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.
Ferie, and why July or August is not a small question
Italian employees are entitled by law to at least four weeks of paid leave, and in practice most of it is taken in a single block in summer. Whether you get July or August is a real workplace negotiation, because August is when the country closes and everybody wants it, while July is hotter in the south and cheaper everywhere. Many manufacturing firms simply shut for two or three weeks — chiusura aziendale — and hand the decision to everyone at once. The result is the traffic phenomenon Italians call the esodo, the exodus: the first weekend of August sees the highways rated by a color-coded bollino system, with bollino nero for the worst days, announced on the news like a weather warning. It is also why Alex's plan hangs on the month. Two further notes for a learner. Il ponte is a bridge day — when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, the Monday or Friday is widely taken off, and fare il ponte is a fixed expression. And a great many Italians own or have access to a family place — la casa al mare, la casa in montagna — which is why the same destination recurs year after year.