Vola da Londra a Milano per una pizza più economica

Condizionale passato
Past conditional

“rispetto a quanto avrebbe pagato per una pizza media da Domino’s”
(compared to what he would have paid for a medium pizza from Domino’s)

In the sentence above, the past conditional “avrebbe pagato” is used to express a hypothetical scenario in the past.

In Italian, the past conditional can be used together with the past perfect subjunctive to express a hypothetical situation in the past that did not occur, but that could have occurred if certain conditions had been met: this construction is called “periodo ipotetico dell’impossibilità” (conditional period of impossibility).

So, if we were to rephrase the sentence using this construction, it could be written as: “…rispetto a quanto avrebbe pagato per una pizza media da Domino’s a Londra se l’avesse ordinata“ (…compared to what he would have paid for a medium pizza from Domino’s in London if he had ordered it).

Here are some more examples:

• Se avessi saputo che venivi, ti avrei aspettato alla stazione. (If I had known you were coming, I would have waited for you at the station.)
• Se avessi avuto più tempo, sarei andato in vacanza. (If I had had more time, I would have gone on vacation.)
• Se avessi studiato di più, avresti superato l’esame. (If you had studied more, you would have passed the exam.)