Instantly Italy

Italian language, culture and travel tips

12 Cool Italian Idioms That Come From TV Commercials (plus one)

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

I have been focusing on Italian idioms quite a lot in my work, recently.

If you have been following this blog for a while now, you may remember that I have written a couple of posts on idioms that are related to food, other two on idiomatic phrases that have to do with animals, a post about Italian ways of saying that contain numbers and another one about idioms that are related to numbers.

[Read more…]

[Italian Vocabulary] La Cena: Words and Phrases to Be Used at Dinner Time

I have prepared a pdf file with all the words and phrases we learned in this post. You can find it in Your Italian Toolbox, a section of Instantly Italy where you’ll find Italian learning materials. You can get access to it by subscribing here. 

Food is a key part of the Italian culture. 

If you come to Italy, you’ll immediately realize that food is really important for us Italians. Eating is some sort of ritual, not just a way to fill your stomach when you are hungry. The time you spend eating is not considered a waste of time, but an essential part of the day. The quality of food is a serious matter and food traditions are taken as principles of a religion.

[Read more…]

30 Common Italian Idioms That Are Related to Colours

I have prepared a pdf file with all the Italian idiomatic phrases you’ll find in this post. You can find it in Your Italian Toolbox, a section of Instantly Italy where you’ll find Italian learning materials. You can get access to it by subscribing here.

Are you ready for some new Italian idioms?

It’s been a while since I last posted about Italian idiomatic phrases but I have to admit I couldn’t find a proper topic. I have been thinking about an interesting unifying theme for idioms but I wasn’t able to find anything until, while writing down phrases for an Instagram project which will begin soon, I wrote the phrase essere al verde and I realized that colours could be a great topic for a post about Italian idioms.

[Read more…]

Happy Birthday, Instantly Italy!

Instantly Italy is turning three these days and I almost can’t believe it. 

When I launched this website, back in February 2015, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Launching the website was already a dream come true for me, so I was happy with it and didn’t think much about the future. I am not a planner and I prefer to take things as they come, so I had no big plans at the time.

[Read more…]

[Italian Vocabulary] “È ora di merenda!” Useful Italian words and phrases to be used at that time of day

I have prepared a pdf file with all the Italian words and phrases you’ll find in this post. You can find it in Your Italian Toolbox, a section of Instantly Italy where you’ll find Italian learning materials. You can get access to it by subscribing here.

Here comes a new post to help you learn some useful Italian words and phrases.

It’s been a while since I last wrote an Italian Vocabulary series post, that kind of posts where I tell you about Italian culture and way of life and list you some Italian vocabulary as well, and I thought it was time for a new one. The topic I decided to focus on today is one of my favorite Italian habits: merenda. 

[Read more…]

How can I improve my Italian without moving from home? Find some tips here

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

How can I improve my Italian? That’s a question I get quite frequently. 

Well, the easiest answer would be: “spend some time in Italy“. As a matter of fact, spending some time in the country where the language you are learning is spoken is the most effective way of improving such language. Unfortunately, this is not always so easy to be done.

[Read more…]

[Italian Vocabulary] È arrivato l’inverno! A list of the most useful Italian words and phrases for winter

I have prepared a pdf file with all the Italian words and phrases you’ll find in this post. You can find it in Your Italian Toolbox, a section of Instantly Italy where you’ll find Italian learning materials. You can get access to it by subscribing here. 

Even if it’s already been freezing cold for a while here, we can now officially say that it is winter! Winter has arrived today in all its glory and it’s time to celebrate.

If you have been following me for some time now, you know that I am more of a fan of summer, but I like the changing of the seasons and I am ready to embrace what is coming.

[Read more…]

[Italian Vocabulary] È ora di pranzo: a list of common Italian words and phrases to be used at lunchtime

I have prepared a pdf file with all the Italian words and phrases you’ll find in this post. You can find it in Your Italian Toolbox, a section of Instantly Italy where you’ll find Italian learning materials. You can get access to it by subscribing here. .

Food is most likely one of the first things that come to mind when thinking of Italy. 

There are art and history and the amazing scenery, obviously, but food plays a very important role in the culture of us Italians. This means that meal times are key moments in our daily life, which can hardly be skipped – unless something really vital happens to force us not to have lunch or dinner.

[Read more…]

25 Italian idiomatic phrases that are related to numbers

I have prepared a pdf file with all the Italian idiomatic phrases you’ll find in this post. You can find it in Your Italian Toolbox, a section of Instantly Italy where you’ll find Italian learning materials. You can get access to it by subscribing here.

It’s time for a new round of Italian ways of saying, don’t you think?

After writing two posts about ways of saying that have something to do with food and other two about idiomatic phrases that are related to animals, I thought it was time to focus on numbers.

[Read more…]

[Italian Phrases] Facciamo merenda?

If you want to Be Italian For A Weekend, you can join the Vespa ride and get a three-day email crash course about Italian culture!

Sometimes phrases convey a meaning that goes beyond their literal one. 

No matter of well you know a language, there’ll always be hues of meaning that you might not immediately get until a native explains them to you or until you spend some time in the country where such language is spoken.

[Read more…]