Annalisa De Carlo
5 November 2025
You don't need to be fluent. You need to try. Here are ten phrases that will open doors, earn smiles, and make your Italian experience something richer than tourism.
Italy is not a difficult country for Australians to navigate in English. In cities and major tourist areas, English is widely spoken, menus have translations, and most accommodation staff communicate fluently. You can travel the entire country without learning a word of Italian and have a very good time.
But that is not quite the same as having the Italian experience.
Italians have a deep emotional relationship with their language. Not in a gatekeeping way — they are famously warm, and no one will scoff at a mangled pronunciation. But when a foreigner makes the effort, something shifts. The welcome becomes warmer. The service becomes more attentive. The restaurant owner sits down for a moment. The trattoria brings out something from the back that was not on the menu.
These are the ten phrases we recommend to every client before departure. They are not complex. They require no grammar. They just require the willingness to try.
1. "Buongiorno" / "Buonasera" Good morning / Good evening
The most important thing you can do in any Italian social interaction is greet properly. Walk into a shop, a restaurant, or a bar without a "buongiorno" and you have already started badly. This is not an exaggeration — it is a genuine cultural expectation. The greeting shifts to buonasera (good evening) after approximately midday. When in doubt, use whichever one comes out.
2. "Un caffè, per favore" A coffee, please
Say this at the bar — standing up, as Italians do — and the experience is entirely different from pointing at the menu. The bar culture in Italy is one of its finest social institutions: quick, unreserved, excellent coffee, consumed standing in approximately ninety seconds. Order in Italian and you are, briefly, part of it.
3. "Il conto, per favore" The bill, please
Waving, snapping fingers, and making rectangular gestures with your hands are all acceptable in Italian restaurants, but saying this phrase clearly to a passing staff member is better on every level. It also spares you the universal tourist performance of miming writing on your palm.
4. "Dov'è...?" Where is...?
A question word worth carrying everywhere. Dov'è il bagno? (Where is the bathroom?) will be your most-used application, but the word dov'è combined with anything on a map works as a reasonable opening for directions you may not entirely understand.
5. "Quanto costa?" How much does it cost?
Useful in markets, small shops, and anywhere without a clearly displayed price. Markets in Italy — particularly the non-tourist ones — reward gentle price negotiation in Italian. A willingness to ask the price in the local language often gets you a different number than the one quoted to the person beside you.
6. "È delizioso" It's delicious
Say this to the person who made your food or recommended your wine and watch what happens. Italians take great pride in their food, and genuine appreciation — expressed in their own language — is received with disproportionate warmth. You may find yourself with a second glass you did not order.
7. "Mi scusi" / "Scusi" Excuse me
The general-purpose version of sorry, pardon, and getting someone's attention. Italians use it constantly and will appreciate you using it too. In crowded spaces — train stations, markets, tight restaurant aisles — it also does the practical work of creating a path.
8. "Parla inglese?" Do you speak English?
The correct way to discover whether English is available — not the assumption that it is. Asking this question first, in Italian, signals respect and inverts the usual dynamic. The answer is almost always yes in a tourist context, and asking in Italian occasionally produces a more forthcoming English than you would have received otherwise.
9. "Sono australiano/australiana" I'm Australian (male/female)
This one is straightforwardly social. Italians are curious about Australians in a way they are perhaps less curious about American or British visitors — there is something about the distance and the Italian diaspora connection that generates genuine interest. Saying this over a glass of wine usually produces questions, which produces conversation, which produces something considerably better than tourism.
10. "A presto" See you soon
How Italians say goodbye when they mean it warmly — not the formal arrivederci but something more affectionate and hopeful. Use it when you leave a restaurant where you were well looked after, or a shop where you spent real time, or the bar where you had your best espresso of the trip. It is the linguistic equivalent of a decent tip: not obligatory, but noticed, and appreciated.
These phrases will not make you fluent in Italian. They will make you a guest who tried, which in the Italian cultural context is almost better. The effort is the point — not the perfection.
We include a pre-departure language and culture briefing in all of our journeys because we believe that arriving with these ten phrases and a basic understanding of the customs will change your experience more than any specific sight or restaurant. Italy is a culture, not a backdrop, and engaging with it in its own language — even imperfectly — is the most direct route to the version of Italy that those who only visit once never quite see.
