the email will be in english but I think it would be polite to open the email with an italian greeting rather than "hello" - what do I use?

It depends a bit on who you are sending it to - a friend,a hotel,a travel agent etc?

it is to an apartment owner, we have already a few email exchanges that were friendly. So a somewhat casual greeting.

But also for my reference, what would be a slightly more formal approach, if, say, I am sending to say a tour agency who I have not had previous contact with, or something like that?

grazie

I use "salve" as a greeeting to most non-personal e-mails. It's neither too formal nor too unformal. you may also use "buongiorno", which is a bit more formal. Both work.

Or simply Ciao?

quote:

Originally posted by Alice Twain:
I use "salve" as a greeeting to most non-personal e-mails. It's neither too formal nor too unformal. you may also use "buongiorno", which is a bit more formal. Both work.

An Italian friend of mine uses salve for all his greetings. He has lived there all of his life and he is still not sure when to use buongiorno and when to switch to buona sera. He says it's a lot easier

quote:

Originally posted by spinnaker:
Or simply Ciao?

It's a bit too familiar to be used in a business context. Consider that in business mail ("e" or not) and phone calls even if you are on "tu" terms with the person you are dealing with, it's polite to always avoid the excessive familiarity of "ciao".