“Sometimes people live there for years,” I said.
In return, Giovanni told me that empathizing Italians say L’ho provato sulla mia pelle,
which means “I have experienced that on my own skin.” Meaning, I have also been burned or
scarred in this way, and I know exactly what you’re going through.
So far, though, my favorite thing to say in all of Italian is a simple, common word:
Attraversiamo.
It means, “Let’s cross over.” Friends say it to each other constantly when they’re walking
down the sidewalk and have decided it’s time to switch to the other side of the street. Which is
to say, this is literally a pedestrian word. Nothing special about it. Still, for some reason, it
goes right through me. The first time Giovanni said it to me, we were walking near the Colos-
seum. I suddenly heard him speak that beautiful word, and I stopped dead, demanding, “What
does that mean? What did you just say?”
“Attraversiamo.”
He couldn’t understand why I liked it so much. Let’s cross the street? But to my ear, it’s
the perfect combination of Italian sounds. The wistful ah of introduction, the rolling trill, the
soothing s, that lingering “ee-ah-moh” combo at the end. I love this word. I say it all the time
now. I invent any excuse to say it. It’s making Sofie nuts. Let’s cross over! Let’s cross over!
I’m constantly dragging her back and forth across the crazy traffic of Rome. I’m going to get
us both killed with this word.
Giovanni’s favorite word in English is half-assed.
Luca Spaghetti’s is surrender.
Eat, Pray, Love