular sayings and proverbs about la cicala, and not surprisingly his frinio (strident song) plays an important part in most of them.

Probably the most famous cicada favola (fable) is that written by Esopo (Aesop): La Cicala e la Formica. Here is an adaptation of the tale by the French poet and writer Jean de La Fontaine (1621 – 1695):

La Cicala e la Formica (The Cicada and the Ant) N.B. In English this fable is often incorrectly known as ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’.

Durante l’estate la formica lavorava duramente, mettendosi da parte le provviste per l’inverno. Invece la cicala non faceva altro che cantare tutto il giorno. Poi arrivò l’inverno e la formica ebbe di che nutrirsi, dato che durante l’estate aveva accumulato molto cibo. La cicala cominciò a sentire i morsi della fame, perciò andò dalla formica a chiederle se poteva darle qualcosa da mangiare. La formica le disse: “Io ho lavorato duramente per ottenere questo e tu che cosa hai fatto durante l’estate?” “Ho cantato” rispose la cicala. La formica esclamò: “Allora adesso balla!”

Morale: chi nulla mai fa, nulla mai ottiene.

During the summer the ant worked hard, putting aside provisions for the winter. The cicada, on the other hand, did nothing but sing all day long. Then the winter arrived, and the ant, who  had accumulated lots of food during the summer, had plenty to eat. The cicada began to feel pangs of hunger, so she went to the ant to ask it if she could give her something to eat. The ant said to her: “I’ve worked hard to obtain this, and you, what did you do during the summer?” “I sang” exclaimed the cicada. “Well then, now you can dance!”

Moral: he who does nothing, obtains nothing.

It is said that at one time in the countryside, the cicaleccio (chattering) of the cicala which accompanied the reapers as they worked in the fields caused them to reflect upon the injustice of the fact that they would soon have to give a large portion of the fruits of their hard labor to il padrone (the landowner). In Romagna, the peasants would often chant “Dice la cicala al cicalino: il grano al padrone e la paglia al contadino” (“Said the cicada to the little grasshopper: the grain to the landowner and the straw to the peasant”) whilst they were stacking the sheaves of corn.

The cicada, as you will see from the photo in my previous blog, has rather bulbous eyes. The following legend explains why:

“Una volta, tanti anni fa, un cuculo lavorava nella costruzione di una casa, trascinandosi su e giù per le scale portando sulle spalle la calce, ed aiutandosi, per la gran fatica, ripetendo so pu’, so pu’, so pu’ (su pure, su pure, su pure). Un’insolente cicala, posata poco lontano, lo canzonava dicendogli: dai, dai, dai. Il cuculo, persa la pazienza, la rincorse, raggiungendola proprio in una bottega di un fabbro, dove, preso un martello, la schiacciò su un’incudine, facendole schizzare gli occhi fuori dalla testa”. 

Once, many years ago, a cuckoo was working on the construction of a house. Dragging himself up and down the steps carrying lime on his shoulders, he helped himself in his great fatigue by repeating ‘come on, up, come on, up, come on,up’. An insolent cicada, resting not far away teased him saying: ‘go on, go on, go on,’. The cuckoo losing his patience, ran after her, catching her in a blacksmith’s workshop, where, taking hold of a hammer, he squashed her on an anvil, making her eyes pop out of her head”.

It’s official, summer is here. The announcement was made a few days ago by la cicala (the cicada). Throughout the hot days of summer and into the autumn il frinio, the monotonous strident song of the cicala can nearly always be heard somewhere in the background. It’s a sound that I’ve always taken for granted, and even though it’s not the most musical of melodies I love it because for me it is ‘the sound of summer’.

But what exactly is una cicala, and how can something that makes so much noise be so difficult to spot?

La cicala (Lyristes plebejus)

La cicala is a fairly large insect, usually between 2.5 and 5.5 cm long, but due to the fact that it is di colore marrone scuro o verde (dark brown or green in color) and that it lives sugli alberi di diversa specie e sulla vegetazione (on various types of trees and vegetation) it is, naturally, very difficult to find.

Sopra: Una cicala. Ha due paia di ali trasparenti e membranose che a riposo vengono tenute a tetto al di sopra del corpo

Above: A cicada. It has two pairs of transparent membranous wings that when resting are kept in a roof shape above its body.

If you are lucky enough to spot a cicala in action you will see, and hear, something like this:

E come produce quel suono? (And how does it make that sound?)

Well the noisy ones are i maschi (the males) who portano sotto l’addome un organo stridulatore (carry beneath their abdomen a stridulation organ)

The organo stridulatore works in the following way:

L’organo stridulatore è situato ventralmente all’inizio dell’addome, quasi sempre protetto da un paio di larghe piastre protettive, gli opercoli. Sollevati gli opercoli ci sono due cavità per ciascun lato: una più grande ventrale, ed una più piccola laterale. All’interno sono presenti sottili membrane e dei sacchi aerei. Un paio di poderosi muscoli, fra i più potenti descritti nel Regno Animale, si collegano alla membrana e contraendosi producono vibrazioni da cui deriva il famoso frinio che sentiamo.

