One of the funny anecdotes (barzellettas) that the Italians love to tell is the story of two Neapolitans shipwrecked at sea. When they miraculously arrive on shore, their rescuers are shocked. “How did you survive out there long enough to get here?” they asked. “Well,” the two replied, “we just got caught up in conversation and arrived before we knew it!”
The joke implies that people from Naples use so many gestures when they speak that in an effort to frantically move their hands to talk to one another, they ended up swimming without realizing it.
It makes you wonder just why gesturing developed to this extent among the Italians. Maybe it’s because they’re so passionate about getting their message across, and they feel that words alone won’t do the trick. In Japanese culture, on the other hand, being a person of few words is still seen as a virtue. You’ll never see people chatting back and forth and gesturing away; instead, they’ll usually exchange bows (though this comparison may be a bit misleading). Italians are fascinated by the Japanese bow, and I guess they read somewhere that we bow at a 45-degree angle. Sometimes they show me their attempts at this 45-degree bow, which just end up coming out awkward.
I’ve heard that there are some 250 different conversational gestures employed by the Italians, but there are probably 20 or 30 that they’ll use in a steady stream. It might be fun for you to try using your broken Italian if you ever travel in Italy, and adding conversational gestures might help you connect better with the locals. Although… there really aren’t any gestures that would be useful for tourists.
When you want to express that something is delicious, you poke your cheek with your forefinger and rotate it around.
When a glass or bottle of wine is almost empty, you can say “almost gone” by shaping your hand as if you’re holding it and shaking back and forth at the wrist.
This is one I use to defend myself when the Italians gang up on me. It means “You’re pissing me off!” and is done with a smile on your face. You make a chopping motion, moving the hand up and down at the elbow.
If someone asks you whether you’re upset and you want to reply, “Nah, whatever,” or “Who cares,” you can rub the bottom of your jaw with your fingertips.
If you want to communicate something like, “Are you kidding me?!”, “Don’t be an idiot!”, or “You’re joking!”, gather the tips of your fingers together and move them towards your face.
There are many more gestures, many of them a bit contemptuous and offensive—and the Italians will even gesture on the phone, towards someone who can’t even see them. But in order to compete with their 250 of them… you’d probably have to start using your feet!
