Non iniziare mai una frase con “allora”!  Or so say all Italian primary school teachers to their pupils. And they are certainly right, at least when it comes to formal writing and speaking, but let us be honest: the love story between this ubiquitous little morsel of lexicon and the people of Italy is never going to end. 

It all started, as it almost always is with Italian, with three little Latin words: ad illam horam, in that hour: and that is, still today, its official meaning. It can be also used instead of quindi or dunque, to show the consequence of something.