There are lots of things that (we hope) you’ll find beautiful in Italy, like the squares, the monuments and the scenery. So it’s useful to know words for “beautiful”, you might be needing them.
There are certain words Italians use all the time to say “beautiful”. You’ll see how they work in common phrases that you can use on your next trip to Italy.
How do you say “Beautiful” in Italian?
There are 3 common ways to say “beautiful” in Italian.
You can say bello (beautiful) or you can add emphasis and say molto bello or bellissimo, which both mean (“very beautiful”).
But in Italian, we have to change these words depending on if we’re describing a masculine, feminine or plural word. Here’s how it works.
How to Use Bello in Italian
Bello is one of the more direct translations of “beautiful” in English. You can use it to describe something that’s nice to look at.
For example:
Il giardino è bello -The garden is beautiful
Questo quartiere è bello -This neighbourhood is beautiful
But bello can also just show general enthusiasm for something, like if you want to say something’s nice, great or lovely.
For example:
-Com’ è il film? -What’s the film like?
-È bello! -It’s great!
You can see how this works as well on our blogpost how to say beautiful in Italian .
We change bello depending on whether the word we’re describing is masculine, feminine or plural.
| Masculine singular | Bello | BEHL-loh |
| Feminine singular | Bella | BEHL-lah |
| Masculine plural | Belli | BEHL-lee |
| Feminine plural | Belle | BEHL-leh |
For example:
La spiaggia è bella -The beach is beautiful
Le Alpi sono belle -The Alps are beautiful
I laghi qui sono belli e tranquilli - The lakes here are beautiful and peaceful
Saying “how beautiful” with che bello
You can also put che in front of bello to mean “how beautiful” or “how lovely”. This one’s really useful to give a friendly reaction to something that an Italian has told you.
If you’re referring back to a specific word, you have to change bello to make it agree with that word. For example:
Queste scarpe sono nuove? Che belle! -Are these shoes new? How lovely! (i.e. the shoes are lovely)
Questi fiori sono per me? Che belli! -Are these flowers for me? How beautiful! (i.e. the flowers are beautiful)
But if you’re just talking about a general idea, then you’d just use the masculine version and say: che bello.
Italians use this expression a lot, so you can use it too to sound really natural.
For example:
Vai in Italia quest’estate? Che bello! -You’re going to Italy this summer. How lovely! (i.e. going to Italy is lovely)
Compri una casa in Toscana? Che bello! -You’re buying a house in Tuscany? How lovely! (i.e. buying the house is lovely)
How to Use Molto Bello in Italian
We can put molto (“very”) in front of bello in Italian to say “very beautiful”.
For example:
Il tramonto è molto bello -The sunset is very beautiful
We do have to remember to change the bello part of this phrase to make it agree with what we’re describing.
For example:
La fontana è molto bella -The fountain is very beautiful
Le isole Eolie sono molto belle -The Aeolian islands are very beautiful
How to Use Bellissimo in Italian
In Italian, we can add -issimo to some words to make the word mean “very”. So if we add -issimo to the word bello, it means “very beautiful”.
For example:
Il palazzo è bellissimo -The palace is very beautiful
As you saw with bello , we also have to change the endings of bellissimo depending on whether the word we’re describing is masculine, feminine or plural. Here’s how it works:
| Masculine singular | Bellissimo | Bel-LEE-see-moh |
| Feminine singular | Bellissima | Bel-LEE-see-mah |
| Masculine plural | Bellissimi | Bel-LEE-see-mee |
| Feminine plural | Bellissime | Bel-LEE-see-meh |
For example:
C’è una vista bellissima dall’hotel -There’s a very beautiful view from the hotel
Ci sono tante piazze bellissime a Roma -There are so many very beautiful squares in Rome
I ponti a Venezia sono bellissimi -There bridges in Venice are very beautiful
Other Ways to Say “Beautiful” in Italian
If you want to know even more words in Italian, you can learn these other words for beautiful.
But un consiglio (a piece of advice). It’s common for tourists to use these words a lot to describe even very ordinary things as “fantastic” or “incredible” to show their enthusiasm. Italians definitely use these words, but without overdoing it.
