Italian Brain Rot, the nonsensical memes that “fry your brain” on social media

If in the last few weeks your social feed has been invaded by a shark in blue Nike shoes reciting a blasphemous nursery rhyme, or by a military plane with a crocodile head engaged in surreal battles, it means you have ended up in the vortex of Italian Brain Rot : a digital epidemic of meaningless memes that is particularly popular with Gen Z.

Genesis of a Global AI Phenomenon

Having exploded as an underground phenomenon in early 2025 , these videos are among the most searched-for memes on TikTok and Instagram lately.

The protagonists of the viral clips, which respond to the hashtag #italianbrainrot and which have so far collected 3 billion views , are hybrid creatures generated thanks to artificial intelligence: half animals, half objects, with names like Bombardiro Crocodilo or Ballerina Cappuccina .

The reference to Italy

Despite the use of Italian linguistic and cultural elements , Italian Brain Rot is not a phenomenon that can be linked with certainty to our country. The creation and diffusion of these grotesque mash-ups are in fact also attributed to international creators.

Even in the Bible of viral Internet content, Know Your Meme , there is no certain reference to the alleged Italian origins of this phenomenon.

The character Ballerina Cappuccina , for example, was created last March by a 24-year-old Romanian user named Susanu Sava-Tudor. The video has been viewed more than 45 million times so far. In an email exchange with The New York Times , Sava-Tudor defined Italian Brain Rot as a “form of absurdist humor” that is “less about real Italy and more about the cinematic myth of Italy itself.”

What does “Brain rot” mean?

The deliberately " low quality " aesthetic of the characters that are inundating social media is in line with the concept of brain rot : the "brain rot" caused by digital overdose. "Brain rot" is an online slang term for banal and low-quality content that " fries " the brain due to excessive exposure.

Oxford University Press has crowned “brain rot” its word of the year for 2024 , tracing its origins to Thoreau’s 1854 critique of intellectual decline.

Italian Brain Rot consciously embraces its roots in recently celebrated slang, offering chaotic, hypnotic “mush” that Gen Z celebrates with a humor that’s been called “post-ironic”: it reflects the brain fog caused by compulsive scrolling and the invasion of AI content.

Italian Brain Rot: The Viral Characters

Among the most iconic characters branded Italian Brain Rot is Tralalero Tralala , the founder of the trend: a shark with sneakers, born in January 2025 from a now-deleted TikTok account, which became famous for its nursery rhyme containing a blasphemy.

Bombardiro Crocodilo , a crocodile-headed warplane, is its rival, with a fictional narrative background that has been linked to Gaza, and has also sparked ethical debates.

Tung Tung Tung Sahur is a wooden figure armed with a baseball bat. Capuchin Dancer , on the other hand, is half woman in ballet slippers and half cappuccino cup (as a head).

Lirili Larila is a sandaled elephant-cactus, while Boneca Ambalabu is a frog-tire hybrid. Bombombini Gusini is a jet-engined, missile-launching goose who fights in imaginary wars.

Media attention around the world

The New York Times also wrote about Italian Brain Rot , noting that “some of these memes are accompanied by racist or Islamophobic audio ; for example, some videos starring Bombardiro Crocodilo have background audio and phrases stating that the plane is headed to bomb the children of Gaza”.

“Although it is unclear how widespread these videos are,” the NYT writes, “it is possible that the characters are being exploited.”