Dal salumiere compro della mortadella e una salsiccia fresca per la cena.

Salumiere is a person who sells salumi—cured meats such as prosciutto, salami, mortadella, and often cheese and other deli products too.

In everyday Italian, especially after da, it can refer to:

• the shopkeeper
• or, by extension, the shop / deli counter

So dal salumiere is often understood as at / from the deli.

Because dal = da + il.

With shops, professionals, and tradespeople, Italian often uses da to mean to / at / from the place of that person:

• dal dentista = at/to the dentist’s
• dal panettiere = at/to the baker’s
• dal salumiere = at/to the deli / from the deli

Also, with comprare, da can suggest buying from someone. So Dal salumiere compro... means something like I buy ... from / at the deli.

Della is a partitive article: di + la.

It is often used when talking about some amount of something, especially with food or other uncountable nouns. So:

• della mortadella = some mortadella

A native English speaker can think of it as similar to some, although Italian uses it more naturally and more often in these contexts.

You may sometimes hear just mortadella in other sentences, but compro della mortadella is very normal when you mean an unspecified quantity.

Because the two nouns are being treated differently:

• mortadella here is a mass noun: you buy some of it, usually sliced
• salsiccia here is a countable item: one sausage

So:

• della mortadella = some mortadella
• una salsiccia = one sausage

This is similar to English:

• some ham
• a sausage

In Italian, adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

• una salsiccia fresca = a fresh sausage

This is the most normal position here. Putting the adjective before the noun is sometimes possible in Italian, but it often changes the tone or emphasis, and una fresca salsiccia would sound unnatural in this everyday shopping sentence.

Because the adjective must agree with the noun it describes.

Salsiccia is:

• feminine
• singular

So the adjective must also be:

• feminine singular

That gives us:

• salsiccia fresca

Compare:

• un panino fresco = masculine singular
• una salsiccia fresca = feminine singular
• salsicce fresche = feminine plural

In this sentence, fresca most naturally describes only una salsiccia.

That is because:

• it comes right after salsiccia
• it agrees with salsiccia
• the structure strongly links the adjective to the second noun only

So the meaning is:

• some mortadella
• and one fresh sausage

not necessarily that the mortadella is fresh too.

Per la cena means for dinner.

Here per shows purpose:

• I’m buying these things for dinner

The article la makes it sound a little more specific, as in for the dinner meal / for tonight’s dinner.

You may also hear:

• per cena

That is also common, often a bit more general. But per la cena is perfectly correct and natural.

Compro is the present tense of comprare: I buy.

In Italian, the present tense can be used for:

• a habit: I buy
• a current action: I’m buying
• a simple factual statement

So without extra context, Dal salumiere compro... can mean either:

• I buy ... at the deli
• or I’m buying ... at the deli

Italian relies on context more than English does here.

Yes. Italian word order is more flexible than English word order.

This sentence begins with Dal salumiere to set the scene first:

• At the deli, I buy...

But other orders are possible, for example:

• Compro della mortadella e una salsiccia fresca dal salumiere.

That said, the original version sounds very natural. Starting with Dal salumiere helps frame where the action happens or from whom the food is bought.