The Italian tourist brochure is its own genre, with its own grammar. Open any city-tourism leaflet from a pro loco (local tourism office) or any glossy spread from ENIT (the Italian state tourism agency), and within the first two sentences you'll meet the impersonal si, a passive participle, a superlative or two, and a register that hovers in a peculiar zone between formal address and warm welcome. This page reads a brochure for Rome — the Eternal City being the obvious test case — and uses it to teach the conventions of promotional Italian prose.
The text
Roma, la Città Eterna
Roma, la Città Eterna, vi accoglie con la sua storia millenaria. Visitate il Colosseo, simbolo dell'Impero Romano, costruito nel 70 d.C. e capace di ospitare oltre 50.000 spettatori. Si possono ammirare i resti del Foro Romano, il cuore politico della Roma antica, dove ancora oggi si respira l'atmosfera dei Cesari. Imperdibili sono Piazza Navona, con le sue tre fontane barocche, e Piazza di Spagna, dove si trova la celebre scalinata che sale a Trinità dei Monti. Per un'esperienza autentica, si consiglia di passeggiare nel rione Trastevere la sera, quando le vie di pietra si animano di trattorie, musica e voci. Non si può lasciare Roma senza aver lanciato una monetina nella Fontana di Trevi: la tradizione vuole che chi lo fa tornerà nella Città Eterna. Roma offre infinite possibilità per ogni tipo di visitatore.
A textbook tourist brochure — and a comprehensive grammar lesson.
Grammar in action
The impersonal si: the brochure's signature voice
The first thing to notice is how often the brochure uses the construction si + verb to describe what visitors can do, see, find, and try in Rome. Si possono ammirare. Si respira. Si trova. Si consiglia. Si può lasciare. Si animano. Six instances in a single short paragraph.
This is the impersonal si (and its close cousin, the si passivante, more on that distinction below). It does in one word what English needs several phrases to do — sometimes "one can," sometimes "you can," sometimes "is/are [verb-ed]," sometimes "people [verb]." The brochure relies on it because:
- It's impersonal — it doesn't address the reader as "you" specifically, which would feel pushy in formal promotional prose.
- It's inviting — it presents the city's attractions as available, doable, find-able, without imposing a subject.
- It's economical — it compresses a lot of information into very few words.
Si possono ammirare i resti del Foro Romano.
One can admire the ruins of the Roman Forum. / The ruins of the Roman Forum can be admired.
Dove si trova la celebre scalinata?
Where is the famous staircase located?
Si consiglia di passeggiare nel rione Trastevere.
It is recommended to walk through the Trastevere neighborhood.
Si passivante vs si impersonale: the agreement question
A subtlety worth slowing down on: when si is followed by a verb that takes a direct object, that "object" actually controls verb agreement. This is the si passivante (passive si), distinct from the bare si impersonale (impersonal si).
Compare:
Si impersonale (no direct object, verb stays singular): Si mangia bene a Roma. — "One eats well in Rome." / "The food is good in Rome." Si parla italiano. — "Italian is spoken."
Si passivante (the "object" is grammatically the subject; verb agrees with it in number): Si possono ammirare i resti. — "The ruins can be admired." (resti is plural, so possono is plural) Si trova la scalinata. — "The staircase is located." (scalinata is singular, so trova is singular) Si vendono libri qui. — "Books are sold here." (libri is plural, so vendono is plural)
The agreement is real and obligatory. Writing si vende libri instead of si vendono libri is a clear grammatical error in formal Italian.
Si possono ammirare i resti del Foro Romano.
The ruins of the Roman Forum can be admired. (plural object → plural verb)
Si trova la celebre scalinata.
The famous staircase is located there. (singular object → singular verb)
Le vie di pietra si animano di trattorie.
The stone streets come alive with trattorias. (plural subject → plural verb — pronominal *animarsi*)
The impersonal si with modal verbs
A particularly common construction in tourist brochures is si + può/possono + infinitive: "one can / you can / it is possible to."
- Si possono ammirare i resti... — "the ruins can be admired" (here possono agrees with the object resti)
- Non si può lasciare Roma senza... — "one cannot leave Rome without..." (here può is singular because lasciare Roma doesn't supply a plural object)
- Si può visitare il museo gratuitamente. — "the museum can be visited for free" (singular agreement with museo)
The modal-verb agreement follows the same logic: potere/dovere/volere takes the agreement of the embedded infinitive's object, when there is one.
Si possono visitare i musei tutti i giorni.
The museums can be visited every day.
Non si deve mai lasciare la Fontana di Trevi senza una monetina.
One must never leave the Trevi Fountain without a coin.
Vi accoglie — the brochure mix of voi and impersonal si
Tourist brochures mix formal address forms in a way that would be unusual elsewhere. The opening — Roma vi accoglie — uses vi (the voi clitic), addressing readers as a collective plural. Later, instructional verbs appear in the voi imperative (Visitate il Colosseo) — also plural — and impersonal si dominates the descriptive parts.
