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Travel Italy: Italian Hosts and their Guests

Travel Italy: Italian Hosts and their Guests

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog  Follow Caterina and read about Italian hosts and their guests in Italy in the Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Italian Hosts and their Guests 

Italian hosts are found throughout Italy, as a multitude of tourists from all countries of the world visit the bustling cities,  ancient mountain towns and stunning seaside resorts that Italy is known for.  And, Italian hospitality is well-known to those who visit Italy.  Italian hosts  in family restaurants or shops even invite guests in with the exclamation, “Benvenuti!” “Welcome all!”

In our story, Caterina is a guest at the house of her Italian cousin Pietro and his wife Francesca.  She counts herself lucky to have family to visit in Italy, and her visit is in turn celebrated by her Italian hosts.  A warm, “welcome-home” dinner is planned upon her arrival and she is able to relax and visit with her cousins, grandmother and nephew on the first night of her Italian vacation.

Feel free to listen in on Caterina and her relatives on the day of her arrival to her cousin Pietro’s house with our FREE audio dialogue from “Chapter 7 – A Family Reunion” on www.LearnTravelItalian.com.

The Cultural Note below, adapted from the  textbook found on Amazon.com, Conversational Italian for Travelers, gives some general guidelines about the Italian one needs to know to talk about celebrations in Italy and address Italian hosts and their guests.
—Kathryn Occhipinti


 

Italian Cultural Note:
  Italian Hosts and their Guests

Several Italian words are commonly used to refer to hosts and their guests that sound very much like their English counterparts.  But, beware!  Despite similar pronunciation, the meaning of these words in Italian is often different from the English definition.  Here are short but important explanations to clarify these issues.

Let’s start with an Italian word we already know: l’hostess.  In Chapter 1 of our Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook, we learned that this word means stewardess and that a man working the same job is referred to as lo steward.

The word l’hostess does not have any other meaning in Italian, other than stewardess.  So, other Italian words must be substituted for the English word hostess (a woman who has invited others to a gathering or party or to stay in her home).

L’ospite can be used to refer to the hostess of a party in Italy.  However, l’ospite is also commonly used to refer to the guest!

Several common phrases can be used to clarify the situation…

For a hostess or host who has invited people into their home, the titles “la padrona di casa” or “il padrone di casa” are used.

For a party given outside the home, you can use the phrase, “la persona che invita” to refer to both a female or male host.  It should be noted here that, although persona is a feminine word in Italian, it refers to all human beings, male and female; the plural would be le persone, of course!

To refer to an organizer/coordinator of an event or party, use, l’organizzatore/l’organizzatrice della festa.”

Below is a table that summarizes these points:

l’ospite host, hostess
guest
la padrona (di casa) hostess (at her home)/homeowner, mistress
il padrone (di casa) host (at his home)/homeowner, boss
older meanings: ruler, master, lord (landowner)
la persona che invita host or hostess
(for event or party outside the home)
l’organizzatore host/organizer/coordinator
(for event or party outside the home)
l’organizzatrice hostess/organizer/coordinator
(for event or party outside the home)

Here are some phrases to that refer to the type of celebration you may be invited to while in Italy by your Italian friends. If you stay in Italy long enough, you are sure to run into a street fair or parade on a feast day, or a wedding or other holiday celebration.  Buon divertimento!” Have a good time!”

la festa/le feste holiday(s), celebration(s) party(ies)
la festa di compleanno birthday party
la festivà religious holiday
fare una festa to have/make a party
festeggiare to celebrate or have a celebration
to observe a holiday
fare festa to celebrate/to party

—Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, “Vocabulary—Hosts and their Guests,” by Kathryn Occhipinti

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
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More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
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Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Travel Italy: Italian Hosts and their Guests

Italian Book Sale

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice: Emailing Italian Families

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice: Emailing Italian Families 

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog               Use our Italian practice tips to write your own Italian email! Revisit the Italian subjunctive mood when writing emails!

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

Can you speak Italian? By now, many of you have passed the beginning stages of learning how to speak Italian and can read and comprehend quite a bit of the language. Meraviglioso!

But have you tried to take the next step to communicate in Italian fluently? Do you know the usual Italian greetings and salutations to use in an email? Can you use the subjunctive mood correctly when writing an email? As everyone knows,  email is now an integral part of daily communication all over the world. For Italy, this means that the subjunctive mood is important again in daily life!

For our first Italian practice email using the subjunctive, we will follow the story of Caterina and Francesca,  two Italian cousins who are living in different cities and trying to reconnect. Then we will present information about Italian greetings and salutations used in informal and formal types of written communication in Italy. We will describe how to use the verbs trovare, venire, and visitare to describe visiting people and places, how to use  the Italian adverb “ci,” and how to make command forms with the verb fare.  We will also talk about Italian reflexive verbs of self movement. Finally, we will compare the American and Italian school systems that play such a large part in everyday family life in America and Italy today.

                                                           ***************************

Italian Practice: Email and the Italian Subjunctive Mood

A note about the Italian subjunctive mood: to express complex feelings in Italian correctly, it is important to use the Italian subjunctive mood. Using the subjunctive mood is difficult for English speakers, because we only rarely use this tense in English, and it’s something that I am always working on! This is the first blog post in the “Italian Practice” series that focuses on how to use the Italian subjunctive mood, or “il congiuntivo,” when writing an email to your family.

To review how to express one’s feelings using the subjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

Enjoy the first blog post in this series, “Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families.”
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Some of this material is adapted from our textbook, Conversational Italian for Travelers © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC, found on www.learntravelitalian.com. Special thanks to Italian instructor Simona Giuggioli.


Italian Practice Email: All about… Family

How many phrases that use the subjunctive mood can you pick out of the following emails? Hint: these phrases usually include the word “che.” Look for the underlined phrases for help! And beware those phrases that sound like they should take the subjunctive but do not—these can also be found in the emails below!

Remember these examples as “anchors” in your knowledge for when you try to speak Italian and try out the subjunctive mood in your next Italian conversation!

Italian Practice Email: All about… Family
An Email to Francesca

Cara cugina Francesca,
Dear Cousin Frances,

Quanto tempo è passato da quando ti sei trasferita dall’Abruzzo a Roma!
How much time has passed since you have moved from Abruzzo to Rome!

Spero che tu stia bene.
I hope that you are well.

Spero anche che tuo marito e i tuoi figli stiano bene.
I also hope that your husband and children are well.

È peccato che tu e la tua famiglia vi siate trasferiti cosi lontano da vostra cugina che vi vuole bene.
It is a shame that you and your family have moved so far from your cousin that cares for you all so much.

Come sta la piccola Eleonora?
How is little Eleanor?

Penso che Eleonora debba essere cresciuta molto.
I’m thinking that Eleanor must have grown a lot.

Penso che Eleonora abbia dieci anni, ora, no?
I think that Eleanor is 10 years old, now, no?

Mi sembra che Eleonora debba essere una bella ragazzina ora!
It seems to me that Eleanor must be a beautiful little girl now!

E Giovanni, come sta?
And how is John?

È probabile che Giovanni sia alto e forte e un bravo ragazzo!
I bet that (probably) John is tall and strong and a very good boy!

È incredibile che il tempo passi cosi in fretta!
It’s incredible that the time has passed so quickly!

Si dicono in inglese che “il tempo vola,” e per me è vero!
They say in English that “time flies,” and for me, it is true!

Immagino che tuo marito sia contento con il suo lavoro a Roma.
I imagine that your husband is happy with his job in Rome.

