Survival Words:
Grazie and
Arrivederci, or even better combined as
Arrivederci e grazie. However badly you pronounce it, those on Murano will love and appreciate it — because you have made the effort.
Ananas - not banana as you would, quite reasonably, figure out, but pineapple. The only food expression we found that you couldn't work out for yourself.
Cautionary note:
Italians call their wonderful tomatoes love apples, and a very appropriate expression it is too. I don't think they have a name for our flavourless version, bred solely for shelf life and all-ripening-at-the-same-time-ability, and if they did, it would probably be the Italian for "disgusting red things sold by Tesco". Ladies, a warning. When an Italian restauranteur says love apple to you, he can apply so much sexual inuendo to it that your heart will flutter and your knees tremble (I am told!).
Bernard C.