La maestra dice che un’ape può far paura, ma che osservare l’alveare da lontano è molto interessante.

Because ape starts with a vowel. In Italian, the feminine singular indefinite article una usually drops its final -a before a vowel and becomes un’.

So:

• una casa
• un’ape

The apostrophe is important here.

Yes, ape is a feminine noun.

That is why you get:

• l’ape = the bee
• un’ape = a bee

This can confuse English speakers because un’ may look like masculine un, but here it is really shortened una. A useful thing to memorize is the noun together with its article: l’ape.

Far paura is a very common expression meaning to scare, to frighten, or to be scary.

Literally, it is to make fear, but English usually says:

• Un’ape può far paura = A bee can be scary / A bee can frighten people

So this is an idiomatic expression, not something you should translate word for word.

Far is a shortened form of fare.

Both are possible:

• può fare paura
• può far paura

The shorter form far is very common, especially in combinations like this and especially after modal verbs such as potere, dovere, and volere.

So può far paura sounds very natural.

Italian often leaves that unstated when the meaning is general.

So un’ape può far paura means something like:

• A bee can scare people
• A bee can be frightening

If you want to say exactly who is scared, you can add it:

• Un’ape può farmi paura = A bee can scare me
• Un’ape può fare paura ai bambini = A bee can scare children

In your sentence, the person feeling the fear is just understood in a general sense.

Because both parts depend on dice.

The structure is:

• La maestra dice che ...
• ma che ...

In other words, the teacher says two things:

1. that a bee can be scary
2. that observing the hive from far away is very interesting

Repeating che makes the grammar clear and sounds very natural in Italian. In English, the second that is often omitted, but Italian commonly keeps it.

Because osservare l’alveare da lontano is being used as the subject of the clause.

Italian often uses the infinitive this way, just as English can use:

• Observing the hive from a distance is very interesting

So:

• osservare = to observe / observing

By contrast, osservando means observing in the sense of while observing, so it would not fit this structure.

Because the whole infinitive phrase osservare l’alveare da lontano is treated as one single idea.

It functions like one singular subject:

• Observing the hive from a distance is very interesting

So Italian uses singular è, not plural.

Da lontano means from far away or from a distance.

It is a fixed, very common expression in Italian. Here it tells you the point from which the observation happens:

• osservare l’alveare da lontano = to observe the hive from a distance

English speakers sometimes expect a different preposition, but da lontano is the normal Italian phrasing.

Because alveare begins with a vowel, so the definite article il becomes l’ before it:

• il libro
• l’alveare

So l’alveare means the beehive.

Also, alveare is masculine, even though its ending may not make that obvious. Its plural is gli alveari.

Here it simply means very interesting.

• molto = very
• interessante = interesting

A useful thing to notice is that Italian uses interessante where English uses interesting, not interested. So:

• è interessante = it is interesting
• sono interessato / interessata = I am interested

In this sentence, the activity of observing the hive is what is interesting.