A few years ago, I wrote a brief article for our beloved newspaper, exploring the idea that Italian was considered the “Language of Love.” Despite my own affinity for French – I speak it, love it, and find it irresistible! – recent data seem to support what many have long argued: when it comes to sexiness, Italian has no rivals! The long-standing belief is now backed by findings from a comprehensive survey conducted by Babbel, the language learning platform, which had already carried out a similar investigation in 2017: back then, French was on top, with our Bella Lingua ending up second. This year, however, things have changed, with La Bella Lingua finally taking over the language of Molière as the most passionate on Earth.
But considering its origins, it should hardly come as a surprise. Back in the 13th century, the Italian Volgare was embraced as a literary language specifically used to articulate themes of love, notably through the Dolce Stil Novo movement. It wasn’t until Dante Alighieri‘s intervention that the Italian language was demonstrated to possess the capacity to delve into all facets of human inquiry, including philosophy and theology. Yet, this evolution was more about the conscious crafting of a language by intellectuals aiming to define a common linguistic standard for Italian literati, rather than describing an existing idiom. Among them, Dante was particularly vocal in defending the literary value of the Italian Volgare as a high language, an idea he explained well in his De Vulgari Eloquentia. But it was, of course, Dante’s magnum opus, the Divina Commedia, that masterfully exemplified this by showing how Italian’s versatility and depth could go well beyond its use in romantic poetry.
Fast forward a few centuries and the Italian language’s influence on the arts spread to the international world of music, more specifically, to opera: historically, most libretti were written in Italian, not just because of Italy’s pivotal role in the Bel Canto tradition but also due to the language’s inherent musicality. Its smooth, flowing vowels and expressive consonants made it a natural fit for opera’s emotive power, allowing composers to create complex melodies able to capture the full spectrum of human emotions and feelings.
There were already, as you can see, historical and artistic reasons behind the well-rooted belief that passion “speaks Italian,” but Babbel’s latest study finally gives us numbers. The language-learning platform gathered opinions from 6,000 participants around the globe, aiming to explore perceptions of languages in terms of sexiness, romanticism, and passion. Noël Wolf, a Babbel language teacher, explains that Italian’s victory can be attributed to its musical quality, characterized by the melodious rise and fall of pitch in spoken form, and by distinctive phonetic features like the rolling of “r” sounds, which many find charming or attractive.
The survey involved respondents from the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the US, and rated languages on aspects of sexiness, romanticism, and passion: Italian topped the list as the language perceived to be the “most sexy” and “most romantic.” The study also revealed that British English was considered the “most polite,” while German was deemed the “most direct.” Over 70% of British respondents believed learning their romantic partner’s native language would enhance emotional connection, which highlights once more the intimate link between language and relationships.
Linguist Patti Adank, a professor of speech perception and production at University College London, contributed insights into why certain languages are particularly liked by English speakers: in an article published in the UK Daily Mail, Adank highlighted that it is the melodic nature of languages like French and Italian to make them irresistible to Anglophone ears: “English speakers are drawn to the melody of a language such as French or Italian. In comparison, languages such as Thai or Mandarin can sound harsh because they use tonal distinctions. It sounds very unnatural and unexpected.”
But the recent poll by Babble isn’t the only study to confirm Italian’s place in people’s hearts. Time Out Magazine discussed a unique experiment led by researchers for the language site Preply, which involved monitoring the heart rates of volunteers as they listened to chat-up lines in 13 different languages. Italian emerged as the clear winner, increasing heart rates by an average of 23 percent! Portuguese followed, with Spanish, Russian, Greek, and French tying for the third spot.
If we want to have an even better – and more academic – explanation of why everyone loves Italian so much, then Stefano Jossa‘s book La Più Bella del Mondo – Perché Amare la Llingua Italiana (Einaudi) is the way to go. Jossa, a professor of Italian literature, language, and culture at Royal Holloway University of London, guides readers on an impassioned journey through the history and usage of the Italian language, inviting them to appreciate its beauty and complexity. He argues that Italian, a language of invention shaped by literati over centuries, and nationalized even before the nation’s existence, can be formal, bureaucratic, and lofty but is also geared towards creativity and verbal play. The book highlights Italian’s capacity for metaphor, its layered meanings – which allow for a rich interpretation of the world – and the extraordinary wealth of its rhymes, introduced by poets of the Dolce Stil Novo and rejuvenated today, Jossa says, by rap music.
Jossa also encourages us to embrace the weight of tradition while remembering that languages thrive on memory, diversity, and otherness, becoming more beautiful as they open, rather than close, their borders.
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