ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY
Is it that time already?
Published: 23 August 2021 15:39 CEST
Updated: 31 August 2022 17:05 CEST
If you live in Italy you’ll be hearing this phrase used a lot in the coming days and weeks.
In fact, it’s practically impossible to avoid talk of ‘return’ as the long summer holidays come to an end.
The word come back inas you may be able to guess, literally translates as ‘reentry’ or ‘return’, and this is the term used for the start of the school year or the return to work after the summer holidays.
It can be used at the start of any new school term or after other holidays, but the end-of-summer event is something pretty much the whole country takes part in at once – hence why it’s often referred to this time as ‘The great return‘.
And, as you’ll know if you live in Italy, it takes on a greater sense of importance than the literal English translation might suggest.
– Are you ready for the return?
– Are you ready to go back to work/school?
Just as the Mid-August mid-August holiday is a sacred national tradition, with most of the country taking their vacation or annual leave over the same few weeks, so then is the return home afterwards.
READ ALSO: How do Italy’s public holidays compare to other EU countries?
As such, at the end of August Italy experiences the counterexodus – the opposite of the early August exodus or exodus, when pretty much the entire country goes on holiday at once, always resulting in huge traffic jams.
With everyone coming back from their holidays at once, the country’s roads and railways are similarly packed once more – but the mood is decidedly lower this time.
‘Traffic, red alert on Sunday for the first counterexodus of August’ – Headline from newspaper The Republic on August 22nd, 2021.
While the counterexodus is tinged with post-holiday sadness, there’s some excitement and relief about the come back in – parents are quite glad to send children back to school after more than two months, and there’s the fun of your favourite restaurants reopening and catch ups with friends after their holidays.
– The day after I got home, I went to visit my friends
– The day after we returned home, I went to visit my friends
Return signals a nationwide change of pace and mood. It’s time to get going again, in every sense, after weeks – if not months – of long family lunches, afternoon naps, and quiet days at the beach.
Some people even see it as a kind of new beginning, not unlike the New Year.
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