Nel laboratorio creativo di Levante tra musica e ricordi
B2 Italian listening practice · Italian · Curated for upper-intermediate learners
What does “tana” mean in Italian?
Showing off her creative studio, the singer Levante calls it “la mia tana dove vengo a creare, a pensare, a isolarmi.” A tana is literally an animal’s den or burrow, but Italians use it affectionately for a personal retreat, the warm little hideaway where you go to think, create, or just disappear from the world.
The metaphor has a whole family: rintanarsi means “to hole up, to cocoon yourself away,” and in hide-and-seek a child shouts “tana!” on reaching base, like calling “home” or “found you.” So tana carries both safety and secrecy. A lovely, very Italian way to describe the room or corner that’s truly yours.
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this B2 Italian listening practice listening practice?
General Italian frequency
Spoken Italian frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s B2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · OpenSubtitles 2018 (HermitDave) (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸Describing a personal studio, office, or retreat
- ▸The verb rintanarsi (to hole up, to cocoon away)
- ▸In Italian hide-and-seek: shouting “tana liberi tutti!”
- ▸In interviews with artists about their creative space
- ▸Any time an Italian means “my little hideaway”