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EMBODYING SPREZZATURA, A CLASSIC ITALIAN CONCEPT

Introduction to Italian Culture, among many other cultural topics, have explored the meaning of Sprezzatura. Sprezzatura is one of the most quintessentially Italian words of all, and it doesn't translate into English. Even many Italians struggle to define it.

  • Sprezzatura

The word Sprezzatura first appears in Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 The Book of the Courtier, where it is defined by the author as "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it." The word has entered the English language; the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "studied carelessness."