What is futtitinni: the Sicilian philosophy that teaches you to take life more lightly

“Futtitinni…how beautiful it sounds,” said the Sicilian philosopher Pietro Briguglio, pronouncing the word with pleasure. “When you pronounce it, you release a weight that you were carrying and become lighter.”

According to Briguglio, the term is very present in everyday language because “it lends itself to being used in many situations”.

It can be understood as “don’t worry too much” or “let it go”, with meanings ranging from “don’t get bitter” to “don’t joke” – equivalent to expressions like Mexican. don’t slamthe Colombian don’t be complicatedthe Caribbean don’t heat up your headthe south Don’t worry about the drama or the Brazilians, depending on the region, “don’t be hot”, “don’t worry”, “keep calm” or “relax”.

However, for Capodicasa, futtitinni “it’s more nuanced, more elegant.”

The root of futtitinni is the Sicilian verb futtiriwhich is not particularly elegant: it’s a vulgar way of saying “copulate” (have sex, have sexual intercourse).

The term derives from the Latin futurewhich in Spanish gave rise to playfulcolloquial word for sexual relations still used in Spain. In Portuguese, an equivalence could be established with the term “fuder”.

In Sicilian, as happens in other Romance languages ​​with verbs of sexual origin, futtiri It expanded its meanings and began to have figurative uses, such as deceive, harass, steal, or take advantage, depending on the context.

This is why, futtitinni carries a tone between carefree and slightly irreverent, something close to “fuck you”, but with a Sicilian inflection that makes it more thoughtful than aggressive.

This does not mean thinking that nothing matters, nor running away from problems or responsibilities, and even less resigning oneself.

“Futtitinni It’s not superficiality,” explains Capodicasa. “It’s the ability to go through life’s situations with awareness and lightness.”

In certain situations, the expression invites us to let go of what is immutable and to continue living fully, as the Understanding Italy website explains (Understanding Italy).

In these cases, it is used to console a friend in the face of a disappointment, a financial problem or simply to put an everyday setback into perspective.

It is also an existential tool that allows us to separate the essential from the superfluous, to avoid accumulating all adversities and to prioritize what really matters.

Futtitinni it synthesizes a way of facing adversity with lightness, dignity and even humor, a trait particularly developed among Sicilians.

As the Roman politician and writer Cicero noted, as early as the 1st century BC, the Sicilians were “an intelligent but wary race, with a wonderful sense of humor.”

“No matter how serious a situation, Sicilians always have a witty comment to make,” he added.

This characteristic has accompanied the Sicilians throughout their 3,000 years of history, often difficult to bear. It is only by adopting a reflective attitude, notes the site The Italian-Americanthey managed to overcome the constant temptation to transform themselves into tragic characters.

This position is expressed in the exhortation Sicilians use when things become too oppressive: futtitinni.

And although the word has existed in the Sicilian dialect for generations, in recent years it has seen a significant resurgence.

Meme competition, T-shirts with the inscription “Futtitinni» and a series of articles and blogs save its meaning as a sort of “pedagogy of the essential”.

Futtitinni “It is not superficiality, but the art of discernment”, says Francesco Mazzarella in the magazine Paese.

According to him, it is a discernment “which distinguishes the urgent from the noisy, between what builds us and what consumes us”.

Mazzarella explains that when a Sicilian says futtitinnioften says “Don’t let into your heart what doesn’t deserve to be there” or “Don’t give power to those who want to take your breath away.”

For the author, the traditional term has not only lost its relevance but, at a time when everything demands attention and where “every opinion becomes war, every imperfection, failure (…)”, futtitinni became a revolution.

The word invites the practice of “good detachment”, leaving aside the peripheral and focusing on what really matters.

“Did your partner leave you? Maybe she wasn’t the right person. Did she lose her job? Think of it as a new start,” says Capodicasa.

“There are those who do yoga, meditation, breathe with their diaphragm. There are those who go to India to find themselves,” he says. “In Sicily we do it all with one word.”

It is said that an old sage, while explaining the laws of Sicilian philosophy to a young disciple, stopped at one point, looked him in the eyes and said: “My son, if you cannot change what is causing you pain, then futtitinni“.

Perhaps when pronouncing the word, the wise man made the typical gesture that usually accompanies it: raising his hand from bottom to top, as if throwing his worries into the air.

The intention is to relieve tension, to stop focusing on the negative.

“Is life stressing you out? Take it easy…”

“Stuck in traffic? Patience…”