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L'orchestra italiana è bravissima.

L'orchestra italiana è bravissima.
The Italian orchestra is very good.
From Lesson 245:Singular agreement for collective nouns (la gente, il gruppo)·Italian

Questions & Answers about L'orchestra italiana è bravissima.

Why do we use the singular verb è when an orchestra is made up of many people?
In Italian, collective nouns that describe a group of people—like l'orchestra, la gente (the people), or la famiglia (the family)—are grammatically strictly singular. Even though there are many musicians, the noun itself is singular, so it must take the third-person singular verb è.
Do the adjectives have to be singular too?
Yes! Because the noun orchestra is singular and feminine, all adjectives describing it must match perfectly. That's why we use italiana and bravissima rather than plural forms, even though we are talking about a whole group of talented musicians.
What does the -issima ending do in bravissima?
Adding -issimo or -issima to an adjective is a very common way to say "very" or "extremely" in Italian. Instead of saying molto brava, you can drop the final vowel of brava and add -issima to create bravissima (extremely good or highly talented).
Why use bravissima instead of buonissima for "very good"?
Bravo is used to describe skill, talent, or ability, which fits musicians perfectly! Buono is generally used to describe a person's moral goodness or to say that food tastes good. If you said the orchestra was buonissima, Italians might think they were delicious to eat!

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