Street Sign Language Lesson LV - Da non perdere

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In this round of Street Sign Language Lesson, we wander from Bergamo to Brescia and from Iseo to Asolo, discovering how Italian signs can be playful, bureaucratic, or even poetic. 

Bergamo da non perdere
“Bergamo not to be missed”

This tourist map highlights da + infinitive, a classic Italian construction. Da non perdere literally means “to not lose,” but idiomatically it’s “not to be missed.” You’ll see this everywhere: un film da vedere (a film worth seeing), un libro da leggere (a book to read).

160 ANNI DI SÌ PER I NOSTRI TERRITORI. ECCO PERCHÉ ALL'OPS DI UNICREDIT DICIAMO NO
“160 years of yes for our territories. Here’s why we say NO to UniCredit’s offer.”

This is a poster we saw at Banco BPM. The acronym OPS threw us off. OPS is Offerta Pubblica di Scambio, a takeover offer one company makes for another. The background is this: UniCredit withdrew its Public Exchange Offer (OPS) for the acquisition of Banco BPM in July 2025 due to uncertainty over the approval of the Government's Golden Power and the long-time frame to obtain the final resolution of the matter. The offer, launched in November 2024, provided for the exchange of 0.175 UniCredit shares for each Banco BPM share, but was deemed inadequate and at a significant discount to shareholders by Banco BPM.

The Italian language often uses anni di + noun to encapsulate a legacy: anni di lotta (years of struggle), anni di esperienza (years of experience). The phrase—diciamo no—is a classic political slogan structure: subject + verb + emphatic particle.

Bizzi con l'Arrosticino - ti sfizi
“Bizi skewers - indulge yourself” or "Bizzi Arrosticini - the treat that hits the spot"

We saw this jolly kid’s face on a food truck when we pulled into the parking of Spaccio Dolciario Galbusera Tre Marie - Forcola (SO) en route to a hike. (See Val Grosina and Alpe Dosdè Two-Day Hike.)

The verb sfiziarsi comes from sfizio, meaning whim, fancy, or craving. Ti sfizi is second person reflexive: “you treat yourself; you indulge.” It’s playful, colloquial, and Romanesco/Central Italian in flavor. The rhyme between Bizzi (the company name) and sfizi is great marketing sing-song rhyme.

Arrosticini are a traditional dish from Abruzzese cuisine, consisting of small skewers of sheep meat cut into cubes, threaded onto wooden sticks, and grilled. They are prepared with mutton or young lamb, alternating lean pieces with fattier ones, then cooked over charcoal—preferably on a special grill called a fornacella—and eaten with the hands.



È VIETATO DI ABBEVERARE QUADRUPEDI
"Don’t let your dogs drink from this fountain”

È vietato + infinitive is the standard prohibition formula. But here we get di abbeverare instead of the more common abbeverare directly. So, strictly speaking, è vietato abbeverare would be more standard. The addition of di is a regional, bureaucratic flourish, or humorous flourish?

Quadrupedi—literally “four-footed ones”—is a formal, almost zoological term. Instead of cani (dogs) or animali, the sign raises the register, as if the fountain were a Roman law tablet.

We saw this sign in Asolo, in the province of Treviso.



Sono un vaso non un posacenere – grazie
“I’m a vase, not an ashtray – thank you”

In this sign spotted in Brescia, the vase speaks in the first person: sono un vaso. This anthropomorphic use in public notices makes the message more direct and polite. Compare: Non buttare i rifiuti ("don’t throw trash") vs. Io non sono un cestino ("I’m not a trash can"). The latter feels more human, and more shaming.

Also note the lack of punctuation between vaso and non un posacenere. In English we’d expect a comma or dash, but Italian signage often skips it, relying on rhythm.



SPAZIO CALMO
“Calm space”

This accessibility sign designates a refuge area that people with disabilities should use during emergencies. We saw the sign near an elevator in a parking structure in Bergamo.

The phrase is interesting because spazio calmo is not idiomatic everyday Italian, you’d expect phrases like zona di rifugio or area protetta. But spazio calmo is the official technical term in fire-safety regulations (Decreto Ministeriale 3 agosto 2015). It’s a literal borrowing from EU directives, where “calm space” is used in English.



TELO MARE COVERI
“Beach towel by Enrico Coveri”

We instinctively read Coveri as “cover”—but it’s the brand, Enrico Coveri.  Another reminder of how cultural literacy can trip us up in the funniest ways.

Un telo mare is the standard phrase for a beach towel. Notice there’s no preposition: not telo da mare but simply telo mare. This is an example of a “bare compound” construction that Italian allows in set phrases: scarpe tennis (tennis shoes), pantaloni sci (ski pants).




transito consentito alle biciclette solo se condotte a mano

“Please walk your bike”  

This sign was spotted along a pedestrian waterfront path in the town of Iseo, on Lago Iseo. The Italian wording is long and formal: literally, "Transit permitted to bicycles only if walked by hand." It’s the kind of precise and legalistic phrasing you’d expect in a municipal ordinance.

