Hi all:

There have been a number of threads about Italian-English dictionaries, but they have all been oriented towards pocket dictionaries for travel or electronic dictionaries. I need a new really big, really comprehensive, academic dictionary. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I have a Harper Collins Robert for French that I love - it weighs about 7 lbs - I'm looking one for something like that for Italian. For years, I've used an old Garzanti and it's totally falling apart and I need a good source to help me with 18th-century poetic Italian, among other things.

David, this probably isn't good enough for you, but I have one of the Oxford Paravians. I can't check which one, as it is somewhere in storage with the rest of my books. I don't think it's the really big one, as I see that goes for well over $100 and I don't believe I spent that much.

Buona fortuna,....

I like the Sansoni for Italian-English and vice-versa. I have a 1997 Zingarelli which is just an italian dictionary. It is good but very large and is printed in a very compact format and uses a small font which can be hard to read - my eyesight's not that good!
I also have an excellent italian and very literary/academic one called Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana - edited by Bruno Migliorini.
A good 'pocket' two-way one is Rizzoli-Larousse 'Pronto per l'uso'.
They are all very useful-for different reasons and on different occasions. I think it's a very personal thing - what you like and don't like with dictionaries. Try and have a look before you buy. If I were you I'd get at least 2. Depends on funds available of course!
Hope this helps.

Thanks, Marian and Vasco. Marian, don't bother looking - that's ok.

What I'm looking for is definitely Italian-English - something quite detailed. It's ok if it's a large, heavy book - I'm going to keep it at home as a reference book. I'll check out Sansoni and see if Zingarelli publishes one as well. There are a couple of good foreign bookstores in Manhattan.

David, the Harper Collins Sansoni Unabridged Italian Dictionary-highly recommended. I bought it 4-5 years ago, on advise from this site, and never regretted it. About 2300 pages; requires two hand to pick up. It cost about USD60 then.

The Sansoni is available at Abebooks for under USD60, including shipping. The same and some more appear also on Amazon.

Thanks, Doru. That looks like the Italian counterpart to my Harper Collins Robert one for French - same format (which I really like), just about the same size, obviously same publisher. I'm gonna get it. Excellent!

We recommend to our students the Hoepli dictionary. It is excellent.

http://www.hoepli.it/dizionari.asp

Thanks, Gloria. Unless I'm mistaken, I think that's an online dictionary. If you look above, you'll see that I'm looking for a hard cover one that I can buy.

However, on the Hoepli website, they advertise the Zanichelli Ragazzini/Biagi, which I might take a look at.

slightly off topic but I've found that this is a good on-line dictionary
http://www.wordreference.com/enit

I second Doru's recommendation. I've used other dictionaries (both online and non) and always come back to the Sansoni. Mine is beginning to come loose on the spine but that is the result of living in an extremely dry climate.

Hi David, it's the online version of the paper dictionary. There is also a cd rom version.
At present this is the best dictionary.

Thanks, Gloria. I really want a dictionary in book form. I can't find the paper version on Hoepli's website. Can you?

It's here. Included with the 3000-page book version is a CD-ROM.

Thanks much.

Hi, sorry. I should have given you the link. I think you can buy it through the amazon as well.