Learn Italian: Vengo a mezzanotte. - I am coming at midnight.

When we talk about most hours, we use alle because it combines a + le for plural hours (like alle due, at two o'clock). However, mezzanotte (midnight) and mezzogiorno (noon) are singular nouns, not plural numbers. Therefore, they just take the simple preposition a.

Is vengo present tense or future tense here?

Vengo is the present tense of the irregular verb venire (to come). Just like in English ("I am coming"), Italians frequently use the present tense to talk about a firmly planned action in the near future.

Why isn't there a word for "I" (io) in front of the verb?

Italian drops the subject pronoun most of the time! Because the verb ending changes depending on who is doing the action, the -o at the end of vengo already tells us it means "I come". You only need to add io if you want to emphasize that you are the one coming, rather than someone else.

What is the literal breakdown of the word mezzanotte?

It is made up of two pieces: mezza (meaning "half" or "mid") and notte (meaning "night"). Just like its English equivalent, it translates perfectly to "mid-night".