Ma non sono sicura che tu sia felice di vivere là.
But I am not sure that you are happy living there.

Forse tu sei felice di vivere in una città per un po’ di tempo, ma lo so che ti piace molto la campagna. 
Maybe you are happy living for a little bit in the city, but I know that you like the country a lot.

Per me, è molto difficile vivere senza di te, mia cara cugina.
For me, it is very difficult living without you, my dearest cousin.

Mi manchi molto!
I miss you so much!

Vorrei che tu venga a trovarmi in Abruzzo quest’estate.
I would like you to come and visit me in Abruzzo this summer.

Pensaci e fammi sapere. Mandami un’email.
Think about it and let me know. Send me an email.

Spero che tu abbia un buon weekend!
I hope that you have a good weekend!

Scrivimi presto!
Write me soon!

Baci e abbracci,
Kisses and hugs,

Caterina
Kathy

 


 

Italian Practice Email: All about… Family
A Reply Email to Caterina

Cara cugina Caterina,
Dear Cousin Kathy,

Ero molto contenta di sentire le tue notizie.
I was very happy to hear from you.

La mia famiglia sta molto bene, ed Eleonora e Giovanni sono cresciuti molto in questi due anni che siamo stati a Roma.
My family is very well, and Eleanor and John have grown in these last two years that we have been in Rome.

Eleanora fa il quinto anno di scuola elementare e Giovanni fa il primo anno di liceo.
Eleanor is in the 5th grade, and John is in his first year of high school.

Tutti e due sono bravi figli ed io e mio marito Giuseppe siamo molto orgogliosi di loro.
Both are good children, and my husband Joe and I are very proud of them.

Ho una buona notizia!
I have good news!

Sono libera di viaggiare in Abruzzo quest’estate in agosto per Ferragosto!
I am free to travel to Abruzzo this summer in August for the Ferragosto holiday!

Mi auguro che tu abbia tempo disponibile questo Ferragosto.
I hope that you have time free this Ferragosto.

Tu mi manchi molto, mia bella cugina!
I miss you very much, my beautiful cousin!

Noi siamo certi di avere una buona visita.
We are certain to have a wonderful visit!

Restiamo in contatto e spero di vederti presto!
Stay in contact, and I hope to see you soon!

Ti voglio molto bene.
I care for you very much.

Tanti baci!
Lots of kisses!

Francesca
Frances

 


Italian Practice Email: What You Will Need to Know…

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Phrases That Take the Italian Subjunctive Mood

Verbs in Italian can have a subjunctive mood that is used to express doubt, uncertainty, desire, or a feeling.

Certain phrases are commonly used to start a sentence in order to introduce the subjunctive mood, and these initial phrases will be in the indicative tense (the “usual” present or past tense). These initial phrases imply uncertainty and trigger the subjunctive mood in the phrase to follow. The phrase that follows will then describe what the uncertainty is about. These introductory phrases usually end with the word che, which means that. Che may also be the ending of the last word used in the introductory phrase!

Note that the simple present or past tenses can also be used after the introductory phrases listed below, rather than the subjunctive mood, if you are speaking about a fact or something that you believe to be true. This use will make perfect sense to the Italian listener, although the subjective mood is also commonly used. Notice that when speaking about the past using these phrases, the imperfetto form of the past tense is usually used.

To review how to express one’s feelings using the subjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

 


Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Greetings for Family Emails, Texts, and Letters

Now that email has become an essential way to communicate, it is important to know how to address family, friends, and work colleagues in writing. In effect, that old-fashioned way of communicating—the letter—has been resurrected in electronic form! Here are some suggestions for greetings and salutations in Italian, depending on the formality of the situation.

For family and friends, most Italian emails will begin with “Cara,” for females or “Caro” for males, meaning “Dear.” This greeting is, of course, followed by the first name of the person to whom the email is addressed. Because caro is an adjective, the ending can be modified to match the gender and number of the person it refers to, just as other adjectives are. So cara(e) is used before a female singular/plural person(s) and caro(i) before male singular/plural person(s). Carissimo(a,i,e) is a common variation and means “Dearest.” Many times, no greeting at all is used for close family and friends who communicate frequently.

A note about texting, which is even more informal than email, because texts are usually made only to friends: there is much more variation if a greeting is used, and there are many creative ways to greet someone by text in Italian. One of the most common text greetings is probably “ciao” for “hi” or bye.” There are many common variations, such as “ciao bella” for a female, “ciao bello” for a male, or simply “bella” or “bellezza” for a female, all meaning “hello beautiful/handsome.” If texting in the day or evening, “Buon giorno” or “Buona sera” may be used as well, meaning, “Good morning/Good day” or “Good evening.”

A text is still not acceptable in most situations for a first or a formal communication, although email is now often the preferred way of establishing an initial contact in business.


 

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Greetings for  Formal Emails and Letters

Letters are still frequently used in Italy. Several common salutations are used when writing a formal email in Italian. These salutations have been established over many centuries of formal communication.

A formal Italian letter will commonly begin with the Italian word for “Gentle,” which is “Gentile,” followed by a title, such as Mr., Mrs., or Miss, and then a surname. For example: Gentile Signor* Verde or Gentilissima Signora Russo. The Italian word “Egregio,” which used to mean “Esquire,” is still commonly used in very formal business communications, but in these instances, it is translated as “Dear.” “Pregiatissimo” is the most formal type of greeting and is similar to the English phrase “Dear Sir.” This greeting is only rarely used in Italy today.

This all seems simple enough, although a typical formal Italian greeting is often abbreviated and can seem a bit off-putting unless one is fluent in the abbreviations as well. Our salutations above are often written as follows: Gentile Sig. Verde and Gen.ma Sig.na Russo. The table in the next section lists the most commonly used abbreviations.

Also, in Italian, even more than in English, if one holds a professional title, such as “doctor” or “lawyer,” this title is always used as the form of address when speaking and in writing. In fact, those who have attended an Italian university or have an important job title are usually addressed by other Italians as “dottore” or “dottoressa.” A medical doctor is addressed the same way but is known specifically as “un medico” (used for men and women).


Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Commonly Used Italian Abbreviations for Business Greetings

Avv. Avvocato Lawyer
Dott. Dottore Doctor (male or female)
Dott.ssa Dottoressa Female Doctor
Egr. Egregio Dear (Esquire)
  Ingegnere Engineer
Gent.mi Gentilissimi(e) Dear (plural) Very Kind
Gent.mo Gentilissimo(a) Dear (singular) Very Kind
Preg. Pregiatissimo Dear
Sig. Signor Mister (Mr.)
Sig.na Signorina Miss
Sig.ra Signorma Misses (Mrs.)
Sig.ri Signori Mr. and Mrs./Messers
Spett. Spettabile Messers

*When signore is followed by someone’s first or last name, in writing and when addressing someone directly, the “e” from signore is dropped to form signor.


 

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
Italian Salutations for Emails, Texts, and Letters

After we’ve written our email, text, or formal letter, how should we sign off? As you can imagine, this is very different depending on how close the two correspondents are. For two friends, the typical spoken salutations, “ciao” and “ci vediamo,” are commonly used for emails and texts, as are the many idiomatic expressions, such as “a presto” or “a dopo.”

For those who are close friends or family, one may send kisses as “baci,” and sometimes hugs, “abbracci,” as we do in English. You can imagine that there are many variations on this theme, such as “un bacione” for “a big kiss.” “Un bacio” or “tanti baci” are other variations and mean “a kiss” and “many kisses.” There is one big difference between salutations in English and Italian, though: Italians normally do not sign off with the word “Love,” as in “Love, Kathy.”

