Hover a line for its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 0 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
Sign in to generate dialogues. It needs a pass — the first ten lessons of every course are free either way.
The post office is a bank
Poste Italiane does far more than move letters. It is one of the country's largest financial institutions: you can hold a current account there, invest in savings bonds, collect a pension, pay a tax bill and take out insurance, and for many Italians the local post office is their bank. This is why the queue is long and why the numbered-ticket machine at the door offers several categories — choose the wrong one and you will wait twice. The instrument that most explains the queue is the bollettino postale, a pre-printed slip used to pay everything from utility bills to university fees and government fines. Handing one over with cash at a post office counter remains completely normal, even though it can now be done online. Two practical notes. Stamps are sold at the post office and also at any tabaccheria, the tobacconist with a white T on a black sign, which is far quicker for a postcard. And posta prioritaria costs a little more and is genuinely faster, but no Italian will promise you a date — the standard advice for anything that matters is a courier.