Italian brain rot is the latest meme craze sweeping TikTok—and leaving older generations baffled.
The meme features absurd AI-generated animals with goofy Italian-sounding names like Bombombini Gusini and Trippi Troppi. These creatures appear in videos with fast, nonsensical Italian-style narration made by AI. The trend is huge with Gen Alpha and younger Gen Z users but mystifies adults.
A UK teacher, Tim, discovered the meme when a student asked about his “favourite Italian brain rot animal.” Curious, he Googled the craze. His findings included creatures like Chimpanzini Bananini (a chimp-banana mashup), Bombardiro Crocodilo (crocodile-bomber hybrid), and Ballerina Cappuccina—a ballerina fused with a coffee cup. 
“So there’s Chimpanzini Bananini, which is a chimpanzee fused with a banana. Bombardiro Crocodilo, which is a crocodile fused with a bomber plane. There’s one who’s just a cappuccino with legs …”
Tim noted how the students obsessively discuss Italian brain rot, even in class. The meme boasts backstory, rivalries between characters, and songs. It’s a digital culture phenomenon that many adults find nearly impossible to follow.
The first hit was Tralalero Tralala, a sneaker-wearing shark with AI-created scrambled Italian speech on TikTok in January. More soon followed, spreading quickly. Don Caldwell, head of Know Your Meme, identifies similar viral creatures like Brr Brr Patapim, a proboscis monkey-tree hybrid on YouTube.
There’s also an Indonesian version of brain rot with bizarre AI voices and characters, such as Tung Tung Tung Sahur and Boneca Ambalabu. The memes aim to confuse rather than convey clear meaning.
“The audio is at least as important, if not more important than the imagery,” Don Caldwell said. “They’ll be doing it really over-the-top, like ‘Tra-la-le-ro! Tra-la-la-la!’ – it really goes for the whole Italian sound.”
Unlike edgy or offensive memes, brain rot is silly and lighthearted. Caldwell says Italians have embraced it. The meme’s simplicity and quick AI tools like ChatGPT make producing content easy—even for kids.
“You don’t need to have tons of video editing ability, or even to use your own voice,” Caldwell said. “This is a non-threatening use of AI, not one that induces feelings of either doom or being replaced.”
This wave follows 2023’s skibidi toilet meme, another surreal hit among young users. Tim uses Italian brain rot references in classroom quizzes to keep his students engaged.
“My favourite is Blueberrinni Octopussini,” Tim said. “An octopus fused with a blueberry.”
Italian brain rot signals a shift in digital culture: AI-aided, playful, and utterly baffling to many adults—but a key expression of Gen Alpha’s online world.