It’s a bit like how in English it could sound extreme to say that a pizza margherita is “magnificent” (even though if it’s in Italy it probably is very, very good).
| Carino | Pretty, nice, cute | Kah-REE-noh |
| Fantastico | Fantastic | Fan-TAS-tee-koh |
| Incredibile | Incredible | Een-kreh-DEE-bee-leh |
| Magnifico | Magnificent | Mahn-YEE-fee-koh |
| Meraviglioso | Marvellous | Meh-rah-vee-LYOH-soh |
| Suggestivo | Evocative, picturesque | Sooj-jes-TEE-voh |
| Stupendo | Stupendous | Stoo-PEHN-doh |
For example:
La libreria è molto carina -The bookshop is very pretty
Il paesaggio in Toscana è suggestivo -The landscape in Tuscany is picturesque
Il cibo qui è incredibile! -The food here is incredible!
Common Phrases with “Beautiful” in Italian
There are lots of common Italian phrases where the Italian word for “beautiful” is used. Although Italians use “beautiful”, we might use a different word to say the same phrase in English, as you can see below.
For example:
| Una bella coppia | A lovely couple | Oo-nah BEL-lah KOP-pyah |
| Una bella giornata | A lovely / beautiful day | Oo-nah BEL-lah jor-NAH-tah |
| Una bella idea | A lovely idea | Oo-nah BEL-lah ee-DEH-ah |
| Una bella notizia | A lovely piece of news | Oo-nah BEL-lah no-TEET-see-ah |
| Una bella persona | A lovely person | Oo-nah BEL-lah per-SOH-nah |
| Una bella sorpresa | A lovely surprise | Oo-nah BEL-lah sor-PREH-sah |
For example:
Oggi è una bella giornata -Today is a beautiful day
Mary è una bella persona -Mary is a lovely person
You can also put che in front of these to mean “how”, for example:
Che bella idea! -What a lovely idea!
Che bella sorpresa! -What a nice surprise!
3 Italian Words for Beautiful That Italians Actually Use: Review
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The 3 most common ways to say “beautiful” in Italian are bello, molto bello and bellissimo. Bello is Italian for “beautiful”, or it can mean “nice” or “lovely. Molto bello and bellissimo mean “very beautiful”. For example:
Il giardino è bello -The sea is beautiful
Il tramonto è molto bello -The sunset is very beautiful
Il palazzo è bellissimo -The palace is very beautiful
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Bello means “beautiful”, but we can also translate it with words like “nice”, “great” or lovely”
-Com’è il film? -What’s the film like?
-È bello! -It’s great!
-
Che bello means “how beautiful”, or also “how nice”, “how great”, or “how lovely”.
For example:
Vai in Italia quest’estate? Che bello! -You’re going to Italy this summer. How lovely!
-
We have to make the word “beautiful” or “very beautiful” in Italian agree with what we’re describing.
| Masculine singular | Bello | Bellissimo |
| Feminine singular | Bella | Bellissima |
| Masculine plural | Belli | Bellissimi |
| Feminine plural | Belle | Bellissime |
For example:
La spiaggia è bella -The beach is beautiful
C’è una vista bellissima dall’hotel -There’s a very beautiful view from the hotel
Ci sono delle piazze bellissime a Roma -There are some very beautiful squares in Rome
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There are other words that you can use to say “beautiful” in Italian, but if you overuse them it can sound unnatural.
For example:
La libreria è molto carina -The bookshop is very pretty
Il paesaggio in Toscana è suggestivo -The landscape in Toscany is very picturesque
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There are lots of common phrases with the word for “beautiful” in Italian.
For example:
Oggi è una bella giornata -Today is a beautiful day
Mary è una bella persona -Mary is a lovely person
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: In today’s episode, you’ll hear three main ways to say “beautiful” in Italian, plus some extra ones so you can learn more Italian words.
K: 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: In the conversation between me and Katie, we talk about what to do in Milan. See if you can hear the different ways to say “beautiful” that we use.
M: Che bella giornata! Usciamo?
K: Andiamo in centro?
M: Ancora?
K: Sì, il Duomo è bellissimo.
M: È molto bello, ma…
K: E la pinacoteca è meravigliosa.
M: Sì, è carina, ma...
K: E il Castello Sforzesco è stupendo!
M: Vivi in Italia da 13 anni ma vuoi sempre fare le cose turistiche!
K: Matteo started by asking:
M: Che bella giornata! Usciamo? - What a beautiful day! Shall we go out? Literally:
Che - what
Bella - beautiful
Giornata - day
Usciamo - we go out
K: You heard one way we can say “beautiful” in Italian.
M: Bella (x2) .
