Italian brainrot is a series of surrealist Internet memes that emerged in early 2025, characterized by absurd AI-generated creatures with pseudo-Italian names and nonsensical audio narration. The phenomenon's exact origin is hard to pinpoint, but the character Tralalero Tralala is widely considered the first example of Italian brainrot. The creation of this character is often attributed to the TikTok user @eZburger401, who posted a video featuring Tralalero Tralala in January 2025. This user was banned shortly after due to the audio content containing profanity and blasphemy in Italian. Later users such as @elchino1246 and @amoamimandy.1a contributed to the meme's spread with AI-generated images and videos that gained millions of views. The trend began within Italian meme communities and quickly expanded internationally. Italian brainrot combines surreal visuals with exaggerated Italian accents and nonsense phrases. The term "brainrot" refers to content that is overwhelmingly absurd or overstimulating and was Oxford's Word of the Year in 2024. The "Italian" label came from early adopters but the content is now global. In summary, while the exact creator is not definitively known, TikTok user @eZburger401 is widely credited with creating the first notable Italian brainrot character, Tralalero Tralala, which sparked the trend in early 2025.
