In bocca al lupo

'In bocca al lupo' literally means 'into the mouth of the wolf' and was originally used in theatre and opera to wish a perfomer good luck. It is used in the same sense as 'break a leg' in the English language. The response is 'crepi il lupo' or 'may the wolf die.'

So this is the phrase to use if you want to wish some-one good luck.

When travelling we usually carry the card game Uno to play when we have a quiet evening. (We never watch television.) Last Christmas Kelly received the Italian card game Scopa.

Scopa is very popular and in some parts of Italy you see the men sitting around tables outside the bar having a very animated time. Banter is part of the fun. The name scopa means broom and refers to sweeping all the cards from the table.

An Italian forty card deck is used. The cards are colourful and quite different to conventional cards, the suits being coppe (cups), denari (coins), spade (swords) and bastoni (clubs). There are also fante (knaves), cavalli (knights) and re (kings).They have varying values but the top card is the settebello, or seven of coins. Scoring has many strands to it.

We have discovered that there are also many strands to playing the game also. At this stage we suspect we are playing a basic game and would be no challenge to the men sitting under the trees in the piazza or at the bar.

'In bocca al lupo'