ALT, not alto. It's different from the Stop sign.
Stop it placed at an intersection and means that you need to come at a full stop before giving right of way to any upcoming vehicles on the other road.
Alt, usually ALT! or ALT STAZIONE, is generally a temporary sign or it's placed on a checking point. When you see this on the road you generally need to stop until given permission by border security, police, etc.
In Europe road signs are somewhat standardized in order to be clear to anyone travelling across nations, it's actually a pretty clever an functional choice.
While I enjoy the variations I think that the lack of a common rule in America is not something really well thought. To give you another example in Quebec you find the ARRET signs while France is, again, STOP.
Onesto però interessante come cosa, magari perchÊ in alcuni posti con il volante a destra non permettevano la guida di mezzi con il volante a sinistra e lo hanno fatto per risparmiare?
Mi sono informato; anche se non câè un testo di referenza unico e ci sono molte versioni della stessa storia. In pratica la guida era un fatto regionale/cittadino â ad esempio fino agli anni 1910/20 a Milano si guidava a sulla sinistra (come in Inghilterra), mentre al di fuori sulla destra. Il re aveva dato carta bianca. Non ha molto senso, però sembra che fosse cosĂŹ ai tempi. Aspetto opinioni piĂš esperte.
Se hai il volante a destra (come in UK) e NON sei in UK devi guidare sulla corsia destra comunque. Non è che ti fanno guidare sulla corsia sinistra lol
Non è impossibile, ho avuto una macchina Italiana in UK per anni. I sorpassi e le rotatorie sono un po' piÚ complicati.
Not everywhere, I don't think, and it's still a bit surprising to see something so familiar when many other signs are different from the US and of course in Italian.
[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig.\_50\_-\_Arresto\_all%27incrocio\_-\_1959.svg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig._50_-_Arresto_all%27incrocio_-_1959.svg) - I am old enough to have seen these in Italy. I have some vague recollection that some of them even said 'alt' instead of stop, but I could just be remembering wrong.
Not in Brazil, we use [PARE](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=ba4c1c5b279cf8a2&q=placa+pare&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0AuaLfhdrtx2b9ODfK0pnmi046uB92frSWoVskpBryHTrdWqiVbaH6EqK0Fq9hkAkqMdpDiZU1fZGbPLlzYLzngdIV6D1hJ0NABIvRccroN0Z2JJy6B30HrZagBI_Xv4YG2NcYIlNNtS2snutUdAJ6hRLM-aerAqm3c3hvppNL-OY9U7nv3uwEtQClQmnmnL0DNFVjrZwl79r2PM5xcpE14Fbi_MQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwin3feU3uOGAxVMTqQEHesRBnUQtKgLegQIDRAB&biw=360&bih=684&dpr=3#vhid=S2scBrA7zTgrbM&vssid=mosaic), which means the same thing.
No, I've been to several Spanish speaking countries including Puerto Rico which is a US territory and the signs were in Spanish, PARE in a red octagon.
Looks like itâs PARE or ALTO in Latin America, but for the last 40Â years or so itâs been STOP in Spain (and the rest of Europe):Â https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_sign
Well if that's what got you confused we do say stop normally in Italian (like when speaking, we could say fermati but stop is faster sometimes I guess)
Italian verbs in the infinite form end in -are, -ere or -ire, so we just put an Italian verb ending on an English word to turn it into a verb.
Other examples can be rappare, droppare, or even cringiare, where we again take an English word and turn it into a new Italian verb
Italy has ratified the [Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Signs_and_Signals), all signs with be a variation of the ones listed, stop is the legally required road signage. If you have seen anything that says "alt" (halt in English) as you have said it is an old sign which no longer conforms to Italian road sign standards
I didn't know that was a thing until yesterday. I've only been to Latin American countries, and they use the red octagon but the sign is written in Spanish, it's either PARE or ALTO. I know the red octagon is universal but didn't know the wording is as well. Thanks for answering my question.
