A giant dictionary is doing a tour of town squares in Italy in a bid to save dying words. Publisher Zanichelli is highlighting 3,126 Italian words that it says are in danger of disappearing as they are used less and less used in writing, speaking and in the media.

The at-risk words are marked in the giant edition, which is intended to spark discussion among Italians over which words they would save. So far, choices have included "idiosincrasia" (idiosyncrasy), "caspita" (golly) and "perdinci" (by jingo!). The dictionary began its journey in Turin and will make an appearance in Milan, Florence, Bologna, Bari and Palermo.