Updated on November 8, 2023
Ringing in the New Year is a huge celebration throughout Italy.
December 31st is St. Silvester’s Night (La Notte di San Silvestro) and to celebrate we enjoy parties, concerts, fireworks, and festivals.
We have our special New Year’s dishes and of course, we usually pop a bottle of prosecco or other Italian sparkling wine to celebrate with friends!
Wherever you are in Italy, you’ll hear people wishing each other Happy New Year in Italian.
How Do You Wish Someone Happy New Year in Italian?
There are many ways to wish someone a Happy New Year in Italian. You can use these phrases in formal and informal situations.
Buon Anno!
This is a very simple way to send your good wishes. It’s literally “Good Year!” (as in “Have a Good Year!”)
Buon Anno Nuovo!
Another simple way to say Happy New Year. It translates to “Good New Year!”
Felice Anno Nuovo!
This is the literal way to say “Happy New Year!” Felice is the Italian word for ‘happy.’
Buona Fine e Buon Inizio!
This is how you wish someone a “Good end to the year and a great start (to the new year)!” It’s less commonly used.
Auguri!
Auguri is an Italian word that means ‘good or best wishes’ and it’s used in many situations (including birthdays).
Around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Auguri can be used as a generic “Happy Holidays” to wish someone a Merry Christmas and/or a Happy New Year. It’s a simple way to send separate or combined Christmas greetings and New Year greetings.
Auguri per un prospero anno nuovo!
This translates to “Best wishes for a prosperous new year.”
Auguri per un sereno anno nuovo!
Literally “Best wishes for a serene new year.” It’s a generic good wish, but you could also use it if you specifically know that someone’s had a difficult past year.
I miei migliori auguri per il nuovo anno!
This translates to “My best wishes for the new year!”
Auguri per un felice 2025!
“Best wishes for a Happy 2025!”
Buon anno a te e tutta la tua famiglia!
‘Happy new year to you and the whole family!’ This is informal, if you want to make it formal you could say ‘Buon Anno a Lei e tutta la sua famiglia.”
When to Say Happy New Year (Buon Anno) to Someone in Italy
- You arrive at someone’s house
- You pass someone on the street
- You’re making a toast
- The clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve!
- You’re writing a letter or sending a greeting card
- You’re sending an email
- You’re sending a text message
- You haven’t heard from someone for a while and it’s the beginning of a new year
How To Respond When Someone Wishes You a Happy New Year in Italian
Grazie!
Thank you!
Grazie, altrettanto!
Thank you, same to you!
Grazie, anche a te!
Thank you, you too! (informal)
Grazie, anche a Lei!
Thank you, you too! (formal)
Grazie, anche a voi!
Thank you, you too! (plural; also used instead of ‘Lei’ in the south of Italy in formal situations)
Grazie, auguri!
Thanks, best wishes!
Wishing Someone Happy New Year in Italian in Writing
If you want to wish someone a ‘Happy New Year’ in Italian in a letter, email, or greeting card, you can write:
Informal Situations:
Caro/a [RECEIVER’S NAME],
Ti auguro un felice anno nuovo, circondato/a dalle persone a te care.
Con affetto,
[YOUR NAME]
Dear (male/female) [RECEIVER’S NAME],
I wish you a Happy New Year, surrounded by your (male/female) loved ones.
Affectionately Yours,
[YOUR NAME]
For example:
Caro Marco,
Ti auguro un felice anno nuovo, cincondato dalle persone a te care.
Con affetto,
Elisabetta
Formal Situations:
Gentile [RECEIVER’S NAME],
Sinceri auguri di Buon Anno a Lei e la sua famiglia!
[YOUR NAME]
Dear [RECEIVER’S NAME],
Most sincere wishes for a Happy New Year to you and your family!
[YOUR NAME]
More Written Happy New Year Phrases:
Che il nuovo anno vi riservi tanta felicità e fortuna. Buon Anno!
I hope that the New Year brings a lot of luck and happiness. Happy New Year!
Brindiamo insieme al nuovo anno che sta per arrivare. Tanti auguri e felicità!
Let’s raise a toast together to ring in the New Year. All good wishes and lots of happiness!
Ti auguro un nuovo anno pieno di cose belle, di incontrare sul tuo tragitto opportunità e occasioni, di essere felice. Auguri di buon anno di cuore!
I hope your New Year is full of great things, opportunities, and happiness. I wish you a Happy New Year with all my heart!
How Do Italians Celebrate New Year’s Eve?
Good Luck Food for New Year’s Eve
In Italy, we eat specific foods to bring good luck at New Year. Some examples include:
- Lentils – These have been considered good luck since Roman times, because they look like little coins, hence, the New Year will bring you tons of money! I’ve eaten lots of them – it’s never worked.
- Cotechino – A kind of sausage with lean and fatty pork, combined with finely chopped pork rind, pepper, nutmeg and cloves, or even wine and cinnamon (according to taste). The mixture is stuffed into a sausage casing.
- Zampone – As above, but this time the mixture is stuffed into the pig’s trotter (the front one).
Good To Know: These foods may follow a dinner of regional specialties. You may already be full, but you have to have at least a bite for good luck!
Good To Know: The foods you find on the New Year’s Eve dinner table vary by region. In Northern regions like Trentino-Alto Adige, you’ll find canederli (dumplings) on the table, in Piedmont ravioli del plin (meat-filled ravioli), and more seafood and fish-based dishes in the southern Italian regions.
