Learning Italian is no small feat. You might have to study for years, spend time in full immersion, read full-length novels, and then finally find yourself fluent. But even if your Italian is perfect, you will find that many people pepper their speech with dialect and local idioms that don’t appear in any textbook. So if you really want to speak like a Roman, you should be following Rome is More.
Rome is More has long been one of my favorite Instagram accounts. The brainchild of Carolina, the account is all about highlight the funny but bitingly accurate sayings that you will hear daily in Rome.
The local dialect spoken in Rome is known as Romanesco. Daje! You should know that!
And learning more about Romanesco will give you special, local insight into the Romans who make the city what it is.
It is a pretty colorful dialect and you will easily start to notice it once you learn something about it.
And Rome is More is the perfect place to start. Carolina has created a simple but beautiful graphic way to introduce the sayings, as well as to provide a real use example in both English and Italian.
The Instagram account is such a fun place to start, but there is also a Roman-English dictionary which collects some of the more popular sayings in book form. You can find Veni Vedi Daje in Italian bookstores or this digital copy is available for $6.99 if you are based in the US. (*that’s an affiliate link).
Carolina was sweet enough to share a copy with me when it came out in late 2019. And since then, she has been busy creating an amazing line of products with Roman sayings. You can see them all online (and have them shipped anywhere in Europe), but it is even more fun to stop in at her recently opened shop in Testaccio.
The Rome is More store is filled with mugs and shirts emblazoned with sti cazzi and mortacci tua.
If you are looking for a unique Rome souvenir, you can pick out tiny magnets for back home or nab a tote bag.
Roman is a fun dialect, but here is more on how to learn Italian in case you want to really improve your language skills.
Rome is More
Via Mastro Giorgio, 31
Rome, Italy (Testaccio)
Open Monday 2:30 pm – 7 pm and Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 7 pm. Closed Sunday.
