Rallenta!

Rallenta, the sign says. I decide to look it up. What’s the English translation of rallenta from the Italian?

There are hundreds of websites promising to translate rallenta for me when I do a Google search, but none of them willing to reveal the answer before I’ve consumed their advertising. Here’s the answer I get:

rallenta

1. inflection of rallentare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

I may have studied grammar at grammar school but I’m none the wiser. Maybe I’m just a bit slow?

I know ‘zone’ is zone, ‘attraversamento’ must mean crossing, as in traverse, ‘fauna’ means animals and ‘selvatica’ means forest. I’m in a game of Animal Crossing. What’s rallenta, though?

Here’s what the sign says:

It is not the animals that cross the road, it is the road that crosses the woods. Safeguard Nature and your own safety!

As for rallenta, I suspect it’s got the same root as relent, and it means slow down!

It’s a sentiment I hope we can all agree on.