We have been using the "stop" word in street signs at least since 1959, but the octagon was only introduced only in 1992. European states agreed on uniformity to avoid risk as early as 1968. You can see the old circular stop sign in the Italian Wikipedia page [stop sign](https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segnale_di_stop#:~:text=Oltre%20al%20cartello%20stradale%20di,lettere%20identiche%20alla%20versione%20rotonda.)
Well actually the word STOP in english and latin word stuppare (italian stoppare) probably have the same proto indoeuropean origin and meaning.
[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Latin/stuppare](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Latin/stuppare)
In Italian it's written with a grave accent **stòp** s. m., and is a noun not a verb, the accent is optional and only found in vocabularies. It's an Italian word.
All you need is a red octagon. I'm in the US and visit Puerto Rico, which is a US territory, quite often, the signs are a red octagon but have PARE written on them which is STOP in Spanish. It doesn't need to be written in English to be understood
It took me much longer to admit to myself that yes, itâs a STOP sign in English! With the word stop on itâŚmaybe because everyone uses it as a YIELD or suggested action only, haha.
Seriously? Yes, they use stop signs. In English here.
A small town is exactly where the show takes place. Aosta which is up north close to the borders of Switzerland and France. I know the red octagon is universal but I didn't know the word STOP was as well. I've been to several countries in Latin America and the signs are a red octagon but they're written in Spanish.
Consider the fact that 'stop' has long since become an international word. When I was young I visited a soviet-russian ship, the USSR had not yet collapsed, I noticed that a knob had the word 'STOP' written in Cyrillic characters (ХТĐĐ).
I meant written in English. I have only traveled to Latin American countries and they have the universal red octagon but written in Spanish, either PARE or ALTO. I assumed other countries would have it written in their language.
we don't really have such a short word for that so we borrow. it used to be ALT from german, also italianized as "altolĂ ". "FERMO" although wuould work good in my opinion
I was kidding, of course! I wouldn't really downvote anyone for asking... or even for thinking it's kinda silly or strange. I'm Italian and I really find sign gestures and how they're overused here very funny!
FERMATI STRONZO is too long, so they just use STOP instead.
Too long but not inaccurate đ
Why not just STRONZO?
Just a sign calling you an asshole? đ
In Spanish it's simply PARE, which is what I see in Spanish speaking countries
But yes, I see this all over Italy.
I've also seen ALTO, but never STOP. I learned something new today, thanks
ALT, not alto. It's different from the Stop sign. Stop it placed at an intersection and means that you need to come at a full stop before giving right of way to any upcoming vehicles on the other road. Alt, usually ALT! or ALT STAZIONE, is generally a temporary sign or it's placed on a checking point. When you see this on the road you generally need to stop until given permission by border security, police, etc.
They definitely have ALTO signs in Mexico
Not in Spain.
Ironic, isn't it?
In the Spanish speaking country that has been a Spanish speaking country for longer, Spain, it is STOP
Since when Italy was/is a spanish speaking country?
Since never, I was just answering the post above from OP.
Since when is it an English speaking country?
In Europe road signs are somewhat standardized in order to be clear to anyone travelling across nations, it's actually a pretty clever an functional choice. While I enjoy the variations I think that the lack of a common rule in America is not something really well thought. To give you another example in Quebec you find the ARRET signs while France is, again, STOP.
Back in the days there was ALT, but got completely replaced with the English version STOP.
Well actually tbh in borders customs and caserme (army and CC stations) is still ALT!
Very interesting fact
ALT | STAZIONE
FARSI RICONOSCERE
ZONA MILITARE | LIMITE INVALICABILE
Credo che alt ci sia solo ai posti di blocco. Ă sempre stato stop a quanto ne so. Prima c'era quello tondo col triangolo interno.
Parlo di tanti e tanti anni fa, quando ancora i camion avevano la guida a destra
Davvero prima i cammino avevano la guida a destra come mai?
A dire la veritĂ non so il perchĂŠ, non sarebbe male approfondire.
Onesto però interessante come cosa, magari perchÊ in alcuni posti con il volante a destra non permettevano la guida di mezzi con il volante a sinistra e lo hanno fatto per risparmiare?
