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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Italian expression of the day: ‘Fare la scarpetta’

Who knew that shoes could be so appetizing?

Italian expression of the day: 'Fare la scarpetta'
Photo: DepositPhotos

You know you've been living somewhere a while when idioms you once would have wondered at cease to raise so much as an eyebrow.

When a reader wrote to me recently to inquire about the Italian expression for 'mopping your plate with bread', I found myself replying nonchalantly: “Oh yes, you mean fare la scarpetta, which is… um… 'to do the little shoe'.”

On second thoughts, it is weird.

Scarpetta is just the regular word for shoe (scarpa) with the diminuitive suffix ~etta/o attached. Most of the time it refers to shoes that are either small, like kids' shoes, or especially light, like ballet slippers or tennis pumps.

But in this particular idiom, it describes an action anyone who's ever eaten in Italy can picture right away: using a scrap of bread to mop up all the sauce too delicious to leave when you've already polished off your pasta.

See below for a demonstration:

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

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Where slippers come into it isn't clear. One theory goes that your piece of bread starts to look like a shoe when you're pressing your thumb into it to keep your grip, while another runs that scarpetta refers to an old type of pasta traditionally made in Tuscany that was shaped, well, a bit like a slipper: broad and concave, all the better to scoop up sauce.

Yet another version suggests that the phrase is an oblique reference to poverty: since mopping up every drop of sauce isn't exactly genteel table manners, it may have been derogatorily attributed to people who didn't have enough to eat – so poor they could only afford slippers, or perhaps so hungry they could eat a shoe.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

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These days it's perfectly acceptable to wipe your plate clean (just keep a napkin handy for after). The reader who asked about the phrase says she was informed of it by an Italian restaurant owner, who must have taken it as a compliment that his customers didn't want to leave a drop behind.

He also referred to another regional variation on the phrase, our reader tells me. The only alternatives I've been able to track down are pucciare il pane nel sugo ('to dunk bread in sauce'), which seems to come from the north of Italy, and possibly fare la sponza ('to do the sponge'), which could be a version in the far south. 

There's also fare la zuppetta ('to do the little soup'), but in that case the image seems to be more of dunking bread or biscuits in a whole bowl of milk, wine or any other liquid. 

However you want to say it, I think we can all agree: fare la scarpetta is a wonderful thing.

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Member comments

  1. My grandmother from Milan always used to urge us to ‘fare una passiagiata’ around our plate with a piece of bread. Was this some invention of hers or a Milanese expression?

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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Al volo’

We’re sure you’ll learn this Italian phrase in no time.

Italian expression of the day: ‘Al volo’

If you’ve ever found yourself at an Italian airport and looked up at the departure board, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the word volo, which is the Italian equivalent of ‘flight’ – but also the first person singular of the verb volare (to fly) in the present tense.

And if you’re a fan of classical music, you may of course have heard of Italy’s famous opera trio Il Volo (‘The Flight’).

But what do Italians mean when they say they’re going to do something al volo (hear it pronounced here)? 

Much like its closest English equivalent, ‘on the fly’, al volo has very little to do with aircraft or flying as it’s one of the most common Italian phrases to say that you’re doing something ‘quickly’ or ‘readily’, often without having prepared it or thought about it much beforehand.

Facciamoci una pasta al volo e poi usciamo.

Let’s cook some pasta on the fly and then get out.

Ho dovuto preparare la presentazione al volo perché non mi avevano avvisato della riunione.

I had to put the presentation together on the fly as I’d not been notified of the meeting. 

But usage of al volo is not limited to practical actions or tasks you may do quickly and without much thought. 

In fact, you can also pair it with the verb capire (understand), comprendere (comprehend) or imparare (learn) to say that you grasped something ‘immediately’ or ‘in no time’, meaning you won’t need any further explanation. 

Tuo figlio capisce tutto al volo. Ha un grande futuro davanti a lui, a mio parere.

Your son understands everything in no time. He’s got a great future ahead of him, in my opinion.

And if you haven’t fully understood or grasped something on your first try (which is painfully likely when dealing with Italy’s infamous red tape, even for locals), don’t worry: you’ll always have the option to ask a domanda al volo, or a ‘quick question’, to clear up your doubts. 

Another popular way to use the phrase is in relation to big opportunities, whether that be in life, in education or at work. So an opportunity that va presa al volo must be seized immediately as it’s too good to be missed. 

Finally, if you’re planning on watching Euro 2024 matches on Italian TV over the next month, you may hear football commentators use al volo multiple times while analysing a match as colpire la palla al volo means to strike it while it’s in the air, or ‘volley’ it.

Do you have a favourite Italian word you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

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