What struck us is that the English version on the same sign is more compact: "please walk your bike." Rather than spelling out the condition ("transit permitted only if…"), it flips the perspective and gives a direct instruction to the cyclist.

Why is this the case? Italian public signage often mirrors the syntax of regulations. The phrase transito consentito… echoes the language of traffic codes, where permissions and restrictions are spelled out in full.  On the other hand, English signage tends to favor brevity and direct imperatives: "Keep off the grass", "Mind the gap", "Walk your bike". The goal is quick comprehension over legal precision. Italian frames the rule from the authority’s point of view ("transit is permitted only if…"). English frames it from the user’s point of view ("you must walk your bike").   

We ran into this cultural sign difference when trying to check ZTL (zona traffico limitato) hours in Bergamo. The rules and hours were frustratingly not written from the perspective of someone simply trying to find out when they can drive into the upper city.

Other examples:

- Accesso consentito ai soli autorizzati* → "Authorized personnel only"

- È vietato fumare → "No smoking"  

- Transito vietato ai veicoli a motore → "No motor vehicles"

In each case, Italian uses a full verbal construction, while English compresses it into a noun phrase or imperative.  

Street Sign Language Lesson LIV – Grocery Store Signs

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This episode of Street Sign Language Lesson takes us to the supermarket, with detours into pest control, nuts, eggs, and linguistic play. As always, the fun is in the details and how a single word choice can reveal cultural nuance, marketing creativity, or just a good pun.



Bruschette PIZZAIOLA
“Pizza-style bruschetta”

Bruschetta is the singular, bruschette the plural. Remember that hard CH sound in bruschetta, as in “cat”. Pizzaiola is a pizza maker, and its use here refers to pizza-maker-style sauce, a sauce or topping with tomato, garlic, and oregano.



Crocchette ricche in salmone fresco e patate
“Dog food rich in fresh salmon and potatoes”

With food insecurity affecting millions in Italy, I have a hard time looking at dog food with fresh salmon. But look I did.

Crocchette is the term used for dog food, while crocchetta refers to dry animal food or biscuits for pets. The phrase ricche in is interesting: in English we’d say “rich with” or “packed with.” Italian often uses ricco di rather than ricco in, but marketing copy likes to bend grammar for effect.

 
ESCA FORMICHE, ESCA INSETTICIDA SCARAFAGGI
“Ant bait, insecticidal cockroach bait.”

Esca means “bait” (also “lure” in fishing). Fun fact: scarafaggio is also used metaphorically for something dirty or unpleasant, not just the insect....just like English.

Italian omografi are words with the same spelling but different meaning depending on accent. The difference between formìca and fòrmica is in the stress. formìca (accent on the second syllable) means ant (the insect). Plural: formiche. fòrmica (accent on the first syllable) means Formica®, the brand name of a laminated plastic material, widely used for tables, countertops, and school desks.

Le nostre arachidi americane
“Our American peanuts.”

Peanut butter is still not widely used in Italy. We introduced some Italian friends to it on a camping trip (A Hike Around Lake Silvaplana), and they were hooked. According to Nutrionex, “Americans annually consume an average of 7 pounds of peanut butter per person”, while “Europeans consume [...] about 0.5 pounds a year”.

As for peanuts in Italy, you see them every now and then as snacks with aperitivo drinks and maybe a dish decoration.

Arachidi is the plural of arachide (no, it’s not a spider). Why is “American” written on the packaging? Because peanuts aren’t native to Italy—they’re imported, and the label indicates their origin. The possessive le nostre (“our”) is a marketing trick: it makes imported peanuts feel like part of the family.

NOCI CHE NOCE!
“Walnuts that… wow!” (literally: “Walnuts that walnut.”)

Staying with the nut theme, how about this wordplay? Noce is both the singular “walnut” and the third-person singular of the verb nuocere (“to harm”). But here it’s a pun: “Nuts that are really something” or “Nuts that knock your socks off.”

OLIVE VERDE SNOCCIOLATE
“Green olives, pitted.”

Snocciolate literally means “de-stoned.” The root is nocciolo (pit/stone).

Notice the family of words: noce (walnut), nocciolo (pit), nocciolina (peanut). We're keeping the nut/stone theme rolling, aren't we?

 
RISPARMIO ANTI SPRECO, scadenza a breve
“Anti-waste savings, short expiration.”

Spreco is wastefulness or squandering. Anti-spreco is a buzzword in Italy now, tied to sustainability. Scadenza a breve means “soon-to-expire.” Shops mark down products close to their sell-by date. It’s an example of how language reflects cultural shifts: frugality and eco-consciousness appearing in supermarket signage.

UOVA FRESCHE da galline allevate a terra
“Fresh eggs from barn-raised chickens”

Straightforward, but worth noting: uovo (singular), uova (plural) is one of those irregular plurals that switch gender. Un uovo (masculine), but due uova (feminine). Italian learners often trip over this, so the egg carton becomes a grammar lesson.

