Language Tips

No matter if you have visited Italy many times before or if it’s your first time, it’s always important to know the rules of politeness and remember to use…

Earlier this month Italy celebrated ‘La Festa dei Lavoratori’, or International Workers’ Day. Known colloquially as ‘Il Primo Maggio’, or the First of May,…

When asking a friend what time you should meet for lunch, she may say ‘a mezzogiorno’ – at midday, at noon, or at 12pm.  However, when Italians use the word ‘…

Carnival season can be a wonderful time to visit the cities, towns and villages all over Italy. With processions, masks, colours, music, dancing and special…

Any parent with a connection to Italy is probably dreaming of bringing up little bilingual babies who speak Italian, understand the culture and can make…

A question my friends and I used to ask each other regularly when I lived in Italy was: what are you doing on Saturday evening? This would then spark a…

Ci and ne are called particelle (particles) and are widely used in Italian. You may have heard them or seen them written down but were not sure how to use them…

Ristorante, trattoria, osteria, bar, tavola calda, pizzeria, paninoteca, rosticceria, etc. When you travel to Italy, chances are you’ll come across many of the…

For many of us, Italy is a place where we can just sit back and relax. You can use the English word in Italian to refer to a state of relaxation - il relax. Ho…

When talking about the clocks going forward and backward, we can use the expressions: -  cambiare l’ora - change the clocks -  mettere un’ora in avanti/…