Arrangiarsi

The Italian verb arrangiarsi is reflexive, literally meaning "to arrange oneself." In practice, it describes the ability to get by, to improvise a solution from whatever materials happen to be available, to navigate a bureaucracy or a shortage through resourcefulness rather than formal channels.1

The root traces to the French arranger, meaning to put in order, which Italian absorbed and adapted.2 The reflexive form shifted the meaning from organizing external things to organizing oneself in relation to circumstances. When Italians say mi arrangio, they mean something closer to "I manage" or "I figure it out" than to "I arrange."

The phrase l'arte di arrangiarsi, the art of getting by, became associated with Italy's post-World War II recovery, when communities rebuilt their lives with scarce resources.3 Luigi Zampa directed a 1954 film titled L'Arte di Arrangiarsi, starring Alberto Sordi as a Sicilian who adapts himself to every changing regime across decades of Italian political history.4

The concept carries an ambivalence that other languages struggle to translate. It can describe admirable resilience or a willingness to cut corners. A Neapolitan street vendor improvising a living and a bureaucrat bypassing regulations are both practicing arrangiarsi.

Southern Italy, with its long history of unstable governance and informal economies, is often cited as the heartland of the concept. Naples, in particular, is described as a city where arrangiarsi is less a skill than a way of life.5 The related concept of Blat in Russian culture served a parallel function under different political constraints, enabling survival through informal networks rather than formal systems.

No single English word captures the full range. "Resourcefulness" is too clean. "Hustling" is too aggressive. "Making do" is too passive. The gap in translation is itself evidence that the concept belongs to a specific cultural relationship between individuals and the systems they must navigate.6