An Italian Verb, a Mishima Novel, a Roman Short Film, and the Culture of "Amusing Oneself"
Trastullami
Trastullarsi · Trastulli di animali · Trastwest · La morte di Luigi Trastulli
Trastullami is the first-person plural imperative or the first-person singular present subjunctive of the Italian verb trastullarsi — "to amuse oneself, to play, to dally, to toy with." In everyday Italian it's literary, slightly archaic, and often used reflexively: ci trastulliamo = "we amuse ourselves."
But the root trastull- appears in three distinct cultural works that keep popping up in searches. Because "trastullami" isn't a brand or product, this article unpacks the verb itself, the three works, and how the idea of "amusing oneself" runs from postwar Japan to lockdown Rome to Italian oral history.
1961 · Novella
Trastulli di animali
Yukio Mishima's tale of lovers, a mute husband, and fatal play in Izu.
2021 · Short Film
Trastwest
Ivano De Matteo's surreal lockdown Rome where a duel erupts and vanishes.
1991 · Oral History
La morte di Luigi Trastulli
Alessandro Portelli's essay on memory, myth, and a steelworker's death.
The Verb — Trastullarsi
1.1 Etymology
Trastullarsi comes from trastullo, a toy or plaything, from Late Latin transductulum, "something to pass time." The reflexive -arsi makes it "to play oneself" — i.e., to amuse, entertain, or distract oneself.
— Conjugations
Infinitive
trastullarsi
Imperative
trastùllati / trastùllatevi
Subjunctive
che io mi trastulli
Present Indicative
mi trastullo, ti trastulli, si trastulla, ci trastulliamo, vi trastullate, si trastullano
Trastullami: "amuse me" or, in subjunctive, "that I may amuse myself."
1.2Usage and Tone
It's not street slang. Italians today would say divertirsi. Trastullarsi sounds literary, ironic, or old-fashioned. It can imply wasting time: Non ti trastullare, lavora! = "Don't dawdle, work!" It can also imply erotic dalliance, as in 18th-century poetry.
1.3Cultural Resonance
Because it means "play," the verb shows up in titles about idleness, eroticism, and the uneasy line between innocence and corruption — perfect for Mishima and De Matteo.
Yukio Mishima — Trastulli di animali (1961)
2.1 The Book
160 pages, Kindle edition. First published January 1, 1961.
2.2 Plot
In a seaside house surrounded by flowers, Yuko cares for her semiparalyzed, mute husband. Koji, a young, vigorous man, has just left prison after serving two years for severely injuring Yuko's husband — a man he had fallen hopelessly in love with. For several weeks, tension grows. The lovers seem in control, but they're obsessed by the husband's silent, resigned presence. They can't bear the suspicion that he watches them "like two animals who frolic, innocently happy."
Koji's monologue to the invalid precipitates a crime that seems to answer a secret desire for expiation and death. Set among beaches and pine forests of the Izu Peninsula, the erotic passion leading to ruin has an "aura of essentiality and fatality" compared to Greek tragedy.
Mishima wrote the powerful epilogue on New Year's night 1961 in Milan, after hearing Beethoven's Fidelio at La Scala.
2.3 Themes
Guilt and voyeurism
The disabled husband is a silent witness, making innocent play feel obscene.
Eros and destruction
Love leads "unreasonably to ruin."
Nature as stage
Izu's idyllic setting contrasts with moral collapse.
Ritual and atonement
The crime functions as sacrifice.
2.4Why "Trastulli"?
The lovers trastullarsi — they play, frolic — but the husband's gaze turns play into shame. Mishima uses the word to signal that innocence is impossible once observed. The title is ironic: what looks like animal play is deadly serious.
Ivano De Matteo — Trastwest (2021)
3.1 The Film
Screenplay, cinematography, editing, sound: Ivano De Matteo. Music: Giovannelly. Premiere: Venice Giornate degli Autori, Sept 10, 2021, Sala Laguna.
3.2 Synopsis
A surreal, almost Beckett-like portrait of Rome during COVID lockdown. A man leaves home with two bananas hidden in his pockets. Another does tai chi in deserted streets. A person in an animal pelt walks by an electric stroller pushed by an elegant elderly lady. A Roma woman, a card player, an acrobat, two odd lovers, nuns, harmonica players, barking dogs. Baristas peek from San Calisto bar. Everyone waits for a duel. Two duelers meet. One look, one shot, a siren. The square reverts to lockdown "as if nothing had ever happened."
3.3Why "Trastwest"?
A pun on "far west" and "trastullarsi." Rome becomes a ghost-town Western where people trastullarsi — play, perform, kill time — while waiting for violence that erupts and vanishes. The title suggests trivial play in a world where death is casual.
3.4Director Context
Ivano De Matteo: Villetta con ospiti (2020), La vita possibile (2016), I nostri ragazzi (2014), Gli equilibristi (2012). Known for social realism with surreal touches. Trastwest uses lockdown Rome as a stage for human absurdity.
Alessandro Portelli — "The Death of Luigi Trastulli"
4.1 The Essay
Title essay in Portelli's 1991 collection, translated to Czech in 2020. Subject: a 1949 incident in Terni, Italy, where police killed 21-year-old steelworker Luigi Trastulli during a protest.
