Whether you’re in Italy at Capodanno (New Year) or want to send a nice message to your Italian family and friends, it’s useful to know different phrases for “Happy New Year” in Italian.
In this post, you’ll find the most common phrases, as well as what to reply to sound friendly and polite when an Italian says Happy New Year to you.
You’ll also discover some New Year traditions in Italy, so you’ll know what to expect if you’re celebrating there during the festive season.
Buon anno : the most common way to say Happy New Year in Italian
Buon anno is one of the most common ways to wish someone Happy New Year in Italian, whether you’re talking to friends, family or people you know less well.
| Buon anno | Happy New Year (lit. good year) | Bwohn AHN-noh |
For example:
Buon anno a tutti! -Happy New Year to everyone!
Buon anno, a presto! -Happy New Year, see you soon!
Mandiamo un messaggio per dire buon anno -Let’s send a message to say Happy New Year
You might have noticed that buon anno doesn’t include the word “new”. You can add this in Italian to say the full phrase. For example:
| Buon anno nuovo | Happy New Year (lit. Good year new) | Bwohn AHN-noh NWOH-voh |
Buon is used a lot in Italian to give someone well wishes in Italian. For example, buon compleanno (happy birthday) or buon viaggio (have a good trip).
Buon can be a bit tricky to pronounce. It sounds a bit like BWON. Not BON (like in the French “bon voyage”). You need to make a W sound after the B.
You can read about how this works, including the pronunciation for buon, on our blogpost what’s Italian for bon voyage.
Other common phrases for Happy New Year in Italian
Here are some of the most common phrases to wish someone “Happy New Year” in Italian.
You can use them with friends, family or people you don’t know very well because they work in both formal and informal situations.
| Felice anno nuovo | Happy New Year | Feh-LEE-cheh AHN-noh NWOH-voh |
| Auguri* | Best wishes / Greetings | Ow-GOO-ree |
| Tanti auguri (di buon anno) | Many best wishes (for a Happy New Year) | TAHN-tee ow-GOO-ree dee bwohn AHN-noh |
| Auguri per un felice anno nuovo | Best wishes for a Happy New Year | Ow-GOO-ree pehr oon Feh-LEE-cheh AHN-noh NWOH-voh |
| Salute | Cheers | Sah-LOO-teh |
For example:
Grazie ancora per il regalo e felice anno nuovo -Thank you again for the present and Happy New Year
Tanti auguri di buon anno a tutti voi -Many best wishes for a Happy New Year to all of you
* Auguri is a really useful word to know in Italian because you can use it to offer well wishes in lots of situations. You can read more about it on our blogpost on the most common ways to say congratulations in Italian
How to Reply to Happy New Year in Italian
Here are some handy phrases that you can use to reply to Italians when they wish you “Happy New Year”.
They’re useful to know so you can reply politely and return the well wishes.
| Grazie, altrettanto | Thank you, the same to you | GRAH-tsee-eh, ahl-treh-TAHN-toh |
| Grazie, anche a te | Thank you, to you too (informal) | GRAH-tsee-eh, AHN-keh ah teh |
| Grazie, anche a Lei | Thank you, to you too (formal) | GRAH-tsee-eh, AHN-keh ah LAY |
| Buon anno anche a te | Happy New Year to you too (informal) | Bwohn AHN-noh AHN-keh ah teh |
| Buon anno anche a Lei | Happy New Year to you too (formal) | Bwohn AHN-noh AHN-keh ah LAY |
For example:
- Buon anno! -Happy New Year!
- Grazie, anche a te! - Thank you, to you too!
And:
- Buon anno a te e alla tua famiglia! -Happy New Year to you and your family
- Grazie, altrettanto! -Thank you, the same to you!
If you want to know about how to use grazie in Italian, including how to pronounce it, you can read our blogposts on the pronunciation of grazie and how to say “thank you” in Italian .
Italian New Year Traditions
Italy has lots of traditions around New Year and they can vary a lot between different regions.
Here are some of the common Italian New Year traditions, so you know what to expect if you’re invited to a New Year’s party in Italy.
Cenone di Capodanno - New Year’s Eve Dinner
Cenone literally means “big dinner” in Italian. It has the word cena (dinner) with - one added to the end to make it mean “big dinner”.
On New Year’s Eve, Italians usually get together with friends and family and have a long (actually, very, very long), festive meal with several courses, often including traditional dishes like lenticchie.
Lenticchie - Lentils
If you’re at an Italian’s for a New Year’s Eve dinner, you might find lentils are on the menu. It’s common to eat them with cotechino (a type of pork sausage) or zampone (stuffed pigs trotters).
Lentils aren’t just tasty. They’re also meant to bring wealth and prosperity for the next year, in theory because their shape looks like small coins.
Wearing Red
You might see Italians wearing something red on New Year’s Eve as a way to bring good luck for the year ahead.
Traditionally, you're meant to wear red underwear, though many Italians take a more practical approach and just choose a red accessory. No one will check (we think 😁), so pick whatever feels right.
Fuochi d'artificio - Fireworks
Lots of Italians set off fireworks on New Year’s Eve, but in the south of Italy, expect firework displays to be bigger and louder. They can get a little wild at times (in fact every year there are injuries caused by fireworks in Italy) so it’s something to keep in mind if you’re in Italy around this time.
