Every language keeps a few phrases that have outlived the thing they describe, and Italian, perhaps, keeps more than most. Say someone ha la coda di paglia, or that a deal went in bancarotta, and no one pictures an actual tail or an actual broken piece of furniture anymore: the image has worn down into pure meaning, the way a coin worn smooth still keeps its value.
But if we look into where some of these expressions come from, we learn that they are associated with very real and practical events or habits. From medieval punishments to clocks that no longer exist, all the way to a Vatican job title that lasted four centuries, here are seven Italian idioms with an actual history hiding inside them.