K: Bella, or bello, depending on whether the word is masculine or feminine, is one of the most direct translations for the word “beautiful” in Italian.
M: Here, we’re using bella to describe giornata, or day, because it’s a feminine word. So we use bella, with an -a on the end, to describe feminine words, and bello , with an -o on the end, for masculine ones. For example, il parco è bello - the park is beautiful.
K: You might have already come across another word for “day” in Italian: giorno , like in the word, buongiorno , good morning, or literally “good day”. Why did we say “giornata” here? In Italian, there are two words for “day”. Giorno refers more to a calendar day, whereas “giornata” refers more to the day you live and experience, that’s why, for example, when looking out the window, you might say: che bella giornata, what a beautiful day.
Next, I asked Matteo:
M: Andiamo in centro? - Shall we go to the centre? Literally:
Andiamo - we go
In - in
Centro - centre
K: But we’ve lived in Milan a long time, we’ve been to the centre a lot, so Matteo said:
M: Ancora? - Again?
K: Then I added:
M: Sì, il Duomo è bellissimo - Yes, the Duomo is very beautiful. Literally:
Sì - yes
Il - the
Duomo - Duomo, or Cathedral
È - is
Bellissimo - very beautiful
K: For some words in Italian, we can add this -issimo to the end to make it mean “really” or “very”.
M: And bellissimo is a very common way to say that something is really beautiful in Italian.
K: Because we’re describing the Duomo , which is a masculine word, we use the word bellissimo , with an -o on the end. In case you haven’t seen it already, the Duomo is a very impressive cathedral in the centre of the city with lots of nice shops around it.
M: If we were describing a feminine word, like giornata (or day), which you heard earlier, we’d say bellissima, with an -a on the end. For example, you could say È una bellissima giornata - it’s a very beautiful day.
K: Talking about the Duomo, Matteo said:
M: Sì, è molto bello, ma … - Yes, it’s very beautiful, but…Literally:
Sì - yes
È - it is
Molto - very
Bello - beautiful
Ma… - but…
K: So you can add -issimo the end to make it mean “very beautiful”, or you can put together the words for “very” and “beautiful” in Italian, like we do in the English phrase.
M: And in Italian, that’s molto bello (x2) . The feminine version would be molto bella. For example, I could say la vista è molto bella - the view is very beautiful.
K: Then I added:
M: E la pinacoteca è meravigliosa - And the pinacoteca is amazing. Literally: E - and
La - the
Pinacoteca - Pinacoteca
È - is
Meravigliosa - marvellous
K: Pinacoteca is a word that’s used for a gallery that mostly has paintings.
M: And there’s a famous one in Milan in the Brera district. It’s in an old building and has lots of well-known paintings.
K: You also heard another word similar to “beautiful” in Italian.
M: Meravigliosa. Marvellous, wonderful, or amazing. Meravigliosa . Because we’re describing a feminine word, la pinacoteca , it ends in an -a. Meravigliosa. To describe a masculine word, we’d say meraviglioso (x2).
K: Although the word meravigliosa exists in Italian, Italians only use it when they’re really impressed with something. I notice that lots of Italian learners use it to sound enthusiastic, but it can feel unnatural.
M: For example, saying questa pizza è meravigliosa (“this pizza is marvellous”) isn’t something an Italian would normally say.
K: Italians are often a bit more nonchalant and this is a cultural difference that I still struggle with, which is why I’m saying all of these over enthusiastic words in the dialogue and Matteo is bringing me down a notch! So it’s good to know words like meravigliosa in Italian, but if you want to blend in with Italians, I’d suggest only using it very occasionally, when you’re really moved by how beautiful something is.
Then Matteo said:
M: Sì, è carina, ma… - Yes, it’s pretty, but…Literally:
Sì - yes
È - it is
Carina - pretty
Ma - but…
K: Carina is another word for “beautiful” in Italian, but it’s a bit softer, so we could translate it as “pretty”, “nice” or “cute”. As I was talking about a feminine word, la pinacoteca, it ends in -a. Carina.
M: The masculine version would be carino. For example, il giardino è carino - the garden is pretty.
K: Then I added:
M: E il Castello Sforzesco è stupendo! - and the Sforzesco castle is wonderful, or stupendous. Literally:
E - and
Il - the
Castello - Castle
Sforzesco
È - is
Stupendo - stupendous
K: Castello sforzesco is a medieval castle in the centre of Milan. It’s about a ten minute walk from la pinacoteca that we mentioned earlier.