For business, the word “Saluti” is generally used in closing to mean “Regards.” One can also give “Un Saluto” or “Tanti Saluti.” “Cordalimente” means “Yours Truly.” “Cordali saluti” or Distinti Saluti” are particularly polite, meaning “Kind Regards” and “Best Regards.” “Sinceramente” means “Sincerely” but is not as often used in closing an email or letter.

Commonly Used Familiar Italian Salutations

Ciao Bye
Ci vediamo Good bye
(Until we see each other again.)
A presto! See you soon!
A dopo! See you later!
Baci Kisses
Un bacio A kiss
Un bacione A big kiss
Tanti baci Lots of kisses
Baci e Abbracci Kisses and hugs

 

Commonly Used Formal Italian Salutations

Saluti Regards
Un Saluto Regards
Cordalimente Yours truly
Cordali Saluti Kind regards
Distinti Saluti Best regards
Tanti Saluti Many regards
Sinceramente Sincerely

 


 

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
How to Use Trovare, Trovarsi and Visitare

Trovare means “to find” something.

When trovare is combined with the verb andare in the phrase “andare a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to go to visit” someone.  An example would be, Vado a trovare mia mamma,” which of course means, “I go to visit my mother.”

Similarly, when trovare is combined with the verb venire  in the phrase “venire a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to come to visit” someone.  In the email we have just read, Caterina writes, “Vorrei che tu venga a trovarmi in Abruzzo quest’estate.”  She adds “mi” to the end of the verb trovare in order to specify the person who is being visited.

********************

Visitare means to visit or to see a place.  For example, “Molte persone visitano l’Italia.” “Many people visit Italy.”

In a formal letter, one might use the phrase, “invitare a visitare,” to invite someone, to be a guest as in, “Vi invitiamo a visitare il nostro blog…” for, ” We kindly invite you to visit our blog.”

*********************

Let’s go back and explore a few more interesting points about the verb trovare.  Trovare can also mean “to meet by chance,” or “to run into” someone, as we would say in English.  Trovare sometimes means “to think/consider” and is also used to mean “to notice” in some expressions.  Trovarsi is a reflexive verb that is used to describe “finding oneself” in certain situations or in a certain place.

andare a trovare to go to visit with/to look in on/to look up
venire a trovare to come to visit with
cercare di trovare to try to find
trovare per caso to happen on/to happen upon/to come across
torvare i mezzi to find means
trovare conforto to take comfort
trovare informazioni su to find information (something) on
trovare la propria strada to make your way/to take the right road
trovare la risposta to find the answer
trovare la soluzione to find the solution
trovare il tempo per fare to get around to doing something
trovare il giusto equilibrio to strike a balance
trovare (qualcosa) divertente to find (something) amusing
trovare qualcosa to consider something
trovare un modo to find a way
Dove si trova? Where is she/he/it located?
Si trova in… (He/she/it) is located in…
Non mi trovo bene con.. I don’t get on well with…
Troviamoci dopo cena. Let’s meet (each other) after dinner.

 

 


Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
How to Use the Italian Adverb “Ci”

The phrases c’è and ci sono mean there is and there are respectively.  Ci can also be used to mean here or there when referring to a specific location.  The location is either understood by the speakers or will have already have been mentioned in the conversation, and ci will be used in a reply to make the conversation flow more smoothly.  In these instances, the location will be introduced by a preposition (a, in, su, da) and ci will replace both the preposition and the place when given in the reply.

Ci is placed before the conjugated verb.  With helping verbs dovere, potere, or volere, ci can be placed before the helping verb or attached to the infinitive.

Non ci voglio più stare. (I) don’t want to stay here anymore.
   
Vai in pizzeria stasera? (Are) (you fam.) going to a pizzeria tonight?
No, non ci vado. No, (I’m) not going there.
Ci sarò. I’ll be there.
   
Vuoi venire a casa mia? (Do) (you fam.) want to come to my house?
No, non ci voglio venire. No, (I) don’t want to come there.
No, non voglio venirci. No, (I) don’t want to come there.

Ci is frequently used as an indirect object to reply to certain questions regarding what someone believes in. “Credere a…?” which means, “Do you believe in…?” is one of the most commonly used phrases of this type.  In this case, ci replaces the phrase that is believed in.  The meaning of ci would be, “in it” or “about it.”

 Ci is also used as an indirect object to reply to certain questions regarding what someone thinks about. “Pensare a…?” can mean, “What do you think about…?”  In this case, ci replaces the phrase that is believed in.  The meaning of ci would be, “in it” or “about it.”

In other contexts, the verb pensare can be used to ask if someone is going to care of something.  The subject pronoun tu will come after the verb in these questions to signify intent.  For the response, ci replaces the thing that is being taken care of and the subject pronoun io is placed after the verb to signify intent. The meaning of ci in both cases is, “in it” or “about it.” “Ci penso io,” can always be used when you want to say, “I’ll do it.” or “I’ll take care of it.”

Ci is also used as part of a command in order to ask someone to believe in or think about something that has been stated previously.

Credi alla religione cristiana? (Do)(you fam.) believe in the Christian religion?
Si, ci credo. Yes, (I) believe in it.
   
Pensi di trovare un nuovo lavoro? Are you thinking of finding a new job?
Si, ci penso ancora. Yes, I am still thinking about it.
   
Caterina, ci pensi tu a comprare il latte? Kathy, are you going to take care of buying the milk?
Ci penso io. I’ll take care of it.
   
Credici! Believe in it! (familiar command)
   
Pensaci! Think about it! (familiar command)
   
Ci mancherebbe. Don’t mention it. (idiomatic expression)

 

Finally, if we want to combine ci with a direct object pronoun in a sentence to say ,“I’ve got it,” or “I’ve got them,” referring to something in our possession, the last letter-i of ci is changed to an e.  This is an expression that follows the word order “ce – direct object – verb.” See below for how this works:

 

Do you have the ticket in your purse? Hai il biglietto nella tua borsa?
Yes, I have it in my purse. Si, l’ho nella borsa.
Yes, I’ve got it. Si, ce lho.
   
Do you have the keys to your car? Hai le chiavi alla tua macchina?
Yes, I have them. Si, ce le ho.

 

 


 

 Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

          You will need to know:
Common Italian Command Forms with Fare

The verb fare, which means “to do,” or “to make,” often comes up when one person makes a direct request that another person do something.  To ask for a favor politely, you could use the (by now, well-known) verb può with fare to make the phrase, “Può farmi un favore?” for, “Could you do me a favor?”  But, more often, the familiar command form of this phrase is used; if one is instructing another person to do something, both people often know each other very well. Or, perhaps in the workplace, a superior is making a request of another worker.   In this case, the commonly used phrase used would be, “Fammi un favore!” for, “Do me a favor! Piacere also works interchangeably with favore in this expression, as in, “Fammi un piacere!”

 

Notice that, when attaching an indirect object pronoun (except for gli), direct object pronoun, or a reflexive pronoun  to the familiar command verb fa, the first letter of the pronoun is  doubled.  Below are some commonly used expressions which combine the command form of fare with their pronouns attached.

 

Fammi un favore! Do me a favor!
Fammi un piacere! Do me a favor!
Fatti vedere! Come and see me! (lit. Make yourself seen!)
Fatti sentire! Call me! (lit. Make yourself heard!)
Fallo! Do it!

