Dipende da chi legge: senza virgolette, il titolo sembra più freddo.

Italian often does not use a subject pronoun when it is not needed. In English you say It depends, but in Italian dipende by itself is enough.

Here, dipende works almost like an impersonal expression: Dipende = It depends.

Because the verb dipendere normally takes the preposition da.

• dipendere da qualcosa = to depend on something
• dipendere da qualcuno = to depend on someone

So:

• Dipende da chi legge = It depends on who reads

Using di here would be incorrect.

Chi means who, but in Italian it often has the sense of whoever or the person who.

So chi legge literally means:

• who reads
• whoever reads
• the person who reads

In this sentence, the natural English meaning is who reads it or who is reading it, depending on context.

After chi, Italian normally uses the third-person singular verb form.

So:

• chi legge = whoever reads
• chi vuole = whoever wants
• chi sa = whoever knows

Even if chi refers to multiple possible people, the verb stays singular. This is normal Italian grammar.

Yes, the object is understood from the context, so Italian leaves it out.

Chi legge literally just says who reads, but the listener understands who reads it — here, probably the title or the text being discussed.

You could say chi lo legge if you wanted to make the object explicit, but it is not necessary. Omitting it sounds natural when the meaning is already clear.

The colon introduces an explanation or clarification.

So the structure is:

• Dipende da chi legge: = It depends on who reads:
• senza virgolette, il titolo sembra più freddo. = without quotation marks, the title seems colder / more detached.

In other words, the second part explains how or why it depends on the reader.

After senza, Italian often uses a noun without an article when speaking generally.

So:

• senza virgolette = without quotation marks
• senza problemi = without problems
• senza zucchero = without sugar

You might hear senza le virgolette if someone means a specific set of quotation marks already mentioned, but here the general form senza virgolette is the most natural.

Virgolette means quotation marks.

The singular is virgoletta, but in practice you usually see the plural because quotation marks normally come in pairs.

Examples:

• mettere tra virgolette = to put in quotation marks
• senza virgolette = without quotation marks

Sembra means seems or appears, while è means is.

That difference matters:

• il titolo è più freddo = the title is more cold
• il titolo sembra più freddo = the title seems more cold

Using sembra shows that this is about impression or tone, not an objective fact. The title gives a colder impression without quotation marks.

Più freddo means colder or, more naturally here, more cold / more detached / less warm in tone.

It is masculine singular because it agrees with il titolo, which is a masculine singular noun:

• il titolo → masculine singular
• più freddo → masculine singular

If the noun were feminine, it would change:

• la frase sembra più fredda

Also, freddo here is metaphorical. It is not about temperature; it is about emotional tone or style.

Yes. Italian word order is fairly flexible, especially with introductory phrases like senza virgolette.

For example, these are all possible:

• Senza virgolette, il titolo sembra più freddo.
• Il titolo, senza virgolette, sembra più freddo.
• Il titolo sembra più freddo senza virgolette.

They all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis shifts slightly. The original version puts senza virgolette first in that clause, which highlights the condition right away.