Allevate a terra literally means “raised on the ground,” i.e. not in cages. It’s one of the standard EU labeling categories for eggs:


allevate in gabbia = caged hens
allevate a terra = barn-raised (indoors, but free to move on the ground)
all’aperto = free-range (outdoor access)
biologiche = organic (with stricter feed and welfare rules)

Patterns in Professional Titles in Italian

The –ista/ologo pattern ~ Exceptions to the –ista/ologo pattern ~ The big picture

Six professions in Italy.

Why is anesthesiologist anestesista in Italian while biologist is biologo? We asked this very question to an Italian friend and she said she really didn’t know why. Like us with English, she knew what was correct but not why.

Well, as in everything in Italian, there are patterns to the “why” but always with exceptions.

The –ista/ologo pattern

The difference between anestesista and biologo in Italian comes down to how professional titles are formed based on linguistic roots and conventions. Italian uses different suffixes to form nouns that describe professions. For these two suffixes:

• -ista: Often used for roles or specialists in a particular field or practice. -ista comes from Greek/Latin -istes (“one who does or practices”)
• -ogo/-ologo: Typically used for scholars or scientists in a discipline. -ologo comes from Greek –logos (“discourse, study”)

anestesista

• Derived from anestesia (anesthesia), which comes from Greek anaisthēsía meaning “lack of sensation.”
• The suffix -ista implies someone who practices or specializes in a technique or method. So, an anestesista is someone who administers anesthesia, a practitioner.
• This term applies to both men and women practitioners. Don’t forget to change the article. For example, il giornalista / la giornalista.

biologo/a

• Comes from biologia (biology), from Greek bios (life) + logos (study).
• The suffix -logo (from logos) implies someone who studies or is an expert in a field. So, a biologo is someone who studies life, a scientist.
• Notice the feminine form: la biologa. Some professions have become gender-neutral.

In short, medical practitioners like anesthesiologists are often labeled with -ista because they perform a specialized function. Researchers or academics like biologists are labeled with -logo because they study a field in depth.

This pattern holds across many common professions:

• -ista professions - anestesista, automobilista, artista, autista, batterista, capitalista, ceramista, chitarrista, ciclista, comunista, dentista, dietista, farmacista, fiorista, fisioterapista, giornalista, linguista, ottimista, pacifista, pianista, regista, saggista, stilista, surfista, terrorista, tennista, violinista
  
  
• -logo professions - archeologo, antropologo, astrologo, astrobiologo, biologo, cardiologo, criminologo, dermatologo, etimologo, filologo, ginecologo, meteorologo, oncologo, psicologo, reumatologo, sociologo, teologo, urologo, virologo, zoologo

Exceptions to the –ista/ologo pattern

-ista for theorists or ideologues

• Not all -ista words are “practical” jobs. Some are about belief systems or schools of thought.
• Examples: marxista, futurista, pacifista where it’s about adherence to an ideology, not a profession.

-ologo for practitioners

• Some -ologo terms are used for people who also practice, not just study.
• Examples: cardiologo is both a medical doctor and an expert in cardiology; odontologo (dentist) is a practitioner, not just a researcher.

Doublets with subtle nuance

• Some fields have both forms, with subtle differences.
• Examples: psicologo (trained psychologist) vs. psichiatra (medical doctor specializing in psychiatry) where the suffix difference signals training and scope; musicista (musician in general) vs. musicologo (musicologist, academic study of music).

Historical accidents

• Some suffix choices are just tradition.
• Examples: farmacista (pharmacist) could have been farmacologo, but farmacologo now means a researcher in pharmacology, not the person behind the counter.

-ogo forms are rarer

• These usually appear because the word is a compound from Greek where the “lo” has been dropped or never existed (mago from Latin magus, pedagogo from Greek paidagōgós). Most modern scientific or academic professions keep the -ologo form.
• Examples: mago, demagogo

Over the centuries, meanings have blurred. As well, there are professional role changes where some former –ologo jobs come more hands-on –ista roles. Prestige may also influence whether some fields prefer –ologo over –ista.

The big picture

Yes, -ologo/-ogo and -ista cover a huge slice of Italian profession names, especially in science, medicine, arts, and sports. But they’re far from the whole picture. There are other endings like -tore/-trice, -iere/-iera, -aio/-aia, -ente, and -ico/-ica, which also account for a large number of professions, many of them very common in everyday life.