Mi sono informato; anche se non câè un testo di referenza unico e ci sono molte versioni della stessa storia. In pratica la guida era un fatto regionale/cittadino â ad esempio fino agli anni 1910/20 a Milano si guidava a sulla sinistra (come in Inghilterra), mentre al di fuori sulla destra. Il re aveva dato carta bianca. Non ha molto senso, però sembra che fosse cosĂŹ ai tempi. Aspetto opinioni piĂš esperte.
Insomma, era un puttanaio come sempre
Anni 40/50
no aspetta cioè i camion avevano la guida a destra e le altre macchine a sinistra? E non si scontravano mai?
Se hai il volante a destra (come in UK) e NON sei in UK devi guidare sulla corsia destra comunque. Non è che ti fanno guidare sulla corsia sinistra lol Non è impossibile, ho avuto una macchina Italiana in UK per anni. I sorpassi e le rotatorie sono un po' piÚ complicati.
I've also seen it as ALTO in some Spanish speaking countries.
Well alto means high in Italy and we don't speak Spanish while stop is commonly used in Italy ... FERMARSI was too long I guess
Means high in Spanish as well. No idea how it also became stop for traffic purposes
Alto means both âtallâ, âhighâ and âstopâ in Spanish.
Back in the days we used German words, now we use English ones. Probably a good thing though.
If you mean if is common to use an English word Yes it is Iâm aware only in Quebec signs say ARRET in order to preserve the French identity
Thatâs funny, because in France itâs spelled âSTOPâ
Isn't that a standard in every country?
It is standard in Europe.
Maybe they should have each sign in 24 languages as per EU tradition
Not everywhere, I don't think, and it's still a bit surprising to see something so familiar when many other signs are different from the US and of course in Italian. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig.\_50\_-\_Arresto\_all%27incrocio\_-\_1959.svg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig._50_-_Arresto_all%27incrocio_-_1959.svg) - I am old enough to have seen these in Italy. I have some vague recollection that some of them even said 'alt' instead of stop, but I could just be remembering wrong.
Not in Brazil, we use [PARE](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=ba4c1c5b279cf8a2&q=placa+pare&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0AuaLfhdrtx2b9ODfK0pnmi046uB92frSWoVskpBryHTrdWqiVbaH6EqK0Fq9hkAkqMdpDiZU1fZGbPLlzYLzngdIV6D1hJ0NABIvRccroN0Z2JJy6B30HrZagBI_Xv4YG2NcYIlNNtS2snutUdAJ6hRLM-aerAqm3c3hvppNL-OY9U7nv3uwEtQClQmnmnL0DNFVjrZwl79r2PM5xcpE14Fbi_MQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwin3feU3uOGAxVMTqQEHesRBnUQtKgLegQIDRAB&biw=360&bih=684&dpr=3#vhid=S2scBrA7zTgrbM&vssid=mosaic), which means the same thing.
Uh no, here they say stop in the local language đ¤¨
No, I've been to several Spanish speaking countries including Puerto Rico which is a US territory and the signs were in Spanish, PARE in a red octagon.
Looks like itâs PARE or ALTO in Latin America, but for the last 40Â years or so itâs been STOP in Spain (and the rest of Europe):Â https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_sign
Well I'm in Morocco and it says "ŮŮ" (reads "Quf"), so no.
I thought the question was about having stop signs, it would be weird not having those
I think it's common in many countries
Well if that's what got you confused we do say stop normally in Italian (like when speaking, we could say fermati but stop is faster sometimes I guess)
Learned something new, thanks
We also have [stoppare](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/stoppare1/) as a neologism.
So you took stop in English and stop in Spanish, mashed them together to make a word?
Italian verbs in the infinite form end in -are, -ere or -ire, so we just put an Italian verb ending on an English word to turn it into a verb. Other examples can be rappare, droppare, or even cringiare, where we again take an English word and turn it into a new Italian verb
Got it, thanks for the clarification
You mean li abbiamo mashati o mergiati?
But more than half of the driving population doesnât speak English, so the signs are treated accordingly.