 

Fammi can also be used in an idiomatic way, with the meaning, “let me,” when followed by an infinitive verb, such as, “Fammi vedere,” for, “Let me see,” or, “Fammi chiamare,” for, “Let me call.”

 

Fammi vedere… Let me see…
Fammi chiamare… Let me call…

 

Two additional commonly used familiar commands with indirect object pronouns involve the verbs dire and dare:

 

Dimmi! Tell me!
Dammi! Give me!

 


 

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
Italian Reflexive Verbs for Self-Movement

Italian reflexive verbs can be tricky for the English speaker because there are many situations where reflexive verbs are used in Italian but not in English. In these cases, we must learn to think in Italian! If we think in Italian, using reflexive verbs to refer to where one has moved to or from or to describe a change in one’s feelings does make sense.

We have already talked about the most common reflexive verbs in the second blog post in the Speak Italian! series, Speak Italian: All About… What I Am Doing! This blog post describes activities of daily living, which are the most common activities that use the Italian reflexive verbs.

Other activities of today’s “modern daily living” include interrupting one’s life at a certain location and starting life again in a different location.  In this blog post, for instance, one cousin moves from Abruzzo to Rome. It makes sense, then, that the verb for the act of moving oneself is reflexive: trasferirsi, which can mean “to move (oneself) from town to another town” and “to transfer (oneself).”

Following this logic, the more general verbs to move” (muoversi) or to stop” (fermarsi) are also reflexive when they refer to an action that is being performed by a person.

Avvicinarsi a (to approach) alontanarsi da (to go away from/distance oneself from) are also included in the table below.

trasferirsi to move (oneself), as in relocate towns; transfer towns or job
muoversi to move (oneself) from one place to another
spostarsi to move (oneself) from one place to another, relocate
dirigersi to go over/head over somewhere
avvicinarsi a to approach
allontarsi da to go away from/distance oneself from
fermarsi to stop (oneself)

Here is the way this works: if I have moved (myself) from one place to another and want to talk about this, I use the reflexive pronoun for myself (mi) with the conjugated verb for the first person, and then I say where I have moved. If someone else has moved (themselves), and I want to talk about this, I use the other corresponding reflexive pronoun (ti, si, ci, vi, si)/verb conjugation and then the location.

A few pointers are useful to remember. 

When talking about a move we have made, we will be speaking in the past tense and will need to use the passato prossimo past tense verb form for this one-time event. All reflexive passato prossimo verbs use essere as the helping verb with the past participle. Females will need to change the passato prossimo ending from an “o” to “a” when referring to themselves.

Also, remember to leave out the subject pronoun (io, tu, Lei/lei/lui, noi, voi, loro) unless it is necessary for clarification.

Finally, remember how to use prepositions when talking about a location—“a” for cities and small islands and “in” for countries, regions, states in the United States, and large islands like Sicily.

All of this is easier than it sounds once you give it a try!

Mi sono trasferito(a) a New York.*
I moved/have moved to New York City.

Ti sei trasferito(a) nello stato di New York due anni fa, corretto?
You moved/have moved to New York State two years ago, correct?

Lui si è trasferito in America la settimana scorsa.
He moved/has moved to America last week.

Lei si è trasferita in America la settimana scorsa.
She moved/has moved to America last week.

Ci siamo trasferiti a Roma per un lavoro molto importante.
We transferred/were transferred to Rome for a very important job.

Vi siete trasferite alla scuola di Marymount Internazionale a Roma.
You all (girls) transferred/have transferred to the Marymount International School in Rome.

Loro si sono trasferiti in Italia per la loro società.
They transferred/have transferred to Italy for their company.

 

Finally, it should be noted that there are other ways of describing a person’s move from one place to another that do not involve reflexive verbs. To emphasize that one has moved from an old house to a new one, the phrase cambiare casa is used. To describe moving furniture from one’s old house to the new house (i.e., to move things), the nonreflexive verb traslocare is used.

 


Italian Practice: The Italian School System 

The Italian school system is similar to the U.S. school system. School years are divided into primary, middle, and secondary, or “high” school years. College is referred to as “university,” and in the past, a “university degree” entailed 6 years of education, similar to a master’s degree in the United States. Some 4-year university degrees are now also available in Italy. Below is a comparative list of the American and Italian school systems with the number of years children spend in each level.

American and Italian School Systems

U.S. School Years Italian School Years
Primary school 6 Scuola Elementare/la prima elementare 5
Middle school 2 Scuola Secondaria/Scuola Media/la prima media 3
High school 4 Liceo/il primo liceo 5

 


 

Italian Practice: Talking about the Italian School System 

 

For elementary school, if a child is in the 1st through 5th years of school:

Anna va alla scuola elementare.
Anna goes to the grade school.

 

Anna è in prima (classe) elementare. (seconda, terza, quarta, quinta classe)
Anna fa il primo anno di scuola elementare.
(secondo, terzo, quarto, quinto anno)
Anna is in the first year/1st grade of elementary school. (second, third, fourth, fifth year/2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th grade)

 

For middle school, if a child is in the 6th through 8th years of school:

Anna va alla scuola secondaria. or Anna va alla scuola media.
Anna goes to junior high schoolor Anna goes to middle school.

 

Anna è in prima (classe) media. (seconda, terza classe)
Anna fa il primo anno di scuola media.
(secondo, terzo anno)
Anna is in the first year/6th grade of middle school. (second, third year/7th, 8th grade)

 

For high school, if a child is in the 9th through 13th years of school, we can use similar phrases. Notice that there is no special title like “freshman, sophomore, junior, senior” for high school.

Anna va alla scuola superiore. or Anna va al liceo.
Anna goes to high school.

Anna è in prima (classe) liceo. (seconda, terza, quarta, quinta classe)
Anna fa il primo anno di liceo.
(secondo, terzo, quarto, quinto anno)
Anna is in the first year/9th grade of high school. (second, third, fourth, fifth year/10th, 11th, 12th, 13th grade)

  

-Some of this material is adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers,  © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC.


  Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blogKathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice: Emailing Italian Families

Dress shop in Rome

Shop Italian Fashion for Your Next Vacation!

Shop Italian Fashion for Your Next Vacation! 

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog  Follow Caterina and shop Italian in the Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Visit Italy and Shop Italian Fashion 

After Caterina settles into the routine of daily life with her family in Italy, her sister-in-law, Francesca, decides that they should go shopping. Although Francesca has grocery shopping in mind, Caterina would rather shop Italian at the many beautiful, fashionable shops that line the streets of Milan! To listen to this dialogue from Chapter 10 about Caterina and Francesca’s afternoon spent shopping in Milan, go to the interactive dialogues on our website at Learn Travel Italian Audio Dialogues. The Cultural Note below, also from the textbook, gives some important information about Italian sizes, for YOUR next shopping spree in Italy. Buon divertimento!
—Kathryn Occhipinti


 

Visit Italy and Shop Italian!

Rome shop window
Shop window in Rome advertising an up to 50% discount in July

When visiting Italy, one encounters wonderful shops that sell everything imaginable. In most cities, beautiful, stylish clothing made by well-known designers hangs in the shop windows of the grand boulevards and larger piazzas. Think Via Monte Napoleone in Milan or the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. Now that the fall season is upon us, the cooler weather will bring with it the exciting new Italian fashions of the season.

