I used to do this spelling thing on the first lesson of “business italian course”… the fastest you are able to do it, the more professional you look…:-)
In Italian, we spell words by equating or matching each letter to an Italian city, except for the letters H, Q, and the letters derived from foreign words (J,K,W,X,Y).
- A come Ancona
- B come Bologna (o Bari)
- C come Como
- D come Domodossola
- E come Empoli
- F come Firenze
- G come Genova
- H come hotel
- I come Imola
- L come Livorno
- M come Milano
- N come Napoli
- O come Otranto
- P come Pisa (o Palermo)
- Q come quadro
- R come Roma
- S come Savona
- T come Torino
- U come Udine
- V come Venezia
- Z come Zurigo
and the letters derived from foreign origin:
- J i lunga
- K cappa
- W doppia vu
- X ics
- Y ipsilon
For example my name is Harry Potter I will spell it like:
Hotel Ancona Roma Roma Ipsilon
Palermo Otranto Torino Torino Empoli Roma
For additional info here’s a video I like to share:
Italian in Italy's Blog 