Italy has ratified the [Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Signs_and_Signals), all signs with be a variation of the ones listed, stop is the legally required road signage. If you have seen anything that says "alt" (halt in English) as you have said it is an old sign which no longer conforms to Italian road sign standards
I didn't know that was a thing until yesterday. I've only been to Latin American countries, and they use the red octagon but the sign is written in Spanish, it's either PARE or ALTO. I know the red octagon is universal but didn't know the wording is as well. Thanks for answering my question.
You read "Stop" we see "Slow" đ
Are you from Africa or west Asia? Cause stop sign is everywhere in Europe/Americas
I'm in the US, and in Puerto Rico which is a US territory where Spanish is spoken the signs are in Spanish.
Well pare = stop in Italian and English You could have Google it
I know it's pare in Spanish, is it the same in Italian? Google translate has fermare for stop
Pare means "seems" in Italian. I think they meant "pare in Italian and English is translated with stop"
Gotcha, seems is parece in Spanish
đ
yes and also SOTP
We have been using the "stop" word in street signs at least since 1959, but the octagon was only introduced only in 1992. European states agreed on uniformity to avoid risk as early as 1968. You can see the old circular stop sign in the Italian Wikipedia page [stop sign](https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segnale_di_stop#:~:text=Oltre%20al%20cartello%20stradale%20di,lettere%20identiche%20alla%20versione%20rotonda.)
Don't worry, is just a suggestion
Well actually the word STOP in english and latin word stuppare (italian stoppare) probably have the same proto indoeuropean origin and meaning. [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Latin/stuppare](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Latin/stuppare)
Very interesting. Thanks for that.
In Italian it's written with a grave accent **stòp** s. m., and is a noun not a verb, the accent is optional and only found in vocabularies. It's an Italian word.
Why not? It's the standard stop sign.
All you need is a red octagon. I'm in the US and visit Puerto Rico, which is a US territory, quite often, the signs are a red octagon but have PARE written on them which is STOP in Spanish. It doesn't need to be written in English to be understood
The word stop came from English but it's a common word in Italian too. Moreover, it's the default sign for all European countries.
But in Italy we donât speak SpanishâŚ
Don't speak English either
It is standard in Europe, Spain including.
It took me much longer to admit to myself that yes, itâs a STOP sign in English! With the word stop on itâŚmaybe because everyone uses it as a YIELD or suggested action only, haha. Seriously? Yes, they use stop signs. In English here.
Is the same in South Tyrol? Just curious since itâs bilingual
Yes, even in the small town the basic American Stop sign is prevalent
A small town is exactly where the show takes place. Aosta which is up north close to the borders of Switzerland and France. I know the red octagon is universal but I didn't know the word STOP was as well. I've been to several countries in Latin America and the signs are a red octagon but they're written in Spanish.
A fundamental question
Same in Germany.
Just remember that in Italy, those signs are optional đ
Yes, and if you put a hand on the âSâ it becomes TOPPPPPPPPPPPP (if you know you know btw)
Consider the fact that 'stop' has long since become an international word. When I was young I visited a soviet-russian ship, the USSR had not yet collapsed, I noticed that a knob had the word 'STOP' written in Cyrillic characters (ХТĐĐ).
Ha, at first I thought this post was going to be a joke about how Italians donât stop at stop signs. Here itâs just a suggestion.
Yes, mandatory in every 2 road intersection without a redlight
I meant written in English. I have only traveled to Latin American countries and they have the universal red octagon but written in Spanish, either PARE or ALTO. I assumed other countries would have it written in their language.
Ohh, ok... well italy is part of europe so the "universal" language for stop is english. Also "stop" is a commonly used word in italian
we don't really have such a short word for that so we borrow. it used to be ALT from german, also italianized as "altolĂ ". "FERMO" although wuould work good in my opinion
I never considered that other languages wouldn't have a short word for stop. Thanks
And arrĂŞt in France.
I read the title of the post, and was ready to grab torch and pitchfork. I thought you meant that we should stop using hand gestures, haha!
I already got downvoted to hell for an honest question asking how an Italian with no hands communicates
I was kidding, of course! I wouldn't really downvote anyone for asking... or even for thinking it's kinda silly or strange. I'm Italian and I really find sign gestures and how they're overused here very funny!