The convention: vi accoglie and voi imperatives (Visitate, Scoprite, Provate) for welcoming and direct invitations; impersonal si for descriptions and recommendations stated impersonally. Lei is rare in mass-market brochures, reserved for luxury hotel correspondence. The brochure can sound friendly and inviting without committing to a singular reader — voi addresses "all of you who might be reading this," which is exactly what a brochure does.
Roma vi accoglie con la sua storia millenaria.
Rome welcomes you with its thousand-year history.
Visitate il Colosseo, simbolo dell'Impero Romano.
Visit the Colosseum, symbol of the Roman Empire.
Scoprite le bellezze nascoste della città.
Discover the hidden beauties of the city.
Passive past participles: costruito, dipinto, fondato
Tourist prose loves the passive past participle, often used as a reduced relative clause. Il Colosseo, costruito nel 70 d.C. — "the Colosseum, built in 70 AD" — is shorthand for il Colosseo, che è stato costruito nel 70 d.C. ("the Colosseum, which was built in 70 AD"). The participle replaces the entire relative clause.
This is extremely productive in promotional and journalistic Italian:
Il Colosseo, costruito nel 70 d.C., è il simbolo di Roma.
The Colosseum, built in 70 AD, is the symbol of Rome.
La Cappella Sistina, dipinta da Michelangelo, è uno dei capolavori del Rinascimento.
The Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is one of the masterpieces of the Renaissance.
Firenze, fondata dai Romani, è la culla del Rinascimento.
Florence, founded by the Romans, is the cradle of the Renaissance.
The participle agrees with the noun in gender and number: costruito (m.sg.), costruita (f.sg.), costruiti (m.pl.), costruite (f.pl.). This agreement is non-negotiable in formal written Italian.
Historical present and the "eternal" register
When the brochure says il Foro Romano, il cuore politico della Roma antica, or il Colosseo... è il simbolo dell'Impero Romano, the verb is in the present tense even though the historical reference is to centuries-old facts. This is the historical present (sometimes called the "eternal present" in tourist contexts), and it's used because the city's identity is being presented as ongoing, current, alive — not as a fact about the past.
Italian tourist brochures use the historical present with confidence:
Il Colosseo è il simbolo dell'Impero Romano.
The Colosseum is the symbol of the Roman Empire. (historical present — even though the Empire is gone)
Firenze custodisce alcuni dei capolavori più importanti della storia dell'arte.
Florence preserves some of the most important masterpieces in the history of art.
The same convention applies in news headlines (Dante nasce nel 1265 — "Dante is born in 1265") and Wikipedia-style biographical opening lines. Italian leans more heavily on the historical present than English does, and the tourist brochure is its purest habitat.
Imperdibili and the formal-vocabulary register
A few words in the brochure signal its register more than any single grammar feature. Imperdibili ("not-to-be-missed"), millenaria (thousand-year-old), celebre (famous), suggestiva (evocative), autentica (authentic), capolavoro (masterpiece), patrimonio (heritage), and scenografico (picturesque) are all formal-leaning, slightly elevated words characteristic of the brochure register. A casual conversational speaker doesn't describe a friend's house as suggestiva — they'd say carina or bella. The brochure uses them deliberately to lend dignity to its descriptions.
Note also rione, the Rome-specific word for "district" or "quarter" (the city has 22 of them, each with its own identity); other Italian cities normally use quartiere.
Imperdibili sono Piazza Navona e Piazza di Spagna.
Not to be missed are Piazza Navona and Piazza di Spagna.
Una città dalla storia millenaria.
A city with a thousand-year history.
Tourist brochures also lean on superlatives — uno dei più antichi della città, la più importante piazza, il cuore della città — formulaic in their predictability, but exactly what readers expect from the genre.
Piazza San Marco è la più celebre piazza di Venezia.
Piazza San Marco is the most famous square in Venice.
Variations for other Italian cities
Once you've internalized the brochure register, you can apply it across cities. Each one has its own vocabulary chunk.
Florence (Firenze):
Firenze, culla del Rinascimento, custodisce alcuni dei capolavori più celebri della storia dell'arte. Si possono ammirare il David di Michelangelo nella Galleria dell'Accademia e la Primavera del Botticelli agli Uffizi.
Florence, cradle of the Renaissance, preserves some of the most famous masterpieces in art history. You can admire Michelangelo's David at the Accademia Gallery and Botticelli's Primavera at the Uffizi.
Venice (Venezia):
Venezia, la Serenissima, vi sorprenderà con i suoi canali e ponti. Si raccomanda una passeggiata in gondola al tramonto, quando i palazzi lungo il Canal Grande si tingono di rosa.
Venice, the Most Serene, will surprise you with its canals and bridges. A gondola ride at sunset is recommended, when the palaces along the Grand Canal are tinted pink.
