On one of my trips to Rome, I enjoyed a full day coach tour of the Roman Villa Adriana (Hadrian’s Villa) and Villa d’Este. They are not far from each other, so you can explore both villas in one day.
The Villa d’Este in the hills of Tivoli comprises a Renaissance and Baroque palace and magnificent water gardens with over 500 beautiful fountains, ornamental basins, grottoes, and sculptures. It even has a water-operated organ! The gardens are a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering and beauty. It was built in the 16th century, with Bernini’s Fontana del Bicchierone (Fountain of the Great Glass) added in the 17th century.
Here are some of my photos showing several views of the gardens of Villa d’Este.
This indoor photo shows one of the ceilings of the Villa d’Este palace.
You can listen to a magnificent rendition of The Fountains of the Villa d’Este by Franz Liszt, played beautifully by Nobuyuki Tsujii in this YouTube video.
Location of Villa d’Este: Province of Rome, Region of Lazio (Latium) (Central Italy), Tivoli Roma (Rome)– East of Roma (Rome)
Other places to visit that are near this World Heritage Site:
Official UNESCO World Heritage Site listing of the Villa d’Este:
Information from the official UNESCO World Heritage SiteVilla d’Este: A Triumph of the Baroque Villa d’Este: il trionfo del barocco The Villa d’Este in Tivoli, with its palace and garden, is one of the most remarkable and comprehensive illustrations of Renaissance culture at its most refined. Its innovative design along with the architectural components in the garden (fountains, ornamental basins, etc.) make this a unique example of an Italian 16th-century garden. The Villa d’Este, one of the first giardini delle meraviglie, was an early model for the development of European gardens. (2001)
The gardens with the fountains, is a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering, both for the general lay out of the plan and the complex system of distribution of water as well as for the many water plays with the introduction of the first hydraulic automatons ever built.
Date of Inscription: 2000, Cultural Site Location: Province of Rome, Region of Latium (Lazio) N41 57 50.1 E12 47 46.5 Source: Villa d’Este, Tivoli https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1025
Planning a Trip to Italy using Tourism Websites Grouped in Neighbouring Regions – Northern Lakes Como, Maggiore, and Garda
In the North of Italy we can visit the beautiful Northern Lakes (Como, Maggiore, and Garda), the towering Alps, and cities such as Milan, Italy’s commercial and fashion capital, Como, Bergamo, Mantova, and Cremona.
Buon viaggio! (Have a good trip!)
NORTH of Italy, Italian Alps and Lakes Como, Maggiore, and Garda
Planning a Trip to Italy using Tourism Websites Grouped in Neighbouring Regions – North-West, Italian Riviera, the Alps
Many people agree that Italy is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Just think about the number of movies in which Italy has formed an iconic setting. Italy has twenty regions, and every region has its magic.
There are splendid places to visit in every part of Italy. To help you plan your trip to Italy, here are the main tourism websites to get you started. We will go from north to south and from west to east and then to the two island regions.
In this post we learn how to use the euro in Italian – with authentic audio.
On January 1, 2002, the euro came into full use in Italy and in the other European countries in the eurozone. It replaced the Italian lira. For the first two months, both currencies were in use.
Euro for singular and plural
We use the same word euro for singular and plural euro amounts in Italian: un euro, dieci euro – one euro, ten euros.
Using the euro in Italian – with Audio
Here you can listen to the audio as you read and say these Italian euro amounts:
€0,50
cinquanta centesimi*
€1,50
un euro* e cinquanta
€4,40
quattro euro e quaranta
€10
dieci euro
€50
cinquanta euro
€100
cento euro
€120
centoventi euro
€550
cinquecentocinquanta euro
This long one is in for fun! (You can think of it as three words: cinque-cento-cinquanta)
€875
ottocentosettantacinque euro
Here’s another long one to try! (otto-cento-settanta-cinque)
€1 000
/€1.000
mille euro
€2 000
/€2.000
duemila euro
As you can see, you can easily read long words in Italian if you mentally split them up into shorter words or syllables. (The words help you to read the numerals.)