M: And Katie used another word to describe it: stupendo (x2) . The feminine version would be stupenda (x2) . For example, la chiesa è stupenda - the church is amazing. La chiesa è stupenda.
K: Stupendo is a synonym of meraviglioso, you can use it to say: marvelous, wonderful, amazing. In Italian it often sounds overly enthusiastic. Matteo, being a nonchalant Italian, finds my enthusiasm amusing, so he said:
M: Vivi in Italia da 13 anni - You’ve been living in Italy for thirteen years. Literally:
Vivi - you live
In - in
Italia - Italy
Da - since
Tredici - thirteen
Anni - years
K: And then he added: ma vuoi sempre fare le cose turistiche! - but you always want to do touristy things! Literally:
Ma - but
Vuoi - you want
Sempre - always
Fare - to do
Le - the
Cose - things
Turistiche - touristy
M: Now you’ve heard a few different ways that you can say “beautiful” in Italian, let’s see what you can remember.
K: What’s a very common way to say “beautiful” in Italian?
[...]
M: Bello or bella . For example, che bella giornata. What a beautiful day. Or il parco è bello. The park is beautiful.
K: What about the Italian way to say “very beautiful”? The one where we add a certain ending to the word to make it mean “very”?
[...]
M: Bellissimo or bellissima . For example Il Duomo è bellissimo - The Duomo is very beautiful. Or è una bellissima giornata - it’s a beautiful day.
K: What’s the other way to say “very beautiful” in Italian, where we put the Italian words for “very” and “beautiful” together?
[...]
M: Molto bello or molto bella . For example, Il Duomo è molto bello - The cathedral is very beautiful, or la vista è molto bella - the view is very beautiful
K: So those are the three common ways to say “beautiful” in Italian.
What about the Italian word for “amazing”, “marvellous”, “wonderful”. It starts with M.
[...]
M: Meraviglioso to describe masculine things . Or meravigliosa to describe feminine things. For example, la pinacoteca è meravigliosa - the pinacoteca is marvellous.
K: And what about the word that can mean “pretty” or “nice” in Italian?
[...]
M: Carino for the masculine. Or carina for the feminine. For example, la pinacoteca è carina - the pinacoteca is pretty.
K: And lastly, what about another really enthusiastic word that sounds like “stupendous”? [...]
M: Stupendo for masculine. Or stupenda for feminine. For example, il Castello Sforzesco è stupendo! - Sforzesco Castle is wonderful.
K: Let’s listen to the whole conversation again.
M: Che bella giornata! Usciamo?
K: Andiamo in centro?
M: Ancora?
K: Sì, il Duomo è bellissimo.
M: È molto bello, ma…
K: E la pinacoteca è meravigliosa.
M: Sì, è carina, ma...
K: E il Castello Sforzesco è stupendo!
M: Vivi in Italia da 13 anni ma vuoi sempre fare le cose turistiche!
K: You learnt some of the really common words for “beautiful” in this episode and a few less common ones to use sparingly.
M: You also heard how to say “beautiful” for masculine and feminine, but what happens when we’re describing a plural word? For example, if you want to say that the beaches or the lakes are beautiful?
K: You can find explanations on how “beautiful” works in Italian over on our blogpost, so you can avoid making common mistakes.
M: There, you’ll also find practical phrases with “beautiful” that you can use around Italy to have friendly chats with Italians. Just click the link in the description to head over to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 213.
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: 3 Italian Words for Beautiful That Italians Actually Use
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Vocabulary
Il giardino è bello = The garden is beautiful
Le Alpi sono belle = The Alps are beautiful
I laghi qui sono belli e tranquilli = The lakes here are beautiful and peaceful
Che bella idea! = What a lovely idea!
Il tramonto è molto bello = The sunset is very beautiful
C’è una vista bellissima dall’hotel = There’s a very beautiful view from the hotel
Il paesaggio in Toscana è suggestivo = The landscape in Tuscany is picturesque
Che bella giornata! = What a beautiful day!
Il Duomo è bellissimo = The cathedral is very beautiful
La pinacoteca è meravigliosa = The pinacoteca (art museum) is marvellous
Il Castello Sforzesco è stupendo = The Sforzesco castle is wonderful (lit. stupendous)
Flashchards: 3 Italian Words for Beautiful That Italians Actually Use
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
