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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Colle’

Here's why you'll keep seeing this word in the Italian news this week.

Published: 24 January 2022 13:48 CET

Italian word of the day: 'Colle'

Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

You may already know that today’s word, colle (pronounced ‘kol-leh’), means ‘hill’ in Italian. But why are hills being discussed so much in the Italian news lately?

These reports aren’t referring to just any old hill, but to the most important of the seven hills in the capital:

i sette colli di Roma

the seven hills of Rome

Rome’s Colle Quirinale, or Quirinale hill, is where the formal residence of the Italian president sits: il Palazzo del Quirinale – the Quirinale palace

The sprawling building, for centuries home to popes and kings, has been the official residence of the head of state since the declaration of the republic in 1946.

As Italy’s parliament begins voting for a new president on Monday, the ‘Colle’ (capitalised) which we see mentioned in news reports doesn’t refer to the actual hill, or even the palace, but is used as shorthand for the office or position of president.

“The race for the presidency starts: first ballot at 3pm” – Il Sole 24 Ore, Monday January 24th.

‘All the stages to become president” – Adnkronos, Monday January 24th.

While the president’s place of work literally sits upon a hill, at election time perhaps the Italian media simply can’t resist invoking the image of an uphill race to reach the country’s highest office.

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Italian word of the day: Metà vs mezzo

It’s often the case in Italy that you’ll find several words that mean something very similar, and it’s not always easy to know which one is appropriate. Our new mini series looks at some of the most common word pairs, and sorts out which should be used and when.

Why do I need to know the difference between metà and mezzo?

Because you’ll need to use both of them in daily conversation if you live in Italy, but the difference in meaning isn’t always clear.

What’s the difference?

When you want to talk about ‘half’ of something in Italian, it may seem as though you have two choices.

Depending on what you’re talking about, you could reach for either metà or mezzo (or mezza, which we’ll come to later) but many language learners say they’re not always sure which one to use in certain situations.

Put simply, the difference between metà and mezzo is much the same as the difference between ‘half’ and ‘middle’ in English.

Metà: a half, as in one of two equal parts of something.

Mezzo: the middle, as in equally distant from two points.

For example:

Ha mangiato metà torta

He ate half of the cake

Facciamo a metà

Let’s split it (in half)

E’ sdraiato in mezzo alla strada

He’s lying in the middle of the street

Non penso che ti dovrebbe mettere in mezzo

I don’t think she should be putting you in the middle of this

READ ALSO: Come stai vs come va

But is anything in Italian ever really that simple?

There are some specific situations where the two words seem to be used interchangeably, or where it’s not clear why one is typically used and not the other.

Confusion arises particularly around telling the time in Italian, as you could say:

Sono le undici e mezzo

It’s half past eleven

Il mio treno arriva alle 5.40: vediamoci dieci minuti prima, alla mezza.

My train arrives at 5.40: let’s meet ten minutes before, at half past.

Why in this case aren’t we using metà for ‘half’? And why is it sometimes mezza rather than mezzo?

The English ‘half past’ doesn’t translate literally into Italian. Mezzo is used here instead, since we’re talking about the ‘middle of’ the hour, the point equally distant between two hours.

This might take some getting used to for English native speakers, but it is pretty logical.

As for why it’s mezza in the second example, this isn’t because it needs to agree with the gender of the noun in the sentence.

In fact, dictionaries tell us it’s always more correct to use mezzo regardless (although many Italians themselves find this rule confusing.)

But, in this case, as the language guardians at Italy’s Accademia della Crusca explain, mezza may (if you prefer) be used instead of mezzo when we already know the time, or at least the hour, being talked about.

So if you had earlier told someone an event would start at 8pm, but it’s now been delayed by half an hour, you could then say:

Comincerà alle otto e mezza

But if you’re inviting someone for the first time, you’d probably stick to:

Alle otto e mezzo

This can be a lot to remember when you’re in the middle of a conversation, but with practice you’ll soon get a feel for which word sounds right in which context.

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