Italian word of the day: 'Pagelle'

Look at any Italian news outlet in the when Italy's Sanremo music festival is on, and you'll see the word pagelle popping up everywhere. 

A headline in the Repubblica newspaper reads 'The 'pagelle' of the first night of Sanremo 2024'

But what does it actually mean?

A pagella is Italian for a school report card, and that's typically the only definition you'll be offered if you look it up in an Italian-English dictionary.

Non posso far vedere la mia pagella ai miei, dirò loro che l'ho persa.
I can't let my parents see my report card, I'm going to tell them I lost it.

But it can also mean a scorecard, and that's how it's used in this context: the pagelle (plural of pagella) are the ratings, usually out of 10, that each performer scores according to the person ranking them.

The winner of the Sanremo competition is chosen by a mix of online public votes and a jury, so enthusiastic public participation is encouraged throughout the event.

During Sanremo week the entire nation gets swept up in festival fever, with each news publication offering its opinions on everything from the contestants' performances and songs to their outfits, and even politicians weighing in.

Quotidiano Nazionale headline reads: 'Sanremo 2024, the scores of the songs and singers'

A headline from Fanpage.it: 'The looks from the first night of Sanremo 2024: scorecards and votes for the singers', hosts', and guests' outfits'

A headline from news agency AGI: 'Politicians give out their Sanremo scores'.

Pagelle is also a word you'll come across a lot browsing the sports pages. These (usually football) player rankings are a very popular feature in Italy, and are something you won't really find in anglophone countries.

Unlike stats based on a player's performance over time factoring in their total number of wins, etc., sports pagelle are just as subjective as those handed out at Sanremo.

Look up the pagelle for any given match, and you'll find an assessment of how each player on the respective teams did in the form of a score out of 10 and a pithy one or two lines summing up their performance.

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