# Buca de Beppo



## ChefMaria

There is a restaurant near where I live and this is the name for it.  I think 'buca' means 'hole' and 'de' means 'of', but can't find what 'beppo' means...  can anyone help?  Thank you very much!  Mary.


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## mimitabby

we think it means something like Beppo's hole in the wall.
That's a good restaurant!
(you must live near me)
m


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## ChefMaria

Thanks so much!  Going by yours and Artrella's replies, I guess 'Beppo' is the last name of the owner, and it's his 'hole in the wall'....          Actually, I live in Cleveland, so I'm a 'little' ways away from you!    This is the first time I've been to this site.  I'll probably be visiting this a lot more because I'm going on a trip to Italy in March, and I'm just starting to teach myself Italian.    How did you get to know Italian, and have you visited there often?


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## mimitabby

no, Beppo is a nick name. it's a shortened first name.


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## DesertCat

There are a couple of Buca de Beppo's in Arizona too.  I don't think this is any kind of chain.  Just a common name.

Yes, learning Italian is definitely a long hard road.  You have to be highly motivated and disciplined.  If you are young and have a good memory it is easier.


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## PIPPI_RM

mimitabby said:
			
		

> to answer your other questions, I have been taking italian classes, i have hired tutors, i am teaching myself (by reading, writing letters) and coming here. It's a long hard road.
> 
> I THINK Beppo is short for Giuseppe, but i am not positive!


 
Positive!   (and so I learned another expression: cute!)

Usually short for Giuseppe is Peppe or Beppe, but also Beppo, although not so usual.

Bye 
Pippi


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## MadTomVane

I live in a suburb of Dallas, TX, and there's a also Buca di Beppo restaurant near here!  It's by the Stonebriar Centre mall in Frisco.  I just ate there last weekend with some friends.  The walls of the place are covered with all sorts of humorous pictures, and things like the "Italian who went to Malta" story.  I had been wondering what the name of the place meant.

And in case anyone's wondering, I am really interested in the language, which I had been studying off and on last year.  I didn't find it too hard, but that's probably because already knowing Spanish makes it a lot easier.  I had downloaded Italian translations of some computer games from a site called "Sitio Senza Nome" (the address is that name, all in one word, followed by a dot, then "it.")  I can usually play through such a game seemingly without noticing it's in a foreign language.  Of course, actually speaking is a whole other matter...


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## Silvia

Ok, at first I thought it was a restaurant owned by some Italian from the Veneto region (Venice area), but not anymore... there are too many with the same name.

Beppo è il vezzeggiativo di Giuseppe, ma solo in alcune zone (alcune parti della Lombardia, Veneto).

This is what I found out
The first Buca di Beppo ("Joe's Basement" - buca means basement and Beppo is slang for Joe) opened in a Minneapolis basement in 1993. It inspires an atmophere of sharing and social interaction, and is open only for dinner. It went public in April of 1999 and trades under BUCA.

I guess that guy, Joe, probably asked for a translation of Joe's basement into Italian, and that's what he got 

Personally, I would never translate it like that.


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## ChefMaria

Grazie to all who responded to my question!  Next time I go there I'm going to find out who 'Joe' is!


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## mimitabby

silviap said:
			
		

> Ok, at first I thought it was a restaurant owned by some Italian from the Veneto region (Venice area), but not anymore... there are too many with the same name.
> This is what I found out
> The first Buca di Beppo ("Joe's Basement" - buca means basement and Beppo is slang for Joe) opened in a Minneapolis basement in 1993. It inspires an atmophere of sharing and social interaction, and is open only for dinner. It went public in April of 1999 and trades under BUCA.



and the food they serve in OUR buca de beppo's is CALABRESE, not Venetian!
(how do you say Venetian in italian?)


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## 22caps

Yeah, definitely a chain.  I personally have eaten at Buca di Beppos in Atlanta and I know of one in the Santa Monica area and another in the Universal Cities/Hollywood area.


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## lsp

I was sure I had driven past a monstrously large restaurant by that name near the NJ/PA border and sure enough... they are a huge chain (self described: "Immigrant Southern Italian Dining") in more than half of the states.


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## ElaineG

Cavbaby said:


> Please translate "Buca di beppo"


 
As in the atrocious (so I've heard, I'd never eat in one) chain of "Italian family-style restaurants"?

Beppo is a name.  Buca means hole.

So the restaurant's name is Beppo's hole.

Appropriate.


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## Cavbaby

Thank you so much Elaine

                                 Cavbaby

                                  also a "Leo" born in Brooklyn


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## GiovanniO

Cavbaby said:


> plaese translate "Buca di beppo"


Ciao e benvenuto!
I have eaten there (it was fun, Elaine; especially if you can get the table in the kitchen).
The staff call it "Joe's basement"  (there are no windows).


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## rocamadour

Hi all! 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buca_di_Beppo (there's the translation of the name, too )


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## Cavbaby

Thank you so much for the very informative reply

                                                            Cavbaby


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## _forumuser_

Just a comment. Unlike buco, buca with a final a can mean cavity, grotto, lair. To me, and many others I would imagine, Buca di Xxx immediately brings back highschool memories of sorceresses, diviners, cyclops, and heroes in exile from our Italian lit classes. So whoever chose the name did a great job. On the quality of the food I can't say. Maybe I'll stop by on my next visit to Arizona.


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## ita-sta

Loose translation - Joe's basement!


