Are there any "fake" Italian words used in English?

Solution 1:

False Italianisms in British and American English: A Meta-Lexicographic Analysis by Cristiano Furiassi has a list of selected false Italianisms. Lest there be any doubt about what it’s meant by false Italianisms, here it is in the autor’s own words:

False Italianisms – which most English speakers believe to be purely Italian – are created when genuine lexical borrowings from Italian are so reinterpreted by a recipient language, English in this case, that native speakers of Italian would not recognize them as part of their own lexical inventory and would neither understand nor use.

And here is a selection of the selection. Opening the list we have:

Alfresco

In English it means in the open air. To express the same idea in Italian you’d say all’aperto (in the open). Fresco is Italian for fresh (of fruit), recent (news), pleasantly cool, etc.

Confetti

Now in Italain confetti (singular, confetto) are sugar-coated almonds, pistachios, etc; or pills. The little, brightly coloured papers are coriandoli (plural of coriandolo, also coriander).

Inferno

This in Italian for hell. A large fire in Italian would be incendio.

Latte

is Italian for milk. If you want a mixture of coffee and milk in Italy ask for a latte macchiato (stained milk) or a caffellatte.

Pepperoni or peperoni

Ask for peperoni (singular, peperone) in Italy and you’ll get peppers. If it is the spicy sausage you want ask for salame piccante instead.

Solution 2:

A very nice fake Italianism is in use especially I think in Southern California, where I write from. It's dated, I think, no longer as common as a decade ago. But it's to say that you and someone else are "simpatico," meaning you get along famously. One of the reasons I especially like this one is it has a twin Italian usage that is a false Anglicism: "Noi due abbiamo un buon feeling." That's a very odd use of feeling. Of course, the correct use of simpatico would be to say that a person is simpatico, not to say that she and I are simpatico, meaning well assorted or that we get along.