Check-in in un hotel: cosa dire

What does “accappatoio” mean in Italian?

At check-in, the receptionist offers Sara l’accappatoio — a bathrobe — for the hotel spa. The word builds on cappa, an old word for a hooded cloak that once covered a person head to toe; accappatoio is literally “the thing that wraps you in a cloak,” which is exactly what a bathrobe still does after a shower or a swim.

The cappa root shows up elsewhere too: a cappotto is a heavy overcoat, and a cappello is a hat — all descendants of the same idea of covering the head or body. Spotting cappa inside a longer word is often a fast way to guess that it has something to do with clothing or covering.