Common Italian expression
| Literally | It always rains on what is wet |
| Meaning | Bad things happen to those who are already in trouble, or the rich get richer while the poor get poorer |
| IPA pronunciation | /ˈpjɔːve ˈsɛmpre sul baɲˈɲaːto/ |
Piove sempre sul bagnato
It never rains but it pours
Example
Chi è povero diventa ancora più povero. Piove sempre sul bagnato.
The poor always get poorer. It never rains, but it pours.
Where does this idiom come from?
If you already have enough of something, but you still get more, then what you get in excess is basically useless, just like water on an already wet field is. The people who could benefit from it will get nothing.
This proverb comes from a quote by the Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli who once wrote: Piove sul bagnato: lagrime su sangue, sangue su lagrime. Lagrime is an old way of slepping lacrime, tears, while sangue is the translation for blood.
Related lessons
- piovere (to rain)
- bagnato (wet)
- sempre (always)
- su (preposition)
- prepositions
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