Italian Greetings: How to Say Hello and Goodbye Without Accidentally Being Rude

Look, here's the thing about greetings in Italian: you can't just walk around saying "ciao" to everyone and expect things to go well. I know, I know—it's the one Italian greeting everyone knows. But using it wrong is kind of like showing up to a job interview in flip-flops. People will notice.

The problem isn't that learning how to say hello in Italian is hard. Common Italian greetings are actually pretty straightforward. The problem is that the wrong greeting at the wrong time makes you sound either rude or weirdly formal, and neither is a great look when you're trying to speak Italian with actual Italians.

So let's break down how to greet people in Italian, when to use each greeting, and how to avoid the most common mistakes that'll make native Italian speakers cringe.

The ciao trap (and why you need to be careful with informal greetings)

Here's what most beginner resources won't tell you straight up: ciao is informal only. Not "kind of" informal. Not "depends on the situation." Just straight-up informal.

Ciao is both a way to say hello and goodbye in Italian, which is convenient—one word does double duty. But that convenience doesn't mean you can use it with everyone.

This casual way to say hello works with:

You don't use ciao with:

The word comes from an old Venetian phrase meaning "your humble servant," which sounds respectful, right? But it evolved into the most casual greeting possible. Using ciao when you should use a formal greeting—like when you meet someone for the first time or greet someone older—will absolutely come across as disrespectful, even if you didn't mean it that way.

The good news? Once you know when to use it, ciao is perfect for friends and makes saying hello and goodbye super easy with people you know.

The safe Italian greetings that work in formal and informal situations

If you're not sure about the right level of formality, you've got three solid options that'll help you greet people without screwing up:

Buongiorno (good morning/good day) This is your go-to formal greeting until around 3-4 PM. You can use it to greet someone in pretty much any situation—strangers, shopkeepers, your boss, that elderly neighbor. It's polite, it's respectful, and it's expected in Italian culture.

Buongiorno literally means "good day," and it's one of the most common Italian greetings you'll hear. Here's something important: in Italy, you're actually supposed to greet people when you walk into a store. Just walking in without saying buongiorno is considered rude. Same when you leave—you say "grazie" or "arrivederci" on your way out. This isn't optional social nicety stuff; it's basic good manners that Italians take seriously.

Buonasera (good evening/good afternoon) This is the afternoon and evening version of buongiorno. Buonasera means good evening, though it's also used to say good afternoon in many contexts. When exactly do you switch from buongiorno? That's where it gets interesting—it depends on the region. In southern Italy, people might start saying buonasera around 4 PM. In northern Italy, you might hear it as early as 2 PM. When in doubt, listen to what locals are saying and follow their lead.

Some Italian language courses will mention "buon pomeriggio" (which means good afternoon), but honestly? Almost nobody uses it. Most Italians just stick with buongiorno until it's time to switch to buonasera.

Salve This is the neutral middle ground—more formal than ciao, less specific than buongiorno and buonasera. It's a common greeting when you're genuinely not sure what level of formality is appropriate. Works great with hotel staff, restaurant servers, or people you don't know well but aren't in a super formal relationship with.

Salve is one of those useful Italian greetings that saves you when you're unsure whether to use formal greetings or something more casual.

How to greet someone: The "come stai?" question that's actually a question

In English, "how are you?" is basically just part of the greeting. We don't actually expect a real answer most of the time.

The Italian language doesn't work that way.

When someone asks you "Come stai?" (informal) or "Come sta?" (formal), they actually want to know how you're doing. And they expect you to ask back. It's a real exchange, not just a formality you blow past on your way to the actual conversation.

The informal versus formal distinction here is crucial:

That "Lei" vs. "tu" thing trips up a lot of learners trying to learn Italian. Lei is the formal "you"—same concept as French "vous" or Spanish "usted." You use it with people you don't know, anyone older than you, and in professional settings. As you get more familiar with someone, they might ask "Diamoci del tu?"—basically, "can we use the informal 'you'?" That's your invitation to drop the formality.

If you mess this up and use "tu" to greet someone who expects "Lei," you'll sound presumptuous. Go too formal with close friends after months of knowing them, and they'll wonder if something's wrong.

What about goodbye in Italian? (buonanotte and other options)

Quick note on this one: buonanotte means good night, but it's specifically for when someone's going to bed. It's not like the English "good evening"—you don't walk into a restaurant at 9 PM and say "buonanotte" to the host. That's what buonasera is for.