Here are some more key points about the euro in Italian:
Word stress
* The Italian word euro is stressed on the ‘e’ sound. Word stress is shown above with the underlined vowel e (as a reminder, for the first three euro amounts).
* The word stress in centesimi (euro cents) is also shown here, because it is on the third-last syllable, not the usual second-last syllable.
(This underlining to show word stress is a help for learners, but it is not part of normal Italian spelling.)
Euros and euro cents
Please note that, for an amount including euros and euro cents:
(1) a comma is used instead of a decimal point / period;
(2) the word e (and) is used before the number of centesimi (euro cents).
Here are two examples below, in Italian and English:
€1,50 un euro e cinquanta – one euro and fifty (instead of €1.50 one euro fiftyin English).
€4,40 quattro euro e quaranta – four euros and forty (instead of €4.40 four euros forty in English).
Although this is the normal way we write these euro amounts in Italian, you will sometimes see prices written with the € sign after the amount (but separated with a space). Here are two examples: 10 € or 1,50 €.
Thousands of euros
In Italian, when we write mille euro (one thousand euros) in numerals, we use either a space or a decimal point / period: €1 000or€1.000 (not a comma, as in English: €1,000).
Duemila euro (two thousand euros) in numerals is €2 000or€2.000.
The singular word mille (thousand) changes to mila (thousands) for two or more thousands of euros, e.g., diecimila euro (ten thousand euros): €10 000 or €10.000.
You can revise your numbers by going to the posts:
Or you can increase your Italian vocabulary by going to the post about days of the week and expressions for today, tonight, tomorrow and yesterday. The post also includes the interesting origins of the names of the days.
How to count to 100 and 1 000 in Italian – starting with numbers 0-40
In this post we learn how to count to 100 and then to 1 000 in Italian by starting with numbers 0-40. Why?
Key patterns in numbers 30-40
We go up to 40 because the numbers from 40 to 100 follow the same two patterns as they do between 30 and 40.
Audio 0-40
0
zero
1
uno
2
due
3
tre
4
quattro
5
cinque
6
sei
7
sette
8
otto
9
nove
10
dieci
11
undici *
12
dodici
13
tredici
14
quattordici
15
quindici
16
sedici
17
diciassette
18
diciotto
19
diciannove
20
venti
21
ventuno
22
ventidue
23
ventitré **
24
ventiquattro
25
venticinque
26
ventisei
27
ventisette
28
ventotto
29
ventinove
30
trenta
31
trentuno
32
trentadue
33
trentatré **
34
trentaquattro
35
trentacinque
36
trentasei
37
trentasette
38
trentotto
39
trentanove
40
quaranta
Which syllable do we stress in Italian words?
Please note that in Italian, we usually stress the second-last syllable of a word: uno (uno), due (due), quattro (quattro). (Of course, tre is a one-syllable word.)
* When we stress the third-last syllable, that vowel sound has been underlined to show you that the word stress is different: undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici. (This underlining to show word stress is a help for learners, but it is not part of normal Italian spelling.)
** For Italian numbers ending in the syllable tré(three), ventitré, trentatré, etc., the word stress is on the tré.
Audio 1-40
Here you can listen to all 40 numbers in Italian. You can repeat the numbers after the audio.
Now you can compare English and Italian numbers from 1 to 40. (The English prompts help you to quickly think of the corresponding numbers in Italian.)
How to count to 100 in Italian – counting in tens
With this table and audio you can count in tens from 10 to 100.
10-100 counting in tens
10
dieci
20
venti
30
trenta
40
quaranta
50
cinquanta
60
sessanta
70
settanta
80
ottanta
90
novanta
100
cento
Now you can listen to all 10 numbers (when counting in tens) from 10 to 100 in Italian. You can repeat the numbers after the audio.
Here you can compare English and Italian numbers from 10 to 100.