But maybe even more important for the shopper is what happens at the end of the fashion season in Italy. Usually in late June and July, corresponding to the height of the tourist season, it seems like almost all Italian fashion is on sale! Many clothing stores offer steep discounts, usually up to 50% throughout most of the store. Look for the signs in the shop windows that say “saldi” for sale or “sconto” for discount. Late summer is a shopper’s paradise in Italy for those who love fashion!

But one must be prepared to shop Italian. Sizes in Italy are different from those in the United States and from those in other European countries. How does one know what size clothing to bring to the dressing room? Also, when talking about Italian style, it should be mentioned that there are still dedicated craftsmen who make high-quality leather goods. There is such a dazzling variety of shoes in the shop windows that it is always tempting to buy a pair to bring home. But what size to tell the shopkeeper to get?

The tables that follow list European and Italian sizes and how they (roughly) correspond to the sizes in the United States.

Please note that this is only a general guide, and it is best to always try on any item of clothing before making a purchase!

Women’s Dress Sizes

General U.S. Size American European Italian
Extra Small 2 32 36
Small 4 34 38
Small 6 36 40
Medium 8 38 42
Medium 10 40 44
Large 12 42 46
Large 14 44 48
Extra Large 16 46 50

 

Women’s Blouse and Sweater Sizes

General U.S. Size American European Italian
Extra Small 32 34 40
Small 34 36 42
Small 36 38 44
Medium 38 40 46
Large 40 42 48
Large 42 44 50
Extra Large 44 46 52

 

Women’s and Men’s Shoe Sizes*

American Shoe Sizes (inches) 5 ½ 6 6 ½ 7 7 ½ 8 8 ½ 9 9 ½ 10 10 ½
European/Italian Women’s Shoe Sizes 35 ½ 36 36 ½ 37 37 ½ 38 38 ½ 39
European/Italian Men’s Shoe Sizes 37 37 ½ 38 38 ½ 39 40 41 41 ½ 42 42 ½ 43

*Hint: Subtract 30 from European shoe sizes to get the equivalent of the American size for women’s shoe sizes 5 to 9.

 

********************************************

For men’s clothing, Italian sizes and European sizes have an identical numbering system, although the fit of the clothing that corresponds to this numbering system is only loosely standardized. As usual, trying on clothing before purchasing is the best policy!

Men’s Shirt and Pant Sizes**

General U.S. Size American European Italian General Italian Size
2X Extra Small 32 42 42 Small
Extra Small 34 44 44 Medium
Small 36 46 46 Large
Medium 38 48 48 Extra Large
Large 40 50 50 2X Extra Large
Extra Large 42 52 52 3X Extra Large

**Hint: Just subtract 10 from the European shirt and pant sizes to get the American sizes.

 

Men’s Dress Shirt Sizes

General U.S. Size American European Italian General Italian Size
2X Extra Small 14.5 37 37 Small
Extra Small 15 38 38 Medium
Small 15.5 39 39 Large
Medium 15.8 40 40 Extra Large
Large 16 41 41 2X Extra Large
Extra Large 17 42 42 3X Extra Large

 

Men’s Suit Sizes

General U.S. Size American European Italian General Italian Size
2X Extra Small 36 48 48 Small
Extra Small 38 50 50 Medium
Small 40 52 52 Large
Medium 42 54 54 Extra Large
Large 44 56 56 2X Extra Large
Extra Large 46 58 58 3X Extra Large

 —Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, Chapter 10, “Cultural Note,” © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC, by Kathryn Occhipinti 


Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

 Shop Italian Fashion for Your Next Vacation

Menus in Italian on Lido Island, Venice

Visiting Italy? Reading Italian Menus

Visiting Italy? Reading Italian Menus 

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Visiting Italy? Follow Caterina for tips on how to read the Italian menus at your favorite restaurant—from the Conversational Italian series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Visiting Italy? Learn how to read the menu at your favorite Italian restaurant!

After Caterina arrives in Italy, she stays with her Italian cousin Pietro and his family in Milan for a while and adapts to Italian life and the Italian language. Then, in the last unit of the book, they all go on a summer vacation together. Caterina and her family stay at a typical northern Italian lake resort in the town of Stresa on Lago Maggiore.

Italian menus can look confusing to those who are new to Italian culture, but a few tips will help you understand how they are usually designed. Because most restaurants in Italy offer several courses, the Italian menu will usually list each course in  the order in which it is to be served. Read on for a description of each Italian course, and find out what to expect when you order your own delicious meal in Italy!

To listen to the dialogue from Chapter 16, when Caterina and her Italian family arrive at an Italian restaurant and begin their wonderful meal together, go to the interactive audio dialogues on our website at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html.
—Kathryn Occhipinti


  Cultural Note: Reading Italian Menus

Italian restaurant menus for pizza in Italy may be similar to this example
Italian menus may list different types of pizzas. Listed here are specialty pizzas made with a wood-burning oven in Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy.

Italian menus reflect the typical Italian meal offered at most all Italian restaurants open for dinner, from the family-run trattoria, to the more formal ristorante (with a professional chef). The Italian meal consists of several courses.

Appetizers, called “antipasto” or “antipasti,” are small servings of vegetables, meat, or fish, served either hot or cold, to start the meal. The pasta course can be, and often is, the main course for the meal and is called “il primo.”

If there is time for a longer dinner, or for a celebratory dinner, it is traditional to follow the pasta course with an additional course of fish or meat (usually accompanied by a vegetable) that is called “il secondo.” 

And, of course, there is almost always the option of dessert under the “il dolce” section listed on most Italian menus, or at least coffee at the end of the meal.

With all these courses, an Italian dinner may take between 1½ and 2 hours! This is understood by the restaurant owners, who consider the table booked for the evening from the moment it is occupied; dinner in Italy is considered finished only when the diner asks for the check! In Italy, meals are a time for gathering with family and friends, and a well-prepared dinner with several courses is considered a part of “la dolce vita,” or “the good life.”

Below is a list of the courses that comprise a full Italian meal, in the order that they usually appear on most Italian menus.

La Cena Italiana The Italian Dinner
   
L’Antipasto Appetizer Course
Il Primo The First Course
Il Secondo The Second Course
Il Dolce The Dessert (Sweet) Course

 


 Cultural Note: Italian Courses Explained 

L’Antipasto 

When looking through Italian menus, expect to see a selection of appetizers (gli antipasti) listed first. Each region has its own specialties, which include a wide variety of vegetables (raw, preserved in olive oil or vinegar, or cooked), as well as cold meats or salami and cheeses. Salad can also be served as part of this course, but it is often eaten after the second course, when the main course has been completed. Salads are usually not formally composed but consist of fresh lettuce and whatever other fresh garden vegetables the chef has on hand that day (insalata mista). Hot antipasto may be served, with a variety of fried foods (fritto misto), very popular throughout the coastal regions of Italy.

Soup (zuppa), often referred to as the most common type, minestrone (made with bean- and tomato-based broth and various vegetables and pasta), on Italian menus  is well loved throughout Italy, and during leaner times, soups were a mainstay of the lunch and dinner meals. Soup may come after or replace the antipasto course.

Appetizers and soups are always served with fresh bread (pane) typical of the region. The type of bread is not usually listed as a choice on Italian menus, because bread-making varies by region. That said, bread in Italy is always wonderful—either with a hard, crunchy crust and a soft center, like a French baguette, or soft throughout but golden brown on top, like a thick, light pizza (focaccia). Thin, crunchy breadsticks (grissini) are common throughout northern Italy.

