I am trying to communicate with a lighting shop in Venice and am concerned my English descriptions may be misunderstood. I would really appreciate some help with these words:

ROD -- the metal rod supporting a pendant light hanging from the ceiling.

CORD -- Likewise, but hanging by cord rather than a rod.

Length: How do I say "The rod or cord should be about 12 inches (30 centimeters) long"?

Finish: What "color" is the fixture? Stainless steel?

Lastly, I need to know what kind of light bulb the fixture requires:
--maximum wattage?
--chandelier bulb or "regular" light bulb?

This is pretty obscure, but I hope someone with a good Italian vocabulary sees it.
Grazzie!

Well, this is really a series of tough questions - it's that kind of technical terms never easy to translate, and I don't know all the proper technical terms in Italian, either; I can assure you, however, that they'll perfectly understand what you mean if you say/write:

rod: il bastone di metallo su cui il lampadario va sospeso
cord: la corda su cui il lampadario va sospeso

"The rod or cord should be about 12 inches (30 centimeters) long" - you wouldn't say so in Italian (lengths, weights and so on are a particularity in Italian - you don't normally use a sentence like "it should be that long" or "how long is it&quot. You order (literally, and of course impossible in English) "a rod with 30 centimetres of length", and this is how to say it:
un bastone/una corda con 30 centimetri di lunghezza

What "color" is the fixture? Stainless steel?
la finitura, com'è? acciaio?

how to ask for the max. wattage:
quanti watt ne posso mettere?

Lastly, it's me who has a problem understanding you: what do mean by chandelier bulbs? Those pointed ones?
If so, they're called "lampadine a fiamma"; the "regular", round bulbs "lampadine a palla".

Good luck - where are buying?

Thanks so much.

When we were there in January we bought several wonderful light fixtures as well as 2 globes without fixtures. We have had difficulty fitting the globes to American fixtures. So I am trying to ask him for information about Euro fixtures (my lighting man can convert them to U.S. standards).

He's being very patient with the language barrier. I'll try out your phrases on him. Grazzie.

franco:

Just to let you know - we've worked it out and he seems to understand exactly what I need. It will be on its way tomorrow, thanks in no small part to your assistance. Thanks. Jeanne

Jeanne,

you're very welcome, I'm happy if it comes to a good end for you. I told you it would work - I've bought lamps more than once in Italy...