Question 1

Why use the imperfetto (ci volevano, era) to describe a specific dream rather than a perfect tense like the passato prossimo?

Accepted Answer

This is the imperfetto onirico (dream imperfect). When narrating dreams, Italian uses the imperfetto to create a sense of suspended, fluid, or unreal time. It distances the events from waking reality, where a sequence of completed actions would typically require the passato prossimo or passato remoto.

Question 2

In English we say "It took centuries," so why is ci volevano in the plural?

Accepted Answer

The verb here is volerci (to take time or effort). Unlike English, which uses the dummy subject "it" (it took), Italian makes the time required the actual subject of the sentence. Since secoli (centuries) is plural, the verb must be plural: literally, "centuries were needed."

Question 3

Could I use a instead of per before raggiungere?

Accepted Answer

No, because here you are expressing a clear purpose or goal (meaning "in order to reach"). Per + infinitive is the standard grammatical structure in Italian to say "in order to do something."

Question 4

Is abisso used metaphorically here, or just for physical depths?

Accepted Answer

Just like the English word "abyss", abisso can be used both literally (a deep physical chasm or the depths of the ocean) and metaphorically (an abyss of despair, or the mysterious depths of the subconscious mind in a dream).

Per raggiungere l'abisso ci volevano secoli: il tempo era surreale.

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