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## Vince Curto

Hi whomever is still looking at this thread. I live in Gainesville, FL and noticed a little name, 'Buca di Beppo' in my local (GNV Sun) paper the other day and wondered if it could actually mean 'Joe's hole'. I've used the word translation part of this wonderful website often so I chased it down and have found this whole world of words and their usage nd meanings I've been looking for for years! I'll return here often but for now at least I have a good idea of whence comes this new restaurant here in Gainesville probably soon to open. Once it does I'll try it out and report back. Glad to be aboard. Ciao, members


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## Memimao

Welcome to the Forum!!

*Joe's Dive* is another possible interpretation.


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## Vince Curto

What a gas! You're in Italy? Thanks for the idea. 'Dive' never occurred to me. Not having seen any actual post to the effect, I will ask the people who open one here just what they've been told it means, and/or what they say it means, and report back but I can't say when that might be yet. Ciao!


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## MStraf

"Buca di Beppo" is now a chain, and their website says
_The first Buca di Beppo opened its doors in 1993 in the *basement *of a        Minneapolis apartment building._

Therefore I would go, as someone already suggested, with "Joe's Basement" (Dive sounds a little too gritty to me, and BdB is not even that cheap)


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## effeundici

_Buca _is quite a common name for restaurants in Florence which are located in rooms *below *the ground level. You enter the door and you have to walk some steps downwards.

"Image-google" _buca ristorante_ _firenze_ and you'll see some examples.

Of course you eat in rooms with no windows because you are in a_* buca *_


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## Blackman

"Buca" is a typical name for a restaurant, especially in* T*uscany. The word means literally "hole", but a restaurant called buca is normally situated in the basements of ancient buildings. When you step in, you feel like you diving into a hole, or a cove.


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## Vince Curto

Agreed. I recall that some years ago while food shopping I noticed a pasta I had not seen before called 'bucatelli'. Looks like spaghetti so I bought some. Turns out to be a rather thick spaghetti which has a hole thru each strand like a straw. Hence the 'hole' in this restaurant's name! By the way, I liked it very much, but less will do for a portion since each strand is so much thicker than even the thickest spaghetti. All this food talk is making me hungry! Time for supper. V


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## effeundici

Vince Curto said:


> Agreed. I recall that some years ago while food shopping I noticed a pasta I had not seen before called 'bucatelli'. Looks like spaghetti so I bought some. Turns out to be a rather thick spaghetti which has a hole thru each strand like a straw. Hence the 'hole' in this restaurant's name! By the way, I liked it very much, but less will do for a portion since each strand is so much thicker than even the thickest spaghetti. All this food talk is making me hungry! Time for supper. V


 
*Bucatini*

I think their name comes after _bucato _which means _pierced. _There's a difference between _buco _and _buca_


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## Vince Curto

You're right! Bucatini it is. The root is 'bucare', to pierce.  V


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## ILMarx

mimitabby said:


> and the food they serve in OUR buca de beppo's is CALABRESE, not Venetian!
> (how do you say Venetian in italian?)



I am from Veneto and I think _Beppo _is not only a part of North-Italian _koinè_ dialect (Piemonte-Lombardia-Triveneto), but it is also used in other parts of Italy. It might be a calabrese shortening of Giuseppe, because in Venetian dialect it is spelt _Bepo_ and not _Beppo _(and _Buco_ is spelt _Buso_). Since even most of my grandparents lived in a state of semi-literacy, I cannot assure you that an ancient immigrant could have known how to write down his name in plain Italian. 

*Venetian* is *Veneto* when someone or something is from Veneto (region). It is *Veneziano* when you speak of someone or something from Venice (Venezia).

Please, could you tell me what preposition is used?
- Buco de Beppo;
- Buco da Beppo;
- Buco di Beppo.

_Anyway_, la traduzione di Beppo con Joe è geniale!

Perché non *buco = pit*? Come in *Beppo's Pit / Joe's Pit*


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## rubuk

ILMarx said:


> ...
> Please, could you tell me what preposition is used?
> ...



Ciao ILMarx, ciao tutti. Se leggi bene il post n. 16 di Rocamadour lo trovi, è di Beppo.

St.


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## Memimao

There are many diminutives of Giuseppe.

Collodi's _Gepetto_ (Pinocchio) was another nickname for Giuseppe, as is Pinocchio itself (from Pino).

My brother-in-law from Campania region was called Peppiniello to friends around and about


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## Akire72

There are dozens of restaurants called Buca Something in downtown Florence. Buca is usually followed by the name or surname of the owner (see here). They are home-run restaurants around Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) and are located underground in what was before a cellar/basement.


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## donciccio

Vince Curto said:


> Hi whomever is still looking at this thread. I live in Gainesville, FL and noticed a little name, 'Buca di Beppo' in my local (GNV Sun) paper the other day and wondered if it could actually mean 'Joe's hole'. I've used the word translation part of this wonderful website often so I chased it down and have found this whole world of words and their usage nd meanings I've been looking for for years! I'll return here often but for now at least I have a good idea of whence comes this new restaurant here in Gainesville probably soon to open. Once it does I'll try it out and report back. Glad to be aboard. Ciao, members



La buca può essere semplicemente un ristorante sottoterraneo, una trattoria sottoterranea - in inglese anche: _hideaway_ oppure_ joint_, così "Joe's Hideaway" "Joe's Joint"


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## london calling

donciccio said:


> La buca può essere semplicemente un ristorante sottoterraneo, una trattoria sottoterranea - in inglese anche: _hideaway_ oppure_ joint_, così "Joe's Hideaway" "Joe's Joint"


The world-famous hotel and restaurant _La Buca di Bacco_ is not underground and I wouldn't call it a "joint" (it being a rather posh place), but _joint_ or _hideaway_ would certainly work well in other contexts.

PS memimao: my late husband, Giuseppe, was known as Pucci (which was short for Peppuccio).


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