[Argentinian soccer player Lionel] Messi is larger than life in Rosario, where a 226-foot fresco [ˈfɹɛskoʊ], the largest of many murals of the city’s favorite son, was painted on the side of a downtown apartment building.

fresco
noun [ˈfɹɛskoʊ]

Fresco refers to the art of painting on freshly spread moist lime plaster using water-based pigments. It is also the word for a painting executed in this style.

If the word fresco brings to mind images of eating an alfresco meal—that is, a meal eaten outside “in the fresh air”—your gut is on the right track: fresco is Italian for “fresh,” and the culinary usage is relatively common in English. | But what puts the “fresh” in the English fresco is not so appetizing.

English