We still use the term graffiti for modern-day scratchings on subway cars, buildings, etc. The tragic death of Princess Diana brought the term paparazzi to headlines all over the world. This word is fairly new. It came from the 1960 Fellini film, La Dolce Vita, and the film's character photographer-companion of Marcello Mastroianni. The character was based on a real-life street photographer named Tazio Secchiaroli who helped Fellini with his research for the movie.
Some mystery surrounds the English word fiasco.
I'm sure I once heard that a shipload of bad chianti poisoned foreign buyers, and so the term came to mean a disaster in English. But when I tried to verify the story for this article, I couldn't locate it. I did find another explanation, which said that the word came from Venetian glassblowers. English threat to Italiano . Used under License.