Italian brainrot has taken over my Instagram feed

Italian brainrot is the latest trend to hit users' TikTok and Instagram feeds, fueling the addictive cycle of doom-scrolling.

Like most people, the first thing I do when I open my eyes is to check my phone. Lo and behold, my boyfriend has sent me four Instagram videos. They’re all Italian brainrot.

“Bombardino Crocodilo,” screams the artificially generated voice in Italian. I almost recoil as I’m bombarded with, albeit hilarious, videos of AI-generated slop.

@jayjoe030z bombardino crocodilo #bombardino #crocodilo #ai #crocodile #character ♬ Bombardiro Crocodiro RB - ReisonBS

Is it the robotic voice speaking Italian that makes it so funny, or is it the amalgamation of different memes coming into play that makes this iteration of brainrot so addictive?

@alexey_pigeon Blueberrinni Octopussini #ai #memer #brainrot #tripitropitropatripa #trulimerotrulichina #skibidi #tralalerotralala #blueberrinnioctopussini ♬ оригинальный звук - alexey_pigeon

It’s difficult to pinpoint just why this meme has gone viral, but top brands like Budget Airlines, Ryanair, and the language learning app Duolingo are replicating the meme.

@duolingodeutschland Neue Italienisch Lektion freigeschalten! 🤓☝️ #duolingo #italian #brainrot #trippitroppi #lektion ♬ original sound - 7AJ🎧

Where Italian brainrot started

The supposed original Italian brainrot meme, “Trarelelo tralala,” shows an AI-generated image of a great white shark wearing Nike shoes, surfaced on TikTok in January 2025, according to the website Know Your Meme.

The AI image also includes artificially generated audio, which is what gives the Italian narrator its robotic tone.

@venstli09 Трала Лейла тра ла ла🦈#рекомендации #топ #говрек #акула #тралалейлотаралала ♬ оригинальный звук - Venstli09

The meme archive site claims that the originator of the Trarelelo tralala” meme had their account deleted, and the original video was lost.

Meme lore

It’s evident that the Italian brainrot trend didn’t come out of thin air, as the viral memes reference different aspects of meme culture.

For example, “Bobrinni Cococossini” directly references the Polish memes floating around TikTok and Instagram. These memes depict Polish citizens’ reactions to beavers, or “bobers.”

However, Italian brainrot lore has seemingly been birthed by German brainrot, a similar type of content that uses supposed AI-generated images, animations, and audio to depict random situations.

GERMAN PIGEON BRAINROT💔 https://t.co/pW4vIyExkP pic.twitter.com/uVqSWqKNSe

undefined donny🔪🦕 (@whokilleddonny) March 18, 2025

The aim of the game with brainrot is randomness.

According to Know Your Meme, German brainrot went viral on TikTok in 2024, and that’s seemingly where Italian brainrot stems from.

People on platforms like X and YouTube have created tier lists to rank their favorite Italian brainrot characters, which adds another layer of nonsense to the whole trend.

italian brainrot tier list:

who are you picking? pic.twitter.com/nnggGdYsuj

undefined Jeets (idrawline/intrn) (@ieatjeets) March 22, 2025

What is brainrot?

Brainrot is “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”

It’s essentially content that “rots the brain” by being arbitrary nonsense that stimulates the brain in some way.

Quick dopamine hits are what brainrotters crave, and viral trends are what Gen Z and Alpha are constantly chasing.

Hence the creation of Italian and German brainrot, a phenomenon that can’t be easily explained but can be mindlessly enjoyed.