Bread in Italy can be eaten as is, or dipped in fresh, extra-virgin olive oil from a bottle that is provided along with the bread when one is seated. Butter—always unsalted—will only occasionally be found on the table as an accompaniment to the bread, and only in northern Italy. So if butter is not brought to the table with the bread, it probably is not available. When it comes to bread, just follow the local traditions for the best way to enjoy the type of bread each region has to offer!


 Cultural Note: Italian Courses Explained 

Il Primo

Next on Italian menus, we come to a list of starchy foods, such as pasta, gnocchi, or rice for the first course, or il primo. The word pasta means “paste” or “dough,” and refers to the method of mixing flour with water or eggs and then kneading the paste that is formed from this simple mixture until the gluten in the flour transforms it into a dough. The dough is rested, then rolled out and stretched, and finally cut into strands or put through a hand-cranked pasta machine at home. Commercial pasta machines, with their metal dyes that shape pasta into its many well-loved forms, and the ability of pasta to be dried and then cooked easily in a pot of salted boiling water, have allowed Italian pasta to become one of the world’s most popular dishes.

Many restaurants in Italy will have a selection of fresh pastas made daily, and it is the custom to make all sauces from scratch using farm-fresh ingredients. Pasta in Italy is always cooked freshly and served “al dente,” which literally means “to the tooth” (a bit firm when chewed). Pasta is served promptly, so it is never soft or mushy.

Italian short-grain rice (riso) when cooked in the Italian way is called risotto and is often served in northern Italy instead of pasta for the first course. The most popular types of rice grown in Italy are arborio and carnaroli. Italian rice is very starchy and is cooked slowly, with constant stirring, to bring out the starch and create a creamy sauce. No milk or cream is added! A variety of vegetables, seafood, or saffron can be added, along with a final enrichment of butter and cheese. How “soupy” the final dish turns out to be varies by region, but the rice itself is always a little firm, despite the constant stirring it takes to create the sauce.

Gnocchi, or potato dumplings, look like little pillows and when made properly are said to be as light as air. They are popular all over Italy for the first course and can be served with red tomato sauce, basil pesto, or Gorgonzola cheese sauce. (See our previous blog post Gnocchi with Brown Butter or Gorgonzola Sauce if you would like to try this dish!)


 Cultural Note: Italian Courses Explained 

Il Secondo

Il secondo, or the second course, always consists of meat or seafood, and with this course, a vegetable side dish, or contorno, can be ordered. The meat or seafood may be served alone or with one starch only, such as a potato or rice, so be sure to order your vegetables if you are a vegetable lover! Italians are very fond of vegetables and consider them as important as the meat or seafood in this course—important enough to be given their own listing on Italian menus!


 Cultural Note: Italian Courses Explained 

Il Dolce

For those who like to finish their meal with something sweet, there is usually a wide array of offerings for the dessert course, or il dolce. Whether for an informal meal, a large, important gathering, or a special holiday, several dessert choices are usually listed on the menu. Il dolce may consist of fruit, nuts, cheeses, an assortment of pastries or ice cream, and of course, sweet wine (vin santo), liquors, and coffee.

Try a full Italian meal “al fresco” one balmy evening in Italy, just the way the Italians do. Watch the people stroll by as they take their evening walk, relax, and enjoy. You won’t be disappointed!

—Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, Chapter 16, “Cultural Note – A Typical Italian Menu” © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC.

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases
Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

   Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Visiting Italy? Reading Italian Menus

Grand Hotel Isles des Borromees in Stresa on Lago Maggiore, Italy

Visiting Italy? Italian Restaurant Tips

Visiting Italy? Italian Restaurant Tips 

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Visiting Italy? Follow Caterina for tips on how to order at your favorite Italian restaurant—from the Conversational Italian series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Visiting Italy? Learn how to order at your favorite Italian restaurant!

After Caterina arrives in Italy, she stays with her Italian cousin Pietro and his family in Milan for a while and adapts to Italian life and the Italian language. Then, in the last unit of the book, they all go on a summer vacation together. Caterina and the family stay at a typical northern Italian lake resort in the town of Stresa on Lago Maggiore.

For those travelers who are adventurous enough to try out their Italian on their own visit to Italy, read on for some phrases that will come in handy when ordering at an Italian restaurant. Get started by speaking with the waiter. A delicious meal is soon to follow!

To listen to the dialogue from Chapter 16, when Caterina and her Italian family arrive at an Italian restaurant and begin their wonderful meal together, go to the interactive audio dialogues on our website at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html.
—Kathryn Occhipinti


Ordering at an Italian Restaurant (Part 1)
Speaking with the Waiter

Italian Restaurant at the Hotel Villa d'Este, Lago Como, Italy
Italian restaurant at the Villa d’Este hotel on Lago Como ready for lunch.

Below are some expressions that are commonly used when dining in a restaurant.

The io (I) and noi (we) forms of the verbs potere (to be able to/can) and volere (to want) are important to know in this situation, because requests are usually made for oneself or for the entire table.

We revisit the verb “Può?” for a polite way to say, “Could you?” and add “Posso?” for
“May I…?” and “Possiamo?” for “May we…?” to our list of polite phrases to use when making a request.

To the popular “io vorrei…” for “I would like,” we add the conditional plural form, “Noi vorremmo…” for “We would like…” See Chapter 18 of our Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook for the full conjugation of these verbs in the conditional tense.

Posso… May I…
Possiamo… May we…
…sederci vicino alla finestra? …sit by the window?
…sederci a un’altro tavolo? …sit at another table?
…avere il menù? …see (have) the menu?
Qual’è lo speciale oggi/stasera? What is the special today/this evening?
 Qual’è il piatto del giorno? What is the dish of the day? (English = special of the day)
Che cosa ha scelto/avete scelto? What have you/you all chosen?
Vorrei… I would like…
Vorremmo… We would like…
…come antipasto, l’insalata mista. …for the antipasto, mixed salad.
…come primo, le tagliatelle alla bolognese. …for the first course, tagliatelle with Bolognese meat sauce.
…come secondo, l’osso bucco. …for the second course, braised veal shank.
…come dolce, solamente frutta. …for dessert, only fruit.
Non posso mangiare niente… I cannot eat anything…
…fatto con noci/arachidi. …made with nuts/peanuts.
…molto piccante. …very spicy.
Questo è troppo caldo. This is too hot.
Questo è troppo freddo. This is too cold.
Mi può portare… Could you bring me…
Ci può portare… Could you bring us…
…dell’acqua senza gas/naturale? …some water without gas (natural water)?
…dell’acqua con gas/frizzante? …some sparkling water?
…del pane/più pane? …some bread/more bread?
…del sale e pepe? …some salt and pepper?
…un cucchiaio, un coltello, una forchetta? …a spoon, a knife, a fork?
…un tovagliolo? …a napkin?
Cin cin!/Salute!/Alla tua salute! Cheers! (To your) good health!

Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, Chapter 16, “Important Phrases  – Speaking with the Waiter,” © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC.


Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases
Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

   Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Visiting Italy? Italian Restaurant Tips

Drive Italy! - Driving in Abruzzo

Drive Italy! When in Rome, Drive as the Romans Do!

Drive Italy! When in Rome, Drive as the Romans Do!

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Drive Italy! Follow Caterina and get

tips on driving a car in Italy from the

Conversational Italian series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Drive Italy! When in Rome, Drive as the Romans Do!

