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Cheers, or 'salute"' in Italian, is a common expression used to make a toast when raising a glass. It is a simple phrase that is easy to learn and use, and it is an excellent way to express gratitude and goodwill to those around you. 'Cin cin' is the most common way to say 'cheers' in Italian. This is a casual and informal toast that is commonly us...

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Italian was spoken in my family as I grew up but by the adults only. They spoke Italian to communicate “grown-up issues.” You know, all that stuff that we kids “shouldn’t know about.”  Plus, speaking Italian was a hangover from the Old Country and while my parents were proud of their heritage, they were first-generation Americans who wanted the nex...

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Students enrolled in Donatella Melucci’s course on Italian Translation face one of the most difficult assessments in all of higher education. Their work, once translated, is reviewed by the original Italian authors and its publishers before the final product hits bookstore shelves with their names attached.  Melucci, a teaching professor in the Dep...

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Every language has its own turns of phrase and quirky sayings, and we Italians are fond of our many aforismi e proverbi (“aphorisms and proverbs”). Think about it: what better way is there to sound like a native than to incorporate local expressions into your speech? Plus, by learning Italian sayings you’ll get an insight into Italian culture and h...

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Alfabeto italiano is a series of podcasts in four languages – Italian English German and French – that talks to the world. It consists of 12 double episodes of 50 minutes, each divided into a first and a second part lasting 25 minutes. Each letter of the alphabet has a key word, and each episode presents two leading figures in the Italian literary...

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Hello and happy 2023! The new year has started and we are all busy making our buoni propositi – new year’s resolutions. This month, I’ll take advantage of the new year to show some expressions – and superstitions connected to them! – Italians use in this occasion. Let’s see some! Probably the most common expression is anno nuovo, vita nuova – new y...

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Since the holidays are approaching, and winter along with them, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss the color white. Since we are all always hoping for a white Christmas, snow-covered beautiful landscapes, let’s talk about Italian expressions with the color “white.”  When talking about white and snow, most Italian cannot help but think abo...

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We have always spoken of Sicily as a land at the center of the world, a crossroads of cultures and peoples. For millennia, Sicily has been home to diverse peoples, who have graced it with art, monuments, roads, aristocratic villas, and theaters, but also with customs, lifestyles, and foods from all over the world. This proliferation of different cu...

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Ciao! Today’s grammar topic is verbs and prepositions. In particular, I’ll be focusing on common mistakes English speakers make while speaking Italian due to the different ways the two language use prepositions (but this is true also for Italians when speaking English!). Let’s take a look!  One of the mistakes I always hear has to do with the verb...

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Il buon vino fa buon sangue, “good wine makes your blood good:” Italians love to say it while pouring another glass of hearty red, often while dining with friends. But where does this popular expression come from and is there any truth in it? According to an article published on the wine blog Wine Shop, this proverb is second in popularity, among w...

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