If there’s one thing Italians do brilliantly in summer, it’s turning everyday meals into little celebrations. A scoop of gelato after dinner, an aperitivo with friends, or a smoky grigliata in the garden… food isn’t just what we eat, it’s how we enjoy the season.
Here are some essential summer words to help you sound more Italian this summer.
🍦 Gelato: the taste of summer
No summer vocabulary list can start anywhere else. Il gelato is denser and has a silker texture than regular ice cream and it is one of the little pleasure of life.
Popular flavours
| Italian | English |
| pistacchio | pistachio |
| nocciola | hazelnut |
| stracciatella | vanilla with chocolate flakes |
| limone | lemon |
| fragola | strawberry |
| cioccolato | chocolate |
| fior di latte | sweet milk cream |
When you get to the counter, you’ll need to choose between:
- un cono – a cone
- una coppetta – a cup/tub
Don’t confuse gelato with granita and sorbetto. Do you know the difference?
La Granita
Granita is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water, and flavouring — usually fruit like lemon or almond, though coffee is popular too. Think of it as Italy’s answer to a slush, but with more depth of flavour. Unlike gelato, granita isn’t churned smooth; it’s scraped and frozen repeatedly, giving it that distinctive icy, crystalline texture — somewhere between a sorbet and flavoured crushed ice.
Granita is especially associated with Sicily, where it’s practically a way of life in the summer. A classic Sicilian breakfast is granita con brioche — granita served alongside a soft, slightly sweet brioche bun (called a brioscia col tuppo because of its little topknot shape), which you either dip into the granita or eat alongside it.
Il sorbetto
Sorbetto is a frozen dessert made from fruit, sugar, and water — but unlike granita, it’s churned as it freezes, giving it a smoother, softer texture. It’s dairy-free, which sets it apart from gelato, but the churning process means it’s closer in feel to a light, fruity ice cream than to crushed ice. Popular flavours include lemon, mandarin, and mango — bright, refreshing tastes that make it a favourite palate-cleanser between courses in a traditional Italian meal.
Vocabulary note worth flagging: Students often confuse granita with gelato or sorbetto. A quick way to distinguish them:
- Gelato — churned, creamy, dense
- Sorbetto — churned, fruit-based, no dairy, smoother than granita
- Granita — not churned, icy and crystalline, eaten with a spoon
Useful phrases
Vorrei un gelato al pistacchio, per favore.
I’d like a pistachio ice cream, please.
Due gusti, grazie.
Two flavours, please.
Qual è il gusto più gettonato?
What is the most popular flavour?
Learn more with an authentic dialogue. Read here.
🥂 It’s aperitivo season
L’aperitivo is a distinctly Italian ritual — a drink (and usually some snacks) before dinner, typically between 6 and 8pm. It’s less about the alcohol and more about the pause: slowing down, catching up with friends, easing into the evening.
Although traditionally aperitivo is before dinner, now it is very popular to have it also before lunch. If you are interested in this Italian ritual read this post.
Aperitivo vocabulary
| Italian | English |
| aperitivo | pre-dinner drinks |
| spritz | spritz |
| olive | olives |
| patatine | crisps |
| stuzzichini | nibbles |
| brindare | to make a toast |
Useful phrases
Facciamo un aperitivo?
Shall we have an aperitivo?
Cin cin!
Cheers!
Prendiamo uno spritz.
Shall we have a Spritz?
🔥 La grigliata
If aperitivo is about winding down, la grigliata (the barbecue/grill-out) is about gathering. Italian summers are full of them — in gardens, on terraces, by the sea.
Grigliata vocabulary
| Italian | English |
| grigliata | barbecue |
| salsiccia | sausage |
| bistecca | steak |
| verdure grigliate | grilled vegetables |
| carbone | charcoal |
| cuocere alla griglia | to grill |
Useful phrases
Sabato facciamo una grigliata.
We’re having a barbecue on Saturday.
Chi porta la carne?
Who’s bringing the meat?
Le zucchine sono sulla griglia.
The courgettes are on the grill.
🍅 What’s in season?
Italian cooking is built around i prodotti di stagione — seasonal produce — and summer brings some of the best. Summer fruit and vegetables are everywhere in Italian markets.
Seasonal produce
| Italian | English |
| pomodoro | tomato |
| zucchina | courgette |
| melanzana | aubergine |
| peperone | pepper |
| anguria/cocomero (both words are used, depending on the region) | watermelon |
| melone | melon |
| pesche | peaches |
| albicocche | apricots |
You’ll often hear:
È di stagione.
It’s in season.
Or:
Che buoni questi pomodori!
These tomatoes are delicious!
These words are perfect for practising simple sentence structures — which brings us to your grammar takeaway for this post.
❤️ Grammar corner: Mi piace / Non mi piace
To talk about food, you’ll constantly use piacere.
I like…
| Italian | English |
| Mi piace il gelato. | I like gelato. |
| Mi piace la pizza. | I like pizza. |
| Mi piacciono le fragole. | I like strawberries. |
| Mi piacciono le zucchine. | I like courgettes. |
I don’t like…
| Italian | English |
| Non mi piace il melone. | I don’t like melon. |
| Non mi piacciono le olive. | I don’t like olives. |
The golden rule
- Mi piace + singular noun
- Mi piacciono + plural noun
For example:
- Mi piace la nocciola.
- Mi piacciono i peperoni.
Negative
- Non mi piace + singular noun
- Non mi piacciono + plural noun
For example:
- Non mi piace la nocciola.
- Non mi piacciono i peperoni.
Would you like a more advanced lesson on the verb piacere, here it is!
Your turn!
Try completing these sentences:
- Mi piace __________.
- Non mi piace __________.
- Mi piacciono __________
- Non mi piacciono __________.
Small vocabulary, big conversations. Sometimes all you need to start speaking Italian is a gelato in one hand and a few new words in the other.
Ready to go further than the menu?
This is just vocabulary — if you’d like to learn to actually speak Italian, try a free trial class with Parla Italiano.
Buon appetito e buona estate!
