Becoming Italian Word by Word

You Never Know What You'll Find in the Italian Language

trovare 

to find

One of my favorite Italian sayings captures a universal truth: “Chi trova un amico trova un tesoro.” (Who finds a friend finds a treasure.) But that’s not all you can trovare in Italian.

If you like something, you can say that you find it good (trovarlo buono). If you don’t, you can find fault (trovare da ridire) with it. At times you may need to find an excuse (trovare una scusa) or decide to leave things as you find them (lasciare il tempo che trova). If you find yourself feeling uncomfortable in a situation or environment (a dodgy neighborhood, for instance), you might say, “Mi trovo male” (literally I find myself bad).

English speakers “visit” both places and people. Italians generally use visitare when they go to a physical location, but choose the more lyrical phrase andare a trovare qualcuno (going to find someone) for visiting a person. The visitor may be greeted with an enthusiastic "Ti trovo benissimo!" (You look great!) As they take each other’s leave, friends may say, “Ci troviamo presto” (We will find each other soon.)

“Chi cerca trova” (who seeks finds—another way of saying, "Seek and you shall find"). But If something has completely and utterly disappeared, it simply can’t be found (non si trova) or is unfindable (introvabile). If you come upon a lost valuable, you might shout “Finders keepers!” or, less pithily, "Chi trova qualcosa se la tiene" (who finds something holds or keeps it).  

Infants who were abandoned outside of Italian churches and convents were dubbed trovatelli (foundlings).  I’ve always thought it would be interesting to work as a trovarobe (literally a stuff-finder) who rounds up costumes and property for a theatre. Only in researching this post did I learn that il trovatore (also the title of Verdi’s splendid opera, featured in the above photo of a San Francisco Opera production) derives, not just from troubador, but from an earlier word for "finder." 

All of us, of course, have to trovare la via (find one’s way). During the mass emigration of Italians to find work overseas in the late 19th century, the phrase “trovare l’America” (to find America) came to mean finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This expression seems poignant these days—non trovi? (Don’t you think?)

Words and Expressions

trovabile -– capable of being found (raro)

il trovato -– discovery or invention

la trovata –- a contrivance or trick

“Trovare pane per i propri denti“ -- to meet one’s match

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

You can't find music more stirring than the finale from Il Trovatore performed by three of opera's greatest stars:

The Problem with Prepositions in the Italian language

C’e’ da impazzire 

It makes you crazy.

After a recent conversation, an Italian friend praised my consistency. I had gotten all the verb tenses right--and every single preposition wrong. Italians may complain that English has too many prepositions, but  I contend that Italian has too few--with far too many meanings.

Consider simple-sounding “da.” Most often it means “from,” as in “the train from Rome” (il treno da Roma). But if I want to say, "I’m from California," I have to switch prepositions to “di” and say that I am “of” California.   My favorite necklace is not a gift da Roberto (from my husband) but di (of) Roberto.

Da also refers to a person’s place. You might shop al mercato (at the market), but you go dal medico (to the doctor’s), dal fioraio (the florist’s), dall’avvocato (the lawyer’s), dal panettiere (the baker’s) or dal parrucchiere (the hairdresser’s). Or you can come to our house (da noi), your parents’ (dai tuoi) or your friend Gianni’s (da Gianni). You also might journey da lontano (from far away) or da vicino (nearby) or simply come in da fuori (from outside)—if you don’t andare dalla parte sbagliata (go the wrong way).

Da can pair up with an infinitive to describe a noun: una serata da dimenticare (an evening to forget) or un libro da leggere (a book worth reading). Sandwiched between an adjective and an infinitive, da appears in common Italian exclamations, such as bello da morire (the equivalent of “to die for” or incredibly beautiful) or buono da impazzire (so good it makes you crazy).

Da can be used also to describe qualities or details, such as un uomo dal naso lungo (a man with a long nose) or una donna dai capelli corti (a woman with short hair). You type on una macchina da scrivere (machine for writing or typewriter), drink vino da tavola (table wine), wear occhiali da sole (sunglasses) in the day and abito da sera (evening dress) at night and present new acquaintances with your biglietto da visita (business card). You may not want to get onto a cavallo da corsa (race horse) but who could resist a spin in a macchina da corsa (race car)?

When it comes to time, da conveys the idea of something that started in the past and continues into the present. “Da dieci anni vivo a Firenze” translates as “I’ve been living in Florence for ten years .” If you’ve been doing something for a very long time, you can say “da tanto” (for so long) or "da sempre" (from always). Da also refer to stages in one’s life, for instance, when you were a child (da bambino) or a student (da studente).

At any age you may have niente or molto da fare (nothing or a lot to do), un problema da risolvere (a problem to resolve) or altre gatte da pelare (other cats to skin—or things to take care of). Whatever they are, da is sure to show up. Why? That’s una domanda da un milione di dollari (Italian for the $64,000 question)—and enough to make you lose your head (da perdere la testa).

