Our dialects
Here dialect is not folklore: it is the language people have always worked, laughed, argued and loved in, and our life cannot do without it. This is what you will hear from Imola to Rimini, why it changes from one town to the next and how, in the end, we all understand each other.
Do people from Rimini and Imola understand each other?
It is the question we hear most often. Rimini and Imola sit at the two ends of Romagna, about 90 km apart: here is the honest answer.
Yes, they do. With a smile, for the first few minutes.
They speak the same language, Romagnol: the same grammar and almost all the words in common. What changes most is the vowels and the lilt, so each of them knows at once that the other "comes from over there". A few different words raise a laugh, but after a little chat they understand each other with no effort. It is a bit harder between two old people from the countryside, who speak the broadest form of their own village.
One language, a thousand local voices
Romagnol (rumagnôl in dialect, the language "rgn" for linguists) changes a little in every town, like a chain: two neighbouring towns understand each other at once, the further apart they are the more you have to listen. There is no "correct Romagnol": everyone speaks the one of their own home.
What changes: the vowels
Romagnol has up to 20 stressed vowels, Italian has 7: that is where towns differ. The same word is written sètt, sèt or sët (seven) and fradèl or fradël (brother) depending on who writes it. Rimini and Santarcangelo stretch their vowels and split them into diphthongs, the plain between Imola, Faenza, Ravenna and Forlì keeps them more even.
What changes: a few words
A child in Rimini is e' burdèl, in Ravenna e' babén. The evening in Imola is la sira, in Faenza and Forlì la séra. These are the words that raise a smile when someone from Rimini meets someone from Imola: they still understand each other, and both learn something.
Where people really stop understanding
The real border is west of Imola, on the Sillaro stream: Toscanella is still Romagnol, Castel San Pietro already speaks Bolognese, a different language. In San Marino, a stone's throw from Rimini, people say the speech beyond the Santerno, that is from Imola onwards, gets harder but stays understandable.
And the young?
Today almost everyone speaks Italian, with the local accent and a few dialect words that never go away. Real dialect lives with the grandparents, in the countryside, at the bar and in the theatre. UNESCO lists it as a "definitely endangered" language precisely because it is no longer taught to children.
One fable, eight towns
The best proof: Aesop's fable of the North Wind and the Sun, read by a local in eight towns, from Imola to San Marino. Read the title and the last line, then press Listen and hear for yourself how much the vowels change and how much stays the same.
| Town | The title: "The North Wind and the Sun" | The closing line: "Did you like the little story? Shall we tell it again?" | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imola read by Peppino Pelliconi |
E’ vẽt ed Tramuntẽna e e’ Sól | A t ëla piaṡùda la sturiëla? A la vrèggna ripéter? | Listen |
| Faenza read by Giuliano Bettoli |
La Bùra e e’ Sól | A t ël piaṡù ste fatarlẽ? A l avlèggna dìr un’ êtra vôlta? | Listen |
| Forlì read by Paolo Bonaguri |
La Bùra e e’ Sól | A t ëla piaṡùda la sturiëla? A la vlèggna arpétar? | Listen |
| Ravenna read by Gino Poggiali |
E’ vẽt ad Tramuntãna e e’ Sól | A t ëla piaṡùda la sturiëla? A la vlèggna lëżar d arnôv? | Listen |
| Cesena read by Giorgio Foschi |
La Tramuntäina e e’ Sòul | La t ë piṡùda la sturiëla? A la vläim ripêt? | Listen |
| Santarcangelo read by Gianni Fucci |
E’ vént ad tramuntêna e e’ såul | listen only | Listen |
| Rimini read by Amos Piccini |
E’ Vèint ad Tramuntëna e e’ Sól | listen only | Listen |
| San Marino read by Giuseppe Tini |
E’ vèint dla Tramuntëna e e’ Sól | La t è piṡgiùda la sturiëla? A la vlẹmm ripéta? | Listen |
What to notice
The north wind is Tramuntẽna in Imola, Tramuntãna in Ravenna, Tramuntäina in Cesena and Tramuntëna in Rimini and San Marino. The sun is Sól almost everywhere, but Sòul in Cesena and såul in Santarcangelo. In Faenza and Forlì the wind becomes la Bùra, the bora, and in Faenza the little story is a fatarlẽ. Yet word for word the sentence is almost the same: that is why people understand each other.
Readings and transcripts from the collection "Il Vento e il Sole" of dialettiromagnoli.it, transcribed by Davide Pioggia (2011-2013). Listen opens their page.
The local voices, from Imola to San Marino
Linguists split Romagnol into a western part, the plain of Ravenna and Forlì, an eastern part, Cesena and Rimini, and that of the hills. But for those who speak it, the border is their own bell tower.
Imola and the Santerno valley
The last of Romagna before Bologna. Its speech belongs to the group of the Ravenna and Forlì plain and is close to that of Lugo: "I am" is a sò.
Faenza, Lugo and the Bassa Romagna
The plain where the local varieties are most alike. Faenza saw the first Romagnol-Italian dictionary in 1840, by Antonio Morri.
Ravenna and the northern coast
To the north the river Reno separates Romagnol from Ferrarese, but in Argenta and Filo, beyond the river, people still speak Romagnol. A child here is e' babén.
