| C'è del marcio in Danimarca | There's something rotten in Denmark | Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” It is a famous phrase uttered by Marcellus, official Danish, in Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene IV), during the first appearance of the spectrum. Today the phrase is used to suggest that in a certain environment someone is conspiring against others. |
| C'è un giudice a Berlino | There is a judge in Berlin | To remember that sooner or later justice takes its course. |
| Caccia al ladro / all'uomo | Research in order to catch a Thief / man | The pursuit of a criminal by the police. It may refer to the parody of a very laborious search request. |
| Caccia alle streghe | Witch Hunt | Ruthless persecution, unwarranted, preposterous. The expression refers to the judicial practices widespread in Europe in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, which allowed the courts to imprison, torture and put to death men and women merely the accusation of witchcraft or trade with Hell, most of the time challenged members to more or less restless of the popular classes. |
| Cadere (cascare) a fagiolo | Fall as a bean | |
| Cadere (cascare, scendere) dal pero | Fall (fall, down) from the pear tree | The expression may derive from the phrase to be on the tops of the trees, used to designate those who spoke so difficult or too opinionated: hence the invitation to “come down from the pear tree” and come back to communicate with their fellow humans.Those who “falls” from the pear tree, experiences a painful impact with reality, after having been too long in the illusory world of his thoughts. |
| Cadere (cascare) dalle nuvole | Fall (fall) from the clouds | At one time the term had two meanings: arrive suddenly, without warning; discovering with disbelief something obvious to everyone. In both cases, the “clouds” refer to the deity: the clouds, for example, comes the thunderbolt of Zeus, who strikes without warning. But the clouds also reside the angels and saints of the Christian paradise, which fell on the earth today would find themselves immersed in a world completely new and amazing for them. |
| Cadere nelle braccia di Morfeo | Falling into the arms of Morpheus | Falling asleep. Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. |
| Calcare la mano | Limestone hand | Exaggerate |
| Calende greche | Indefinitely | The Kalends (Kalendae) festivities were Latin, not in the calendar greek. So putting something “until doomsday,” means to postpone it forever. The term is a pun on the Latin phrase Ad Kalendas graecas, attributed by Gaius Suetonius Quiet Emperor Augustus. |
| Calma e gesso | Keep calm | It tells you when it calls for calm and not to act too quickly. It derives from the language of billiard players, before making difficult shots that give a touch up to the tip of the cue, which is precisely covered with plaster. |
| Calzare a pennello | Fit like a glove | It is exactly what you need |
| Cambiare i connotati | Change the features | Beat up someone till you change the traits his face (the traits are the hallmarks of the face) |
| Camminare sulle uova / Andare con i piedi di piombo / Andarci cauti | Walking on eggshells / Go with feet of lead / Going there cautious. | It means to do so with extreme caution, to deal with a situation with the utmost prudence, typically by not giving anything for granted and / or avoid all boldness. |
| Campa cavallo | Stay alive horse | Wait and see. It tells you when an event is sent back to the desired positive indefinitely into the future. The expression comes from the traditional proverb “bell horse that the grass grows” - where obviously you do not know what it could get by the horse while the grass is growing. |
| Candido come un giglio | White as a lily | Pure. The lily is a white flower, the color that symbolizes purity and virginity. |
| Cane bastonato | Hangdog | Depressed-looking person. |
| Cane sciolto | Loose dog | Maverick. Nonconformist person, which does not follow the crowd, unwilling to comply. |
| (Aspettare a) cantar vittoria | (Wait a) claim victory | (Do not be so sure, do not say too much before time) cheer for the result of final validity. |
| Canto del cigno | Swansong | Last sign of greatness before the final decline: according to a legend, the swan - notoriously dumb animal - can finally sing just before death. |
| Capitale morale | Moral capital | In 1864, when Florence became the new capital of the Kingdom of Italy, the Milanese newspapers coined for their city the definition of “moral capital of Italy” Milan was in fact considered the richest city in the Kingdom and modern. |