Words and Expressions

da capo a piedi –- from head to toe

una cosa da ridere -- a laughing matter

fuori dai piedi –- out of one’s feet, get out!

scherzo da prete –- priest’s trick, dirty trick

Here's a lyrical invitation to "come to my place":

The Most Italian Time of Day

la passeggiata

the evening stroll

As day softens into dusk in Italy, something in the air seems to tug people from their homes and workplaces to participate in one of the enduring traditions of Italian life: fare la passegiata (taking a walk). The evening promenade  generally takes place between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m on the main streets or in the piazze of virtually every town, village or big city in Italy. But this “cultural performance,” as sociologists describe it, involves so much more than strolling to and fro.

During the week, the passeggiata marks the end of the workday and offers a moment of sociability before the family dinner. On Saturday and Sunday, the passeggiata often becomes the main social event of the day, when entire families take to the streets.

Children scamper after each other or lick cones of gelato. Men typically relax in sidewalk cafes or bars or gather in front of the neighborhood tabaccaio (a store that sells cigarettes, among other things) to talk politics and soccer. Women walk back and forth  arm in arm with their friends. The anziani (very old) set up chairs on the edge of the piazza and watch the street show.

The most important thing is simply seeing and being seen. In some cities, people clearly dress to impress or at least to show how well life has been treating them. Certainly everyone looks as if they’d taken time di dare un buon sguardo (give themselves a good looking over) before stepping into the piazza. Shirts are pressed; jeans are stylish.

If you’re out and about in the early evening, you may become part of a passeggiata whether you intend to or not. You’ll feel like less of an outsider if you don’t dress like an American tourist (no baseball caps, baggy shorts or gym wear). Don’t rush past people. Walk slowly. Join the locals for an aperitivo. And don’t be surprised if, after a while, you start feeling that you too belong.

Here are three of my favorite places to passeggiare:

Rome

Young tourists tend to mull about the Piazza di Spagna or find a perch on the Spanish Steps to watch the parade. Window-shoppers gravitate to the Via del Corso, a pedestrian street lined with shops, cafes and churches. The lively Piazza Navona, with its open-art art vendors, mimes and musicians, may be the most entertaining place for a passeggiata.

Florence

Many people weave their way to the Piazza della Repubblica, with its choice of cafes and bars for an espresso or aperitivo. I prefer a different route: a climb above the crowds to the Piazzale Michelangelo or even higher to the church of San Miniato, where locals sit in the shade and couples wrap their arms around each other as they watch the sun turn the Arno to gold.

Siena

After the tourist buses leave in the late afternoon, the Sienese reclaim their town by making their way up the steep, winding streets to Il Campo, the shell-shaped main piazza. You can circle the piazza or venture into the tiny side streets. Or you can climb  the 400 steps to the top of the Torre del Mangia (roughly the Tower of Eating) for a bird’s eye view. As you gaze down at the townspeople below and out at the distant hills, you’ll feel—as Italians do at the end of a passeggiata—that all’s right with the world. Tutto a posto!

Words and Exprssions

passeggiare a cavallo -- go for a ride (on a horse)

passeggio -- public walk, promenade

passeggiatore -- someone taking a walk

passeggiare in carozza -- go for a drive (literally in a carriage)

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

What's in a Name in the Italian Language?

il tuo nome

  your name

 In 1500 a Florentine couple eagerly awaited the birth of their fourth child, whom the mother was sure would be a girl. The midwife, wrapping the newborn in fine white linen,  presented it to the father with the words: "I've brought you a wonderful present--and one you didn't expect."

"Whatever God gives is dear to me," he replied. When he learned that the baby was a boy, he kept repeating, "He is welcome! He is welcome!"  And this is how the sculptor Benvenuto (welcome) Cellini got his name.  

Today Italian parents can choose names based on their history and meaning. When friends presented me with  Il Grande Libro dei Nomi: La storia e l’influenza del nome sulla personalità (The Big Book of Names: The History and the Influence of the Name on Personality), I couldn't resist looking up my family's names. 

Diana, I discovered, is the Latin name for Artimedes, the Greek goddess of the hunt and of the moon (above). According to myth, this symbol of chastity (simbolo della castità) turned Atteone into a deer (cervo) because he had admired her nuda al bagno (bathing naked).

The characteristics of her namesakes include being innamorata della pura bellezza (in love with pure beauty), misurata ma intelligente (cautious but intelligent), internamente forte (internally strong) and poco loquace (not very talkative--which, I must add, is not always the case). Other attributes are fantasia (imagination), ambizione (ambition), ottima memoria (excellent memory) and a senso di superiorità nei confronti del maschio (sense of superiority compared with the male).