Italian New Year’s Eve Superstitions
We also have a few superstitions for the last day of the year. In the words of celebrated Neapolitan actor and playwright Eduardo de Filippo, “Essere superstiziosi è da ignoranti ma non esserlo porta male.” (Only the uneducated are superstitious, but not being superstitious brings bad luck!)
- Wearing red underwear – brings love and passion all year round!
- Making sure your wallet is full of money – if it’s full on the 1st day of the year, it’ll be full for the other 364 days.
- Not eating lobster or chicken – chickens ‘fly’ (and your luck will fly away). Lobsters walk backwards (so you can’t look forward to the year ahead.
- Kissing someone at midnight (preferably under mistletoe) – ensures your love will last throughout the year
- Burning a red candle
- Eating grapes and dried fruit – we eat grapes because of the proverb, ‘Chi mangia uva per Capodanno conta i quattrini tutto l’anno’ (The person who eats grapes at New Year will be counting their money all year round).
- Throwing old things out of the window – this happens in some areas in the South, but much less now than in the past. In certain areas of Naples it’s TV sets, old fridges, etc!
More Italian Words and Phrases for the New Year
| Italian | English |
| La Vigilia di Capodanno / La Notte di San Silvestro | New Year’s Eve |
| Capodanno / Il Primo dell’Anno / Il Primo Gennaio | New Year’s Day |
| brindisi | toast |
| conto alla rovescia | countdown |
| mezzanotte | midnight |
| ballo | dancing |
| festa | party |
| fuochi d’artificio / botti di capodanno | fireworks |
| veglione di capodanno | New Year’s Eve celebration |
| cenone di capodanno | New Year’s Eve dinner |
| propositi per il nuovo anno | New Year’s resolutions |
Buon Anno by Jovanotti
Buon Anno by Joanotti – Lyrics
Italian
Buon anno fratello, buon anno davvero
E spero sia bello, sia bello e leggero
Che voli sul filo dei tuoi desideri
Ti porti momenti profondi, e i misteri
Rimangano dolci misteri
Che niente modifichi i fatti di ieri
Ti auguro pace, risata, e fatica
Trovare dei fiori nei campi d’ortica
Ti auguro viaggi in paesi lontani
Lavori da compiere con le tue mani
E figli che crescono, e poi vanno via
Attrati dal volto della fantasia
Buon anno fratello, buon anno ai tuoi occhi
Alle mani, alle braccia, ai polpacci, ai ginocchi
Buon anno ai tuoi piedi, alla spina dorsale
Alla pelle, alle spalle, al tuo grande ideal
Buon anno fratello, buon anno davvero
E spero sia bello, sia bello e leggero
Che ti porti scompiglio e progetti sballati,
E frutta e panini ai tuoi sogni affamati
Ti porti chilometri e guance arrossate
Albe azzurre e tramonti di belle giornate
E semafori verdi, e prudenza e coraggio,
Ed un pesce d’aprile e una festa di maggio
Buon anno alla tua luna, buon anno al tuo sole
Buon anno alle tuo orecchie e alle mie parole
Buon anno a tutto il sangue che ti scorre nelle vene
E che quando batte a tempo dice
Andrà tutto bene
Buon anno fratello e non fare cazzate
Le pene van’ via cosi come son nate
Ti auguro amore, quintali d’amore
Palazzi, quartieri, paesi d’amore
Pianeti d’amore, universi d’amore
Istanti, minuti, giornate d’amore
Ti auguro un anno d’amore, fratello mio
L’amore del mondo e quello di Dio
English
Happy new year brother, a truly happy new year
And I hope it will be beautiful, it will be beautiful and light
That you’ll fly on the thread of your wishes
It will bring you deep moments, and that the mysteries
Remain sweet mysteries
That nothing will change the facts of yesterday
I wish you peace, laughter, and fatigue
To find flowers in fields of nettles
I wish you travels to far away countries
Works to be done with your hands
And kids that grow up and then leave,
Attracted by the face of fantasy
Happy new year brother, happy new year to your eyes
To the hands, to the arms, to the calves, to the knees
Happy new year to your feet, to the spine
To the skin, to the shoulders, to your great ideal
Happy new year brother, a truly happy new year
And I hope it will be beautiful, it will be beautiful and light
That it will bring you havoc and unpacked projects,
And fruit and sandwiches to your hungry dreams
It will bring you kilometers and reddened cheeks
Blue dawns and sunsets of beautiful days
And green traffic lights, and prudence and courage,
And an April Fools Day and a May Day
Happy new year to your moon, happy new year to your sun
Happy new year to your ears and to my words
Happy new year to all the blood that runs through the veins
And that, when it beats in time it says
Everything will be fine
Happy new year brother and don’t do anything stupid
The pains go away just as they arrived
I wish you love, tons of love
Buildings, neighborhoods, countries of love
Planets of love, universes of love
Instants, minutes, days of love
I wish you a year of love, my brother
The world’s love and God’s love
Want to learn holiday greetings in Italian? Check out our posts:
How to Say Happy New Year in Italian
How to Say Happy Valentine’s Day in Italian
La Festa della Donna – How Italy Celebrates International Women’s Day
Buon Ferragosto
How to Say Happy Thanksgiving in Italian
How to Say Merry Christmas in Italian
How to Wish Someone Happy Birthday in Italian
Happy New Year in Italian FAQ
Italians usually say “Buon Anno!” which means “Happy New Year!”
A generic way to wish someone Happy Holidays is to say “Buone Feste” or “Auguri.”
Buon Anno is pronounced bwohn AHN-noh. Make sure you stress the double ‘n’ – ano is ‘anus.’