| Capitare a tiro | Be very close | Be affordable, accessible. |
| Capire l'antifona | Understanding the antiphon | Understand an allusion, to understand the whole situation from a phrase. The antiphon is the prefatory part of the psalms, recited in the Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic prayer. |
| Capro espiatorio | Scapegoat | Biblical quote from the Book of Leviticus. In Jewish liturgy, the scapegoat is sacrificed to God in reparation for the sins of the one who offers himself in sacrifice. In Christianity, the scapegoat is Jesus Christ, called the Lamb who was slain, who takes upon himself the sins of the world. In current with this expression refers to someone who takes the sins of facts he did not commit. |
| Carità pelosa | Charity hairy | It is called “hairy” charity is done for interest. The expression is most probably derived from the manner of speaking, very popular in the nineteenth century, have the hair on the heart (to be insensitive), and finds himself in The Malavoglias by Giovanni Verga. |
| Carne da cannone | Cannon meat | The “cannon fodder. The “cannon meat” is one of the soldiers (and more precisely of the foot)), intended to deal with the artillery as the animals are destined for slaughter (slaughter and meat is in fact often used with the same meaning). The term comes from an unscrupulous metonymy: the individuals are depicted as meat indistinct. |
| Carne della mia carne | Flesh of My Flesh | Expressed and strongly emphasizes the close kinship. Biblical quotation from Genesis, where in fact the words are spoken by referring to Eva of Adam. |
| Carneade! Chi era costui? | Carneades! Who was he? | It is the opening sentence of the eighth chapter of The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni, pronounced by Don Abbondio, while reading the text of a eulogy in honor of St. Charles Borromeo, in which is mentioned the philosopher Carneades. The luck of the expression at Manzoni's contemporaries was such that even today a historical or fantasy or real little known is called a “Carneades”.To express or confess ignorance of a historical or fantasy. |
| Carta Bianca | White Paper | An expression that indicates the possibility given to someone to deal with a situation or a problem in any way it believes appropriate without constraints writings. |
| Carta canta | Paper speaks | The documents speak for themselves, what is written you can not deny. |
| Casa e chiesa | House and church | Person who has no other interests or activities if you do not take care of household chores and, as a social activity, only the religious practice. |
| Casalinga di Voghera | Housekeeper of Voghera | Very common expression in the lexicon of journalism, with which they will represent a stereotype of the Italian section of the population petty-bourgeois, the low level of education and work generally has a very simple and humble. |
| Cascasse il mondo | Even if the world falls | Try to reach a goal with the utmost commitment, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. |
| Castelli in aria | Castles in the air | Build castles in the air means designing without foundation, without a plan, fantasizing. |
| Cattedrale nel deserto | Cathedral in the desert | White elephant. It is said of a major project useless, like a cathedral built in a desert without there being a community of people to attend. It has often been said major investments in southern Italy uncoordinated and made a global project (eg new factories in depressed areas without being connected by roads and railways) |
| Cavalcare la tigre | Riding the Tiger | Try to use a dangerous process. |
| Cavallo di battaglia | Horse for the battle | It indicates the best part of a performance. |
| Cavallo di razza | Horse race | Personal exceptional qualities to accomplish a certain task. |
| Cavallo di Troia | Trojan Horse | Quote from Homer's Iliad. Your best tool used to accomplish the mission or task. |
| Non cavare un ragno dal buco | Don’t take away a spider from the hole | Do not accomplish anything. |
| Cavar sangue da una rapa | Draw blood from a turnip | An impossible task. |
| Cavar sangue dal muro | Draw blood from the wall | Strive to no avail, doing a job that can not give any fruit. |
| Ce ne passa di acqua sotto i ponti | There goes the water under the bridge | Up to the time to reach a particular purpose, or get to a certain situation, we will take a long time. |