Key patterns in Italian numbers 30 to 100 based on the 30-40 patterns, ending in ‘a’ (trenta, quaranta)
Now that you know how to count to 40, and you know how to count in tens from 10 to 100, it’s very easy to count using all numbers from 1 to 100 in Italian because the numbers from 30trenta to 100cento all follow the same two patterns:
The vowel pattern: 31 trentuno and 38 trentotto
For 31 trentuno and 38 trentotto, we drop the ‘a’ of trentaand just use ‘trent’ followed by uno or otto, because uno and otto start with a vowel. The same applies to quarantuno and quarantotto, cinquantuno and cinquantotto, etc. (The uno and otto numbers are all in italics in the tables below.)
The consonant pattern: all other numerals
For all other numerals (that is, those starting with a consonant) 32, 34-37, 39, you simply add the numerals 2, 4-7, 9 to trenta: 32 trentadue, 33 trentatré, 34 trentaquattro, 35 trentacinque, 36 trentasei, 37 trentasette, 39 trentanove.
The same pattern applies to 42 quarantadue, 52 cinquantadue, 62 sessantadue, 72 settantadue, 82 ottantadue, 92 novantadue; 43 quarantatré, 53 cinquantatré, etc.
You can study the two patterns in the tables below:
30-60
30
trenta
40
quaranta
50
cinquanta
31
trentuno
41
quarantuno
51
cinquantuno
32
trentadue
42
quarantadue
52
cinquantadue
33
trentatré **
43
quarantatré
53
cinquantatré
34
trentaquattro
44
quarantaquattro
54
cinquantaquattro
35
trentacinque
45
quarantacinque
55
cinquantacinque
36
trentasei
46
quarantasei
56
cinquantasei
37
trentasette
47
quarantasette
57
cinquantasette
38
trentotto
48
quarantotto
58
cinquantotto
39
trentanove
49
quarantanove
59
cinquantanove
40
quaranta
50
cinquanta
60
sessanta
60-80
60
sessanta
70
settanta
61
sessantuno
71
settantuno
62
sessantadue
72
settantadue
63
sessantatré
73
settantatré
64
sessantaquattro
74
settantaquattro
65
sessantacinque
75
settantacinque
66
sessantasei
76
settantasei
67
sessantasette
77
settantasette
68
sessantotto
78
settantotto
69
sessantanove
79
settantanove
70
settanta
80
ottanta
80-100
80
ottanta
90
novanta
81
ottantuno
91
novantuno
82
ottantadue
92
novantadue
83
ottantatré
93
novantatré
84
ottantaquattro
94
novantaquattro
85
ottantacinque
95
novantacinque
86
ottantasei
96
novantasei
87
ottantasette
97
novantasette
88
ottantotto
98
novantotto
89
ottantanove
99
novantanove
90
novanta
100
cento
Similar patterns – but based on ‘venti’ (20), ending in ‘i’ – for Italian numbers 20-29
The vowel pattern: 21 ventuno and 28 ventotto
For 21 ventuno and 28 ventotto, we drop the ‘i’ of venti and just use ‘vent’ followed by uno or otto, because uno and otto start with a vowel.
The consonant pattern: all other numerals
For all other numerals (that is, those starting with a consonant) 22, 24-27, 29, you simply add the numerals 2, 4-7, 9 to venti: 22 ventidue, 23 ventitré, 24 ventiquattro, 25 venticinque, 26 ventisei, 27 ventisette, 29 ventinove.
How to count in hundreds up to 1 000: 100-1 000
To count in hundreds, all you do is add the numerals 2 due up to 9 novebefore the word100 cento to get to 900 novecento: 200 duecento, 300 trecento, etc.
The word mille 1 000 is one thousand (1,000).
100-1 000 counting in hundreds
100
cento
200
duecento
300
trecento
400
quattrocento
500
cinquecento
600
seicento
700
settecento
800
ottocento
900
novecento
1 000
mille
Using numbers and money
The Italian unit of currency is the euro. In the next post you can learn how to use the euro in Italian, and also how to use numbers higher than 100 and 1 000, so that you can handle money easily while you enjoy your holiday in Italy.