Naples (Napoli):
Napoli, ai piedi del Vesuvio, offre uno dei panorami più scenografici d'Italia. Si consiglia di assaggiare la pizza margherita autentica nel cuore della città vecchia, dove la tradizione napoletana si tramanda da generazioni.
Naples, at the foot of Vesuvius, offers one of the most scenic panoramas in Italy. It is recommended to taste authentic pizza margherita in the heart of the old city, where Neapolitan tradition has been passed down for generations.
Milan (Milano):
Milano, capitale italiana della moda e del design, accoglie il visitatore con il suo Duomo gotico e la celebre Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Per un'esperienza autentica, si suggerisce di esplorare il quartiere dei Navigli la sera.
Milan, Italian capital of fashion and design, welcomes the visitor with its Gothic Cathedral and the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. For an authentic experience, it is suggested to explore the Navigli district in the evening.
The grammar is identical: impersonal si, vi accoglie / accoglie il visitatore, passive participles, historical present, brochure-formal vocabulary. Only the proper nouns and the city-specific clichés change.
Common Mistakes
❌ Si vende libri qui.
Wrong agreement — *libri* is plural, so the verb must be plural too: *si vendono libri*. Si passivante is not an exception to verb-subject agreement.
✅ Si vendono libri qui.
Books are sold here.
❌ Roma vi accoglia con la sua storia millenaria.
Wrong mood — *vi accoglie* should be indicative, not subjunctive. Brochures use the indicative for descriptive welcome statements.
✅ Roma vi accoglie con la sua storia millenaria.
Rome welcomes you with its thousand-year history.
❌ Il Colosseo, costruita nel 70 d.C.
Wrong agreement — *Colosseo* is masculine, so the participle must be *costruito*, not *costruita*.
✅ Il Colosseo, costruito nel 70 d.C.
The Colosseum, built in 70 AD.
❌ Si possono visitare il museo.
Wrong agreement direction — *museo* is singular, so the verb must be singular: *si può visitare il museo*. Plural *possono* requires a plural object.
✅ Si può visitare il museo.
The museum can be visited. / One can visit the museum.
❌ Si consiglia passeggiare nel rione Trastevere.
Missing preposition — *consigliare* takes *di* before an infinitive: *si consiglia di passeggiare*.
✅ Si consiglia di passeggiare nel rione Trastevere.
It is recommended to walk in the Trastevere neighborhood.
Key takeaways
- The Italian tourist brochure relies on impersonal si and si passivante as its dominant voice. Recognizing both, and getting their agreement right, is fundamental to writing or translating in this register.
- Vi accoglie / Visitate / Scoprite — voi-form address — is the standard reader-direct register. Lei is reserved for luxury and personalized contexts.
- The passive past participle as reduced relative clause (costruito nel 70 d.C.) compresses information densely. Agreement with the noun is obligatory.
- The historical present (è il cuore della Roma antica) is used for facts presented as ongoing identity, not as past events.
- Imperdibili, celebre, millenaria, suggestiva, autentica, infinite possibilità, capolavoro — a small but distinctive vocabulary set defines the brochure register.
- The same conventions apply across Italian cities: only the proper nouns and local clichés change.
For more on the impersonal si, see si impersonale and si passivante. For a deeper look at the construction's nuances, see si impersonale: complex cases. For the closely related register of news writing, see journalistic style and the news article. To return to the broader context, see the Annotated Texts overview.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Si Impersonale: Impersonal SiB1 — How Italian uses si + 3rd person singular to talk about generic 'one,' 'you,' or 'people' — the grammar of proverbs, signs, and casual generalizations. With the strange ci si trick when reflexives are involved.
- Si Passivante: The Passive SiB1 — The construction behind 'si vendono libri' and every Italian shop window. How a tiny clitic creates a passive without an auxiliary — and why the verb agrees with what looks like the object.
- Si Impersonale in Complex SyntaxB2 — How impersonal si behaves in compound tenses (auxiliary essere, participle in masculine plural — si è andati), with reflexive verbs (ci si lava, ci si pente), with predicate adjectives (si è felici, si è stanchi), and the double-si repair that prevents *si si lava.
- Journalistic ItalianB2 — The grammar and stylistic conventions of Italian news writing — the rumor conditional, verb-first headlines, the historical present, attribution formulas, and the vocabulary you need to read a Corriere della Sera article confidently.
- News Article: General NewsB2 — An annotated reading of a sample Italian news article on a Pantheon restoration, breaking down the conditional of unverified claims (condizionale di dicerie), the si-passivante in journalistic prose, the alternation of passato prossimo and future tense, and the conventions of the Italian newsroom.
- Annotated Texts: OverviewA1 — The Annotated Texts group presents real Italian texts — from A1 dialogues to C2 poetry — with grammatical commentary. Grammar in context, not in isolation: see how the rules from the rest of the guide play out in dialogues, news, recipes, songs, and literature.