Italian Language Blog
Menu
Search

Totò In Milan Posted by on Apr 26, 2017 in Culture, Italian Language

A few days ago was the 50th anniversary of the death of Totò (Napoli, 1898 – Roma, 15th April 1967), one of Italian cinema’s greatest comedians.

Totò is the pseudonym of Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfiro-genito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio. Guess why he used the nickname Totò!

Totò (a common abbreviation of Antonio) could make anyone laugh, whether they were a young child or a ‘serious’ adult. He used a huge range of comic techniques and was incredibly creative with language.

An excellent example of Totò’s linguistic inventiveness is the famous scene with the traffic warden in Piazza del Duomo in Milano, from his 1956 film Totò, Peppino e la Malafemmina. Here, Totò and Peppino (the Neapolitan actor Peppino de Filippo) have just arrived in Milano from Napoli in search of their nephew who has fallen in love with una malafemmina (a bad woman).

This is their first time in a Northern Italian city, and their sole knowledge of Milano is based on gossip that they’ve heard in Napoli! Therefore they arrive at la Stazione Centrale in the middle of the summer dressed as if they are going to Siberia, because they’ve been told, “a Milano fa freddo e c’è la nebbia” (Milan is cold and foggy). Once there, Totò and Peppino must find la Malafemmina, who’s name is Marisa Floriani, so in Piazza del Duomo they ask un ghisa (ghisa is Milanese for vigile urbano = traffic warden) for directions. Watch this lovely video clip from Totò, Peppino e la Malafemmina. I’ve transcribed the dialogue below:

Dialogue:

Totò e Peppino: “E’ bello questo, e?”
Totò and Peppino: “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Peppino: “Che sarà, il municipio?”
Peppino: “What is it, the town hall?”

Totò: “Come il municipio, che dici! Questo dev’essere La Scala di Milano!”
Totò: “The town hall? what are you saying? This must be La Scala di Milano!”

Peppino: “E dove sta?”
Peppino: “And where is it?”

Totò: “Ma che?”
Totò: “What?”

Peppino: “La scala!”
Peppino: “The ladder!”

Totò: “Eh, starà dentro, no?”
Totò: “Eh, it must be inside”

Peppino: “Aaah!!! … è bello, sembra vero”
Peppino: “Ahaa!!! … it’s beautiful, it looks real”

Totò: “Come sembra vero, è vero! Questo è uno stile etrusco, è un mezzo ovale”
Totò: “What do you mean ‘it looks real’, it is real. This is an Etruscan style, it’s a half oval”

Peppino: “Un mezzo ovale!”
Peppino: “A half oval!”

Totò: “Tu ci credi, questo paese è così grande che io non mi raccapezzo!”
Totò: “Can you believe it, this village is so big that I can’t get my bearings!”

Peppino: “Ma come si fa!”
Peppino: “So what can we do!”

Totò: “Bisognerebbe trovare qualcuno, che so, per sapere l’indirizzo di questa Marisa Floriani”
Totò: “We should find someone, I don’t know, to find out the address of this Marisa Floriani”

Peppino: “Domandiamo a quel militare là”
Peppino: “Let’s ask that soldier over there”

Totò: “A quello? ma che, sei pazzo? Quello dev’essere un generale austriaco, non lo vedi?”
Totò: “That one? are you crazy? That one must be an Austrian general, can’t you see?”

Peppino: “E va bene, siamo alleati”
Peppino: “So what, we are allies”

Totò: “Siamo alleati? … Già, è vero, siamo alleati”
Totò: “Are we allies? … Yes, it’s true, we are allies”

Peppino: “Siamo alleati”
Peppino: “We are allies”

Totò: “Andiamo … vieni”
Tottò: “Let’s go … come on”

Girano intorno al vigile studiandolo sospettosi, mano nella mano.
Holding hands, they walk around the traffic warden, studying him suspiciously.

Totò: “Excuse me
Totò: “Excuse me”

Peppino: “Ahi!”
Peppino: “Ahi!”

Totò, a Peppino: “E scansati!”. Poi al ghisa: “Scusi, lei è di qua?”
Totò, to Peppino: “Move away!”. Then to the traffic warden: “Excuse me, are you from here?”

Vigile: “Dica”
Traffic warden: “How can I help you”

Totò: “E’ di qua?”
Totò: “Are you from here?”

Vigile (in un misto d’italiano e milanese): “Eh, sono di qua, perché, m’ha ciapà per un tedesco?”
Traffic Warden (in a mixture of Italian and Milanese): “Ah, am I from here, why, did you think I was German?”

Totò: “Ah, tedesco, te l’avevo detto io che era tedesco”
Totò: “Ah, German, I told you he was German”

Peppino: “E allora come si fa?”
Peppino: “So, what do we do?”

