Italy is known for its three-course lunches and dinners, but in most cities and towns, there’ll be a more casual type of place where you can get take out, eat at a little table, or mangiare in piedi (eat standing up).
Pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice) is very popular all over Italy, especially in Rome. As Anna explains, prices vary according to size and what’s on the pizza.
Tu scegli il pezzo di pizza, viene pesato,
You choose the piece of pizza, it's weighed,
a seconda del tipo di pizza, ha un prezzo diverso al chilo,
depending on the kind of pizza, it has a varying price per kilo,
e paghi a seconda della grandezza e del peso
and you pay depending on the size and the weight
di pizza che hai scelto.
of the pizza you've chosen.
Captions 79-81, Anna e Marika - Pizza al taglio romana
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You can certainly find pizza al taglio in Tuscany, but in addition, and baked in the same oven, you’ll often see la cecina, made from farina di ceci (chickpea flour). Learn more here. Liguria and Tuscany, as well as Puglia have focaccia, in some areas called schiacciata, which is made with flour, water, oil and yeast, like pizza, and often takes the place of bread. You’ll find it in bakeries, bars, and pizzerie. As a quick snack, Romagna has the piadina, a flat bread made with lard rather than olive oil, which gets filled with cured meats or cheese. Learn more here.
A way for people to get together socially, without having to spend lots of money on dinner, is to have drinks before they go home for dinner: fare or prendere l’aperitivo (to have an aperitif). As we’ll see, aperitivo has different sfumature (shades of meaning).
Prima di andare a cena, quindi verso le sei o le sette,
Before going to have dinner, so, around six or seven o'clock,
gli italiani fanno un aperitivo.
Italians have cocktails.
Captions 1-2, Corso di italiano con Daniela - L'aperitivo
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Adriano, in describing his day, includes an aperitivo, at least on the weekend.
Mi rilasso e mi sfogo con gli amici dopo una lunga giornata di lavoro.
I relax and I let off steam with my friends after a long day of work.
Mi concedo qualche aperitivo e poi anche qualche cocktail alcolico.
I allow myself some aperitifs and then also some cocktails.
Captions 48-51, Adriano - Giornata
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It’s pretty clear that Adriano considers aperitivo in its broader sense, and he uses qualche aperitivo here to mean a few appetizers. For an explanation of how to use qualche, see this previous lesson. For the drink itself, Adriano uses "cocktail.” As with most English words integrated into the Italian language, "cocktail" will remain in the singular no matter how many he has.
While the aperitivo, usually served with patatine (potato chips) or olive (olives), is an established ritual in most parts of Italy, one of the latest trends is the apericena. If you combine aperitivo (drinks) with cena (dinner), you get apericena. What is it? It’s drinks and appetizers, both savory and sweet, that are varied and abundant enough to replace dinner, served buffet style. The apericena exists both in bars about town, offering an alternative to a costly tab in a restaurant, and in homes, making for a relatively low-budget, flexible, and fashionable alternative to a sit-down dinner. It encourages mingling, conversation, and allows for guests to just stop by. These light buffet dinners are becoming more and more popular all over Italy.
All over the world there's a tendency to take foreign words and knowingly or unknowingly give them a meaning different from the original. So, be aware that in bars, the apericena or the aperitivo (depending on how much there is to eat) is sometimes called a “happy hour,” which in Italy is not about discounts on drinks as in the United States, but rather having drinks accompanied by a small buffet of stuzzichini (appetizers) for a fixed, though variable, price. The word for “toothpick” in Italian is stuzzicadenti. Little bite-size appetizers are often served with toothpicks, thus the term stuzzichini. If you travel to Venice, you'll want to check out the Venetian version of stuzzichini: cicchetti.
Learn more here. This is an important tip, given that it’s quite a challenge finding good food at reasonable prices in Venezia.
Buon appetito!
As we saw in a previous lesson, Italians are very conscious of formal and informal greetings, and will say hello in different ways depending on the situation. But there’s more. When speaking or writing to someone they must, or want, to treat with respect, they’ll use the polite form of “you”—Lei. This happens to be identical to the word for “she,” lei. To show respect, Lei gets capitalized, together with its possessive pronouns Sua, Sue, Suoi (your, yours) and its object pronouns La and Le (you). Although the capitalization of these pronouns is going out of style, it can be helpful for figuring out who is being talked about. Using the formal “you” is called dare del Lei (giving the formal “you”). The opposite is called dare del tu (giving the informal “you”).
In Ma che ci faccio qui! (But What Am I Doing Here?), Alessio finds himself in an embarrassing situation. (Yes, he’s about to fare brutta figura!) Things have gotten decidedly intimo, but Alessio da ancora del Lei (is still giving the formal “you”) to this woman, and she calls him out on it.
Ma che fai, mi dai ancora del Lei?
What are you doing, you still address me formally?
Caption 39, Ma che ci faccio qui! - Un film di Francesco Amato
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In an episode of Commissario Manara, Lara is trying to get some information from a woman in shock over the death of her employer. Lara uses Lei since she is addressing someone older than her, and whom she doesn’t know. Lara sees the woman is touchy on the subject at hand so she immediately apologizes, even though she’s done nothing wrong.
When the personal pronoun in question is an object, either direct or indirect, it can become part of the verb, as we’ve talked about in a previous lesson. In the example below, the polite “you” is a direct object of the verb offendere (to offend), and becomes part of it (with a respectful capital letter in this case).
