20 March 2013

A Charming Vintage Guide To The Fine Art Of Italian Hand Gestures





In 1958, legendary artist and graphic designer Bruno Munari published a fun, minimalist guide to the Italian way of talking with their hands.



The book, titled Speak Italian: The Fine Art of the Gesture, features sparse descriptive text, accompanied with elegant black-and-white photographs of hand gestures that convey both mundane activities and emotions.



Leaving out the well-known vulgar gestures, it is designed as a supplement to an Italian dictionary—this will definitely come in handy when one is traveling in Italy.



While many of the gestures documented in the book strike us as surprisingly familiar, some others—like the one for “theft”—remain refreshingly novel.



Scroll down for a preview of this quirky book—how many of these gestures can you understand?



This vintage guide to Italian non-verbal communication can be purchased over here.



















































[via Brainpickings]