The expression “carlona” it is a pillar of everyday speech, which indicates the carrying out of an activity in an approximate and coarse, or hasty way. It is used throughout Italy and, in particular, in Lombardy. Behind this apparently simple expression lies a thousand-year history that intertwines the figure ofEmperor Charlemagnehanded down as clumsy and a little crude, the satirical literature of the sixteenth century and many popular curiosities.
The origins of the saying: Emperor Charlemagne
When we say that we have done a “bad job”, we are unknowingly quoting a ruler who was pivotal in the history of the Middle Ages: Charlemagnewhich it was Holy Roman Emperor in the 8th century. The etymology of this word, in fact, takes us back to ancient French and its grammar. At the time, in oil tongue the names were declined in two cases: the straight case for the subject (in the case of the emperor it was Charles) and the oblique case for all the other logical functions of the sentence, such as complements, which took the Charlon form. From this linguistic basis the word “Carlone“.
But how is it possible that the founder of the Holy Roman Empire, a brilliant and powerful leader, passed to symbolize sloppiness and approximation? The fault of this semantic transition, if we can speak of fault, is to be attributed to literature. In the late epic-chivalrous poems and in songs of deedsthe historical figure of the emperor was caricaturized and underwent a popular transformation: King Carlone became a character good-naturedsimple, frugal and at times even naive And clumsywho blindly relied on his champions to make decisions.
This literary image is accompanied by a curious anecdote handed down by tradition, when one day Charlemagne invited the French nobility to court for a hunting trip. While the guests presented themselves lavishly dressed by great tailors, the emperor welcomed them dressed in coarse clothessimilar to those of a farmer. From that episode, “dressing in a formal way” began to indicate a way of acting devoid of care and elegance.
The saying through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
In the fifteenth century the expression began to circulate in written texts to indicate something done “in abundance” in a manner careless and neglectedwith reference to the proverbial and legendary carelessness of King Carlone.
But the moment in which this expression went from a simple popular way of saying to a real entry in the linguistic register occurred about halfway through Five hundredthanks to Pietro Nellia Sienese author. Hidden behind the pseudonym of Andrea da Bergamo, Nelli published a work in 1546 entitled “The Satires in style”.
We are in the midst of satirical-burlesque poetrya genre that opposed the rigid, artificial and repetitive perfection of Petrarchan poetry (the so-called “Petrarchism”) which dominated the courts of the time. In this literary context, writing “alla carlona” became a precise stylistic choice of those who adopted a “low style“, humble, simple and close to speech. Pietro Nelli in his lyrics defined himself as a “big man” (a man simple) and described his verses as “ramshackle verses”. Naturally, this crudeness was a very refined literary fiction, where pretending to write “in the simple way” was a way of proposing an apparently spontaneous and vital poem, free from the prison of formal grammar.
What does “doing things the Carlona way” mean today
As the centuries passed, the expression progressively detached itself from the historical and literary figure of Charlemagne, losing its ancient connection with the emperor to take on a more general meaning. Nowadays, “doing things the hard way” means universally an action done quicklywithout method, in a manner superficial And messy.
But it is not the only popular expression that can be used to enrich a speech given that the Italian language offers a large range of synonyms depending on the nuances we want to give to our sentence. Just a few examples: you can say “as best as possible” when we do something with the means available, but with little accuracy, or even “roughly” with sometimes positive connotations. In more refined terms it can be used “in bulk” to underline the chaos, or even “at random”, to highlight the absence of logical criterion.
In the fast-paced modern landscape that is obsessed with impeccable efficiency, doing things “the way it is” probably gets more value and brings to mind the human nature of imperfect beingseven if you are a great emperor of Europe.