| Cento di questi giorni | One hundred of these days | Expression greeting used mainly for birthdays or other recurring festivals in general (typically every year). Who wishes to bring himself to turn to spend a hundred more happy days like the one you are celebrating then, by implication, for the birthday wishes a long life. |
| Che mangino brioches | Let them eat brioche | Expression attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette of Austria, delivered in response to one of his subjects and he said, “the people is hungry, he has no bread.” This expression indicates that the topic we are talking about do not care much. |
| Che mi venisse un colpo | May I have a shot | An expression that indicates a state of disbelief. |
| Che vale un Perù | What is worth a Peru | That has a lot of value, which is used both for people and for things. The saying comes from the gold which the Spanish conquistadors found in Peru and brought to Europe |
| Chi c'è c'è (e chi non c'è non c'è) | Who is there (and who is not there) | In common use, it means that those who participate (eg. at a party or a dinner or an initiative of any kind), will be welcome and will enjoy the company of others, those who will not be present, do not know what they have lost, but no one will miss them. |
| Chi ha orecchie per intendere, intenda | He who has ears to hear, let him understand | Who wants to listen and understand what I say, do it. To emphasize that there may be persons to whom speech can not to please or annoy and then they'll pretend not to hear or do not understand. |
| Chiagni e fotti | Cry and f*ck | It is a vulgarism which constitutes a proverbial saying of the Neapolitan tradition. Is usually used to emphasize a typical human attitude, opportunistic and hypocritical, exhibited by some people when they usually complain in those moments when things for them is booming. The phrase has entered the dialect vocabulary and journalistic of political communication, while the underlying behavior is often stigmatized as a failure of the average. |
| Chiudere la stalla dopo che sono scappati i buoi | Close the stable door after the horse has bolted | Making the right action, but too late now and then unnecessarily. |
| Chiudersi a riccio | Close like a hedgehog | Close like a clam. Turn in on themselves and avoid socializing with others. |
| Chiudi il becco | Shut youe beak | Shut your mouth. Expression used rudely to urge someone to shut up. The use of the word “beak”, instead of “mouth”, is given by the implied comparison between the person who is speaking and chickens. Moreover, since it is believed that the chickens are animals from the little intelligence, by extension, the phrase also means that it is better to remain silent, because you are saying things that are not serious and / or of little interest. |
| Ci fai o ci sei? | Or are you doing there? | You pretend to be or act like that, but are you really? |
| Ci vedremo a Filippi | We'll see you at Philippi | In a passage of Plutarch - then taken up by Shakespeare in his Julius Caesar - Brutus receives a visit from a ghost dream (probably Caesar) turned to him utters the famous phrase, history tells us that just in the battle of Philippi Cesaricida die at the hands of Antonio: This expression is then used to give notice, boldly, an adversary the certainty of victory or to announce a future showdown. |
| Cieco come una talpa | Blind as a mole | Blind as a bat.It is said both in the pathological sense and figuratively (meaning a person is not aware of reality). |
| Ciurlare nel manico | Clump in the handle | Clump in the handle a person or thing that is uncertain and unreliable. If the blade of a knife is not properly inserted in the handle or if it is disconnected for long use, the tool becomes useless, because the blade loses all resistance to turning (ciurlando) in the handle. |
| Cogliere in contropiede | Seizing on the break | Take aback someone who suddenly finds himself without defense. Borrowed from the football jargon, in which you define a counter sudden reversal of the action, in which those who were attacking is forced back heavily on defense. |
| Coi fiocchi | With flakes | Slap.They say one thing particularly successful or otherwise excellent. |
| Colpo di fulmine | Ball of Fire | The expression is usually endeavored to indicate a love at first sight, sudden and unexpected |
| Colpo di spugna | Stroke of sponge | Coup de Torchon.Eliminate problems or faults in a decisive manner and indistinct. |
| Col senno di poi | In hindsight | It means “knowing what happened later.” Hindsight is the intellectual capacity integrates a person. Generally said when commenting a decision later proved wrong, unwise or short-sighted. |