After Caterina’s plane lands in Italy in the first chapter of the book, she takes a taxi to the main train station in Milan, where her cousin Pietro meets her. She is lucky to have a relative who can drive her in Italy to her final destination in Milan. For those travelers who choose to rent a car in Italy and then must drive themselves, I have included tips to follow in the “Cultural Note: Drive Italy!” section in Chapter 6, which has been adapted for this blog.

To listen to the dialogue from Chapter 6, when Caterina meets her cousin and he takes her on a (fictional) drive in Italy through Milan,  go to the interactive dialogues on our website at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html.
—Kathryn Occhipinti


Cultural Note: Drive Italy! When in Rome, Drive as the Romans Do!

Drive Italy! Cars and buses along the Coloseum in Rome
Drive Italy: Cars, buses, and motorcycles driving by the Colosseum in Rome

The Italian railway system is the most efficient way to travel throughout Italy, especially for the tourist with limited time to spend. But for those for whom driving the autostrada in a Ferrari has always been a dream (see www.red-travel.com), or for those who have enough time to spend to really get to know the countryside (www.italylogue.com/agriturismo), here are a few tips about what it is like to drive in Italy.

To rent a car and legally drive in Italy, some additional paperwork will need to be completed. Before leaving, call AAA to obtain an International Driving Permit (IDP), which is an official translation of a U.S. driver’s license. Both the IDP and your driver’s license should be presented at the time of rental, along with proof of insurance.

Once out in your new vehicle, keep in mind that seat belts must be worn at all times, and when driving on highways, headlights must often be kept on during the day and at night (posted signs say, “in autostrada anabbaglianti sempre accessi”).  Speed limits vary according to the type of road in Italy. For the autostrada, maximum speed is 130–140 km/h, and the left lane is used for passing only, whereas through traffic uses the right lanes. Beware of drivers who try to cheat this rule by straddling the lanes. It is not advised to copy this technique!

Maximum speed on the main highways is 110 km/h and in the towns 50 km/h. Maximum speeds automatically decrease 10–20 km/h in rain and fog. The signs denoting maximum speed are round, with a red perimeter and black numbers in the center. If the speed limit temporarily decreases, such as when passing through a town, a new speed limit sign will be posted. When the restriction ends, the same sign will reappear with a diagonal slash through it.

When driving into a town, a sign with the town’s name will appear; when leaving, the same sign with a diagonal slash through the town’s name will be posted. Stop signs are the same shape and color as in the United States, and they even say the word “stop” in English. However, Italian drivers treat them as flashing yellow—if they can, drivers often keep going!

Keep in mind that (technically) there is no “right on red” in Italy. Also, beware of the upside-down triangle with a red perimeter, the dare la precedenza sign, which is found before intersections or roundabouts—you must give way to all other vehicles. A round sign with a red perimeter and white center means that the area is restricted to vehicles, and a similar sign with a white bar means no entry. A complete list of signs can be found online at www.slowtravel-italy.com.

And finally, a word about parking. Parking signs are blue, and paid parking spaces are outlined in blue. Find the parking machine nearby, pay with cash or credit for the allotted number of hours, and put the ticket on your dashboard (as in many U.S. cities today). White spaces are usually free parking, but the disco orario, a small cardboard clock, needs to be placed on your dashboard and set to the time you arrived at the space—ora di arrivo. The posted sign will tell you how long you may remain. In some cities, however, the white lines may be reserved for residents, so beware. Also, do not park in front of driveways, where you may see a passo carrabile sign; block any type of side street; or double park, despite what you may see the Italians do!

Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, Chapter 6, “Cultural Note,” © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC.

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases
Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

   Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

 Drive Italy! When in Rome, Drive as the Romans Do!

Drive Italy! - Driving in Abruzzo

Drive Italy! Renting Cars to Drive in Italy

Drive Italy! Renting Cars to Drive in Italy

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Drive Italy! Follow Caterina and learn

how to rent a car in the

Conversational Italian series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Drive Italy! Renting Cars to Drive in Italy

After Caterina’s plane lands in Italy in the first chapter of the book, she takes a taxi to the main train station in Milan, where her cousin Pietro meets her. She is lucky to have a relative who can drive her in Italy to her final destination in Milan. For those who do not have a personal chauffeur to take them on a tour of Italy, or who just want to rent a Ferrari as part of their dream vacation, I have included in the book some tips on renting cars in the “Cultural Note: Drive Italy!” section in Chapter 6, which have been adapted for this blog.

To listen to the dialogue from Chapter 6, when Caterina meets her cousin and he takes her on a (fictional) drive in Italy through Milan,  go to the interactive dialogues on our website at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html.
—Kathryn Occhipinti


Cultural Note: Drive Italy! Renting Cars to Drive in Italy

Drive Italy! Cars and buses along the Coloseum in Rome
Drive Italy: Cars, buses, and motorcycles driving by the Colosseum in Rome

The Italian railway system is the most efficient way to travel throughout Italy, especially for the tourist with a limited period of time to spend. But for those for whom driving the autostrada in a Ferrari has always been a dream (see www.red-travel.com), or for those who have enough time to spend to really get to know the countryside (www.italylogue.com/agriturismo), here are a few tips about what is needed to rent a car and drive in Italy.

A quick search of the Internet for “rent a car in Italy” yields many companies that promise quick and easy deals. Auto Europe is not a car rental company, but a car broker that allows the traveler to book online, and it offers several additional services (www.autoeurope.com). Auto Europe is recommended by Slow Travel Italy, which can also be found on the Internet at http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/planning/. Here are some of the benefits that Auto Europe can provide for the renter: competitive pricing, a list of what is included for the price, pickup and dropoff at different locations within Italy at no extra charge, and a 24/7 customer service line that will help the traveler handle any issues encountered on the road or with the local rental company. Note that commonly included fees when renting a car in Italy include taxes, a surcharge for picking up the car at the airport, and possibly a daily road tax. Insurance is necessary to drive in Italy and can significantly increase the price of the rental when obtained through the rental company, so it is worthwhile to check if you can get cheaper insurance through a credit card company.

Picking up a rental car at the airport can be difficult at peak travel times because of long lines, and during off-hours, when parts of the airport may be closed. In addition, many Italian hotels, especially if located centrally within a city, do not have parking available for their guests. There are tolls on most Italian freeways, and gas is expensive in Italy. It may be easier to take the train to your initial destination and pick up the car the next day or when you are leaving for the next city on your trip—again, public transportation in most cities is excellent. The city streets in Italy are narrow, so remember that a smaller car is probably better than a larger car, as long as luggage and family will fit!

Here is a checklist of things to find out before leaving the rental office: (1) whether the car takes unleaded gas (benzina) or diesel (gasolio), (2) how to put the car in reverse, (3) how to lock and unlock doors and windows, (4) whether a reflective vest and other equipment required by law in case of an accident have been provided (in the trunk), (5) whether a GPS or map of the town where you will be driving is available, and (6) whether you can get a parking disc for the car.

To rent a car and legally drive in Italy, some additional paperwork will need to be completed. Before leaving, call AAA to obtain an International Driving Permit (IDP), which is an official translation of a U.S. driver’s license. Both the IDP and your driver’s license should be presented at the time of rental, along with proof of insurance.

Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, Chapter 6
“Cultural Note”  © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC.

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases
Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

   Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Drive Italy! Renting Cars to Drive in Italy

Venice Public Transportation ACTV

Venice: Arriving in Venice for Your Italian Adventure

Arriving in Venice for Your Italian Adventure

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Start your Italian adventure in Venice…

Follow Caterina in the Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Arriving in Venice

One of the first things Caterina must do after her plane lands in Italy at Milan’s Malpensa Airport is find her way to the city of Milan. You can learn about how to do this  at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html from one of the many free, interactive dialogues on this site.

