User:Pegasovagante/sandbox/Valediction
Italian
[edit]No distinction is made between letters and emails. Before Christmas, New Year and Easter the word Auguri (di buon Natale/buon Anno/buone feste/buona Pasqua) is generally added to the valediction, even in formal letters.
Formal correspondence
[edit]Business correspondence
[edit]Distinti saluti is the more formal and somewhat stiff option.
Cordiali saluti is the standard valediction for business letters.
More elaborate forms are sometimes used, giving the style a bureaucratic flavour, such as Mi/ci è grata l'occasione di porgere... (we welcome the opportunity for expressing), followed by a standard valediction such as distinti/cordiali saluti and, before Christmas, ...e auguri di buone feste. (and best wishes).
Another option is to end the last sentence directly with ...cordialmente/distintamente (La/Vi) salutiamo.
Official correspondence
[edit]In addition to the valedictions mentioned above, Vivissimi cordiali saluti Con ossequi ... other even more fancyful forms
Private and informal correspondence
[edit]Tuo/Suo (yours) is increasingly rare nowadays. Tanti saluti is generally avoided, since it might sound stiff and ironical. Some common examples are (among others):
Saluti (the most neutral, but not very polite).
Le/Ti mando tanti saluti might be a somewhat formal option for a private letter; Tanti (cari) saluti ed auguri (many kind regards and best wishes) when appropriate.
Un saluto (quite neutral)
Un salutone
Un saluto affettuoso
Con affetto (with love; sometimes found in greeting cards or gift notes)
Un abbraccio (a hug)
Baci/Baciotti etc. (kisses; mostly avoided by men, unless they be writing to their mother, wife or girlfriend)
Ciao or Ciao ciao (the latter is quite informal; nowadays ciao requires the use of tu)
A presto (see you soon; hopefully)
Ci vediamo (see you soon; definitely)
Ci sentiamo (hear from you soon, i.e. by telephone)
Ci becchiamo (slang) (see you soon: most informal option, sometimes used by young people).
Obsolete valedictions
[edit]Many more elaborate valedictions are out of date. In the days of Fascism, mainly whithin the Party or in letters directed to party members or supporters, Saluti fascistissimi (very fascist regards), ore some variation of it, was common. It was generally avoided, though, within the Public Service and the Armed Forces, who stuck to previous traditions.
Valedictions as Suo/Tuo affezionato/affezionatissimo, Suo devoto/devotissimo, often abbreviated to aff., aff.mo or devº/dev.mo are typical of nineteenth-century correspondence; more formal examples such as si professa di V.S. (vostra signoria) l'umilissimo servitore (declears himself your lordship's most humble servant) would sound derisory nowadays. Verdi ended many of his informal letters just with addio (farewell).
Collections of historical correspondence are sometimes available in the internet, such as letters in the Ricordi archive.
Signature
[edit]The writer's appointment is usually stated above the signature. Professional and academic titles are very often used in Italy. For women, the appointment may be in the masculine form, but the feminine is increasingly common. Dottore (dott. or sometimes dr) might be used by anyone holding whichever academical degree, though it is mostly omitted when another, more prestigious, title is used.
La responsabile vendite
(rag. E. Pierobon)
La preside
(Prof.ssa M.C. Calogero)