This last trait should not faze my husband or any other Roberto, whose name derives from the German for “renowned for his fame” (illustre per la sua fama). With several saints (santi) adding honor to the name, a Robert tends to be orgolioso (proud), suscettibile (sensitive), and dotato di franchezza ed una incrollabile fiducia in se stesso (endowed with frankness and unshakable faith in himself.) After more than three decades of marriage,  I can personally attest to a Roberto’s capace di affetti duraturi (capacity for enduring affections).

Our daughter Giulia’s name has the most illustrious derivation: from Jove or Zeus, the king of the ancient gods. While a Giulio tends to be incostante e complessato (inconstant with a lot of hang-ups), a Giulia, like ours, is brillante e vivace (sparkling and lively), with amore per l’arte e il lusso (a love for art and luxury).

The “nomissimo” (most used name) in Italian is the Virgin Mother’s. A woman with any variation on Maria—from Mia to Molly to Marion—is emotive (emotional), affettuosa (affectionate), passionale (passionate) and endowed with tenerezza (tenderness) and amore del quieto vivere (love for a quiet life). While they have an estremo bisogno di stabilità e sicurezza (extreme need for stability and security), Marias also can lay claim to an enviable gift: una immaginazione sfrenata (an unbridled imagination).

Words and Expressions

in nome di -- in the name of

conoscere qualcuno di nome -– know someone by name

nome d’arte -– stage name

nome di familgia -– family name

nomignolo -- nickname

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click below to hear Renee Fleming explain why her friends call Puccini's tragic heroine  "Mimi":

Celebrating August in the Italian Language

Ferragosto
August 15

Some twenty years ago I celebrated my first  Italian Ferragosto in Capri, which turns out to be a most fitting (though crowded) place to be on August 15. The Roman emperor Augustus so enjoyed late summer that he claimed as his own the month we now call by his name.  He ordered month-long festivities, called feriae augustus, which included games, races, and rituals to honor the goddess Diana, who was worshiped as queen of the fields as well as of heaven and earth. Augustus was equally enamored with the beguiling island of Capri, which he appropriated from the municipality of Naples in exchange for the nearby island of Ischia.

With the rise of Christianity and the suppression of pagan feasts, August 15 became a religious holiday commemorating the assumption or lifting into heaven of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Over the centuries various communities developed special ways of honoring the Madonna.  In the Sardinian town of Sassari men carrying elaborately decorated wood columns dance through the streets.  Messina’s townspeople construct La Vara, a fantastic sixty-foot-high pyramid from which stars, clouds and figures of saints dangle. At one time young boys dressed as angels and apostles were hoisted into the air by rings attached to La Vara. As part of the ceremonies a young girl representing the Virgin Mary freed a prisoner. 

According to a Neapolitan legend, local fishermen once pulled a portrait of the Madonna from the sea, and their king ordered a church built around it at the beach.  On August 15, which became known as the Festa della Nzegna, everyone was tossed into the water. The night before the faithful ate only watermelon but feasted on sumptuous desserts the next day.

In the late  Renaissance, Rome’s governors flooded the splendid Piazza Navona for festivities that included fake fish splashing in the water and young boys diving for coins. As darkness fell, candles and torches glistened, and Romans enjoyed lavish dinners called sabatine (little Saturday feasts).

Times have changed. Now a national holiday, Ferragosto marks the height of the Italian vacation season. In cities and towns many restaurants and shops close; residents shut up their apartments and flock to the beaches. Seaside villages often end the day’s festivities with spectacular displays of  fireworks (fuochi d’artificio). 

But amid all the gaiety some Italians suffer a sad fate. Because of their jobs or finances, they  must remain in the deserted cities. And so the phrase “ferragosta in citta” has come to mean a bleak, unhappy situation.

Words and Expressions

ferie estive -- summer holidays
l’estate -- summer
festeggiare -- to celebrate
andare in ferie -- go on holiday

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with the World's Most Enchanting Language.

Click below for a tribute to a special summer night:

Wishing on a Falling Star in the Italian Language

La notte delle stelle cadenti

The night of the falling stars

As a young girl, an Italian friend eagerly awaited  la festa di San Lorenzo (the feast of Saint Laurence) on August 10. When the sky filled with stelle cadenti (falling or shooting stars), she and her friends would run through the fields with open handkerchiefs to try to catch one. If they did, they’d say, “Stella, mia bella stella, desidero che…” (Star, my beautiful star, I desire..) in the hope that the wish would be granted (nella speranza che  esaudisse il desiderio).

La festa di San Lorenzo coincides with the time when the earth passes through the Perseus meteor shower. The fiery streams of light came to be known as “le lacrime (the tears) di San Lorenzo.”  