Here's a broader rundown of profession names in Italian:

 

Suffix	Common in…	Examples
-ologo / -ogo	Science, medicine, academia	biologo, cardiologo
-ista	Arts, sports, politics, medicine	giornalista, dentista
-tore / -trice	Arts, leadership, skilled trades	scrittore, direttore
-iere / -iera	Service, hospitality, retail	cameriere, infermiere
-aio / -aia	Traditional trades	fornaio, calzolaio, tabaccaio, lattaio
-olo / -ola	Traditional trades	fruttivendolo, pescivendolo, pizzicagnolo
-ente	Education, leadership, politics	insegnante, presidente
-ico / -ica	Science, politics, technical fields	medico, tecnico
-ario / -aria	Administrative, clerical, trades	bibliotecario, segretario
-ante	Arts, service, activism	cantante, commerciante, manifestante
-essa	Traditional feminine forms	professoressa, dottoressa, studentessa
	Loan words	manager, DJ, coach
	Crystallized forms	pilota, guida, modello/a

-tore / -trice

• Meaning: Often from Latin -tor/-trix, used for roles defined by an action or function.
• Pattern: Masculine -tore → Feminine -trice.
• Notes: Common in formal and literary registers.
• Examples:
• attore → attrice (actor)
• direttore → direttrice (director)
• scrittore → scrittrice (writer)
• traduttore → traduttrice (translator)

-iere / -iera

• Meaning: Often service, trade, or craft professions.
• Pattern: Masculine -iere → Feminine -iera.
• Notes: Common in hospitality, retail, and manual trades.
• Examples:
• cameriere → cameriera (waiter/waitress)
• infermiere → infermiera (nurse)
• banconiere → banconiera (counter clerk)
• portiere → portiera (doorman / concierge)

-aio / -aia

• Meaning: Often small-scale trades, shopkeepers, or craftspeople.
• Pattern: Masculine -aio → Feminine -aia.
• Notes: Feels more colloquial and tied to traditional trades.
• Examples:
• fornaio → fornaia (baker)
• pizzaiolo → pizzaiola (pizza maker)
• gelataio → gelataia (gelato maker/seller)
• calzolaio → calzolaia (shoemaker)
• ferramentaio → ferramentaia (hardware store owner)

-olo / -ola

• Meaning: Often denotes specialized roles, especially in food preparation, craftsmanship, or informal trades. The suffix can carry a regional or colloquial flavor, and is sometimes used interchangeably with -aio/-aia depending on dialect and context.
• Pattern: Masculine -olo → Feminine -ola
• Notes: Common in culinary professions and traditional crafts. Some forms may overlap with -aio/-aia, but -olo/-ola tends to feel more expressive or idiomatic in certain regions.
• Examples:
• pescivendolo → pescivendola (fish seller) 
• fruttivendolo → fruttivendola (green grocer)
• pollivendolo → pollivendola (poultry dealer)
  
• pizzicagnolo → pizzicagnola (delicatessen shopkeeper)

-ente

• Meaning: From Latin -ens/-entis, often for roles defined by a state or ongoing function.
• Pattern: Same form for masculine and feminine; article changes.
• Notes: Very common in modern job titles; gender-neutral in form.
• Examples:
• insegnante (teacher)
• dirigente (manager/executive)
• presidente (president)
• assistente (assistant)
• docente (docent)
• paziente (patient)

-ico / -ica

• Meaning: Often from Greek/Latin adjectives turned into nouns for professions.
• Pattern: Masculine -ico → Feminine -ica.
• Notes: Many -ico professions are also adjectives (politico = political).
• Examples:
• medico → medica (doctor)
• meccanico → meccanica (mechanic)
• tecnico → tecnica (technician)
• chimico → chimica (chemist)
• politico → politica (politician)

-ario/aria

• Meaning: Often from Latin nouns or adjectives, used for professions, roles, or people associated with a place, duty, or function.
• Pattern: Masculine -ario → Feminine -aria.
• Notes:
• Many -ario words can also be adjectives meaning “related to” or “pertaining to” something (parlamentario = parliamentary).
• Some professions in -ario are less common in modern usage, replaced by other forms (e.g., farmacario is archaic).
• The ending -ario is productive for roles tied to institutions, offices, or responsibilities.
• Examples:
• segretario → segretaria (secretary)
• bibliotecario → bibliotecaria (librarian)
• farmacario → farmacaria* (rare; more common: farmacista)
• notario → notaria (notary)
• proprietario → proprietaria (owner)

-ante

• Meaning: From Latin -ans/-antis, often for roles or agents defined by an ongoing action or function (present participle origin).
• Pattern: Same form for masculine and feminine; article changes.
• Notes:
• Derived from the present participle of verbs, so meaning is often “one who [verb]s” (e.g., cantare → cantante = one who sings).
• Gender is usually marked only by the article (il cantante / la cantante).
• Some -ante words are more common as adjectives but can be used as nouns for professions or roles.
• In modern usage, -ante is productive for describing people by their activity rather than formal job title.
• Examples:
• cantante (singer)
• commerciante (merchant/trader)
• viaggiatore → viaggiante* (traveller) – rare; more common as adjective or participle
• manifestante (demonstrator/protester)
• insegnante (teacher) – can also be in -ente, but some verbs form in -ante
• practicante (trainee/intern)

Loan words

• Used as is from other languages.
• Examples: DJ, manager, coach, business, weekend, meeting from English. Movida from Spanish. Karaoke from Japanese.