| Coltivare il proprio orticello | Grow your own backyard | Focus on your particular interest, without caring of other’s needs and interests. |
| Comandare a bacchetta | Pushed around | Command without giving the slightest margin of discretion to subordinates. |
| Come volevasi dimostrare | As it turned | Concluding sentence of the theorems in Euclid's Elements. Said metaphorically of an event that was expected (and perhaps to emphasize that its recommendations were ignored. |
| Come cercare Maria per Roma | How to search for Maria Rome | See looking for a needle in a haystack. |
| Come i cavoli a merenda | As the cabbage at snack time | “We're like the cabbage”, used to express the inadequacy of something of a context. |
| Come il cacio sui maccheroni | Like cheese on macaroni | An event that occurs on a very opportune time, or at the right time, or a combination especially suitable, can be described metaphorically as the cheese (cheese) on macaroni: a combination of typical Italian cuisine. |
| Come Noè con i dinosaur | Like Noah with dinosaurs | Being falsely accused. Noah would have left the dinosaurs walk according to the popular imagination, but the dinosaurs went extinct for science alone. |
| Come se piovesse | Like rain | It means abundant in quantity. |
| Compagni di merende | Fellow snacks | |
| Con beneficio d'inventario | With the benefit of inventory | Eeserving the right to object later. |
| Con la coda dell'occhio | With the tale of the eye | With one eye.To see or notice someone or something for a moment in passing. |
| Con le pive nel sacco / Con le unghie e con i denti | With empty-handed / With nails and teeth | Defending something with stubborn energy. Also used in a metaphorical sense, referring to his own ideas, which are defended “with nails and teeth.” |
| Con un palmo di naso | With an inch of his nose | Very close to the person. |
| Conciare per le feste / Conciare per il dì delle feste | Molest / Tanning for the day of the holidays | Beat up, providing visible damage to the skin. |
| Conoscere i propri polli | Know your chickens | Knowing who you are dealing with and therefore know how to handle the situation in the best way. |
| Contare come il due di briscola / il due di picche / il due di coppe | Count as two trump / the two of spades / the two cups | Do not count anything. The two trump trump is the lowest in the game of cards. In bridge the two of spades is absolutely the paper from the lower value. It is also used to say: “It counts as two sticks when reigns denier”, or even “counts as two cups when the trump is sticks.” |
| Contare fino a dieci | Count to ten | Reflect or contain himself before speaking. |
| Contento come una pasqua | Happy as a Easter | Happy as a clam. Way of saying that it refers to those who express great happiness and joy. Derives precisely from the fact that on Easter Sunday is a day of great joy. |
| Contrordine compagni | Countermand companions | Express something of an afterthought. The expression remained as a synonym for critical obedience “blind, ready, absolute” to an ideology. |
| Convergenze parallele | Parallel convergences | Oxymoron invented by Aldo Moro. During the “Government of abstentions” the Christian Democrats agreed to support the PCI but had to remain outside the government. Moro thus supported the dialogue between the two major parties, without prejudice to the positions in the Parliament (majority of the first, the opposition seconds). |
| Convitato di pietra | Stone Guest | It's a phrase borrowed from the opera “Don Giovanni,” which indicates an absent person whose presence hangs over the present. A person to whom everyone thinks, but no one dares mention it directly. |
| Correre la cavallina | Running the filly | |
| Cospargersi il capo di cenere | Sprinkle ashes on their heads | Make an act of penance. Sayings related to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, when the priest sprinkles ashes. |
| Costruire sulla roccia / sulla sabbia | Building on the rock / sand | Building on the sand means “to build on weak assumptions on something uncertain and accommodating.” In the Gospel, as opposed to build on the rock, that is, on something solid and secure. |
| Crepi l'avarizia | Crack avarice | Abound in doing one thing. |
| Culo e camicia | Bottom and shirt | Thick as thieves. It is said of two people who are perfectly in tune with each other. The reference is the time when the 'culottes', the pants were not widespread the vulgar, and the shirt was left in direct contact with the intimate parts. |
