A Glossary of Italian Terms in "Mario and the Magician"

Portrait of Thomas Mann taken
in 1929, the year "Mario and the Magician" was published,
and also the year Mann won the Nobel Prize for Literatute

The narrator of Thomas Mann's story "Mario and the Magician" recounts his vacation weeks with his family in the Italian seaside resort of Torre di Venere. Mann situates the reader in the setting by the use of a number of Italian words and expressions.  To assist you in reading the story, I have prepared a glossary of these Italian terms.  Page citations are from Great Conversations 6, published by the Great Books Foundation.

page
298: cornetti al burro: croissants with butter
301: Fuggièro: apparently a first name
303: rispondi almeno: answer at least
304: molto grave: very serious
305: illusionista: illusionist
305: prestidigitore: slight-of-hand man
306: frutta di mare: seafood
307: pronti: ready
307: cominciamo: we are starting
308: buona sera: good evening
309: paura: fear
309: bè: well
309: Ha sciolto la scilinguágnolo: "he has a glib tongue"
310: Questo linguista di belle speranze: "this hopeful linguist"
310: giovanotto: young man
310: donnaiuolo: lady killer
310: duce: leader (Benito Mussolini was know as "il Duce:)
311: parla benissimo: "he speaks beautifully"
311: simpatico: pleasant (said of a person)
311: non scherziamo: "we are not kidding around"
317: Lavora bene: "he works well"
321: cioccolata e biscotti: chocolate and biscuits
321: subito signorini: "at once, gentlemen"
321: anche se no vuole: even if he didn't want to
327: ragazzo mio: my boy
328: un tratto di malinconia: a bit of melancholy
329: nossignore: no sir!
330: poveretto: poor thing
331: carabinieri: police