Crystallized forms 

• Words that entered the Italian language as lexical terms, sometimes derived from another Italian word and fixed in the language.
• Examples: pilota (pilot), guida (guide), modello (model)

What about porcaro? Stallaro?

Yes — porcaro and stallaro are both historically attested Italian profession nouns, but they’re not common in modern everyday speech.

• Porcaro — literally “swineherd” or “pig keeper,” from porco (“pig”) + the occupational suffix -aro.
• Stallaro — “stableman” or “person in charge of a stable,” from stalla (“stable”) + -aro.

Both are old-style rural job titles, more likely to appear in historical documents, dialect, or as surnames than in contemporary job ads. Today you’d more often hear:

• allevatore di suini (pig farmer) instead of porcaro
• stalliere (stable hand) instead of stallaro

Travelmarx Fall 2025 Playlist – Our Lovely Days

A composite image of 36 albums used in this playlist.

We wrote about them in the Vajont – Vittorio Veneto post, and here we go again: biases.

We based the name of this playlist on the Brian Eno, Beatie Wolfe track “My Lovely Days”. We were thinking that we should celebrate these lovely days of our lives. Our desire is to counteract our “sometimes” biases of:

• Declinism – our world has passed it’s high-water mark and is in decline.
• Rosy retrospection – glossing over bad times in the past.
• Nostalgia bias – longing for the “good old days”.
• Chronocentrism – what we grew up in is superior to the turbulent present and an uncertain future.

Our feeling have names and descriptions. What we are feeling is not new. That’s reassuring...I guess.

Anyway, here’s to lovely days. Smile, chin up. There are good days ahead. The playlist is here on Spotify.


Brian Eno, Beatie Wolfe – album “Luminal”, track “My Lovely Days”
Nina Storey – album “Nina Storey”, track “Be With You Tonight”
Oisin Leech, Steve Gunn, Tony Garnier – album “Cold Sea”, track “Colour of the Rain”
Captain Planet – “Tony’s House”
Clarissa Connelly – album “World of Work”, track “An Embroidery”
Ebony Lamb – album “Ebony Lamb”, track “Salt Sand Sea”

Maladé - album “Mezz’Aller”, track “Ripagnola Alle 19”
Chapelier Fou – album “Muance”, track “Philémon”
Enji – album “Ulaan”, track “Taivshral”
Room Service – album “Things Left to Do”, song “Good Morning”
Keeley Forsyth – album “Debris”, track “Start Again”
The Fantasy Orchestra – album “The Bear and Other Stories”, track “One Rainy Wish”

Tosca – album “Tlapa The Odeon Remixes”, track “In My Brain Prinz Eugen - Richard Dorfmeister vs Madrid De Los Austrias Ybbs Version”
GHOSTWOMAN – album “Ghost Woman”, track “All the Time”
mark william lewis – album “Still Above”, track “Still Above”
Chilly Gonzales – album “L’Accident de piano”, track “Maglie Postlude”
noonday underground – album “Surface Noise”, track “The Surface Noise”
Josin, Lambert – track “Traveller - Lambert rework”

Delayan – album “Looking Towards the Atlantic”, track “English Motorbike”
Midnight Sister – album “Painting the Rose”, track “Satellite”
40 Winks – album “Field Recordings”, track “We’re Flying”
Freedom Fry – album “Rio Grande”, track “Rio Grande”
Wau Wau Collectif – album “Yaral Sa Doom”, track “Mouhamodou Lo and His Children”
Danika – track “For My Baby”

Natalie Bergman – track “Dance”
Velvet Meadow – track “Silent Crying”
RIO KOSTA – track “Unicorn”
Céline Dessberg – album “Hödöö”, track “on est pareil”
Assaf Spector, Tom Meira Armony, Tamir Muskat – track “Monochromium”
Vaughn – track “Mystic Vale”

Brightblack Morning Light – album “Motion to Rejoin”, track “Hologram Buffalo”
Alex Maas – album “Luca”, track “500 Dreams”
O & The Mo – album “Make Way for the Sun”, “I Don’t Know”
Júníus Meyvant – album “Floating Harmonies”, track “Signals”
Toshizo Shiraishi – album “Oasis Session Vol. 1”, track “Iizuna Forest (feat. Yoshio Kobayashi, Jody Tenku & Marter”
FKJ – track “Is Magic Gone”

A Hike Around Lake Silvaplana – The Inn River, Ah-ha Moments, and Nietzsche

Overview ~ The hike ~ Eternal recurrence ~ Photos

   

Left and center: View of Lake Silvaplana from the route.
Right: Tracks for the counter-clockwise hike around Silvaplana.

Overview

We camped at Camping Silvaplana for three nights in late August into early September. The first night was a soggy, rain-pelted affair — the kind where you start questioning your life choices around 3 a.m. But then the weather shifted: dry, cool, and brilliantly sunny for the next two days. The kind of alpine days that make you forget the soggy night and remember exactly why you came.


