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Crescent is a common adjective used to indicate a street or terrace of houses forming an arc.enter image description here

What is the most appropriate way to call or describe this kind of road in Italian?

Charo
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    I believe that, since such a street is not typical of Italian cities, there is not a specific name for it, just like there is not an original English word for pizza, but I may well be wrong. – DaG Apr 23 '15 at 10:08
  • That may well be the case, nonetheless there must be an appropriate Italian word or phrase to refer to a crescent road. –  Apr 23 '15 at 10:14
  • I hope there is such a term or phrase, but my personal hunch is that there is no much better than a periphrasis explaining what we are talking about (like the one you used, or the “fila di case disposte etc.” in one of the answers). – DaG Apr 23 '15 at 14:06

2 Answers2

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According to this source,

Strada a mezzaluna

I've never heard of it. It's not a common expression at all, although these streets exist.

Another possibility is a locuzione with "arco" or "semicerchio":

La strada fa/disegna un arco

Fila di case disposte su una strada a semicerchio

If it is bent like a horseshoe:

Ferro di cavallo

In particular, a "hairpin" on a mountain road:

Tornante

Community
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laureapresa
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  • I did not feel like working, so I added way too many links. – laureapresa Apr 23 '15 at 10:47
  • Interesting post, though ferro di cavallo is probably too much for a crescent :) –  Apr 23 '15 at 10:52
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    @Josh61 Since the topic was somewhat limited (and I am waiting for lunchtime), I took the liberty of expanding it :) – laureapresa Apr 23 '15 at 10:56
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    Well, a crescent is a street designed in that shape; the streets you mention have been so for a “massive” constraint. ;-) There's another very similar example at Lucca – egreg Apr 23 '15 at 13:40
  • A Google search for "strada a mezzaluna" gives me just a few hits, including this question and a couple of quotations from Italian translations of English texts. – egreg Apr 24 '15 at 13:33
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There's a street near to my home, this one: enter image description here

and we call it "Virgolone", which means "big comma", but I don't know if it's a local name or it's used for this kind of street...

Matte.Car
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