But what if we want to begin our Italian adventure in Venice and land instead at the Marco Polo Airport on mainland Italy just outside that magical city of islands? Read on and find out all about transportation to and along the waterways of Venice!

If you would like more images of how to navigate the waterways of Venice, visit our Pinterest site at Stella Lucente Italian.
—Kathryn Occhipinti


Cultural Note: Arriving in Venice

Venice baot: Alilaguna
Venice Alilaguna transport boat from the airport on the mainland to the islands of Venice

The Marco Polo Airport serves the city of Venice and is located on the mainland, near the town of Mestre, just across the lagoon. The major island of Venice (Venezia) is connected by a bridge to the mainland and is served by a local train station and a large bus station. A city bus or taxi can be taken over this bridge directly into Venice from the airport. You can also take a taxi ride to the train station in the nearby town of Mestre on the mainland. The trains in Mestre connect with towns on the mainland and to the Santa Lucia station in Venice.

Unique to Venice are the water ferry and water taxi. Take the yellow Alilaguna water ferry to Saint Mark’s Square in the main island of Venice or to the beaches of the island of Lido from the Marco Polo Airport by following the covered walkway from the arrivals desk to the nearby dock. The walk takes about 10 minutes, so it may be necessary to hire a taxi if you have a lot of baggage or have difficulty walking. Tickets can be purchased at the arrivals desk in the airport or at the dock once you arrive and are about 15€ one way. The trip takes 1–1½ hours, depending on the number of stops made along the route. Also along the same dock are smaller, private water taxi boats that can take travelers directly to their destination.

Once in Venice proper, purchase an imob.venezia card for the length of your stay (4 days, 7 days, or longer) for the public ACTV water bus system to get to all of the major sites on the islands. This card can also be used on the local bus system on the Lido Island. Private water taxis are also available at most docks on all the islands of Venice. And of course, for a leisurely ride through the smaller canals, try the classic sleek black gondola piloted by one oar by one of the trained gondolieri in their black-and-white striped uniforms!

—Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, Chapter 3, “Cultural Note,” © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC, by Kathryn Occhipinti

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases
Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

   Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Venice: Arriving in Venice for Your Italian Adventure

Taking the train in the Abruzzo region, Italy.

Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation

Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog  Follow Caterina in the
Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation

One of the first things Caterina must do after her plane lands in Italy and she passes through customs is find her way on the Italian railway system. To listen to dialogues from Chapters 4 and 5 about Caterina’s encounters as she buys a ticket and boards a train in Italy, go to the interactive dialogues on our website at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html.

For more images of Train Travel in Italy, visit our Pinterest site  Stella Lucente Italian.

The Cultural Note below, also from the textbook, gives a bit of insight into how the Italian railway system works.
—Kathryn Occhipinti


 

Cultural Note: Taking the Train in Italy

Taking the train in the Abruzzo region, Italy.
Taking the train through the mountains of Abruzzo in Italy

After Caterina arrives in Italy at Malpensa Airport, about 50 km northwest of Milan, she must then make her way into the city. First, she takes a taxi to the nearby town of Gallarate to get onto the local train system, called Trenitalia (www.raileurope.com/Trenitalia-Italy). This local railway cannot be accessed directly from the Malpensa Airport, but until recently, it was the only way to catch a train after flying into Malpensa. The train line from Gallarate goes to the largest terminal in Milan, the Stazione Centrale. Gallarate can also be reached by bus from Malpensa Airport for a small fee, about 1–2 euros, and buses leave regularly from the airport all day. Of course, there are also bus routes to many other nearby cities from the Malpensa bus terminals, including to Milan, for those who prefer to take a bus for the entire trip.

When at the Gallarate train station, Caterina asks for a train that will take her directly to Stazione Centrale, avoiding the possibility of having to change trains along the way. A typical train ticket from Gallarate to Milan should actually cost less than we have noted in the dialogue, and it takes between 40 and 60 minutes to reach Milan.

A newer, separate train system called the Malpensa Express, which opened in 1999, leaves directly from Malpensa’s Terminal 1, underground floor, every 30 minutes. As the name suggests, this train goes directly into Milan, but it ends at a smaller station, the Stazione Cordona. The Malpensa Express trains are new trains with only first-class seats and luggage areas between compartments. Nonstop trains are available in the mornings and late at night, but during the day, there are a few additional stops along the way to Milan for the 40-minute trip. To learn more about the Malpensa Express trains or to view a train schedule and current ticket prices, go to www.malpensaexpress.it.

In our dialogue, the ticket agent Rosa very kindly reminds Caterina to validate her train ticket before boarding the local train. In Italy, when using the local train system, it is possible to buy an “open” ticket, which can be used at any time within a 2-month period. Stamping each ticket with the date and time before entry on the train prevents this type of ticket from being used more than once. The name of the machine that is used to stamp the date and time onto the ticket is translated by the makers of the machine as a “ticket canceling machine” or macchina obliteratrice. The older machines are yellow, but the new machines now in common use have a green and white face with the Trenitalia logo and name along the top.   These small machines are usually found attached to the wall at the entrances of the individual train tracks, which are usually on the lower level of the train station. When referring to what the machine actually does, you can use the verb timbrare, which means to stamp, or convalidare, which means to validate. The verb obliterare, which means to cancel, also means to stamp or to punch when referring to tickets. In effect, all three verbs apply, because the ticket is literally stamped, which validates it for travel, and is canceled for further use at the same time.

After boarding the train, the ticket inspector (il controllore) will come through each car and ask to see each passenger’s ticket. If the date and time have not been stamped on the ticket, that passenger will be asked to pay a cash fine before leaving the train. Signs are sometimes posted on the interior doors of the trains warning of the fine to be paid if the ticket has not been convalidato (validated)—in  Italian, with no English translation! Tickets for the Malpensa Express also need to be validated. So remember to look for those little yellow or green and white machines each time you board a train in Italy and stamp your ticket the way Caterina did. It takes only a second but can save a good deal of money!

A word about the other major airports in Italy: Alitalia flights into Milan used to land primarily at Linate Airport, but nowadays, most passenger airlines land in Malpensa, which is the second largest international airport in Italy.

Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport remains the largest international airport in Italy. It is located 26 km west of Rome, and the nearest city is Fiumicino (which is the old name the airport used to go by and is still used for the airport code: FCO). It is very simple to take the train from this airport to downtown Rome. Just follow the signs to the ticket counter, or buy a ticket at the on-site Alitalia office or from an automatic ticket machine. After a 30-minute ride, the train ends at Roma Termini, which is Rome’s central station.

The Marco Polo Airport serves the city of Venice and is on the mainland, near the town of Mestre, just across the lagoon. The major island of Venice (Venezia) is connected by a bridge to the mainland and is served by a local train station and a large bus station. A city bus or taxi can be taken over this bridge directly into Venice from the airport. A taxi ride to the nearby town of Mestre to the train station is possible and will connect you to points north of Venice on the mainland and to the train station in Venice, the Santa Lucia.

 —Adapted from Conversational Italian for Travelers, Chapter 3, “Cultural Note,” © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC, by Kathryn Occhipinti 

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases
Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

   Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Best Kathy Twitter Pic edited for blog

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers
 series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1  and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
Conversational Italian! Facebook Group
Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente Italian and Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
Facebook Stella Lucente Italian

Pinterest Stella Lucente Italian

Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation