Italian Phrases for Travelers: 60 Essentials (With Audio)

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Updated August 2026 · Everyday Italian · 9-minute read · 🔊 every phrase has native audio

You do not need to speak Italian to travel in Italy. You need about twenty words, and you need to use them at the right moment — because in Italy the words are half the point and the timing is the other half.

Nobody expects you to be fluent. What people do notice, immediately and warmly, is whether you greet them when you walk in. Italy runs on that small ceremony: you say buongiorno entering a shop, buonasera after about four in the afternoon, and arrivederci on the way out. Skip it and you are, without meaning to be, the rude one.

Everything below is spoken by a native voice — tap the play button on any row. The phrases are grouped the way a trip actually happens: getting through the door, finding things, eating, paying, and the small number of phrases you hope never to need.

The ten that do most of the work

If you only learn one block on this page, learn this one. These ten cover the overwhelming majority of what a visitor actually needs to say.

Lei or tu — the choice nobody warns you about

Italian has two words for “you”, and choosing the wrong one is the most common mistake visitors make. It is also the one nobody corrects you on, because correcting you would itself be impolite.

Tu is for friends, family, children, and people roughly your own age in a relaxed setting. Lei — which is literally the word for “she”, used as a formal you — is for everyone else: shopkeepers, waiters, hotel staff, anyone older than you, anyone in a professional role, and any stranger at all.

The safe rule is simple. Use Lei with everyone you have not been introduced to. Nobody has ever been offended by being addressed too politely. If they want to drop it, they will tell you — the phrase is diamoci del tu, and it is a small, friendly moment when it happens.

And the famous one: ciao is informal. To a shopkeeper, someone older, or anyone in an office, it lands as too familiar — a bit like slapping a stranger on the back. If buongiorno feels too stiff, salve is the word that rescues you, and almost nobody teaches it. There is more on this in our full guide to Italian greetings.

Getting someone to understand you

Most Italians in tourist areas speak some English, and every single one of them will speak more of it if you open in Italian first. These are the phrases that buy you that goodwill.

Finding your way

Eating, which is why you came

This is the section you will use most. Italian restaurant language is warmer and less transactional than English — vorrei (I would like) rather than voglio (I want), always.

Shopping and paying

The phrases you hope not to need

Learn these anyway. Reading them off a phone in an emergency is much harder than it sounds, and the audio here is worth playing twice.

Four mistakes almost every visitor makes

1. Saying buongiorno at six in the evening. Italian splits the day earlier than English does. Buongiorno runs until roughly four in the afternoon, and after that it is buonasera — including in a shop at 4:30, when it still feels like daytime to you. Nobody will correct you, but the switch is one of those small things that immediately reads as “knows how this works”.

2. Saying voglio when you mean vorrei. Voglio is “I want”, and in Italian it lands far more bluntly than the English does — closer to a demand than a request. Vorrei, “I would like”, is what adults say to each other. It is the single easiest upgrade to how you sound.

3. Thinking the coperto is a scam. Most restaurants add a small per-person cover charge, printed on the menu, usually one to three euros. It is not a tip, not a table fee invented for tourists, and not negotiable — it is simply how Italian restaurants price bread and service. Arguing about it is the fastest way to sour an evening.

4. Tipping like an American. Service is generally included. Rounding up, or leaving a couple of euros for something genuinely good, is warmly received. Twenty per cent is not expected and can read as slightly odd. There is no shame in leaving nothing extra on an ordinary lunch.

Numbers you’ll actually use

You need eight of them, not a hundred. These cover ordering, prices, platforms and table sizes. The full set is in our Italian numbers guide.

Questions travellers actually ask

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