Word of the Day: Blizzardino

Here at Young in Rome we’re very committed to linguistic excellence. On a daily basis, we strive to help improve your Italian knowledge with useful (and existing) words and phrases. However, every once in awhile, a situation just calls for a neologism, and here in Rome, certain recent meteorological events have done just that. You may have noticed this word slipped into a couple of recent posts, or even making a valiant Twitter hashtag campaign, but today, we present the official definition of: blizzardino.

Blizzardino (n): A day-long event of frozen precipitation in a Mediterranean-climated city usually devoid of such occurrences. Said precipitation must accumulate in sufficient quantities so as to warrant four days of school closure and general chaos in said city, but quantities must remain sufficiently low enough such that residents of said city with roots in typically colder climates can freely comment on absurdity of chaos, offer stories recalling trudging uphill through 10 feet of snow every day for an entire school year, and wish that they were in a city with a transportation system that didn’t flood every time a bit of water, frozen or otherwise, falls out of the sky.  Appropriate clothing-related precautions must be taken by natives of said city, and full-body ski suits and brightly colored moon boots are recommended attire, so that one can be easily identified and rescued in the case of nun-coordinated snowball attack. A blizzardino has a Halley’s Comet-like period, typically striking on a 26-year cycle. Should a blizzardino strike twice in one year, all bets are off.