Most of us know what a piazza is. It means something akin to the town square. In Italy, there may be a main piazza, but there can be many others spread around a city.

La piazza è dedicata al...

The piazza is dedicated to...

all'artista e scultore Michelangelo Buonarroti.

to the artist and sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Caption 12, In giro per l'Italia - Firenze

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If you look at the dictionary entry above, you will see that there are various connotations of the noun piazza. 

Piazzare is a verb. It can mean "to place" something somewhere.

Qua abbiamo piazzato la macchina da presa.

Here, we placed the camera.

Caption 27, Fratelli Taviani - La passione e l'utopia

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Piazzare often means to sell — to put on the market with success.

Be', questa pietruzza la posso piazzare per una bella cifra.

Well this little rock I can place/sell for a pretty penny.

Caption 42, La Ladra - EP. 1 - Le cose cambiano

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But when we add an S to the beginning as a sort of prefix, the meaning changes. Something is set up or placed and seems stable, but then you displace it: spiazzare. It's generally used figuratively to mean "to catch someone off guard."

So, spiazzare is "to cause someone to feel less stable." You floor them, you take away their certainties, you take them by surprise.

E poi ti spiazzava.

And then she would take you by surprise.

Spiazzava te che eri al suo fianco,

She would totally surprise you, you, who were by her side,

spiazzava il pubblico.

she would floor the audience.

Ma a volte ti accorgevi che spiazzava anche se stessa...

But sometimes you would realize that she took even herself by surprise...

Captions 29-32, Illuminate - Margherita Hack - Part 11

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E io sono abituata a condurre il gioco. Insomma, mi sento spiazzata.

And I am used to leading the game. Basically, I'm flummoxed.

Captions 77-78, Provaci ancora prof! - S1E3 - Una piccola bestia ferita

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Looking at the word verso, we can detect a couple of cognates: "verse" and "versus," abbreviated as "vs" or "v." We can also see the word in words like "reverse..."

Verso is actually a wonderful word that can be used in so many circumstances. But where to start? Let's start in earlier times.

When manuscripts had leaves, not pages:

If you look at a medieval manuscript, for example, and think of how they numbered the pages, it's pretty interesting.

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Instead of pages, they considered the whole sheet or leaf. Think of a looseleaf notebook. A leaf, or a sheet of paper (or parchment), has two sides. When scribes started numbering these leaves (in the twelfth century "foliation" became a rule. Before that there were different ways of keeping track), the number would be placed in the upper right-hand corner, for example: "XXX" (roman numerals were commonly used). This was the right side, the front side, the "recto." The backside of the leaf was called the "verso," the reverse side. So if you were indicating where a song or chapter started, you would say folio XXX r or XXX v. 

The word verso comes from the Latin verb "vertĕre," meaning "to turn" — in its past participle form, "versus." The Italian verb meaning "to turn" is voltare which has common origins with volgere, the Italian for Latin "vertere." So the backside of a sheet is the one you have "turned."

il verso

Considering the above, it seems appropriate to discuss the noun form il verso  next.

Il verso can certainly mean, as we have seen, "the reverse side," especially when talking about a coin, medal, or sheet or leaf of parchment. 

It can also mean "direction" or "way."

...e per trenta minuti si gira in un verso, lentamente,

...and for thirty minutes, you stir it in one direction, slowly,

Caption 35, Adriano L'arancello di Marina

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Le parti basse dell'ulivo vanno tolte perché sono secche e non permettono alla pianta di, di crescere nel giusto verso.

The lower parts of the olive tree have to be removed because they're dry, and they don't allow the plant to, to grow in the right direction.

Captions 25-26, Gianni si racconta L'olivo e i rovi

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In colloquial speech il verso can mean "the way," used figuratively. 

Pezzo di pane... -Bisogna saperlo prendere per il verso giusto.

Piece of bread... -You have to know how to handle him the right way.

Caption 65, Il Commissario Manara S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi - Part 16

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...ma non c'è stato verso di farla ragionare.

...but there was no way to get her to reason.

Caption 4, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1EP1 L'estate del dito - Part 10

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When talking about marble, it means "the correct direction," or "the grain." 

Eh, il verso e il contro sono due termini, eh, conosciuti diffusamente tra gli art', gli artigiani del marmo,

Uh, the grain and against the grain are two terms, um, well known to art', marble artisans,

Captions 6-8, Claudio Capotondi Scultore - Part 1

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We also have the word inverso in Italian, meaning "inverse" or "opposite."

Quando "venire" è contrapposto esplicitamente ad "andare", indica movimento inverso, perché i due verbi esprimono insieme un movimento alternato e ripetuto nei [due] sensi.

When “venire” is explicitly juxtaposed with “andare,” it indicates an inverse movement, because the two verbs together express alternate and repeated movements, direction-wise.

Captions 42-45, Marika spiega I verbi venire e andare - Part 2

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Other meanings of il verso as a noun are: 

-the sound an animal makes.