Buonanotte is used to say goodbye before sleep. You're literally wishing someone a good night's rest.

For saying goodbye in other situations, you've got options:

These different Italian greetings for goodbye all serve specific purposes depending on who you're talking to and when you're parting ways.

Common Italian greetings and when to actually use them

The Italian greeting system has time-specific options, but honestly, they're flexible enough that you won't mess up too badly. The main transitions throughout the day are:

Regional greetings can vary too. In some parts of Italy, you might hear "buondì" (a casual way of saying good day) or other local variations. But stick with the standard greetings until you're familiar with regional Italian culture.

Common mistakes when trying to say hello in Italian

Mixing up formal and informal greetings in the same conversation Pick your level of formality and stick with it. Don't start with buongiorno and then switch to ciao unless the other person explicitly invites you to be more casual. Italians are pretty tuned into these social signals.

Using buonanotte as an evening greeting instead of goodbye Again: buonanotte = bedtime. If you're not saying goodbye to someone who's actually going to sleep, use buonasera instead. This is one of those basic Italian mistakes that immediately marks you as a beginner.

Skipping greetings when you meet people in shops Seriously, just say buongiorno when you walk in. It takes two seconds and shows you understand Italian culture. Most native speakers will greet you first anyway—just return it with the same greeting they use.

Using informal greetings with someone you just met When you meet someone for the first time, especially in any kind of formal setting, use formal greetings. Don't jump to ciao unless they use it first or explicitly invite you to be casual. This is especially important with anyone older than you.

Body language and Italian greetings for every situation

Here's something textbooks don't always cover: saying hello in Italian isn't just about words. Italians use body language a lot.

When you use formal greetings, you typically shake hands. A handshake is common when you greet someone in professional settings or meet someone for the first time.

Among close friends and family? That's when you see the cheek-kissing thing—two air kisses, one on each cheek. It looks intimidating if you're not used to it, but you'll get the hang of it quickly. Just follow the other person's lead.

Actually learning these greetings (not just memorizing them)

The problem with learning how to say hello and goodbye from a blog post (including this one) is that you're reading about different Italian greetings, not actually using them. You need to hear these words in real contexts, see how native Italian speakers actually deploy them in different situations with different people, and practice enough that the right greeting pops out naturally.

This is where learning from real Italian content makes a massive difference compared to textbook drills. When you're watching Italian shows or videos, you see exactly when someone uses ciao versus buongiorno, when relationships shift from formal to informal, how people actually structure these exchanges in real time. It's not just vocabulary—it's the cultural context you can't get from word lists.

Similar to how greetings work in other languages like Japanese, Italian greetings are deeply tied to social dynamics and expectations. You learn those dynamics by engaging with the language as it's actually used, not by memorizing isolated common phrases.

The other thing about real content: you hear Italian greetings constantly. Every TV show, every movie, every conversation starts with someone greeting someone else. That repetition—in context—is what makes these patterns automatic. You're not trying to remember rules about when Italians use formal greetings; you're just doing what you've seen Italian speakers do a hundred times.

Think about it this way: when you learned how to say hello in French or any other language, the greetings that stuck were the ones you actually heard people use in real situations. Same principle applies here.

If you want to actually practice Italian greetings (and everything else) with real content, that's exactly what Migaku is built for. Our browser extension works with Italian Netflix shows, YouTube videos, news sites—basically any Italian content you're already interested in. When you come across a greeting you don't know or want to understand better, you can click it for an instant definition, see how it's used in that specific context, and add it to your spaced repetition deck with one click.

The extension handles both the lookups and the flashcard creation automatically. You watch the content you'd watch anyway, pick up the language naturally like a native, and review what you've learned through spaced repetition so it actually sticks. No textbook drills, no artificial dialogues—just real Italian from native speakers in situations where you can actually see how greetings in Italian work in practice.

You'll learn how to greet people naturally, picking up on the subtle differences between formal and informal situations, understanding when to use buongiorno versus buonasera, and getting the pronunciation right because you're hearing it from actual Italian speakers. It's the difference between memorizing that ciao means hello and goodbye versus actually knowing when and how to use it with people you know versus people you don't know.

There's a 10-day free trial if you want to test it out. Way more effective than memorizing greeting lists and hoping you remember them when you actually need to say hello to someone or introduce yourself in Italian.