Lake Silvaplana is in the Upper Engadin valley of the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. It takes its name from the village of Silvaplana, at the northern end of the lake. The campground was on the shore of the lake on the edge of the village. Several 3,000+ meter peaks keep watch over the surreal, milky-turquoise lake — Piz Corvatsch, Piz Julier, and Piz Surlej among them — giving the whole scene that “yes, this is Switzerland” postcard feel.

In Ecce Homo, Friedrich Nietzsche recounts conceiving his idea of the Eternal Recurrence while walking in the woods beside Lake Silvaplana in August 1881. We’re pretty sure we walked right past the rock in question without realizing it. Only later, in the Nietzsche-Haus in Sils-Segl Maria, did we connect the dots. Nietzsche stayed in a modest room in the house of the Durisch family that is today the museum in Sils-Segl Maria. He spent seven summers, 1881 and 1883—88, in Engadin.

The Silvaplana lake is fed by the Inn River (En in Romansh, Aenus in Latin). The Inn’s source is Lägh dal Lunghin (Lake Lunghin) not far away from Silvaplana. From there, the water begins its 518 km journey to the Danube, flowing through Switzerland, Austria, and Germany before joining the Danube. Fun fact: the Engadin is the only Swiss valley whose waters eventually end up in the Black Sea. And drum roll please...Innsbruck is also on the Inn and literally means “bridge over the Inn.” Cue the head slap. How did we not realize that sooner?

The hike

Length: 6 km
Duration: 6 hours (3 hours 20 minutes moving)
Elevation gain: 170 m
Location: Switzerland, Engadin


We went clockwise around the lake starting and ending in Silvaplana. At the south end of the lake, we detoured to Sils-Segl Maria and had lunch and visited the Nietzsche-Haus (museum), which accounts for half of the total time reported above. 

Most of the elevation gain of the hike is on the northwest side of the lake when you are above the lake. The first part of the hike from Silvaplana to Sils, going clockwise, is along the lake more or less.

We stopped for lunch at La Passerella in Sils and had a dish called capuns engadinese and finished with a slice of blueberry pie. Capuns engadinese is a traditional dish from Switzerland’s Engadin valley, made by wrapping a spätzle-like dough mixed with dried meats and herbs in Swiss chard leaves. The bundles are gently simmered in milk and broth, then served with cheese, bacon, or onions for a hearty Alpine meal. You might need a hearty meal before tackling Nietzsche.

Eternal recurrence

At its simplest, Nietzsche's Eternal Recurrence is the thought that everything in the universe, every event, every moment, every detail of your life, will happen again, in exactly the same way, an infinite number of times. Time is not a straight line moving toward a final goal, but a cycle that repeats eternally. The question is: How would you react? If the idea crushes you, it reveals a deep dissatisfaction with life. If you could embrace it joyfully, you’ve reached what Nietzsche calls the “highest formula of affirmation”. A radical yes to existence.

And your reaction would be? Would you lie?

Speaking of liars, or at least falsifiers, Nietzsche's sister comes to mind.  As exhibit 97 in the Nietzsche-Haus explains: "As the executor of the literary estate, Elisabeth Förster- Nietzsche falsified letters and writings of her brother and thereby created a glorified image of Nietzsche that corresponded to her own political and German nationalist ideas. She also compiled the first Nietzsche biography. Alongside the false depictions, we also find insight here into Friedrich Nietzsche's personal life."

Photos

  

Left and center: Views from the trail around Lake Silvaplana.

Right: Our campground for the stay in Silvaplana.

  

Left: Capuns engadinese at La Passarella in Sils.

Center: Blueberry pie at La Passarella in Sils.
Right: A deer symbol on a bench along Lake Silvaplana.

  

Left and center: Views of Sils-Segl Maria in Engadin.
Right: Center of Silvaplana village.

 

Left: Lake Silvaplana - Silvaplanersee - in the morning looking southwest.

Right: The Fedacla River in Sils-Segl Maria, Engadin.

 

Left: Nietzsche-Haus in Sils-Segl Maria, Engadin.

Right: Nietzsche's room in the Nietzsche Haus.

Notes on the Names of Countries in Italian

 

This post is about the name of countries in Italian. We felt motivated to write this after stumbling many times on how to say 'Russia' in Italian and asking ourselves why. In English it’s “RUSH-uh” and in Italian “RUS-see-a”. Seems easy enough, right? 

As we investigated that, we realized we could say a little more about how countries are written and pronounced in Italian. In the past, we talked about cities but haven’t talked about countries. (See Foreign City Names in Italian – Why They Are Sometimes in English.) Here are 10 points about countries in Italian.


Note 1: The basics: pronunciation and writing.

Don’t forget vowels at the end of country names, and to sound them out as they should be in Italian. Examples: Russia, Albania.

Italian is a phonetic language: Every written vowel is meant to be pronounced, so dropping it changes the sound, and sometimes the meaning, of the word.

In English, we often clip or swallow final syllables (“Romania” might come out as “Roman-yuh”), but in Italian, Romania is Ro-ma-ní-a, each vowel crisp and distinct.

