Le espressioni idiomatiche mitologiche sono un tallone d'Achille dei giovani?

Behind many Italian's idioms are hidden mythological figures and stories coming from Greek Mythology. Today, the so-called Gen Z seems to be more and more distant from a well-balanced knowledge of the classical world – partly because the study of epics is not deep enough during school term, partly because models and cultural references have changed. Have these idioms become opaque to them or are they still transparent? By means of a questionnaire to a sample of two High School classes of IIS Carlo Urbani (Roma), the aim of the present intervention is therefore to test the students' figurative competence regarding ten E.I. related to the classical universe. Based on their answers and hypotheses, this paper then reflects on the frequency of use and intelligibility of these E.I. and suggests different ways to approach young people to the epic while studying.