The saint whose tears blaze across the summer sky was one of the seven deacons of the Catholic Church in Rome in the year 258. Under orders from the emperor (imperatore) Valerian, the prefect of Rome commanded Lorenzo, who was in charge of material goods, to gather the treasures of the Church (i tesori della Chiesa) and turn them over to him.    

Three days later Lorenzo presented to the prefect a crowd of the poor, blind, lame, malformed, leprous, maimed, orphaned and widowed with the declaration: “Ecco questi sono I nostri tesori eterni, non vengono mai meno, anzi crescono.” (These here are our eternal treasures, they never become less, but in fact are growing.)  

The furious prefect ordered Lorenzo to be put to death (messo a morte)—as slowly and painfully as possible. According to legend, he was roasted (bruciato) alive on a giant gridiron (graticola) with burning coals beneath it. After a while, he called out to his tormentors, “I am cooked on this side. It’s time to turn me over.” San Lorenzo became patrono  dei cuochi (patron saint of cooks)—as well as of bibliotecari, librai, pasticceri, vermicellai, pompieri e lavoratori del vetro (librarians, book sellers, pastry chefs, pasta makers, firemen and glass workers).  

The revered Italian writer and scholar Giovanni Pascoli wrote a famous poem,  X Agosto, inspired by the death of his father, who was killed on August 10.  Here are the opening lines:

San Lorenzo, io lo so perché tanto di stelle

per l'aria tranquilla arde e cade,

 perché si gran pianto nel concavo cielo sfavilla.

 "San Lorenzo, I know it because so many stars

 burn and fall through the tranquil air

because such a great weeping shines in the concave sky.”

If you see a falling star and make a wish (esprimere un desiderio) on the magical "notte dei desideri” (night of wishes), I hope that it comes true.

Words and Expressions

stella nascente -- rising star

la pioggia di stelle -- star shower

essere nato sotto una cattiva stella -- to be born under a bad or unlucky star

seguire la propria stella -- to follow your star or destiny

stella -- star, an endearing nickname for a child

San Lorenzo l'innocente, mille fuochi in cielo accende –- a proverb that translates as “San Lorenzo the Innocent, a thousand fires rise in the sky" 

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Click below for a song inspired by San Lorenzo’s feast day: 

The "Dog Days" of Summer in the Italian Language

il sole
the sun

These are the days of il solleone, the period from mid-July to mid-August, when the sun falls under the zodiac sign of Leo (Leone).  

At the time of the Roman empire Serius (the dog star) rose and set with the sun, and people thought its red glow contributed to the summer heat. They used the term canicola (from cane for dog) to describe  the “dog days” at the  height of summer. "Come picchia il sole!" (How the sun beats down), people complain during these long giorni soleggiati (sunny days).

If we're on vacation, I am happy not to have to rise with the sun (alzarsi col sole) or get up at sunrise or first sun (allo spuntar del sole).  A few hours later a ray of sunshine (raggio di sole) creeps through our shutters to wake me. It reminds me of a literary description of being in jail: vedere il sole a scacchi (to see the sun in squares).“Che sole!“ (What a fierce sun!)  I think as I blink at the brightness of the sunlight (luce del sole).

Il culto del sole (sun worship) sweeps over Italy every August.  If I want to sunbathe (esporsi al sole), I put on a sunsuit (prendisole) and  look for un luogo soleggiato  (a sunny spot ) to take the sun (prendere il sole). 

Whenever I’m in the sun (al sole), I try to protect my eyes  with sunglasses (occhiali da sole). To avoid sunstroke (un colpo di sole) I may duck under a sunshade (parasole). And I always remember sunscreen (crema solare)  to prevent a sunburn (una scottatura).

Even when Italians aren’t basking in the sun (crogiolarsi al sole), a gleam of sunshine  (il bagliore del sole) brightens their conversations.  A striking young woman is bella come il sole! (beautiful as the sun). A fact may be chiaro come il sole (as clear as the sun). Someone who acts openly without hiding anything does so alla luce del sole (in the light of the sun). And, of course, nulla di nuovo sotto il sole  (there’s nothing new under the sun), including the fact that il sole sorge -- e sorge per tutti (the sun rises -- and rises for everyone). 

Giovanni Capurro, a writer in Naples,  and  Eduardo di Capua, a posteggiatore (Neapolitan for a party or restaurant singer), composed “'O sole mio” (“My Sun”), Italy’s most famous love song, in 1898 and sold all rights to a music publisher for 25 lire. (Click below to hear Andrea Bocelli's rendition). Here is the English translation of the first verse:

“What a beautiful thing is a sunny day.

The air is serene after a storm.

The air is so fresh that it already feels like a celebration.

What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!"
 

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Words and Expressions

il sole è alto --  the sun is up
L’impero del Sol Levante -- the empire of the rising sun (Japan)
sdraiarsi al sole -- to lie in the sun
eclissi solare -- solar eclipse