Forlì, the centre
The speech "in the middle", which many take as the model. A curiosity: in Forlì an e and an o do not like to share a word, so the surname Bofondi becomes Bafondi.
Cesena and Rimini
Eastern Romagnol, with long vowels and a lilt all of its own. A child is e' burdèl, and "I remember" is a m'arcòrd: hence the title of Amarcord, Fellini's film.
Santarcangelo, the island
Linguists call it an island: many diphthongs the towns around it do not have. Tonino Guerra, Raffaello Baldini, Nino Pedretti and Giuliana Rocchi were born here, Gianni Fucci grew up here: the town of dialect poets.
San Marino
Sammarinese is Romagnol with features of its own. The Republic got its first dictionary in 2021.
Tuscan Romagna and the southern borders
In Marradi and Palazzuolo sul Senio, in the province of Florence, people speak Romagnol with a touch of Tuscan. Towards Pesaro and Urbino begins Gallo-Picene, a close cousin: linguists still argue whether it is Romagnol or not.
The words you will hear at the bar
Eight words so you are not left open-mouthed. The spelling changes from town to town: we write them the way they are most often read.
azdóra
The lady of the house: the one who rolls the pasta, makes the piadina and is the boss in the kitchen.
burdèl
A child, a boy; i burdèl are the kids. You hear it from Cesena to Rimini.
piê, piada
The piadina. Calling it "piadina" is already a bit touristy: in dialect it is la piê or la piada.
patàca
Someone who tells tall tales and shows off. It is said above all in Rimini, and nearly always with affection.
a m'arcòrd
"I remember". Fellini turned it into Amarcord, the Oscar-winning film about his Rimini.
caplèt
Cappelletti, the filled pasta of feast days. Never call them tortellini.
strozaprèt
Strozzapreti, the pasta rolled by hand and twisted between the fingers.
ció
"Hey", "listen", "come on": the Romagnol filler word par excellence, it goes everywhere.
Five curiosities for curious ears
Romagnol is not "broken Italian": it has rules of its own, some closer to French than to Italian.
The subject is never dropped
In Italian you say "sono", in Romagnol the pronoun is always needed: a sò, I am.
Rain takes "to have"
"It has rained" is l'à piuvù, with "have" as in English and unlike Italian.
The English-style z
The Romagnol z is pronounced like the English th of "thing" or "this", never like the z of "pizza".
The dog without the n
In many varieties the final n drops and the vowel goes "through the nose", a bit like French: the dog is e' cã.
Rice is feminine
Some words change gender: rice in Romagnol is la risa, feminine.
Who wrote it, performed it and filmed it
Romagnol is one of the liveliest languages of twentieth-century Italian poetry. The first known sonnet dates from 1502, the first famous poet was Pietro Santoni of Fusignano, in the late eighteenth century.
Tonino Guerra
Poet from Santarcangelo and Fellini's screenwriter. With I bu (1972) he brought Romagnol into great poetry.
Raffaello Baldini
Also from Santarcangelo: his dialect monologues won the Viareggio Prize in 1988.
Nino Pedretti
The third poet of Santarcangelo, a gentle voice of village life.
Olindo Guerrini
A true Romagnolo of the nineteenth century: his Sonetti romagnoli are still among the most read and recited.
Aldo Spallicci
Doctor and poet from Bertinoro: he spent his life collecting and defending the folk culture of Romagna.
Giuliana Rocchi
A factory worker from Santarcangelo, one of the great female voices of the dialect: La vóita d'una dòna (1980) tells the life of the women of her town.
Nevio Spadoni
Poet from Ravenna: his dialect texts have been staged by Ravenna's Teatro delle Albe.
Federico Fellini
He did not write in dialect, but Amarcord let the whole world hear how people speak in Rimini.
Tolmino Baldassari
A trade unionist from Cervia, he began writing in dialect at almost fifty, after reading Tonino Guerra's I bu.
Gianni Fucci
Born in France and raised in Santarcangelo, he worked on the common rules for writing Romagnol (1986).
Where to hear it today
Dialect is not studied, it is listened to. Here is where to find it alive.
At the bar and the market
Early in the morning, among the tables of village bars and the stalls of the weekly market: there dialect is still the everyday language.
At the theatre
In winter many amateur companies stage comedies in dialect in the theatres and parish halls of the towns: you laugh a lot, even without understanding everything.
In books and magazines
The Istituto Friedrich Schürr of Santo Stefano near Ravenna, active since 1996, publishes the magazine la Ludla and awards prizes for dialect poetry and prose. It bears the name of the Austrian scholar who in 1914 recorded the first Romagnol voices, now kept in Vienna.
With the Region's help
Since 2014 a regional law, no. 16/2014, has funded courses, shows, research and school projects every year to keep the dialects of Emilia-Romagna alive.
A tip
If an old person speaks to you in dialect, do not pretend to understand: ask what it means. Nearly always you will get a story, and it is the best way to get to know Romagna.
Facts checked on 19 October 2026 on Wikipedia (Romagnol), Treccani (Enciclopedia dell'Italiano, Emilian-Romagnol dialects) and in the studies of Daniele Vitali. The spelling of dialect words changes from author to author. Famous people · Towns
Go and hear it for real
From the Santarcangelo of the poets to Fellini's Rimini, from the taverns of Faenza to those of Imola: Romagna Transfer takes you there with a driver, you just listen.