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Le lumache e i vermi sono più lenti di quanto pensassi.

Le lumache e i vermi sono più lenti di quanto pensassi.
Snails and worms are slower than I thought.
From Lesson 366:Pleonastic non (temo che non)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Le lumache e i vermi sono più lenti di quanto pensassi.

Why do we use di quanto instead of che to translate the word "than"?
When making a comparison where the second part is a conjugated verb clause (like "than I thought"), Italian uses di quanto or di quello che. You use che when comparing two nouns, adjectives, or infinitives directly against each other.
Why is the verb pensassi in the subjunctive mood here?
Comparative clauses introduced by di quanto usually require the subjunctive. This happens because you are comparing an objective reality (how slow the animals actually are) to a subjective expectation or idea in your head (what you were thinking), which naturally triggers the subjunctive mood.
Could we use a pleonastic non in this sentence, like the ones we've been studying?
Absolutely. It is extremely common to write this as ...più lenti di quanto non pensassi. Just like with verbs of fearing, this extra non doesn't make the sentence negative. In comparisons, it serves to emphasize the gap between reality and your expectation. Leaving it out, as this sentence does, is also grammatically correct.
Le lumache is feminine, so why is the adjective lenti in the masculine form?
The sentence has a compound subject: le lumache (feminine plural) and i vermi (masculine plural). In Italian, whenever an adjective modifies a mixed-gender group of nouns, the agreement always defaults to the masculine plural form.

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