Italian Popular Gestures (3 pics)

The written word is a powerful form of communication. In fact, it even has the capability to connect generations, revealing our shared history. Most would believe that more important than words, however, is body language or gestures. In Roman times, a simple thumbs up or thumbs down could even decide the fate of a gladiator.

If you've ever been to Italy or watched a Fellini film, you've seen people who just naturally employ familiar gestures to express themselves. Italians have a way of using body language and hand gestures to punctuate an expression and give it that extra touch that the word or phrase itself lacks.

The Italian hand gestures illustrated here are some of the more common ones realized by Alfredo Cassano, an Italian animator and storyboard artist. Being from Rome myself, I find them to be very funny!

Finally, a piece of advice (or forewarning). If you can, practice these gestures on your Italian friends first to make sure you've got the movements right, otherwise a potentially embarrassing situation could develop. =)

Alfredo Cassano

Tags: alfredo, art, cassano, gesture

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Comment by sterlingprm on December 11, 2010 at 2:19pm: Tis so true - genies work at play here. These are the bible of communication in Rome. Learn these and you will fit right in.

Comment by Vinicius Betton on November 10, 2010 at 8:39am: haha.. nice.. I already used some because I´m Italian descent.
thanks Maria!

Comment by alice on November 9, 2010 at 2:23pm: These are awesome! Thanks so much for the post, Marica!

Comment by Amy Wong on November 8, 2010 at 9:25pm: LMAO...these are extremely cute and hilarious!

Comment by sAm on November 8, 2010 at 10:15am: haha, these are great! Gotta try some of these out.