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Folk Sayings on Aging
Italy - Pre 1969 or Around the World, Click here

Puglia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Aging -- by Region -- Puglia
     
      o in Italian: I vecchi sono i nuovi, i nuovi sono i vecchi.
      o in English: (Literally) The old are new, the new are old. (Equivalent) What's old is new, what's new is old. (Meaning) Or, What's "in" now is "out" tomorrow.
     
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The New York Public Library, Digital Gallery #425329

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Puglia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Old Age -- by Region -- Puglia
     
      o in Italian: (Dialect) Li proverbi su tuta la vita de li vecchi.
      o in English: (Literally) Proverbs are the entire lives of the old. (Meaning) Old people are living proverbs. Or, The lives of old people are proverbs.
     
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The New York Public Library, Digital Gallery #407525

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Sardinia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Old Age -- by Region -- Sardinia
     
      o in Italian (Dialect): Ne cane di piga, ne homine balente, nde mori' mai bezzu.
      o in English: Neither the hunting dog, nor the man of valor, can avoid getting old.
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The New York Public Library, Digital Gallery #1123152

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Sardinia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Aging -- by Region -- Sardinia
     
      o in Italian (Dialect): Si a binti non esti galanti, si a trinta non thei sciencza, a caranta non hat prudenzia, a cinquanta non est devotu, s'homini esti perdiu in totu.
      o in English: If at twenty a man is not gallant, if at thirty he is not knowledgeable, and if at fifty he is not devote than that man is totally lost.
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The New York Public Libary, Digital Gallery #1577559

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Sardinia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverbs or Folk Sayings on Aging -- by Region -- Sardinia
     
      o in Italian (Dialect): Gesu Cristu dona so fai a chini no dda podit arroi.
      o in English: (Literally) Jesus Christ gives fava beans to those who cannot chew. (Meaning) The irony of fate is that you get what you want, when you can no longer enjoy it. This particular folk saying is making specific reference to food so that it is basically saying that those individuals who have teeth don't have food, and those who have food don't have teeth -- so one is never in position to be happy. Also, the folk saying could be saying that while the young and healthy have the means to enjoy life, often they don't have the money to buy what they need, and later on, when they do have money, they can't enjoy what they have as they are no longer healthy. N.B. In most other regions of Italy similar folk sayings don't make reference to beans but rather to bread so they'd say -- "Those who have teeth don't have bread, those who have bread don't have teeth."
     
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The Library of Congress #02937r

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Sardinia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Aging -- by Region -- Sardinia
     
      o in Italian (Dialect): Chie faghe trinta non semper faghe trintunu.
      o in English: (Literally) Who turns thirty, doesn't always turn thirty-one. (Meaning) One's luck can run out.
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The Library of Congress #3g05390r

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Sardinia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Aging -- by Region -- Sardinia
     
      o in Italian (Dialect): Nisciunu est nasciu imparatu.
      o in English: Nobody is born learned. Or, Nobody is born knowing it all.
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The Library of Congress #3a48134r

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Sardinia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Old Age -- by Region -- Sardinia
     
      o in Italian (Dialect): Sa beccesa annunziat morti.
      o in English: Old age announces death.
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The Library of Congress #19153r

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Sardinia, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Aging -- by Region -- Sardinia
     
      o in Italian (Dialect): S'apretu ponet su betzu a currer.
      o in English: Necessity makes even the old run.
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The Library of Congress #02340r

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Sicily, Italy
Date: Centuries-old
Notes: Italian Proverb or Folk Saying on Aging by Region -- Sicily
     
      o in Italian: (Dialect) A cuntintizza [la felicita] sinni va 'ccu l'anni.
      o in English: Happiness goes away (or passes by) with the years.
     
      Contributed by Maria Tozzi
Contributed by: Image courtesy of The Library of Congress #3a48411

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