Goodbye in Italian: 15 Ways to Say It (With Audio)

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Arrivederci — goodbye: illustrated Italian lesson scene by My Everyday Language

Italian › Phrases › Goodbye

Updated August 2026 · Everyday Italian · 6-minute read · 🔊 every phrase has native audio

The quick answer: goodbye in Italian is arrivederci (ahr-ree-veh-DEHR-chee) with anyone you don’t know well, and ciao (chow) with friends and family. Leaving for the night? Buonanotte. Hear all 15 below — including the one farewell Italians almost never say out loud. 👇

Arrivederci!
ahr-ree-veh-DEHR-chee · goodbye (polite) — tap to hear it spoken

🐌 Play slow version

Italian doesn’t have one goodbye. It has a small family of them, and Italians pick the right one without thinking — the way you’d never say “farewell” to the mailman. Here is every farewell you actually need, what each one means, and the moment it belongs in.

All 15 ways to say goodbye in Italian

Italian Say it like Means Use it when… Listen
Ciao chow bye (also hello) friends, family, children — anyone you could hug
Ciao ciao chow chow bye-bye warm and sing-song — on the phone, with little ones
Arrivederci ahr-ree-veh-DEHR-chee goodbye (until we see each other again) the safe, polite default — shops, restaurants, strangers
ArrivederLa ahr-ree-veh-DEHR-lah goodbye (very formal, to one person) a doctor, a lawyer, an official — extra respect
Buonanotte bwoh-nah-NOT-teh good night only when you’re parting for the night — not a greeting
Buona giornata BWOH-nah jor-NAH-tah have a good day walking out of a shop or café before evening
Buona serata BWOH-nah seh-RAH-tah have a good evening the same exit line, after about 5 pm
A presto ah PRESS-toh see you soon you genuinely expect to meet again before long
A dopo ah DOH-poh see you later later the same day — you’ll be back after lunch
A domani ah doh-MAH-nee see you tomorrow leaving work, class, or a neighbor’s kitchen
Ci vediamo chee veh-DYAH-moh we’ll see each other the everyday “see ya” — friendly, no promises
Ci sentiamo chee sen-TYAH-moh we’ll hear each other ending a phone call or a message — “we’ll talk”
Alla prossima AHL-lah PROS-see-mah until next time a cheerful sign-off when the next time is vague
Stammi bene STAHM-mee BEH-neh take care of yourself tender — for someone you’ll miss
Addio ahd-DEE-oh farewell — forever almost never. Opera, breakups, deathbeds
💡 Pronunciation tip: the tricky part of arrivederci is the middle — roll it as ahr-ree-veh-DEHR-chee, with the stress landing on DEHR, and let the ending be a soft “chee”, never “kee”. Say it three times with the audio until it stops feeling like five words.

Which one should you actually use?

If you remember only two, remember these: arrivederci for everyone else, ciao for people you love. That covers roughly every goodbye you will ever need in Italy.

The line between them is warmth, not politeness. Ciao isn’t rude — it’s intimate. Saying it to a shopkeeper you’ve never met is a bit like calling a stranger “sweetheart”: nobody calls the police, but everyone notices. Arrivederci is the respectful middle ground, and it’s beautiful once you know what it means — a rivederci, “until we see each other again.” Italian doesn’t say goodbye. It schedules the next hello.

Two things worth knowing before you go:

  • Buonanotte is not a greeting. Unlike buongiorno, it only works on the way out, when the night is ending. Say it walking in and you’ll get a puzzled smile.
  • Skip addio. It carries the weight of never. Italians reach for it in opera, in old films, and in the moments nobody wants — not at the door of a trattoria.
🇮🇹 Where “ciao” came from: it began in Venice as s-ciào vostro — “I am your servant.” Centuries of shortening wore it down to a single warm syllable that now works for hello and goodbye alike. When you say ciao, you’re saying “at your service” without knowing it.

The long Italian goodbye

Americans have the “Irish goodbye” — slip out, tell nobody. Italy has the exact opposite, and if you grew up in an Italian family you already know it by heart.

The goodbye starts in the kitchen. It moves to the hallway. It stalls in the doorway for twenty minutes while three more stories get told. Someone remembers a photograph. Someone else fetches a bag of leftovers you did not ask for and cannot refuse. There are two light cheek-touches — not real kisses, just a soft brush and a small sound — and then the whole thing repeats on the front step. Vabbè, dai… ciao… ciao ciao ciao.

