Untold Italy · Friday, August 7, 2026
Nizim shares a few key Italian phrases to help tourists integrate better. 'Salve' is recommended over 'Ciao' for initial greetings. He also suggests 'Buongiorno' and 'Buonasera' for time-specific greetings and 'buonagiornata' for wishing someone a good day upon departure, noting that these show effort and respect.
“And Salve is one of the best words that you can have in your repertoire because it's a word that Italians don't necessarily expect foreigners to know, and it's a very nice, polite way of like opening the interaction.”
“And also one of Jonata, which is you know, enjoy the rest of your day basically, and that's a really good one too.”
“So during the day, say until about lunchtime, it's bon Giorno is day bono is good, whereas in the like afternoon evening, it's buonsera is evening.”