Whatever that means

We received a reporter’s notebook from the friendly folks at McDonald’s in our media kit. It included some Italian-English translations for some helpful expressions here.

Thank you — Grazie
What time is it? — Che ore sono?
Where are you from? — Di dove sei?

And the all-important — Where is the nearest McDonald’s? — Dove e il McDonald’s piu vicino?

It also said that ciao means hello. That one confused me.

Whenever Italians greet each other in the morning, they say buongiorno. In the afternoon it’s buona sera. Whenever they answer the phone, it’s pronto. But it’s never ciao.

They say ciao when they’re leaving.

Maybe ciao is like aloha in Hawaiian where it can mean hello, goodbye, or practically anything you want depending on the context.

Perhaps it even means hamburger?