4.2Oral History Method
Portelli interviews workers 30+ years later. They misremember: some say Trastulli died in an anti-NATO protest in 1953. Portelli argues these "errors" reveal deeper truths about class memory, myth-making, and how communities process trauma. Oral history isn't about facts but about meaning.
4.3Why "Trastulli" Here?
Luigi's surname happens to be Trastulli — "toys" or "play." The irony: a man named "play" dies violently in a labor conflict. Portelli uses the story to show how personal names and collective memory interact.
4.4Legacy
The book made oral history a respected method. It shows how "fleeting nature of historical truths" matters more than dates. Czech edition 2020 brought it to Central European scholars.
Other "Trastull-" Sightings
Vestirsi, spogliarsi, travestirsi – Italian book title meaning "Dressing, undressing, dressing up." Same reflexive pattern, not directly related but shows the cultural weight of vestirsi vs trastullarsi.
Carola fra i Trulli – Puglia home fragrance brand. "Trulli" are stone huts, not "trastulli." Phonetic confusion.
Tra questi colli ameni e belli – Baroque cantata by Conti. "Tra" not "trastullarsi," but search overlap.
The Psychology of Trastullarsi — Play, Guilt, and Surveillance
All three works share a structure:
Play begins
Lovers frolic, citizens wander Rome, workers protest.
A gaze intrudes
The mute husband, the siren, the police.
Play turns fatal
Murder, shot, state violence.
Trastullarsi implies innocence, but the observer makes it guilty. In 2026, we trastulliamo on TikTok, but the algorithm watches. The verb is ancient; the anxiety is current.
How to Use "Trastullarsi" Correctly
| Context | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Smettila di trastullarti col telefono! | Stop playing with your phone! |
| Literary | Si trastullavano con l'idea dell'amore eterno. | They toyed with the idea of eternal love. |
| Ironic | Il governo si trastulla mentre il paese brucia. | The government dallies while the country burns. |
| Erotic | I due amanti si trastullavano nel giardino. | The two lovers frolicked in the garden. |
Avoid in business email. Use divertirsi or giocare instead.
Reading List
Mishima, Yukio. Trastulli di animali / The Frolic of the Beasts (1961). For eros and guilt.
Portelli, Alessandro. The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories (1991). For oral history method.
De Matteo, Ivano. Trastwest (2021). 18 min, Venice. For lockdown absurdity.
Dizionario Treccani: Entry "trastullarsi" for grammar.
Frequently Asked Questions
20 answers about trastullami, trastullarsi, and the three works.
It's from trastullarsi, "to amuse oneself." Trastullami can mean "amuse me" or, in subjunctive, "that I may amuse myself." It's literary, not everyday speech.
Yes. 1961 novella. English title The Frolic of the Beasts. Plot: ex-con Koji, Yuko, and her mute husband in a deadly love triangle in Izu.
Ivano De Matteo's 2021 short film. Rome during lockdown: bizarre characters wait for a duel. After a shot, everything resets. It's a surreal "Western" about idle play before violence.
A 21-year-old steelworker killed by police in Terni, 1949. Alessandro Portelli's essay uses oral history to show how workers misremembered the event, revealing class memory.
No, but it's archaic and can imply wasting time or erotic play. Context matters. In poetry it's fine; in a work chat use divertirsi.
tra-stool-LAR-si. Stress on LAR. Double l is a "l" sound, not "y."
Divertirsi = to have fun, neutral. Trastullarsi = to toy, dally, often with implication of idleness or eroticism. More literary.
Yes, as The Frolic of the Beasts, in collections like Acts of Worship. Check New Directions or Vintage editions.
It screened at Venice Giornate degli Autori 2021. Check MUBI, festival platforms, or contact Utopia Film: ivano.dematteo@libero.it.
He wrote in a letter that Beethoven's opera about marital fidelity inspired him to finish the novella that night in Milan, New Year's 1961.
Among labor historians, yes. Portelli's essay made it a key example of how memory differs from archive. Not widely known outside academia.
You can, but they'll think you're poetic or joking. "Mi sto trastullando" = "I'm killing time." Better: "Mi sto divertendo."
Only by the word root. Mishima 1961, De Matteo 2021. Both use "play" that turns dark, but no direct link.
Psychological novella, tragedy, erotic literature. 160 pages. Themes: guilt, voyeurism, atonement.
18 minutes. Color. Italian with English subtitles at festivals.
No, but Terni labor unions commemorate him. Portelli's book is the main memorial.
That "innocent" play becomes sin under a witness. The mute husband's gaze turns eros into crime.
Rarely. It's more Renaissance/baroque. Modern Italian prefers giocare, divertirsi, perdere tempo.
Portelli, Alessandro. "The Death of Luigi Trastulli." In The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History. SUNY Press, 1991.
Trastullarsi — to play — is never neutral. When someone watches, play becomes performance, guilt, or politics. From Mishima's bedroom to De Matteo's piazza to Portelli's factory gate, amusement has consequences.
Conclusion: Don't Trastullarti Lightly
Whether you're reading Mishima, watching De Matteo, or studying Portelli, the verb trastullarsi warns you: play is observed. The moment you think you're alone, the husband, the siren, or history is watching.
That's why the word survives from baroque poetry to 2021 film. It names the unease at the heart of fun.
"Don't trastullarti lightly."