Bergamo – Street Sign Language Lesson XXI - Pastas of Bergamo

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In this installment of the Street Sign Language Lesson, we careen between a thousand nails, pastas of Bergamo, and a request to keep the tennis court clean. Let's begin...


Left: Millechiodi glue. Center: Twine by Cuki. Right: Types of pastas typical of Bergamo.

millechiodi – "a thousand nails"
This is the name of a glue (colla di montaggio). The name is catchy implying that this glue is so strong that it's like a thousand nails. This photo was taken in PAM, a supermarket chain that was founded in 1984 with headquarters in Venice. I mention that because I was sure it was not Italian-based.

spago - "twine"

I like this word because it's short and easy to pronounce. No sdrucciola here. Cuki is the brand.

pizzoccheri, casonsèi, scarpinòcc  - "pizzoccheri, casonsèi, scarpinòcc"

These are three types of pasta that, living in Bergamo, you get to know very well.  This photo is of a display of pasta in PAM.

• Pizzocheri are a type of tagliatelle of buckwheat flour and typical of the Valtellina valley north of Bergamo. The name of the pasta is universally used to refer to the traditional dish featuring the pasta with cabbage, potatoes, and cheese.
• Casonsèi is the dialect for casoncelli, which are the typical stuffed pasta of Bergamo and Brescia. Casoncelli are typically half-moon shaped and stuffed with a filling based on meat, parmigiano or grana padano, and spices.
• Scarpinòcc are a pasta typical of Parre, in the Val Seriana about 30 km northeast of Bergamo. They are casoncelli without the meat in the filling. If you look closely at the photo you can see written on the packaging scarpinòcc di Par with Par being Parre in bergamasco.

Left: Sign for table linens. Center: Touch-screen for payment. Right: List of prices for a haircut.

teleria casa – "table linens"

This is where you go to get table cloths, napkins and other things related to setting a table. And just to set the record straight: we would never buy table linens let alone pizzoccheri, casonsèi, or scarpinòcc in PAM. Millechiodi or spago, yes, for sure those are allowable PAM purchases.

toccare lo schermo – "touch the screen"

Toccare is one of those verbs that is easy to remember, maybe because is it close to "touch" in English. In this photo, we were getting ready to pay for a visit to the Papa Giovanni XXIII sports clinic.

listino prezzi – "price list"
This is the price list for different services at hair salon Giacomo's Team in Bergamo. A man's cut is taglio uomo at 25 euros. For women, the closest term is taglio + piega for 30 euros. Piega is used to refer to anything done after the cut and shampoo, like combing out, drying and maybe some light styling. So taglio + piega would be cut and style. It's easy to read this literally as a cut and a fold since piega comes from the verb piegare to crease or fold. Piega is really short for messa in piega, which here can be read as "get your hair done".

Left: Sign reminding people to brush the tennis court after playing. Right: Electronic cigarette ban notice even in rooms with windows.

al termine di gioco si prega di tirare il campo per la manutenzione – "after playing please maintain the court"

We met a friend at the Tennis Club Bergamo and encountered this sign. I got hung up on the tirare il campo part trying to read it too literally as "pull the court". What it means here is to maintain the court by leveling it with a mat, boom or brush pulled up and down the court. You can see such a device in the upper right of the photo. Nod to this post Tirare il campo for clarifying.

vietato l'utilizzo delle sigarette elettroniche – "use of electronic cigarettes is prohibited"

This sign was seen in the library Biblioteca Angelo Mai. It's a pretty standard sign, nothing out of the ordinary until you get to the last line: il divieto è in vigore anche se i locali sono dotati di finestre or "the ban is applicable even if the spaces have windows". In Italy, you need that sentence to remind people that smoking in a room with the windows open, or smoking leaning out the window is not the same as smoking outside.