37 cute and cheesy Italian pick up lines to try at your own risk

Maybe you’ve been secretly in love with your Italian colleague for months and you’ve finally found the courage to make a move that’s not only charming but also culturally appropriate. 

Or maybe you’re about to leave for an Italian fun and chill vacanza and want to discover if Madonna’s most famous t-shirt speaks the truth. 

In both cases, you might be looking for good pick up lines in Italian and be willing to learn how to flirt in Italian in order not only to maximize your chances, but also to avoid any cringe epic fail due to cultural differences. 

Considering that Italy was appointed as the best country for dating in a 2018 survey, checking out some Italian pick up lines might sound like a forward looking idea to improve your romantic life. There’s no time to waste. Let’s dive in!

How to say flirt in Italian

While flirt is a word born in old England half a millennium ago, Italians have mastered it as an art. And while they were doing it, they didn’t waste any energy and time to find a new term. Indeed, the word flirt is not only used in Italian with the same meaning as in English but it has also been “Italianized” in a verb: flirtare, meaning “to flirt”. 

Let’s see this word at work: 

Luca e Amanda hanno flirtato per mesi e ora escono insieme. 

Luca and Amanda flirted for months and now they are dating. 

We must say, though, that since Italians have strong regional cultures and languages, there are lots of local and often funny and metaphorical synonyms. Many of them bizarrely revolve around birds and their mating rituals: tubare, tacchinare or, especially for women, civettare, which respectively mean to coo, to behave like a turkey or a little owl. Or there’s the more elegant word corteggiare, meaning to court. 

How to flirt in Italian with natural conversation

Let’s say you are taking a coffee break at work and spot the Italian colleague you like. Or you’re sipping a glass of wine in a bar and make eye contact with a handsome customer who raises the glass at you. Then what? Let’s see. 

Introducing yourself

While romantic novels and movies are filled with love at first sight encounters with characters whose name is revealed only several pages/scenes after, properly introducing yourself is simply mandatory in order not to look like a creep – anywhere in the world. 

BUT approaching someone out of the blue and starting with your name might be weird too, so let’s say hello and break the ice first. How? By finding something you might have in common, maybe in the form of a question in Italian. Here some examples: 

Scusa, che vino stai bevendo? È buono? 

Excuse me, what wine are you drinking? Is it good?

Lavori sul nuovo progetto? È interessante?

Do you work on the new project? Is it interesting?

Then, let’s move on to the actual introductions: 

Mi chiamo:

My name is:

Come ti chiami?

What’s your name? 

Piacere di conoscerti. 

Nice to meet you. 

For a comprehensive guide about introducing yourself in Italian, read this. 

Asking how they are and enquiring about their welfare

The ice is broken, you’ve chit chatted and have officially met. A good way to keep the conversation going is to ask your potential future squeeze how they are, if they like the workplace or anything else that hands the microphone to the nice and considerate human being that you are.

Come stai?

How are you?

Do you like working in this company?

Ti piace lavorare in questa azienda?

Ti trovi bene qui a Londra?

Do you like it here in London?

Talking about the weather

Not the most fascinating topic, but a safe one. Talking about the weather is a passepartout ice breaker that might help you start a conversation. But be careful, it might be a double-edged sword. While a perfectly good topic in many cultures, many Italians tend to find it boring. 

Let’s see a couple examples of how to talk about the weather in Italian: 

Oggi il tempo è più bello di ieri. 

Today the weather is better than yesterday.

Fa davvero un caldo anomalo per questa stagione. 

It really is abnormally warm for this season.

Talking about where you’re from 

Places and cultures are most certainly a more interesting subject to discuss and a good way to start knowing each other. Here you have some useful phrases:

Da dove vieni?

Where are you from?

Io vengo dal Texas. 

I come from Texas. 

 Sei di queste parti?

Are you from around here?

Buying someone a drink

There’s nothing like a hot - or alcoholic - beverage to help the conversation flow, so let’s check out a couple of smooth sentences to offer a drink to the one you like:

Posso offrirti un caffè?

May I offer you a coffee?

Ti va un aperitivo dopo il lavoro?

Would you like an aperitivo after work?

Inviting someone to a date

We couldn’t not include in our guide on how to flirt in Italian a set of phrases to invite someone to a date. 

Il prossimo weekend c’è un bel concerto nel mio locale preferito. Vuoi venirci con me?

Next weekend there’s a nice concert in my favorite club. Do you want to come with me?

Sei libera/o sabato sera? Vuoi cenare con me?

Are you free Saturday night? Do you want to have dinner with me?

Al museo c’è una bella mostra. Se ti va potremmo andarci insieme e poi bere qualcosa.

There’s a nice exposition at the museum. If you like we could go together and then have a drink.

Now that we’ve covered all the basics to bring you to a date, let’s set sail on your love boat with the actual pick up lines in Italian. 

Pick up lines in Italian to use with caution

We’re not pick-up artists (or, better to say, scammers), but we’re humble Italian language experts. So we won’t guarantee that these lines will get your love interest to fall at your feet. But however it goes, whether these flirty Italian phrases will work or not, at least you’ll pull off perfect grammar and pronunciation, which will make our little hearts happy ♥️. 

Now, here you have a long list of Italian pick up lines. But before you start practising them in the mirror, we'll give you a recommendation that’s valid in every single continent, country, town, road and bar in the whole universe. Before making your move, ask yourself: if I were this person, would I feel safe? If you don’t know or the answer is no, leave your charming take for another occasion. 

Are you a romantic optimist and want to be prepared for the best possible outcome, love? Learn how to say I love you in Italian.

How to flirt in Italian: cultural tips

Love is universal, but cultures are not. So, before throwing yourself out there, check out a few cultural tips to flirt with an Italian. 

• As in many other places in the world, many girls would expect the guy to make a move and to pay when he invites them.
• If you’re a girl, it’s ok to flirt with a guy and to invite him to go out. Truth is, many Italian men don’t fit into the Don Giovanni stereotype and are actually quite shy. 
• While Italy has made significant progress on this matter, non heterosexual flirts are less likely to happen in the open outside of the big cities.

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