How to Properly Pronounce Caciocavallo
Want to know how to pronounce Caciocavallo like an Italian? Caciocavallo as in Caciocavallo cheese is pronounced ca‧cio‧ca‧vàl‧lo. Just in case you need a little more help than a phonetic key (like I do!) here is a video of native Italian speakers pronouncing Caciocavallo.
Additionally, you’ll find tips to pronounce double letters words correctly in Italian.
Caciocavallo can be tricky for native English speakers to pronounce correctly on their first go because it contains both a C and a double L. Both of these are broken down in detail below.
Pronounce Caciocavallo Correctly
Caciocavallo is a lyrical cheese name. To demonstrate, listen to the way Caciocavallo is pronounced by the native Italians in the video below.
Can you believe Caciocavallo Podolico is one of Italy’s most expensive types of cheese?!
As with all Italian words, the trick to properly pronouncing Caciocavallo is to pronounce each and every letter paying special attention to the vowels.
Check out our post about how to properly pronounce Orecchiette for help with Italian vowels.
To pronounce Caciocavallo correctly, let’s start at the beginning with the proper C sound.
C/CHE/CHI in Italian Words
To a native English speaker, the ‘cio’ sounds more like ‘cheo’. Here’s one of my favorite Italian teachers Mano from Italy Made Easy to explain how to pronounce /c/ in Italian words.
This is the reason the second trickiest part of pronouncing Caciocavallo correctly is nailing the double L.
Here is a super quick explanation for why it’s important to note the double L in cavallo.
Pronouncing double letters in Italian correctly is critical because it can mean the difference between saying seven (sette) and thirst (sete) or year (anno) and anus (ano.)
Pronounce Caciocavallo Double LL
The trick to pronouncing Italian words with double letters correctly is to treat the end of the first letter as a pause. As always hearing is easier than reading when it comes to learning a language. So naturally, I’ve included a video explaining how double letters are pronounced in Italian.
Want to practice those double letters? Without doubt the proper pronunciation of Cicchetti a food Venice is famous for, and gnocchi pronunciations will help!
In case this is your first time stumbling across Caciocavallo, here’s a little video to help you understand what Caciocavallo cheese is plus hear Caciocavallo being pronounced properly.
What is Caciocavallo Cheese?
In Italian ‘cacio’ means cheese and ‘cavallo’ means horse. In other words, Caciocavallo literally translates into ‘cheese on horseback.’
Curious why it’s so expensive and if it’s worth it? Find out what makes Caciocavallo Podolico one of the 10 most expensive cheese in the world!
In brief, eating in Italy is an education. Take for instance how I learned to pronounce Caciocavallo from the cheese maker himself.
To illustrate, here is the story of the afternoon Paolo and I first stumbled on Caciocavallo Podolico in Vieste, Italy.
The two things I remember most about that day? First, how we feasted on Caciocavallo Podolico with bread, tomatoes, and local white wine. All the while not knowing we were eating the most expensive cheese in Italy! We simply knew it was delicious.
Second, was hearing Caciocavallo said over an over again at the cheese shop.
Quality ingredients with little to no preparation can yield a perfect meal. As a cheese lover, I couldn’t have found a better place to move to if I tried!
If you follow ALOR Italy (thank you!) you’ll know I’ve been sharing stories from my new Italian Alps life. Subscribe to join me for future tales from the Italian Alps and traveling Italy in search of all the Italian cheese I can try!
References:
Caciocavallo Cheese – Slow Food Guide
Language learning around food definitely makes it more fun 😋
It’s honestly the only way things have been sticking in my brain while learning Italian! Sending love from the Alps.
My maternal grandparents come from the Puglia region I enjoyed learning about that she’s coming from there the diet of the cattle and the entire process. And it was interesting to hear that certain words come from the dialect because it’s a very unique dialect and in my grandmothers generation no one from any other part of Italy could understand the people from the Puglia region!
Hello Dolores! Yes it’s very true the dialects in Italy are so strong they can be different languages at time. Paolo being born and raised in Italy can struggle in many parts of Italy if a dialect is being spoken. It’s been highly enjoyable for me to dig into the language through food!
I love your posts where it’s clear you are both having fun and learning the little things about Italian! It’s clear you are falling in love with the language!
In some ways I adore Italian over English. Far easier to spell for one. It’s more lyrical and often more logical. There are also far faster ways to say things like in English “let’s have dinner shall we?! In Italian “Mangiamo?!”
Seems true for a lot of languages and that’s the magic of them!