Q 01/05

Which everyday Italian greeting grew out of a Venetian phrase that literally meant 'I am your slave'?

A) Salve

B) Ciao

C) Pronto

D) Addio

Answer · why

B) Ciao

Ciao began as 's-ciào vostro', a courteous Venetian way of saying 'at your service'. It spread across northern Italy only in the late 19th and early 2...

Q 02/05

A traveller who asks for just a 'latte' in an Italian café will be served a glass of what?

A) Water

B) Juice

C) Wine

D) Milk

Answer · why

D) Milk

Milk is all that 'latte' means in Italian, where it is an everyday word. The espresso drink is a caffè latte, and it is traditionally served in a glas...

Q 03/05

A diner in Italy who orders a pizza with 'peperoni' gets which topping instead of spicy salami?

A) Bell peppers

B) Peppercorns

C) Black olives

D) Anchovies

Answer · why

A) Bell peppers

Bell peppers are what 'peperoni', the plural of 'peperone', means in Italian. The spicy salami is an American creation, and a chilli is a 'peperoncino...

Q 04/05

What does the name of tiramisù, Italy's coffee-soaked dessert layered with mascarpone, literally mean?

A) Sweet dream

B) Kiss me again

C) Pick me up

D) Little cloud

Answer · why

C) Pick me up

Pick me up is what 'tirami su' means in Italian. The dessert is younger than it looks: one widely reported account has it invented at a Treviso restau...

Q 05/05

Which English word comes from the Venetian for 'forty days', the time ships once had to wait before landing?

A) Embargo

B) Quarantine

C) Blockade

D) Moratorium

Answer · why

B) Quarantine

Quarantine comes from the Venetian 'quarantena'. It replaced a shorter wait, the thirty-day 'trentino' that Ragusa, now Dubrovnik, first imposed on ne...