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Has it ever happened to you to be sick in Italy and not know how to explain it to a doctor or the pharmacist? Maybe you pointed at your stomach with a suffering face, hoping they’d figure it out on their own… and walked out with a cough syrup. Expressing pain, symptoms and minor accidents in Italian requires precise structures: in this guide you’ll find all the fundamental expressions, from the two basic constructions (“mi fa male” [it hurts me] and “ho mal di” [I have pain in]) to the reflexive verbs for injuries, through the vocabulary to get by at the doctor’s office and the pharmacy.

A wave of cyberattacks has hit in recent weeks the refrigeration systems of hundreds of supermarkets across half of Europe, including Italy. The Italian government has called an emergency meeting at Palazzo Chigi, consumer associations are talking about hybrid warfare and investigators have not yet identified those responsible. In this article you’ll find the reconstruction of the events region by region, the reaction of the authorities, the key vocabulary to understand Italian news about technology and security and a grammatical structure that Italian journalists use continuously in news reporting: the condizionale di cronaca.

You’ve lived in Italy for years and one day you decide to leave. Suitcases ready, ticket in hand, and right at the door you receive a notice from the tax authority: “Un momento! Prima di andare, dobbiamo fare i conti.” [One moment! Before you go, we need to settle the accounts.] This is the idea behind one of the most discussed fiscal news stories of late 2026: the exit tax, that is, an “exit tax” for those who leave Italy. Attention, however: this is a proposal contained in the new budget law presented at the end of October, which Parliament has yet to approve and which could therefore change. In this guide you’ll see who should pay it, how much, when, why some defend it and others criticise it, and you’ll also learn the Italian vocabulary of taxation, economics and newspaper headlines.

Since mid-October 2026, protests, demonstrations and strikes have been underway in many Italian cities. Thousands of people have taken to the streets to express their anger and demand change. The main reason is carovita [rising cost of living], that is, the increase in the cost of living: in Italy, living costs more and more, because the prices of food, petrol, electricity and rent are rising, while many salaries stay the same. In this guide you’ll find a clear and organised explanation of what’s happening: who’s protesting, why, how the government is reacting and, above all, the key words needed to understand everything, from trade unions to the Constitution.

November 1st in Italy is a special day, with schools, offices and banks closed: the feast of All Saints is celebrated. The day after, instead, people work and go to school, although remembering the dead. And in between, between these two very ancient dates, in recent decades a relatively new festival has arrived in the country: Halloween. In this guide you’ll find all the traditions, the words and the curiosities to know about these three festivities that follow one another between the end of October and the beginning of November, from the Pantheon of Rome to chrysanthemums, from the Sicilian frutta martorana to the Calabrian “coccalu di muortu”, with two little grammar rules that confuse almost all foreign students.

Can you understand everything when an Italian speaks fast? If you know the grammar but get lost listening to a movie or a podcast in Italian, you’re not alone. Listening comprehension is one of the hardest skills to develop, but also one of the most important. With this test you’ll discover your true listening level through an authentic story told at natural speed.