Don’t anglicize vowels. For example, don't turn the Italian “a” into an English “uh” or “ay.”

Watch which syllable you stress. For example, in English, Romania is pronounced “ro-MAY-nee-uh", and in Italian, “ro-ma-NEE-a".

In Italian, the stressed syllable for countries is on the penultimate syllable except for compound forms (Stati Uniti, Costa d’Avorio) or foreign names used untranslated.

Standard country names don’t use written accents or diacritics. Example: Côte d’Ivoire → Costa d’Avorio. México instead of Messico, it’s a foreignism, not an Italian spelling.

Note 2: Types of articles.


All articles are used, but “La” is most common.

Examples of “La”: la Grecia, la Scozia, l’Italia
Examples of “Il”: il Portogallo, il Giappone, il Brasile
Examples of “Gli”: gli Stati Uniti, gli Emirati Arabi Uniti
Examples of “Le”: le Filippine, le Maldive
Examples of “I”: i Paesi Bassi, i Caraibi


Note 3: When to use articles.

A few countries are used without an article. Examples: Israel, Cipro, Malta, Singapore, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Haiti, and Cuba. They are used without article for historical, linguistic, and stylistic reasons.

Articles aren’t used with prepositions like “in” or “a” for travel or location.

• Vado in Germania.
• Sono in Francia.
• Vivo a Cuba.

When the country name is treated as a proper noun in isolation, the article isn’t used.

• Italia è bellissima.
• Francia ha una lunga storia.

Note 4: Most country names end in vowels, but not all do.

Examples of countries that don't end in a vowel in Italian: Chad, Niger, Qatar, Yemen, Nepal, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan

For some modern or politically sensitive names, the original spelling is preserved for clarity or respect.

Countries with short, consonant-ending names are more likely to remain unchanged.


Note 5: Modifications: drop the H, change the X, change the PH.

Examples of X to SS: Mexico => Messico, Luxembourg => Lussemburgo

Examples of H removed: Chile => Cile, China => Cina, Thailand => Tailandia, Ethiopia => Etiopia

Examples of PH to F: Philippines => Filippine

Note 6: Many countries are feminine, but not all.

Examples: la Danimarca, la Francia, la Spagna

Many country names in Italian derive from Latin, where the names of lands and regions were often feminine.

The feminine form often reflected the idea of a territory or land, which was conceptually treated as feminine.

Countries are often seen as collective entities or abstract concepts, which tend to be feminine in Italian.

Note 7: The “nia” ending is commonly used.

Examples: Albania, Armenia, Romania, Slovenia, Estonia

Latin Roots: Many country names ending in “-nia” derive from Latin or Greek origins, where “-ia” was a common suffix for lands or regions (e.g., Armenia, Romania). These are all feminine.

Italian Phonetics: Italian prefers words to end in vowels, and “-nia” is a smooth, melodic ending that fits the language’s rhythm.

  
 

Note 8: Nationalities derive from country names usually, with exceptions.

Examples: italiano/italiana/italiani/italiane, francese/francesi, argentino/argentina/argentini/argentine

Italian uses specific suffixes, such as -ese/esi, -ano/ana, -ino/ina and others that are added to the end of a country name to form the nationality. See: The Intrepid Guide - Countries and Nationalities in Italian Cheat-Sheet

Exceptions: tedesco/tedesca/tedeschi/tedesche, greco/greca/greci/greche, olandese/olandese/olandesi/olandesi, britannico/britannica/britannici/britanniche, svizzero/svizzera/svizzeri/svizzere

Note 9: Some Italian names different from English.

Examples: Regno Unito, Corea del Sud.  See: Italian Country Names: Regions & Meanings | Vaia

Italian often prefers clarity and context, especially for compound or political names.

Some names reflect historical relationships or colonial-era naming conventions.

It’s also a way to preserve meaning when a direct translation might be ambiguous or misleading.

Note 10: Some names don’t change how they are written between English and Italian, though pronunciation may vary.

Examples: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Australia, Bermuda

Comprehensive list: List of Countries of the World in Italian, Nomi di paesi in italiano - Nations Online Project

Sticky Lyrics – Please Take My Earworms

A mix-up of three different albums covers.
Can you figure out what they are?

An earworm doesn’t have to be a full song. It can be a short, repetitive snippet. Even stranger, is when you have several in your head at the same time as I did recently. The three snippets that kept cycling in my head were:

• “If you feel like going hunting, we’re gonna shoot you down”
• “It’s gonna take an airplane to get me off the ground”
• “She was so good at being in trouble, so bad at being in love”

Maybe the word “gonna” connects the first two and they are all connected rhythmically? Who knows? Or, maybe they nam-shubs, an incantation or spell that can directly alter reality?

Some psychologists casually call what I experienced “sticky lyrics” or “lyric loops”, but there’s no widely accepted separate scientific term beyond involuntary musical imagery (INMI) — it’s just a partial earworm. Whatever you want to call them they intrude on your mental soundscape as if your brain is chewing gum with them.