Then, from the window, one more wave until the car turns the corner.

None of that is inefficiency. In Italy the leaving is the affection. Rushing it is the only rude version. If your grandparents did this, they weren’t being slow — they were saying, in the only way that felt right, that they didn’t want you to go yet.

🇮🇹 The word from the ships: there is one Italian goodbye that isn’t in daily use, and every Italian-American family has a version of it. Addio — literally “to God” — was the word for a parting with no return, and it is the word that hung over the docks at Naples and Palermo when whole families left for New York. That’s why it still feels too heavy for ordinary use. Italians say arrivederci precisely because it promises the opposite: we’ll see each other again.

Saying goodbye in writing

Email, a card to a cousin in Puglia, a text to a friend — written Italian has its own farewells, and using a spoken one in a formal email is the most common slip English speakers make.

Italian Say it like Means Use it when… Listen
Cordiali saluti kor-DYAH-lee sah-LOO-tee kind regards the standard business email close
Distinti saluti dee-STEEN-tee sah-LOO-tee yours sincerely very formal — offices, banks, town halls
Un caro saluto oon KAH-roh sah-LOO-toh a warm goodbye friendly but still respectful
Un abbraccio oon ahb-BRAHCH-choh a hug letters to family and close friends
Baci BAH-chee kisses the affectionate sign-off between women, family, old friends
💡 Writing to relatives in Italy? Un abbraccio is the one to reach for. It’s the written equivalent of the doorway hug — warm, familiar, and completely normal between adults, including between men.

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Practice: quick check

1. You’re leaving a bakery in Bologna at 11 am…
Arrivederci! — or the lovely double move Italians use: Grazie, arrivederci, buona giornata! Thanks, goodbye, and a good-day wish on the way out.
2. You’re hanging up the phone with your cousin in Italy…
Ci sentiamo! — “we’ll hear each other.” Then, almost certainly, ciao ciao ciao as you both try to hang up first.
3. Your friend’s nonna is walking you to the door at 10 pm…
Grazie di tutto, buonanotte! — and if you’d like to melt her completely, add stammi bene , “take care of yourself.”
Arrivederci — every phrase with its pronunciation, from My Everyday Language
Save or share this card — every word on it has a play button above.

Frequently asked questions

Is ciao Italian for goodbye?
Yes — ciao means both hello and goodbye, exactly like the English “bye” doubling as a greeting in some places. The catch is formality: ciao is informal in both directions, so it’s for friends, family and people your own age. With a stranger or a shopkeeper, leave with arrivederci instead.
How do Italians say goodbye?
In daily life, mostly three ways: ciao with people they’re close to, arrivederci with everyone else, and a good-wish on the way out — buona giornata, buona serata or buonanotte depending on the hour. Friends add ci vediamo (“see you”) or a domani (“see you tomorrow”).
When should you use ciao or arrivederci?
Use ciao with anyone you’d hug: friends, family, children, colleagues you know well. Use arrivederci with anyone you’d shake hands with: shopkeepers, waiters, neighbors you’ve just met, older strangers. If you genuinely can’t tell, arrivederci is never wrong.
Do Italians say “ciao bello”?
They do — ciao bello to a man, ciao bella to a woman. It’s playful and affectionate, somewhere between “hey gorgeous” and “hey you”, and it’s used freely between friends and family without any romance implied. From a total stranger on the street it can read as flirty, so it’s one to receive warmly rather than hand out to people you’ve just met. There’s more on bello and bella in our beautiful-in-Italian lesson.
What’s the difference between arrivederci and addio?
Arrivederci means “until we see each other again” — it assumes a next time. Addio comes from a Dio, “to God”, and means a parting with no next time. Italians reserve it for endings that are final, so using it casually sounds either theatrical or genuinely upsetting.
How do you end an email in Italian?
For business, cordiali saluti (kind regards) or the more formal distinti saluti. For someone you know, un caro saluto (a warm goodbye). For family and close friends, un abbraccio (a hug) or baci (kisses). Never close a formal email with ciao.

Keep going

PhrasesHello in ItalianCiao, buongiorno & friendsPhrasesThank You in ItalianGrazie — said the right wayCultureItalian Hand GesturesThe wave that means goodbyePhrasesGood Night in ItalianBuonanotte & sogni d’oroPhrasesBon Voyage in ItalianTwelve send-offs, spoken
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