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Italian word of the day: 'Passeggiata'

Clare Speak
Clare Speak - [email protected]
Italian word of the day: 'Passeggiata'
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

It's not just a word. In Italy, it's an art form.

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It sounds like a simple enough concept, but I got this all wrong when I first arrived in Italy. So let's talk about the passeggiata (pronunciation available here).

Fare una passeggiata means to go for a walk or stroll.

È andato a fare una passeggiata.

He went out for a walk.

Fa una passeggiata ogni sera.

He takes a walk every evening.

But when Italians talk about a passeggiata, they’re not usually talking about just any old walk.

The passeggiata is a time-honoured tradition in which the whole town participates on Sunday evenings and holidays, if not most nights of the week during the warm months. For the occasion, locals dress up in their fanciest designer clothing and wear shoes which are not made for walking at all.

It’s a word that’s very much associated with leisure and ease, and the feeling of having plenty of time.

In most towns the usual route would involve a stroll down to the main piazza (square) or the centro storico (old town), or perhaps along the lungomare (seafront).

This was all a new concept for me. Growing up in the UK, Sunday walks were a long and muddy affair, probably involving climbing up a hill and being splashed with dirty river water by the dog. You'd come home red-faced and windswept, and eager for a hot bath and a cup of tea.

So the first time an Italian suggested what I thought was 'a walk' one Sunday, I assumed we were going to explore the nearby countryside - and I dressed accordingly.

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Well, you won't be trudging through any mud on la passeggiata. 

In fact, you'll barely even be walking; everyone’s too busy checking out who’s with who, and who's wearing what. If you really want to do it properly, you'll stop to admire the view or chat with a neighbour every ten steps.

Italians tell me the movement and fresh air helps with digesting dinner or an enormous Sunday lunch, or working up an appetite before those meals.

But most of all it’s a chance to see and be seen, show off your new relationship or designer handbag, and generally fare una bella figura, or look really good. I suppose it's how people used to show off before social media was invented.

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Once upon a time, this kind of leisurely walk was called a 'promenade'. And the noun can also mean a promenade, as in a long street.

Una passeggiata alberata.

A tree-lined promenade.

And it can also be used figuratively to mean a 'walk in the park' or a 'cakewalk':

Questo esame non sarà una passeggiata.

This exam won’t be a walk in the park.

All in all, keep in mind: when an Italian friend suggests andiamo a fare una passeggiata, you won't want to grab your oldest trainers and scrape your hair back, as I did on my first week in Italy, thinking “hey, I’m only going for a walk.”

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Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
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Kris 2023/07/08 10:35
Love being in villages in Italy around Passeggiata time, it is such a lovely sense of community. Sulmona and Lecce in particular are wonderful for it, so many people get involved.

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