-a line of poetry

-a verse

Verso — the preposition

Verso is a preposition, too, again having to do with direction.

Verso can mean "towards." It can also be interpreted as "facing,"

Perciò ti volti verso di lui. -Certo.

So, you turn towards him. -Of course.

Caption 62, Fratelli Taviani La passione e l'utopia - Part 16

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Note that when we use personal pronouns as an object, we need the extra preposition di. If it's a noun, then no extra preposition is needed.

Poi andando sempre più verso il Duomo, si vede appunto il Duomo

Then still going towards the Duomo, you can see just that, the Cathedral,

Captions 27-28, In giro per l'Italia Firenze - Part 4

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When we're talking about directions rather than concrete destinations, we use neither an extra preposition nor an article. 

Poi, andando verso sinistra si vede il Palazzo Vecchio,

Then, going towards the left you can see the Palazzo Vecchio [the old building]

Caption 34, In giro per l'Italia Firenze - Part 4

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The English word "versus," has the same Latin origin as the preposition verso, but has come to mean "against." Two people or teams face each other when they are against each other. 

Verso can mean "around" especially when talking about time.

La signora ha cenato e poi verso le nove è uscita.

The lady had dinner and then around nine, she went out.

Caption 8, Il Commissario Manara S2EP3 - Delitto tra le lenzuola - Part 5

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The verb versare

Finally, we mention the verb versare, because the first person singular happens to be verso. But versare deserves a lesson all to itself, because it's used often, but with various nuances in specific contexts. 

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When we want to talk about going or being upstairs or downstairs, we're not going to find a direct translation in Italian. We have to use other words. 

We start out with the words sopra and sotto, which basically mean "above" and "below," respectively. We insert the preposition di (of, from) before either one.

No, vado di sopra a prendere la borsa e le chiavi e scendo giù subito.

No, I'm going upstairs to get my bag and the keys, and I'll be right down.

Caption 88, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3EP3 - Il tarlo del sospetto - Part 1

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If you are upstairs and want to go downstairs, you could just as well say,

Vado di sotto a prendere la borsa...

I'm going downstairs to get my bag... 

When we are talking about the other room, or another room, or "over there," then we use the same little preposition di (of, from), but we use là (there) instead of above or below.

Vado di là (I'm going in the other room, I'm going over there).

Pietro è di là (Pietro is in the other room).

Using the above formula to talk about "upstairs," "downstairs," or "in the other room," is one way to express this. You might also hear simply su and giù.

È su (he/she is upstairs), sta su (he/she is upstairs).

Vado su, vengo giù (I'm going up, I'm coming down).

If we imagine an apartment building where you have to go downstairs to go out of the building, it's easier to imagine the Italian use of sotto casa (right in front of the house). I may have a little market right near my house. It's sotto casa. It implies "very close by" or "in front of."

Fortunatamente ci hanno messo un bidone sotto casa.

Fortunately, they put a garbage can in front of the house.

Caption 25, COVID-19 6) La guarigione

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Sono sotto casa tua. Scendi un attimo?

I'm in front of your house. Will you come down a moment?

Caption 30, La Ladra EP. 7 - Il piccolo ladro - Part 3

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When we want to say, "down here," or "down there," then we can use qui sotto or qua sotto. They are interchangeable and can refer to either "here" or "there," depending on one's point of view.

E qua sotto c'è il fiume Tevere.

And down there is the river Tiber.

Caption 19, Anna e Marika Trattoria Al Biondo Tevere - Part 1

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Infatti, vedi le strutture che sono qui sotto, qui sotto a questo monumentale... -Sì.

In fact, do you see the constructions that are down here, below this monumental... -Yes.

Caption 44, Marika e Daniela Colosseo, interno - Part 1

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While sopra and sotto with di often refer to "upstairs" and "downstairs" as we have shown above, su and giù can also be used to indicate the direction of where someone or something is or where someone or something is going. They often go hand in hand with qui or qua (here) and là (there).

Qui and qua basically indicate something that is close to the person who is speaking. Su basically means "up" and giù basically means "down." If we want to refer to something far away in an upward or downward direction, we can say, lassù (up there) or laggiù (down there).

E tu che ci fai lassù?

What are you doing up there?

Caption 8, Dafne Film - Part 5

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E poi si vede in fondo, laggiù sull'Arno, il ponte più caratteristico di Firenze, uno dei simboli della città, che è il Ponte Vecchio.

And then you can see, down there, on the Arno, the most characteristic bridge of Florence, one of the symbols of the city, which is the Ponte Vecchio [the old bridge].

Captions 36-38, In giro per l'Italia Firenze - Part 4

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Sopra and sotto are also used to mean other things, also figuratively, and hopefully, they will come up by and by in videos and lessons. Meanwhile, you now have some ways to describe where you are going or where you are in a house, or what you can see from your house or what you'll find in front of your house. As you will have noticed, there are various ways to say the same thing. Let us know if you have questions! You can write to us at newsletter@yabla.com.