Alitalia addio! Farewell Alitalia!

Avete sentito le novità? Did you hear the news? Alitalia is no more. It has since been replaced by ITA – Italia Trasporto Aereo – following the closure of in bancarotta (bankrupt) Alitalia last week, October 14.

Unfortunately Alitalia has been in the “red” for 10 years, so the writing has been on the wall for awhile. That, coupled with the pandemic, all but solidified their current position.

Italia Trasporto Aereo is “wholly owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance” and the EU also ruled recently that Alitalia and ITA are separate companies, which means ITA isn’t responsible for Alitalia’s numerous debts.

On Wednesday, there was a protest in Rome by about 50 assistenti di volo (flight attendants). Le hostess¹commonly used word for flight attendant si sono spogliate rimanendo in sottoveste in piazza del Campidoglio. The hostesses undressed, remaining in their slips in the Piazza del Campidoglio. 

Afterward, they chanted: “Noi siamo Alitalia.” “We are Alitalia.”

The reasons for the demonstration include job loss; of Alitalia’s 10,500 staff, only 2,800 have been employed by ITA. Those that are employed are allegedly being paid less and have lost seniority.

It is expected that ITA will service all the same routes that Alitalia did, but they will build up slowly to that. In the coming months they will also be complete new redesigns of the uniforms, lounges, and even airplanes as they plan on buying an all new fleet of Airbus.

So we bid Alitalia addio as we look forward to the next chapter of Italian flights.

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Speaking of addio… what is the difference between addio, arriverderci, and ciao? Do they all simply mean ‘goodbye’? Well, yes… and no.

Addio – 

Addio is a contraction of “a Dio” or “to God.” A good English translation is “farewell.” It is used in much more dramatic, formal situations where things are final.

I made the mistake of saying addio to a waiter in Italy when the next day I was leaving, so I knew I’d never see him again. He immediately did “le corna” (horns) with his hand pointing downward to ward off il malocchio (evil eye.) all while touching iron (tocca ferro) on the door for luck. He explained to me that saying addio to him meant one of us will die.

Arrivederci – 

This literally translates as “until we see each other again” and would have been a much more common and acceptable way to say goodbye to that waiter in Florence or any other time you would like to say goodbye to people in more of a formal sense.

Ciao –

Ciao is an informal salutation that can mean both hi and goodbye. It is used between friends, family, or people your age or younger.

Of course, there are some other great ways to say goodbye:

ci sentiamo (più tardi) – we’ll talk later

ci vediamo – we’ll see each other later

a presto – see/talk to you soon (lit. at soon)

a domani – see you tomorrow

a dopo – see/talk to you later (lit. at later)

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  commonly used word for flight attendant