Can you name these songs? It took me a few days to hunt the songs down and listen to them. That’s one way to get rid of the loops: listen to the song. Other ways are discussed at 7 Simple Ways Get Rid of a Song That's Stuck in Your Head. Another way is suggested in the Mark Twain short story “A Literary Nightmare” (1876): infect someone else!

Are you ready for the answers?

• “If you feel like going hunting, we’re gonna shoot you down” - Camel Power Club – “Laïka” from the album “Club Vinyl” (2020)
• “It’s gonna take an airplane to get me off the ground” - Destroyer – “It's Gonna Take an Airplane” from the album “Your Blues” (2004)
• “She was so good at being in trouble, so bad at being in love” - Unknown Mortal Orchestra - “So Good at Being in Trouble” from the albums “II” (2013)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra also has the catchy “Ffunny Friends” song...I beg you don’t go and listen to it.


  

Cardeto Hike - Giro dei Laghi

Overview ~ Notes ~ Flora ~ Photos

  
Left: Lago di Mezza di Cardeto - Alta Val Seriana.
Center: A horse grazing above Gromo - Alta Val Seriana.
Right: Trail 233 in Alta Val Seriana - heading down into Gromo.

Overview

Length: 14.1 km
Duration: 6.5 hours (includes a leisurely lunch)
Elevation gain: 881 m
Location: Italy, Bergamo, Alta Val Seriana, Gromo

Notes

Just like our last hike to Alpe Dosdè, a call comes from friends with a hike offer. We said yes, and we went. It’s good to have friends!

This time to Alta Val Seriana, above Gromo to visit the Cardeto Lakes (Laghi di Cardeto).

The name Cardeto most likely comes from the Italian word cardo — meaning thistle — with the suffix -eto, which indicates a place characterized by or abundant in something. So Cardeto can be interpreted as “place of thistles” or “thistle field,” a toponymic nod to the vegetation that once grew (or still grows) in that high alpine basin.

The trails that we followed were Sentiero 233: Gromo - Passo Portula and Sentiero 233A: Cardeto - Giro dei Laghi. We stopped at Baita alta di Cardeto but did not go up to Passo Portula. We had a wonderful lunch at Baita Cardeto Flavio Rodigari. The brasato con polenta had tender chunks of beef that melted in your mouth.

On our clockwise tour of the lakes we visited:

• Lago Basso (1708 m)
• Lago di Mezzo (1798 m)
• Lago Alto (1862 m) - and then we dove in for a quick swim.

Flora 

[Asteraceae] Carlina acaulis


[Caryophyllaceae] Silene dioica


[Ericaceae] Erica carnea


[Hypericaceae] Hypericum maculatum


[Juncaceae] Juncus sp.


[Melanthiaceae] Veratrum album

This plant is poisonous to humans and livestock. Humans should avoid touching it. If you touch it, wash your hands afterward.  V. album is generally avoided by cattle, but if there is nothing else available may graze it. Farmers pasturing their animals in alpine pastures consider this plant a "problem plant", "underuse indicator", and "space thief". It spreads easily and needs to be maintained. 

[Rosaceae] Sanguisorba dodecandra

Sanguisorba is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The common name is burnet. This species is unique to the Bergamasque Alps.


[Rosaceae] Sorbus aucuparia

We usually don't talk about trees that much on Travelmarx, but the rowan trees we saw today were numerous and made for beautiful photos against the mountain backdrops. Rowans are mostly small deciduous trees 10–20 meters (33–66 ft) tall in the Rosaceae family. They are flashy in the spring with their flowers and again in late summer with the clusters of orange fruit, looking like a cluster of berries though they are not true berries. 

Rowan berries have a natural preservative called sorbic acid, but when they’re raw they also pack a bit of parasorbic acid (around 0.4%–0.7% in the European variety). Parasorbic acid can upset your stomach and even mess with your kidneys if you eat a lot. Luckily, cooking, drying, or even freezing them breaks it down into harmless sorbic acid. They're far too mouth-puckering to enjoy straight off the tree.

Photos

  

Left: Baita Cardeto Flavio Rodigari - brasato con polenta.

Center: Baita Cardeto Flavio Rodigari - pasta con verdure.
Right: Baita Cardeto Flavio Rodigari - tagliere.

  

Left: Baita Cardeto Flavio Rodigari.

Center: A horse grazing along trail 233 in Alta Val Seriana.

Right: Monte Calvera in Alta Val Seriana.

  

Left: Lago Alto di Cardeto - Alta Val Seriana.
Center: Lago Basso di Cardeto - Alta Val Seriana.

Right: The Bergamasque Alps - view east from Laghetti di Cardeto.

  

Left: Trail 233 - walking from Baita Cardeto toward Gromo.

Right: View of Alta Val Seriana from Trail 233 above Gromo.

  

Left: Trail 233 starts out among Rowan trees.
Center: Trail marking for 233.
Right: Tracks of Laghetti di Cardeto hike.