Fare quattro chiacchiere is an Italian expression that means “let’s have a little chit chat”. I love the phrase because after all, I love to talk! I especially love to converse in Italian. The expression chiacchierare can also mean to share a bit of gossip / fare pettogolezzi. The word CHI-AC-CHI-ERE by itself is just so much fun to pronounce and when you annunciate each of its luscious vowels and crackly consonants it almost sounds as if you are munching on a crusty little pastery / un dolce croccante.
The onomatopoeic qualities / qualità onomatopeici of the word are not lost on the clever Italians / italiani intelligenti and it is what they commonly call the crunchy little deep fried pastries, sprinkled with powdered sugar, that they make for Carnevale. However, true to their fiercely independent regional natures / campanilismo the Italians never seem to be able to agree any one thing, and so it is with this popular dolce / sweet; in Mantova they are called “lattughe”/ lettuce, in Piemonte & Ligura they are called “bugie” / lies, in Toscana “cenci” / rags and in Venice, Verona and Padua they are called “Galani” / flakes.
Navigating the Italian language one encounters all kinds of fun surprises such as the many nuances of the word chiacchiere. To fully comprehend these delightful Italian words and phrases, what better way than to immerse yourself in the language in Italy! With this in mind, I invite you to come along with me to Italy this year!
