Italian brainrot is a series of surrealist Internet memes that emerged in early 2025 characterized by absurd images of AI-generated creatures who are given pseudo-Italian names. [1] [2] The phenomenon quickly spread across social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, owing to its combination of synthesized "Italian" voiceovers, grotesque and/or humorous visuals, abstractism, and nonsensical narrative. [2] [3]
Italian brainrot is characterized by absurd images or videos created by generative artificial intelligence. It typically features hybrids of animals with everyday objects, food, and weapons. [4] They are given Italianized names or use stereotypical cultural markers and are accompanied by AI-generated audio of an Italian man's narration, which is often nonsensical. [5] The names of these characters often have Italian suffixes, such as -ini or -ello . [6] These characters combine elements of surrealism, visual anxiety (uncanny valley) and internet irony, reflecting the post-ironic humor of Generation Z. [3]
The term brain rot was Oxford's Word of the Year in 2024, and refers to the deteriorating effect on one's mental state when overconsuming "trivial or unchallenging content" online. It can also to refer to the content itself. [7] Online users often use this label to acknowledge the ridiculousness of Italian brainrot, while recognising the growing amount of AI slop present online. [5] Fans have created various stories featuring characters from Italian brainrot, [5] [8] forming a type of "Internet folklore" with overly dramatic storylines and voices. [9]
In October 2023, Internet users created various Italian memes about American actor and wrestler Dwayne Johnson in which he rhymes about absurd topics. In one video, Johnson would use the nonsense word "Tralalero tralala", and would later rhyme it with "smerdo pure nell'aldilà" ("I shit even in the afterlife"). The phrase would later be used to create the basis of Italian brainrot. [10]
Although the exact origin of Italian brainrot is hard to pinpoint, the character Tralalero Tralala is widely considered to be the first example of the trend. [5] [11] The creation of the character is often attributed to the TikTok user @eZburger401, who reportedly posted a video featuring the character in January 2025. The user was banned after posting, potentially due to its accompanying audio containing profanity and blasphemy against the Abrahamic God in Italian. [12] [13] Later, user @elchino1246 would post a video using Tralalero Tralala's audio, accompanied with an image of a shark mixed with a pigeon. [11] Lastly, on 13 January 2025, user @amoamimandy.1a would create a now deleted post using the audio, instead using an AI-generated image of a shark with shoes. This video gained 7 million views. [12] Alternatively, American website Vulture claimed that TikTok user @burgermerda created the audio in September 2024, and that @eZburger401 was merely a re-uploader. [10]
Italian brainrot features various AI-generated characters. Several characters are hybrids, often combining animals with everyday objects and various fruits. [4] Other characters are combinations of pre-existing ones, resulting in excessively long names. [14]
The first viral character of the genre was Tralalero Tralala, a three-"legged" shark in Nike sneakers. [5] [15] Tralalero Tralala is described as athletic, being able to run at superhuman speeds and having high jump lengths. [16]
Bombardiro Crocodilo is a hybrid creature with the head of a crocodile and the body of a World War II-era twin-engine bomber. [1] [5] [17] Closely related to it is a goose with fighter jet wings named Bombombini Gusini. [6]
Tung Tung Tung Sahur is an anthropomorphic wood plank who holds a baseball bat. [18] [19] Although considered part of Italian brainrot, it has Indonesian origin. [15] The "Tung Tung Tung" in its name is onomatopoeia of how Indonesians traditionally beat bedug drums to commence suhur , the pre-dawn meal that Muslims eat before fasting during Ramadan. [19] The word tung also means "rumbling" in Sundanese. [20] @noxaasht originally made the character in February 2025, and it has become its own meme outside the context of Italian brainrot. [21] [22] In May 2025, Indonesian production house Dee Company expressed interest in making a film based on it. [23]
Ballerina Cappuccina (or Cappuccina Ballerina) is a female ballerina wearing a tutu and pointe shoes with a cappuccino mug as a head. The original meme featured her pirouetting gracefully. She is married to a ninja named Cappuccino Assassino, [15] who kidnapped her prior to their marriage, and also has a sister named Espressona Signora. [24]
The likenesses of some Italian brainrot characters have been used to sell toys and NFTs, [10] as well as being the centerpiece of the popular Roblox game Steal a Brainrot. [27] Italian brainrot also inspired a variety of volatile meme coins, such as "Italianrot", which was launched in March 2025. [28] [29] Italian brainrot gained notoriety in many regions such as the United States, South Korea, and Germany. [13] Various brands have replicated the memes for use in marketing content on social media. [8] [13] Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán released a TikTok video where a 3D model of Tung Tung Tung Sahur is seen dancing in a government meeting. [20] In Italy, several newsstands began selling "Skifidol Italian Brainrot Trading Card Games", inspired by the memes and commercialized for a younger audience. [30] The release led to a noticeable rise in Gen Alpha consumers, with L'Espresso comparing the surge to the popularity of Garbage Pail Kids cards during their Italian debut. [31]
Polish radio channel Polskie Radio noted that the meme is popular among Generation Alpha "because it's stupid, funny and veeeery [ sic ] addictive". [26] Polskie Radio highlighted how the meme has been adapted into other media, such as Roblox games, musical remixes, and quizzes. [26] Radio France Internationale would call the usage of pseudo-Italian names amongst characters "a bit problematic". [32] Daily German newspaper Die Tageszeitung called Italian brainrot a "creative approach to technology, language, and pop culture". [33]
Tralalero Tralala and Bombardiro Crocodilo memes have been accused of being Islamophobic, as lyrics of Tralalero Tralala videos mock Allah in Italian, [a] although some Italian users have pointed out that blasphemy is often used as a filler word in Italian, and that the videos had no Islamophobic intent. [35] On the other hand, Bombardiro Crocodilo has been criticized for making light of the Gaza genocide, since some videos using his Italian narration describe the character bombing children in Gaza and the rest of Palestine. [5] [35] This has caused concerns regarding topics such as casual cruelty and desensitization. [9] The full narration of Bombardiro is as follows:
