The Beauty of the Italian Language
A language that was shaped by artists
“I’m really in love with this beautiful language, the most beautiful in the world. For me, there’s no doubt that the angels in the sky speak Italian”.
(Thomas Mann)
I also think that Italian is the most beautiful language in the world. And that’s the main reason why a few years ago I decided to start learning it. I feel like the Italian language reflects Art. When you listen to a conversation in italian, it almost feels like you’re listening to a rhythmically composed melody. And when you pronounce those rolling r’s or those sharp c’s , it almost feels like making art with your own hands. It’s like painting the most beautiful piece of art while you’re having a simple conversation.
If someone asked me “why did you chose to learn Italian?”, I’d answer with a single word: piacere. It means “pleasure”, but in Italian it’s a verb and not a noun. You use it to say that something or someone pleases you and also to simply say “delight”. If you don’t know how to pronounce it, I highly recommend that you google it. It’s just beautiful. And I think that this word reflects a lot about the italian language and culture.
But did you know that there’s a reason why Italian is such a beautiful and poetic language? Unlike its siblings Spanish and French, Italian did not naturally evolve to become Italy’s official language. It was purposely chosen to be so.
Italy was unified pretty late in history, only in 1861. Before that, the peninsula was formed by numerous regional kingdoms with different governments and different dialects. Therefore, once the country got unified, they had to actually choose an official language. And what was one of the criteria? Yes, la bellezza.
The Italian that we know today is what once was the Tuscan dialect. Tuscany, the region in central Italy where you can find those beautiful vineyards and breathtaking landscapes. The region where you can visit Lucca, Pisa and the beautiful Firenze, the birth place of the Renaissance, the city where some of the biggest artists of all the time lived. Yes, that Tuscany.
As you can see, even the origins of the language are kind of… poetic.
Speaking of which, poets had an important role in the development of the Italian language, specially Dante Alighieri. Even though he was born centuries before the unification of Italy, his importance in the history of the language is undeniable. Back in the 14th century, when Dante wrote his masterpiece “ The Divine Comedy”, he made an important and crucial decision: his books would be written in his Tuscan dialect, the language of the people, and not in latin, the language of the educated elite back then. Which means that Dante, and many other artists before and after him, shaped the language’s vocabulary and style taking beauty and sonority into the account. It’s not really a surprise that a few centuries later this dialect would be the chosen one, right? Obviously the language has changed a lot since de 14th century, but it’s not by chance that up until now Dante is known as “il padre della lingua italiana” or “the father of the Italian language”.
Even though these days Italy has an official language, tons of different dialects are still spoken by the people all across the country. You could drive the country from north to south and hear different dialects in every single region. And I’d love to learn more about them in the future. I find this diversity and plurality of languages beautiful and inspiring.
What about you? Do you have a favorite language? And do you know any interesting fact about it to share?
Thank you for reading!
