Bel pasticcio!

Bel pasticcio!

That’s a fine mess!

    “Ho fatto una frittata,” I announced to our house guests in Porto Ercole, who reacted with unexpected looks of concern. “Making a frittata,” I discovered,  also means to make a mess of things.  Italian has a lot of ways to mess up—in and out of the kitchen.

    A pasticcio refers to a casserole, such as a  pasticcio di maccheroni (meat and macaroni pie), or to a pastry, such as pasticcino alla crema  (cream bun). But it also can mean a hodgepodge, jumble, or mess. If you’ve really screwed up, an Italian might say with a touch of irony: "Bel pasticcio!"  (That’s a fine mess!)

    A pasticcione (constant bungler) always si trova nei pasticci (finds himself in a fix).  That’s what happened to a pasticciere  (pastry cook) caught running an illegal business in southern Italy.  A newspaper reported that “il pasticciere si trova nei pasticci.”

      A muddle is a different matter, more of a garbuglio, like the state  I found myself in when I tried to track down a misplaced cell phone in Florence. Italian has a specific word to describe what I had done: ingarbugliarsi, or get oneself muddled. And that's enough to make one imbrogliarsi nel parlare (trip  over one’s tongue or stutter).

    A real mess rises above a state of confusione (fairly normal for, say, traffic in Rome) to a casino   (slang for brothel) or, as I recently learned from an Italian scholar,  quarantotto,  or 48, a reference to the failed revolutions of 1848 in Italy.

    "Non ti mettere nei guai!"  (Watch out for troubles!) Italians caution, but it’s all too easy to cacciarsi nei guai (drift into difficulties) or  suddenly passare un brutto guaio (meet with big trouble). Yet nothing may lead to more trouble than love.  “Inguaiato!”  says an Italian  describing someone so smitten that he can't think for himself. 

    When I first heard pop idol Tiziano Ferro sing “Imbranato,” I asked Italian friends of a certain age what this slang term meant.  One recalled it from his long-ago  days in military service as a word for the confusion and awkwardness of  “green” recruits. A member of the younger generation brought me up to date: These days imbranato also means  being turned a little goofy  by love.  And that's a fine mess indeed!

Sayings and expressions:

un grande pasticcione – a big bungler

un lavoro pasticciato – a messy job, a bungled job

un automobilista imbranato – a wimpy driver

Mi sento imbrogliato – I feel I’ve been tricked, deceived, fooled

"Guai a te"" - "You're going to get in trouble," a classic warning from a parent to a child or teen who's pushing the limits

Comments

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How can I cook Pasticcio?

[dianne]

Grazie, Marta. Your recipe looks so good that I might try it myself. I'm sure readers will enjoy it too. Look for the blog post on Friday. And Buona Pasqua!

D

[Marta]

Dear Dianne,
I found your comment on my blog and came to visit your blog and webpage.. I really love both! Of course, I'd be not only happy but honored if you wanted to put a link to one of my recipes on either of them.
It's fun for me to read what you write about Italian. I get to learn some idiomatic English translations, too :)

[dianne]

I know the feeling well. Sometimes I manage to make a frittata and a bel pasticcio in the same day! I appreciate the post.

[Fern Driscoll]

I love this post - being frequently in a muddle or mess myself, these expression are going to come in very handy. Thanks!