Mi scusi, non volevo offenderLa.
I'm sorry, I didn't want to offend you.
Caption 57, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi
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In another episode, Luca Manara is being polite to his boss, but only on the surface. In this case, the indirect object pronoun is part of the compound verb, riferire a (to report to).
Ma, come, purtroppo Lei mi ricorda,
But, since, unfortunately you remind me,
io devo riferirLe tutto, no?
I have to tell you everything, don't I?
-Si aspetta magari che le dica bravo?
-Maybe you're expecting me say, "Good work?"
Captions 25-26, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP2 - Vendemmia tardiva
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In the concluding segment of “Vendemmia tardiva,” la zia, as usual, uses her powers of conversazione and intuizione femminile to help solve the crime:
Avevo capito che, in tutti questi anni, è stata innamorata di lui.
I'd figured out that, for all these years, she'd been in love with him.
E per trent'anni gli ha dato del Lei,
And for thirty years she addressed him formally,
ma ti rendi conto?
can you imagine that?
Captions 5-6, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP2 - Vendemmia tardiva
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Dare del tu (to address informally) or dare del Lei (to address formally) is an important aspect to settle in a new relationship. A common question to ask is: ci possiamo dare del tu? (can we give each other the informal "you?") or, ci diamo del tu? (shall we give each other the informal “you?”). The answer is almost always: sì, certo!
When visiting a foreign country like Italy, there can be challenges to something as simple as asking for a un bicchiere d’acqua (a glass of water)! In fact, as Anna and Marika mention while enjoying a meal in a famous Roman restaurant, one of the first things the cameriere (waiter) will ask you is what you want to drink.
Il cameriere è venuto e ci ha portato dell'acqua naturale.
The waiter came and he brought us still water.
Ci ha prima chiesto se volevamo acqua gasata
First he asked us if we wanted fizzy water
o naturale e noi abbiamo scelto naturale.
or still and we chose still.
Captions 20-21, Anna e Marika - Trattoria Al Biondo Tevere
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Water is not served automatically, nor is it free unless you specifically ask for acqua del rubinetto (tap water). Italians commonly drink acqua minerale (mineral water, or sometimes simply bottled water) al ristorante (at a restaurant), and will choose either acqua gassata (fizzy water), or acqua naturale (plain or still mineral water). If you ask for ghiaccio (ice), they may give you funny look, but you can ask for your acqua fredda (cold) or a temperatura ambiente (at room temperature).
One of the last things you’ll do after a meal in a restaurant is ask for il conto (the bill). Sometimes, as might be the case with Marika and Anna, you decide to pay alla romana (Roman style) where the bill is divided equally among the number of people dining, regardless of what each person had to eat. But if you do want to pay, you can tell the friend who's taking his wallet out to leave it where it is. Stai buono/a. You’re saying, “be good” but you mean “stay as you are!”
Learning suggestion: Keep on the lookout for the verb stare (to be situated, to stay, to be) as you watch Yabla videos. It’s closely related to essere (to be) but implies a position or condition. Do a Yabla video search of both stare and stai to get a feel for when and how it’s used.
For those living in the Northern Hemisphere, December can be a good time to turn to indoor activities like learning or perfecting a second language. If it’s cold and dark outside, it might be nice to make yourself a nice cup of tea or cioccolata calda (hot chocolate) and view some of the new videos at Yabla!
With all this cold weather, Francesca must be daydreaming about warmer times. She shared with us how wonderful the beach can be in September:
Oggi ho deciso di passare una giornata diversa dal solito
Today I've decided to spend the day differently from usual
e quindi sono venuta al mare.
and so I've come to the beach.
Captions 1-2, Francesca - sulla spiaggia
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When talking about the beach in general, il mare (“the sea” or “the seaside”) is the right word to use, but once there, or when talking about the quality of the beach itself (sandy, pebbly, crowded, empty, etc.), use la spiaggia (the beach). Francesca explains that she chose to go to the beach in September to avoid "la calca": the summer crowd.
La calca, in Italia, significa una folla esagerata,
The rabble, in Italy, means an exaggerated crowd,
molta, molta gente, che si può trovare in queste spiagge.
lots and lots of people, that can be found on these beaches.
Captions 36-37, Francesca - sulla spiaggia
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In Italia much of the coastline consists of private beach clubs that provide bars, restaurants, changing rooms, showers, and restrooms. Bagno is used to indicate a beach club or bathing establishment, for example, "Bagno Italia." Fare il bagno (“to go swimming” or “to go in the water”) is one thing you might do there. But be careful; bagno can also mean lavatory! Public (free) beaches (spiaggie libere) exist but tend to be small and hard to find. Francesca is at a typical Italian beach club where it is customary to rent a beach umbrella (ombrellone) and beach chair (sdraio) or cot (lettino). She has to go and pay first alla cassa (at the counter).
Va bene. Allora vado alla cassa. -Sì, sì, la cassa, sì.
Alright. So, I'll go to the counter. -Yes, yes, the counter, yes.
Caption 17, Francesca - sulla spiaggia
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La cassa is used to indicate the place where you pay for something, whether it’s a cash register, ticket window, or checkout counter.
To inspire your warm weather reverie, and to reinforce your vocabulary on the subject, have a look at these Yabla videos:
Antonio takes us to a beautiful seaside resort at Praia a Mare in Calabria on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Adriano tells us about the splendid beach at Mondello near Palermo in Sicily.
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