Totò: “Eh, ci parlo io …”
Totò: “Eh, I’ll talk to him …”

Peppino: “Perché, tu parli …”
Peppino: “Why, do you speak …”

Totò: “Eh!! Ho avuto un amico prigioniero in Germania! … Non m’interrompere sennò perdo il filo”. Poi rivolgendosi al vigile in inglese: ” … Dunque, excuse me …”
Totò: “Eh!! I had a friend who was a POW in Germany! … Don’t interrupt me or I’ll loose the thread”. Then talking to the traffic warden in English: “… Well, excuse me …”

Vigile (in milanese): “Se ghe?”
Traffic warden (in Milanese): “What?”

Totò (in una lingua inventata): “Bitteschen … noio …”
Totò (in a made up language): “Bitteschen … noio ..”

Vigile (in milanese): “Se ghe?”
Traffic warden (in Milanese): “What?”

Totò, a Peppino: “Ha capito!”
Totò, to Peppino: “He understood!”

Peppino: “Che ha detto?”
Peppino: “What did he say?”

Totò: “Dopo te lo spiego”. Poi, rivolgendosi al vigile in pseudo anglo-francese: “Noio, volè … volevam … volevom … savoir … noio volevam savoir l’idris, ya? …”
Totò: “I’ll explain it later”. Then, talking to the traffic warden in pseudo Anglo-French: “Noio, volè … volevam … volevom … savoir … noio volevom savoir l’idris, ya? …”

Vigile: “Eh, ma bisogna che parliate l’italiano, perché io non vi capisco”
Traffic warden: “Eh, but you must speak in Italian, because I can’t understand you”

Totò e Peppino: “Parla italiano! Ah! Parla italiano, complimenti, bravo!”
Totò and Peppino: “He speaks Italian! Ah! He speaks Italian, well done, very clever!”

Vigile: “Ma scusate, ma dove vi credevate di essere, siamo a Milano, qua!”
Traffic Warden: “Excuse me, where do you think you are, we are in Milan, here!”

Totò, mentre Peppino gli fa eco: “Appunto, lo so … dunque … noi vogliamo sapere … per andare, dove vogliamo andare, per dove dobbiamo andare? Sa, è una semplice informazione”
Totò, while Peppino echoes his words: “Exactly, I know … so … we want to know … to go, where we want to go, to where do we have to go? You know, it’s a simple information”

Vigile: “Sentite, se volete andare al manicomio, vi accompagno io”, mentre Totò e Peppino ripetono: “Sissignore!”
Traffic warden: “Listen, if you want to go to the lunatic asylum, I’ll accompany you”, meanwhile, Totò and Peppino keep repeating: “Yes, Sir!”

Vigile, andandosene: “Ma guarda un po’ che roba! Ma da dove venite voi, dalla Val Brembana?”
Traffic warden, going away: “Ha, look at this idiocy! Where do you come from, from the Val Brembana?” (N.B. Val Brembana is an area north east of Milan, near Bergamo where they speak an incomprehensible dialect, il Bergamasco)

Totò: “Non ha capito una parola!”
Totò: “He didn’t understand a single word!”

Peppino: “Sai che facciamo? Questa è la piazza principale, sediamoci qui, quella qua passa!”
Peppino: “You know what we are going to do? This is the main square, let’s sit here, she’ll pass through here!”

Totò: “Ma che, sei pazzo? ma che ti credi che è un paese? questa è una grande città!”
Totò: “What, are you crazy? do you think this is a village? this is a big city!”

Peppino: “E allora come facciamo?”
Peppino: “So, what shall we do?”

Totò: “Vieni con me che ci penso io, vieni con me”
Totò: “Come with me, I’ll take care of it, come with me”

Peppino: “E là, che è quello?”
Peppino: “Over there, what’s that?”

Totò, guardando verso l’ingresso della Galleria: “Quello sarà un arco di tifo!”
Totò, looking towards the entrance to the Gallery: “That must be a typhoid arch!” (he means ‘un arco di trionfo’ = a triumphal arch)

Peppino: “Ma non è pericoloso?”
Peppino: “But isn’t it dangerous?”

Totò: “Ma che pericolo!”
Totò: “It’s not dangerous!”

Peppino: “E’ così alto!”
Peppino: “It’s so tall!”

Evviva Totò!

Tags: , ,
Keep learning Italian with us!

Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.

Try it Free Find it at your Library
Share this:
Pin it

Comments:

  1. Robert Mercatante:

    Thank-you for sharing the video…. and the wonderful translation! I enjoyed the comedy immensely. Totò reminds me of Mexico’s Cantinflas. They both have a way with words and a gift for cultural humor!

  2. John:

    Serana,
    Thank you very much for all you good work in providing the translation.


Leave a comment: