Becoming italian word by word

A Guest Post by Valeria Biancalan

If you are learning Italian, you have probably studied the names of Italian animals, but you might not know that many animals (molti animali) are associated with a specific trait (un tratto distintivo) in the Italian language. For this reason, it is important, not only to know these words, but also the different situations in which they can be used. Here are some of the connotations they have:

• Bue (ox) — Pazienza (patience)
• Cane (dog) — Fedeltà (loyalty)
• Cavallo (horse) — Pazzia (folly)
• Gatto (cat) — Indipendenza (independence)
• Leone (lion) — Coraggio (bravery)
• Lumaca (snail) — Lentezza (slowness)
• Mulo (mule) — Testardaggine (obstinacy)
• Oca (goose) — Stupidità (stupidity)
• Serpente (snake) — Falsità (falseness)
• Talpa (mole) — Cecità (blindness)
• Toro (bull) — Forza (strength)
• Volpe (fox) — Furbizia (astuteness)

Here are some examples:

— Sei più lento di una lumaca! Forza, sbrigati, altrimenti arriviamo tardi! (literally: You are slower than a snail! Come on, hurry up, or we will arrive late!)

— Mario è sempre stato testardo come un mulo fin da quando era piccolo (literally: Mario has always been as stubborn as a mule since he was a child)

— Mia madre porta gli occhiali da tanti anni perché è cieca come una talpa (literally: My mom has been wearing glasses for many years because she is as blind as a mole)

In Italian the names of animals are also used in a huge number of idioms (frasi idiomatiche), such as:

• Meglio un asino vivo che un dottore morto (literally: a donkey alive is better than a dead doctor). This idiom means that it’s better to be a bit ignorant but healthy than getting sick because of studying too much
• Andare a letto con le galline (literally: to go to bed with the chickens). This is used to refer to somebody who goes to sleep very early.
• Avere i grilli per la testa (literally: to have crickets in the head). This refers to somebody who has crazy and strange ideas.
• Essere una mosca Bianca (literally: to be a white fly). The English equivalent of this idiom is “to be a rare bird,” and it refers to somebody who is exceptional.
• Ingoiare un/il rospo (literally: to swallow the toad). We use this idiom when we accept an unpleasant or humiliating situation without complaining.
• Sputare il rospo (literally: to split the toad out). In this case, the toad is  something that we have kept hidden, so the phrase means “to reveal a secret”.
• Prendere due piccioni con una fava (literally: to catch two pigeons with a fava bean). The English equivalent of this Italian idiom is “to kill two birds with one stone,” and we use it when we achieve two things in a single action.

Valeria Biancalani is the founder of BlaBlaLang, a language school that offers Italian lessons online with native and qualified Italian tutors.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World. For more information,  visit diannehales.com.

 the bridge

The Fourth of July may be the most American of holidays, but this year it provides an opportunity to do something very Italian: fare il ponte (make the bridge). This is no architectural construction but an extension of a national holiday that occurs during the week through the next weekend. Since July 4  falls on a Thursday, many of us are stretching il ponte over Friday for a four-day weekend.  

The descendants of Rome’s famed acqueduct builders are masters of such creations. Depending on the calendar, Italians may enjoy a ponte di Capodanno (New Year’s bridge), a ponte di Pasqua (Easter bridge), or a ponte dei morti (bridge of the dead) for the November 1 holiday of All Saints Day  (Tutti I Santi). For Ferragosto, the quintessential Italian summer holiday, il ponte may stretch even farther to include the weekends before and after August 15.

Workers, often in the civil service, who are particularly adept at extending a holiday are called, with some admiration, pontisti (bridge makers).  Others have a different talent:  fare i ponti d’oro  (literally making bridges of gold — making things as easy as possible). This strategy works especially well for getting someone you don’t like to leave. “A nemico che fugge, ponti d’oro,” Italians say. “To fleeing foe, bridges of gold!”

Italy is famous for other ponti, of course. The picturesque Ponte Vecchio, Florence’s oldest bridge, has housed goldsmiths’ and jewelers’ shops for centuries.  The Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) in Venice connects the Doges’ palazzo with the dungeons. It owes its evocative name to the sorrowful sound of prisoners who caught their last glimpse of La Serenissima through its windows as they headed to their cells. 

Every Spring Venice hosts a non-competitive run, open to everyone without age or nationality restrictions. The name of this traditional race is “Su e zo per i ponti,” which in the Venetian dialect means “up and down the bridges.”

Italian and English also share a common bridge-based expression. We look back and say, “Ne è passata di acqua sotto i ponti!»  or «A lot of water has gone under the bridges.»  Less literally, the past is past, and many things have changed. 

Words and Expressions

ponticello — small bridge

ponte levatoio — drawbridge

ponte sospeso —  suspension bridge

tagliare i ponti con qualcuno — to cut (burn) one’s bridges with someone 

“finire a vivere sotto un ponte” — to end up living under a bridge (to become extremely poor and end up without a home)

In Italy La Festa del Papà  falls on March 19, the feast of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph), the husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus. In the United States we celebrate  fathers on the third Sunday of June. I welcome any  chance  to honor the men we love so much—whatever the date and whatever we call them.

A father (padre) is a Babbo (Daddy} in Tuscany, Sardinia and several southern regions) but a Papà (pronounced pa-PAH) in other parts of Italy. The most famous Daddy of all is Babbo Natale (Father Christmas).  Il Papa (PAH-pa) is the pope or Santo Padre (the Holy Father), while God remains the eternal father (Padre Eterno or Padreterno).

The ties between fathers and children are strong. The English expression «like father, like son» translates as tale padre, tale figlio in Italian. Both fathers and grandfathers (nonni) have a long tradition of trying to fare da babbo a qualcuno (help or guide someone).

In the fifteenth century the esteemed  Cosimo the Elder, the Medici patriarch immortalized as  pater patriae  (father of the country), was meeting with foreign ambassadors at his palatial home. One of his grandsons came to him with some reeds and a small knife and asked him to make a whistle. Cosimo  broke off the conversation, fashioned a whistle and told the boy to run off and play. The ambassadors were indignant.

«Oh my brothers, are you not also fathers?» he laughed, «You marveled that I made him the whistle: it is well that he did not ask me to play it, for that I also would have done.»

Fatherhood also implies authority. A padrone di casa is a landlord; a  padrona di casa, a landlady. Anyone can acquire  padronanza (mastery) and be  padrone di se (in control of one’s self).

The master of the house, the owner of a business or the big boss is the  padrone. One of the pet phrases my husband has memorized to unfurl at the appropriate moment with Italian friends is Il padrone sono io, ma chi comanda è mia moglie. (I am in charge, but the person who gives the orders is my wife.)

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World. For more information,  visit diannehales.com.

Italy has been celebrating mothers for more than 2000 years.

As the dark, cold winter gave way to the bright rebirth of Spring, the ancient Romans paid tribute to their gods of fertility. One holiday, Matronalia, was dedicated to Juno, the queen of the gods, and children gave gifts to their mothers on this day.

Traditionally la festa della mamma in Italy fell on May 8. The current practice of celebrating Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May started in 1957. But la mamma italiana is the center of her family’s life every day of the year. Men may hold the highest political offices, but the person at the helm of the family—the strongest Italian institution—is Mamma.

“La mamma è sempre la mamma” (the Mom is always the Mom), Italian friends say, adding, “ma molto, molto di più per noi italiani!” (but much, more more for us Italians). Why does an Italian mother inspire such passionate devotion? Here are some reasons Italian writers offer:

*She is una sorta di creatura mitologica (a sort of mythological creature).
A wizard at multi-tasking, she can do many things at once—working, cooking, running errands, yet always keeping in mind every single event taking place that day in the lives of her loved ones. 

*She has i super poteri (super powers).
Even when she is not physically with them, la mamma manages to be present with her heart — feeling and knowing what is happening in her children’s lives and always just an SMS (text) or call away.

*Her kitchen is il miglior ristorante del mondo (the best restaurant in the world.)
Even in the finest of dining establishments, Italians fondly recall how their mothers prepared the same dish—and inevitably did it better.

*She is an enciclopedia vivente (living encyclopedia).
Far more reliable than Siri or Alexa, Italian mothers know how to do everything: fight a cold, soothe a baby, fix almost anything that breaks, transform a simple meal into a feast, help heal a broken heart.

*She is (quasi) sempre ragione (almost always right).
Italians estimate that an Italian mother’s grado di infallibilità (degree of infallibility) approaches 99 percent. The reason: She combines wisdom with il grande dono dell’empatia (the great gift of empathy) so she responds with her heart as well as her head.

It’s no wonder that mothers inspired the most common—and versatile —expression in Italian: Mamma mia! Literally “my Mom,” the phrase can translate as “My God!”, “How great!”, “Oh no!”, “Incredible!” and hundreds of other meanings, depending on context and inflection. These two words can convey a wide range of human emotions—from surprise to shock, delight to disbelief, joy to horror. But when a child utters them, they always resound with love.

Mothers everywhere share the soul of la mamma Italiana. So what better place to take your Mom than Italy—if only in the pages of a book?  Use code MOTHERSDAY19 for 20% off at penguinrandomhouse.com and free shipping!

Auguri a tutte le mamme! Best wishes to all mothers!

Dianne Hales is the author of LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World,  LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language and MONA LISA: A Life Discovered. For more information on her and her Spring book tour, visit her website: diannehales.com.

A guest post by Lucia de Zuani  

«In bocca al lupo» (in the wolf’s mouth) is a typical way that Italians wish someone «Good luck!»  How should you respond to this augurio?

Some say you should reply “Crepi!” (He can die!)  Others suggest “Grazie!”  Both are correct, but there are, in fact, two different interpretations.

In medieval times il lupo was considered the personification of danger and evil. The phrase «in bocca al lupo»  implied pulling away an evil influence. In this context, it would be correct to answer: «Crepi!» Its origins date back to an ancient custom in which  hunters wished each other successful and safe hunting.

The other explanation, which I definitely prefer, is more romantic and sweet. Here the wolf is not the malvagio (wicked) male but his sweet and protective companion. The femmina takes her piccoli (little children) in her mouth when she moves to a safe place any time she feels in danger. In this case the wolf does not represent an evil, but just the opposite. What about the she-wolf of Rome who fed the twins Romolo and Remo, saving them from sure death?

If we choose this explanation, we cannot reply «Crepi!» The little ones would be in danger if their mom died — and who knows what Rome’s destiny would have been? The most suitable answer would be «Grazie!» or even «Viva il lupo!»

Here are some other phrases and terms that use the word lupo:

Avere una fame da lupo — to be as hungry as a wolf (horse in the English equivalent)

Lupo non mangia lupo — a wolf doesn’t eat a wolf, meaning that there is honor among thieves and they don’t turn on each other

Il lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio — the wolf loses its hair but not its vice, meaning that it’s very difficult to change one’s nature

Chi nasce lupo non muore agnello — one born a wolf does not die a lamb, meaning that someone  who was born stupid cannot die intelligent 

Cadere in bocca al lupo — to fall in the wolf’s mouth (or an enemy’s hands), suddenly to find yourself in danger or in a difficult situation  

Gridare al lupo! — crying wolf or calling for rescue when there is no real danger, being needlessly alarmist

Un tempo da lupi — time of the wolves,  horrible weather

Lupo di mare — a seasoned sailor who  knows everything about dangers at sea

Lucia de Zuani  offers homestay and personalized Italian lessons to students who live in her home in Piedmont as a member of the family. Learn more in this video.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and the upcoming LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World. For more information, visit her website: www.diannehales.com.

Cari amici, I will be moving my blog to my new website, along with a complete archive of my previous posts.  Click HERE  to subscribe (top of sidebar).  Note that if you are already subscribed (via e-mail) to my Typepad blog, your subscription will automatically transfer to the new blog.  However, if you subscribed via RSS, you will need to do so again (using the same link as above).  Thank you!

Marzo pazzerello

Crazy March

In English we say that March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. Italians add a twist: «Marzo pazzerello (crazy March) arriva da leone e se ne va come un agnello.«

Marzo (named for Mars, the god of war) has always had a reputation for being pazzo (crazy). Someone who seems unpredictable and impulsive is said to be nato di marzo (born in March). Sole di marzo, onda di mare, pianto di donna: non ti fidare, Italians caution. (March sun, ocean wave, woman’s crying: don’t trust any of them.)

Julius Caesar would have been wise to trust a fortune teller who warned that harm could come to him no later than March 15. On that day, as he made his way to the Teatro di Pompeo, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, «The ides of March have come.»  The seer replied, «But not gone.”

Shakespeare immortalized the phrase, «Beware the Ides of March” (Attenti alle Idi di Marzo), but everyone may need to beware of March weather. “Arriva marzo pazzerello”  Italians say, “Esce il sole e prendi l’ombrello!”
(Here comes crazy March; the sun comes out, and you grab your umbrella!)

On some March days piove (it rains). On others fa freddo (it’s cold). How cold? “Il freddo di marzo penetra nel corno del bue,” the saying goes. 
(The cold of March pierces the ox’s horns—or more colloquially, when it’s cold in March, you freeze your bum off.) 
Another proverb offers some comfort: Non c’è marzo così bello senza neve sul cappello. (March is not so beautiful without snow on your hat).

According to folklore, the last three days of March are called i giorni della vecchia (the old lady’s days) or giorni imprestati (borrowed days). Way back in the time when March had only 28 days, an old woman decided to take her sheep into the fields because, as she declared, March was over and could not torment her with cold any more. Offended by these words, March «borrowed» three days from April and made sure that they chilled the old woman to the bone.

“Fine di marzo, primi di aprile, ancora freddo può venire,” goes another saying. (End of March, beginning of April, more cold can still come.) But brighter weather is also on the way. Marzo tinge (March stains) ma april dipinge (but April paints).

Even in a chilly wind, keep these words in mind: Vento di marzo, odore di primavera! (Wind of March, smell of Spring!)

Words and Expressions:

Marzo: un sole e un guazzo — March: a sun and a shower

San Giuseppe vecchierello, ancora fuoco e mantello — On old St. Joseph’s day, you still need the fire and the cape

Marzo asciutto, ricco frutto — dry March, rich fruit

Marzolino, marzuolo — of the month of March

Cari amici, I will be moving my weekly blog to my new website, along with a complete archive of my previous posts.  Click HERE  to subscribe (top of sidebar).  Note that if you are already subscribed (via e-mail) to my Typepad blog, your subscription will automatically transfer to the new blog.  However, if you subscribed via RSS, you will need to do so again (using the same link as above).  Thank you!

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and the upcoming LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. For more information, visit her website: www.diannehales.com.

Win a pre-publication bound galley of LA PASSIONE from Goodreads! Click here to enter the raffle.  The giveaway ends March 13.

Carnevale

On a chilly night in February, a gigantic silver balloon rises above a Venetian canal like a moon lassoed from the sky. Dangling below, an acrobat gyrates into a spinning star. Sky ballerinas with huge butterfly wings flutter around her. Giant ten-feet-high anemones unfurl long filmy tendrils. Fire dancers on gondolas juggle flaming torches. This is not the Disneyfied Carnevale of elaborate costumes and expensive balls that draws tens of thousands of visitors but a simpler, smaller, sweeter celebration held in Cannaregio, the working-class neighborhood where the highest percentage of native Venetians live.     

During this magical evening, I hear no languages other than Italian and Venetian. Children scamper in Harlequin costumes (with a few galactic superheroes in the mix). Women swirl in the flowing robes of another age; men don the long-beaked masks of plague doctors. Confetti falls like snowflakes. This scene, which I describe in La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World, captures the particularly exuberant spirit of Carnevale in Italy.

For centuries the pre-Lent festivities of Carnevale sumptuously celebrated carne, which translates as both «meat’ and «flesh.» However, the name comes specifically from the Latin for «meat» (carnem) and “take away or remove” (levare). A church decree dating back to 653 declared that anyone who ate meat during the forty days of Lent (Quaresima in Italian) could not receive communion on Easter.

According to le Monnier’s Dictionary of the Italian Language, Carne Levare was first used for the sumptuous dinner eaten the night before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Over the years «Carnevale» was gradually extended to cover the entire period from Epiphany to la settimana grassa (the fat week) before Ash Wednesday.

During Venice’s Carnevale, which lasted for months, party-goers wore costumes and elaborate maschere (masks). The bauta covered the entire face but had no mouth opening and a lot of gilding. The oval-shaped moretta was worn by women, often along with a veil. The full-face white larva (from the Latin for mask or ghost) was made of fine wax cloth.

Over the centuries Venice»s pre-Lenten merry-making has inspired some pithy axioms:  

    *Fare le frittelle –- literally, to make the traditional fritters; figuratively, to celebrate Carnival.

    *A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale — At Carnival anything goes.

    *L’amore di Carnevale muore in Quaresima — A love that starts during Carnival dies in Lent.                                                  

Wherever you may celebrate, I wish you Buon Carnevale!

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and the upcoming LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. For more information, visit her website: www.diannehales.com.

Win a pre-publication bound galley of LA PASSIONE from Goodreads! Click here to enter the raffle.  The giveaway ends March 13.

“How do I love thee?” Elizabeth Barrett Browning asked. She counted the ways in English, but the passionate Italophile may well have chosen Italian when she whispered words of love.  Why not? Like love itself, a dichiarazione d’amore (declaration of love) is lovelier in Italian.

Keep in mind that Italians reserve the words «ti amo» (I love you) only for the loves of their lives. Italian parents and children as well as boyfriends and girlfriends express affection with “Ti voglio bene,” which translates literally into “I want you well,” but conveys an entire universe of best wishes: “I want the best for you.” “I want all good things for you.” “I want what you want because I care so much for you.”

Here are some Italian phrases that may help you in the gioco dell’amore (game of love).

1. Sei la mia anima gemella — You are my soulmate.
2. Ti penso ogni giorno — I think of you every day.
3. Senza di te la mia vita non ha senso — Without you my life makes no sense.
4. Vieni qui e baciami — Come here and kiss me.
5. Sei il mio universo — You are my universe.
6. Non posso vivere senza te — I can’t live without you.
7. Ti voglio –- I want you.
8. Mi piace tutto di te –- I like everything about you.
9. Sono pazzo (pazza, if female) di te — I am crazy about you.
10. Mi fai stare bene — You make me feel good.
11. Siamo fatti l’uno per l’altra — We are made for each other.
12. Sei irresistibile — You are irresistible.
13. Mi sto innamorando di te –- I’m falling in love with you.
14. Mi rendi felice — You make me happy.
15. Sei l’amore della mia vita — You are the love of my life.
16. Ti adoro — I adore you.
17. Voglio stare con te per sempre — I want to be with you for always.
18. Ho bisogno di te — I need you.
19. Abbracciami — Embrace me!
20. Non potrò mai smettere d’amarti — I could never stop loving you.
21. Sei la regina del mio cuore —You are the queen of my heart.
22. Sei il mio / la mia –- You are mine.
23. Voglio stare con te — I want to be with you.
24. Non posso più vivere senza te — I can’t go on living without you.
25. Voglio fare l’amore con te — I want to make love to you.
26. Sono tuo (tua) — I am yours.
27. Sii mio (mia) — Be mine!
28. Senza te non sono nulla —Without you I am nothing.
29. Sei il mio raggio di sole — You are my sunshine.
30. Voglio soltanto te — I want only you.
31. Tesoro mio — My darling!
32. Farei di tutto per te — I would do everything for you.
33. Mi manchi — I miss you
34. Hai conquistato il mio cuore — You have won my heart .
35. Rimani sempre con me — Stay with me always.
36. Non lasciarmi mai — Never leave me.
37. Al cuor non si comanda — You can’t rule your heart.
38. Siamo fatti l’uno per l’altra –- We are made for each other
39. Finchè morte non ci separi — ‘Til death do us part.
40. Ti do il mio cuore  — I give you my heart.
41. Voglio invecchiare insieme a te — I want to grow old together with you.
42. Sei tutto ciò che voglio —You’re everything I want.
43. Resta sempre al mio fianco — Stay always by my side.
44. Voglio passare il resto della mia vita con te –- I want to spend the rest of my life with you.
45. Mi sono innamorata di te a prima vista –- I fell in love with you at first sight
46. Solo tu mi capisci — Only you understand me.
47. Ho trovato il paradiso nei tuoi occhi — I have found paradise in your eyes.
48. La nostra è una vera storia d’amore — Ours is a true love story.  
49. Mi vuoi sposare? — Will you marry me?
50. Vivremo felici e contenti — We will live happily ever after.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and the upcoming LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. For more information, visit her new website: www.diannehales.com.

La marmotta

The groundhog

I have always thought of February as un grande mese (a great month) for celebrations — of the American presidents Washington and Lincoln, Valentine’s Day, Carnevale, my parents’ wedding anniversary. My birthday (il mio compleanno) on February 2 coincides with Groundhog Day in the United States, when all eyes turn to an oversized furry rodent in Punxsutawney in my home state of Pennsylvania. If he sees his shadow and scoots back to his burrow, winter continues for another six weeks. If not, Spring will come early.  

There is no “giorno della marmotta” in Italy, where the word once doubled as an insult meaning “dunce” or “lazybones.”  According to the Italian version of Wikipedia, la marmotta, un genere di roditori (a type of rodent), is famous for il letargo (lethargy). During six months of hibernation when it sleeps profoundly (dorme profondamente), its heart slows to fifteen beats a minute (15 battiti al minuto), and its breathing becomes barely perceptible (appena percettibile).

Its other remarkable trait is its ability to communicate. When una marmotta smells danger, it stands upright on its hind legs (zampe posteriori), poised like a candle (nella posizione a candela) and emits a cry like a whistle (un grido simile a un fischio) to warn its furry friends.