The stridulation organ is situated beneath the beginning of the abdomen and is almost always protected by a pair of wide protective plates, called opercula. Beneath the opercula are two cavities on each side: a large ventral one, and a smaller lateral one. Inside, are thin membranes and some air sacks. A pair of strong muscles, amongst the most powerful known in the Animal Kingdom, are connected to the membrane and by contracting they produce the vibrations which create the famous sound that we hear.

The female, on the other hand, makes a much quieter sound by rustling her wings together. In this way she advertises her presence to the amorous male, who then attracts her towards him with his clamorous racket. This is the part in the movies where the bedroom light is extinguished and we are left to our imaginations until we find the two lovers lying peacefully the following morning with their twelve legs and eight wings entwined. Suffice it to say that some 24 hours later the female begins to busily deposit her eggs on twigs and branches.

Once hatched, le larve (the larvae) begin their underground work of moving from root to root and feeding on la linfa (sap). This phase lasts for several years (up to 17 in some species!) at the end of which they emerge from the soil and find a nice branch on which they can complete their mutation into the adult cicala. Gli adulti continuano a nutrirsi della linfa degli alberi e a tal scopo usano la loro proboscide. The adults continue to feed on the sap of trees and for that purpose they use their proboscis.

Sopra: L’involucro vuoto di una cicala

Above: The empty shell of a cicada

In part two I’ll be looking at some of the detti (sayings) and proverbi (proverbs) that feature la cicala.

Rimanete sintonizzati!

In my last blog “I Serpenti Italiani” we had a look at the most common snakes that you are likely to see here in Italy. Let’s continue with our reptile theme and find out about le più comuni delle lucertole italiane (the most common Italian lizards).

The two lizards that you will see most often, even in towns and cities, are: lucertola muraiola and lucertola campestre both are usually referred to as the Italian wall lizard

Le loro dimensioni variano dai 15 ai 25 cm, compresa la coda. Trovano la tana in buchi nei muri o sotto terra, e appena uscite si riposano al sole per scaldarsi. Sono inattive da ottobre a marzo, ma in giornate particolarmente calde si muovono anche in pieno inverno. Le lucertole hanno la particolarità di poter perdere la coda se questa viene afferrata da un eventuale predatore. Comunque, la coda può in seguito riformarsi, crescendo fino a 2 mm al giorno.

They vary in size from 15 to 25 cm including the tail. They make their dens in holes in walls or underground, and as soon as they come out they rest in the sun to warm themselves up (sounds just like me, in fact we often refer to someone who likes to rest in the sun as una lucertola!). They are inactive from October to March, but on particularly warm days they move about even in the winter (yes definitely sounds like me!). Lizards have the peculiarity of being able to shed their tail if it is grabbed by a possible predator. However, the tail can regenerate itself, growing up to 2mm a day.

So what is the difference between lucertola muraiola and lucertola campestre? Watch this video (in Italian) to find out. Tip: the lizard that you see in the video is a lucertola campestre:

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More spectacular, but not so easy to find is il ramarro:

Le dimensioni del ramarro sono maggiori di quelle della lucertola muraiola e può raggiungere i 45 cm di lunghezza, coda compresa. Il colore del maschio è verde brillante mentre la femmina è più scura. Nel periodo degli amori la gola del maschio diventa azzurra.

The ramarro is larger than the wall lizard and it can grow up to 45cm, including the tail. The color of the male is brilliant green, whilst the female is darker. In the mating season, the male’s throat becomes azure.

Despite its brilliant coloring the ramarro is much harder to find because it spends most of its time amongst dense vegetation. We usually see them in the early spring when they are just coming out of letargo (hibernation) and before the plants have grown too thick to hide them.

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Even harder to spot is the geco comune or tarentola:

Il geco è principalmente notturno, ed va a caccia dal tramonto fino alle prime ore dell’alba. Le sue zampe si sono perfettamente adattate ad aderire alle superfici verticali su cui è solito trascorrere il tempo. È addirittura capace di arrampicarsi su superfici molto liscie come il vetro!

The gecko is mainly nocturnal and hunts between sunset and the early hours of dawn. Its feet are perfectly adapted to adhere to the vertical surfaces on which it usually spends its time. It is even capable of climbing up really smooth surfaces such as glass!

The most common place to spot a gecko in my experience is on the wall of a building at night near a streetlight where it hunts for insects. The gecko loves mosquitoes, and can consume up to 2,000 in a single night.