Com’è bello far l’amore da Trieste in giù, sang Italian television icon Raffaella Carrà back in 1978. What a beautiful line: it means “it’s awesome to make love from Trieste southwards.” Though I wonder, how does it work exactly? I mean, communicating in different languages can be hard, especially if you’re from Trieste and ask a Sicilian out on a date. Don’t get me wrong: these two people can easily communicate in Italian — and they will probably get along well — but back in the day, it was a whole other story.

First of all, we need to talk about the country’s history. The process of the Italian unification began in 1815 and culminated in 1861 with Vittorio Emanuele II of the Savoia dynasty assuming the title of King. Before then, the nation was fragmented in many smaller states, each of which had its own administration and language. An example of such fragmentation can be seen in the fact that there were and still are 30 different ways to say ‘bowl’.