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Da cantante, lui viaggiava spesso all'estero.

Da cantante, lui viaggiava spesso all'estero.
As a singer, he traveled often abroad.
From Lesson 176:Roles and life stages (da)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Da cantante, lui viaggiava spesso all'estero.

Why is da used here instead of come for 'as a'?
When talking about a person's role, profession, or a stage in their life (like 'as a singer' or 'as a child'), Italian uses da. You use come when making a comparison, like 'you sing like a professional' (canti come un professionista).
Do I need to use an article and say da un cantante?
No, when using da to indicate a profession, role, or life stage, you drop the article completely. It is always da cantante (as a singer) or da bambino (as a child), never da un cantante.
Why is viaggiava in the imperfect tense rather than the passato prossimo?
The imperfect tense (viaggiava) is used here because traveling was a habitual, repeated action in the past. This is strongly signaled by the word spesso (often). If he had only traveled abroad once for a specific event, you would use the passato prossimo (ha viaggiato).
Why does 'abroad' translate to all'estero instead of just in estero?
The Italian noun for the concept of 'abroad' is l'estero (literally 'the exterior'). To say you are going 'to' or are 'in' foreign countries, Italian uses the combined preposition all' (a + l') to form the fixed phrase all'estero.

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