Il brindisi - The toast
After midnight, it’s common to have a glass of prosecco to bring in the New Year. Italians typically go around and clink glasses with everyone to say salute (“cheers”) and “ Buon anno! ”. It’s a fun way to celebrate and share good wishes with everyone.
If you’re wondering about the rules for saying “cheers” in Italian, you can read on blogpost on Salute! A guide to saying “cheers” in Italian .
Happy New Year in Italian: What to Say and How to Reply: Review
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Buon anno (lit. good year) is the most common way to say Happy New Year in Italian
For example:
Buon anno, a presto! -Happy New Year, see you soon!
-
There are also other common ways to say “Happy New Year” in Italian, like felice anno nuovo (lit. Happy New Year) and auguri (lit. best wishes). For example:
Tanti auguri di buon anno a tutti voi -Many best wishes for a Happy New Year to all of you
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When an Italian says buon anno , you can reply with grazie, altrettanto (Thank you, the same to you) or use anche a te/Lei (to you too), depending on whether it’s informal or formal.
For example:
- Buon anno a te e alla tua famiglia! -Happy New Year to you and your family
- Grazie, altrettanto! -Thank you, the same to you!
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There are lots of traditions that make celebrating New Year’s in Italy even more fun, like fuochi d’artificio (fireworks) and having the cenone di capodanno (New Year’s Eve dinner).
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: In today’s episode, you’ll learn three phrases to say “Happy New Year” in Italian.
K: You’ll also learn a few extra cultural tips about celebrating New Year in Italy.
But before we get started, can we ask you a quick favore ? If you’re listening to this on your podcast app, could you click the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
M: So one of the most common ways to say “Happy New Year” in Italian is: buon anno . Literally:
Buon - good
Anno - year
Buon anno
K: There are lots of phrases in Italian where we put the word buon, “good” at the front as a way of giving well wishes.
M: Like buon viaggio, “have a good trip”, or literally: good trip. Or buon compleanno . “Happy birthday”, or literally: good birthday.
K: The pronunciation of buon can be tricky. A common mistake is to pronounce it as bon , (B-O-N). But it’s spelled b - u-o-n , and the u makes it have a kind of wuh sound. So not bon , but bw, bw, buon (x2).
M: You might have also noticed that in this Italian phrase for “Happy New Year”, we don’t actually have the word “new”.
K: Italians usually just say this short version, buon anno, literally good year. Buon anno. But you can add the word “new” if you want to go for the full phrase.
M: So you could say buon anno nuovo. Literally:
Buon - good
Anno - year
Nuovo - new
Buon anno nuovo.
K: There’s also an Italian phrase for “Happy New Year” that’s a lot closer to the English phrase.
M: Felice anno nuovo - Happy New Year. Literally:
Felice - happy
Anno - year
Nuovo - new
Felice anno nuovo
K: This one is similar to the English because this time we do have the words for “happy” and “new” in the phrase.
M: You can use either of these phrases to say “Happy New Year”, but buon anno is the most common and casual.
K: Speaking of what’s common, if you’re wondering how Italians celebrate New Year’s Eve, they usually have a big dinner with friends, and lots of people set off fireworks. But celebrations can be a bit different in the North and the South. For example, Matteo is from Naples, and how would you describe how you celebrate New Year’s Eve there?
M: [...]
K: Now it’s time for the third and final phrase that you can use at New Year in Italy.
M: Auguri (x2) .
K: Auguri doesn’t exactly mean “Happy New Year”, it means more “best wishes” or even “congratuations”. In fact it’s a really useful word to know in Italian because you can use it almost any time there’s some kind of celebration or important life event. Like for someone’s birthday party, or if someone’s got engaged or married.
M: It’s really common to hear Italians say auguri after midnight, often while going around and clinking prosecco glasses as a way of saying cheers and “best wishes for the new year”.
K: Now that you’ve heard the main ways to say “Happy New Year”, let’s see what you can remember.
What’s a common way to say “Happy New Year” in Italian that literally means “good year”.
[...]
M: Buon anno (x2) .
K: This phrase doesn’t include the word for “new”, but you could add it in. Can you remember how to say the phrase with “new” as well?
[...]
M: Buon anno nuovo. Nuovo means new in Italian. Buon anno nuovo.
K: And what about a phrase that’s very similar to English. It literally means happy new year. Or technically happy year new.
[...]
M: Felice anno nuovo (x2)
K: And finally, what’s the phrase that you can use around New Year that means lots of things in Italian, like “best wishes” or “congratulations”.
[...]
M: Auguri (x2)
K: You’ve heard three ways to say “Happy New Year in Italian”, but there are other phrases that Italians use all the time as well.
M: To find out what they are, and also how to reply if someone wishes you “Happy New Year” in Italian, click the link in the description to go to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 210.
M: See you next time.
K: Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz: Happy New Year in Italian
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Happy New Year in Italian
Vocabulary
Buon anno, a presto! = Happy New Year, see you soon!
Mandiamo un messaggio per dire buon anno = Let’s send a message to say Happy New Year
Grazie ancora per il regalo e felice anno nuovo = Thank you again for the present and Happy New Year
Buon anno a te e alla tua famiglia! = Happy New Year to you and your family
Grazie, altrettanto! = Thank you, the same to you!
Buon anno = Happy New Year (lit. good year)
Buon anno nuovo = Happy New Year (lit. good year new)
Felice anno nuovo = Happy New Year (lit. happy year new)
Auguri = Best wishes
Flashcards: Happy New Year in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