According to experts, this sound constitutes a real language (un vero linguaggio)—and a warning of bad weather. As a proverb from Valle d’Aosta says, “Se la marmotta fischia insistentemente al pomeriggio, pioverà nelle ventiquattro ore successive.” (If the groundhog whistles insistently in the afternoon, it will rain in the next 24 hours.)

I prefer the Italian name for February 2: la Candelora (Candlemass), which commemorates the purification of Mary after the birth of Jesus. On this day, priests bless the candles (candele) that will be used during Mass and other religious ceremonies throughout the year.

Long before Punxsutawney Phil became famous, Italians were using the weather on this feast day to predict the coming of Spring. “Per la santa Candelora” (For holy Candlemass), according to one proverb from northern Italy, “o che nevichi o che plora, dell’inverno siamo fuora; s’egli ‘e sole o solicello, siamo ancora a mezzo il verno.” (If it snows or rains, we are out of winter; if it’s sunny or partly sunny, we are still in the middle of winter.)  

More enigmatic is the saying, “Per la Candelora, chi non ha carne impegni la figliola” (For Candlemass, whoever hasn’t got meat should pawn their daughter). My Italian friends interpret it as meaning that you absolutely have to have some meat to enjoy Carnevale, the grandest of February’s feasts.

Unfortunately, those born on February 29 get to celebrate their actual birthdays only once every four years—during an anno bisestile.

Words and Expressions

Febbraio nevoso, estate gioiosa –- snowy February, joyful summer

Corto febbraio, mezzo dolce e mezzo amaro –- short February, half sweet and half bitter

Primavera di febbraio reca sempre qualche guaio -– a February Spring always brings some damage

Se la viola esce a febbraio, tieni da conto fieno e pagliaio –- if the violet comes out in February, store away your haystack.  

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and the upcoming LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. For more information, visit her new website: www.diannehales.com.

Bianco 

 White 

When snow turns the mountain tops white (imbianca le cime delle montagne), Italians often take una settimana bianca (a white week or winter holiday). Many like to go to the mountains (andare in montagna) to ski (sciare), snowboard (fare snowboard) or go mountain-climbing (fare alpinismo). Personally I prefer to stay snug and warm in a stazione invernale (ski resort) with un bianchino (a glass of white wine) and enjoy il panorama (the view). 

Yet even when the snow melts, in Italian bianco is never out of season or style. You can find bianchezza (whiteness) in the white of the eye (il bianco dell’occhio), the white of the egg (il bianco dell’uovo), or the universally beloved fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” (Biancaneve e i sette nani). If you’re frightened, you may sbianca or turn white as a sheet (bianco come un cencio). A terrible shock can even turn a person’s hair white (far diventare i capelli bianchi). 

Sheets or linens are called biancheria, while biancheria intima refers to lingerie. Something off-white is biancastro or bianco sporco. which is different from whitish (bianchiccio) or white-washed (bianchetto). If you feel under the weather, the best advice is mangiare in bianco. “Eating white” means choosing bland foods such as bread, pasta and rice and avoiding fried or difficult-to-digest dishes. 

Bianco also can convey blankness or an absence of something. Un foglio in bianco is a blank sheet of paper; un assegno in bianco, a blank check. Un matrimonio bianco describes an unconsummated and presumably loveless marriage. If you toss and turn all night long, you pass una notte in bianco, a night without sleep. 

If something comes out of the nowhere—out of the blue, we’d say in English—Italians describe it as di punto in bianco (a military expression for shooting without aiming properly). Ending up nowhere translates as andare in bianco (going into white). Workers who die because of unsafe conditions on the job suffer morti bianche (white deaths). 

A free hand, carte blanche in French, becomes carta bianca in Italian. A red-hot controversy in English is una polemica al calor bianco (to the white heat) in Italian, sometimes caused by people who see everything as black or white (o tutto bianco o tutto nero). 

If you change the subject, you switch dal bianco al nero (from white to black). If you deliberately mislead someone, you try to make them vedere bianco per nero (see white for black). If you completely misunderstand a situation, you end up prendere bianco per nero (taking white for black). 

Words and Expressions 

Una mosca bianca — a white fly, something highly unusual 

Sbiancante — bleaching, whitening 

Sbiancamento dentale — teeth whitening 

“Anche le mucche nere danno il latte bianco” — a Tuscan proverb that translates literally as “black cows also produce white milk,” meaning that we are all equal, regardless of appearance. 

Bianchina — a classic Italian car from the 1950s

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and the upcoming LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. For more information, visit her new website: www.diannehales.com. 

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