Do you ever use the word ‘grotesque’ when you see something gross?

And have you ever visited Santa’s grotto at Christmas time?

Two very different questions, you might think, but in fact they’re linked by a curious fact. So read on…

The word ‘grotto’ comes from Italy, and once meant a picturesque, nice-looking cave — the sort of place you might choose to have a picnic in.

The grottoes of ancient Rome, however, were deep, dark vaults beneath their buildings. When they were discovered by archaeologists, their walls were found to be covered with strange scenes of animal and human faces wearing terrifying, distorted expressions. This strange art was called pittura grottesca by the Italians — which meant ‘grotto art’. But the memory of those horrible faces stuck with them, and that’s why grottesca, or ‘grotesque’, came to mean something terrifying, disgusting, or — quite simply — WEIRD!

Oh, and the word ‘grotty’ comes from ‘grotesque’, too.

Did you know …

… that ‘graffiti’ is also Italian. It means ‘scratch’ or ‘scribbling’, and that too looks back to early pictures — this time scratched on to ancient walls in Pompeii and Rome.

It turns out that today’s graffiti artists have very cool ancestors!