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Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "presto" in Italian?
PRESS-toh, with an open "e" as in "guess," not the reduced vowel of the borrowed English word. In IPA: /ˈprɛs.to/. Both syllables are fully pronounced, front to back.
Two syllables, pres and to, both fully weighted. The consonant cluster "pr" at the start is pronounced as one quick unit, the p and tapped r sliding together, the same cluster as in English "press."
Listen: presto
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Sound it out
The spelling is fully regular here — the main adjustment is holding the open "e" clearly and not letting the final "o" reduce the way an unstressed vowel might in English.
Hear it in a sentence
Domani mi alzo presto.
Tomorrow I'm getting up early.
Listen: Domani mi alzo presto.
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"Mi alzo" is the reflexive form of "alzare" (to raise), used here specifically for getting oneself up out of bed — Italian marks that the action is done to oneself with "mi," where English just uses the plain verb "get up" without a reflexive pronoun. As with the earlier "fuori" example, the present tense "alzo" covers a planned future action, thanks to "domani" doing the work of placing it in time.
"Presto" closes the sentence describing how early the getting-up happens — as a time adverb here, it answers "how early," distinct from its other common sense of "soon," which describes when something happens rather than at what hour.
Where English speakers slip
English has actually borrowed this exact word, both in music (a "presto" tempo marking) and in stage magic ("presto!"), and in both borrowed uses it's pronounced with an American-style r and a reduced, closed vowel on the first syllable. That borrowed pronunciation bleeds back into the Italian word, but Italian "presto" needs the open "ɛ" of "guess" and a tapped, not retroflex, r.
The borrowed meaning also causes confusion: English "presto" implies suddenness or speed, so learners sometimes assume Italian "presto" always means "quickly." Here it means "early," describing a time on the clock rather than a speed.