Italian term
Carissimo,
I don't know who the letter is to or from/ at a guess it is a friendly but fairly formal relationship and "My Dear" or "Dearest" hardly seems appropriate if the letter is to & from men...
Here is the context:
Carissimo ecco il testo che ho appena fatto partire a tutti i parlamentari italiani dei quali ho avuto segnalazione
| 3 +8 | dear friend |
Béatrice Sylvie Lajoie
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| 4 +5 | just skip it! |
irenef
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| 4 +3 | Iwould simply use "Dear" ICMB to play safe |
Norman Buhagiar
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| 4 | Greetings, |
Kimberly Wastler
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Non-PRO (1): Rodotek
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Proposed translations
Malta
I ensure quality and meet deadlines
Native in: English 
, Maltese
Works in: English to Maltese, Maltese to English, Italian to English, and 3 more.
Iwould simply use "Dear" ICMB to play safe
| Dear without a name? As in: Dear, here is the letter... |
| neutral |
awilliams
: "dear" without a name is no good - have I understood you correctly?
50 mins
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| agree |
pomiglia
: dear followed by a name . just a note: I have more than once been addressed as simply "carissima" in work related e-mail communications!
3 hrs
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| agree |
potra
: Yes, I agree, for business letters dearest and the such are inappropriate
5 hrs
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| agree |
Peter Cox
17 hrs
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Master's degree in Law, accurate
Native in: French , English
Works in: Italian to French, English to French
dear friend
Just an idea...
| agree |
Nedra Rivera Huntington
14 mins
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Grazie Nedra
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| agree |
Laura Massara
46 mins
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Grazie Laura
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| agree |
snatalieg
: or dear colleaague
2 hrs
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Thanks Snatalieg. But the asker said that it is not known if it is a colleague or an associate etc......
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| agree |
Laura Iovanna
3 hrs
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Grazie Laura
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| agree |
Daniela Zambrini
12 hrs
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Grazie Daniela
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| agree |
GAR
23 hrs
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Thanks GAR
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| agree |
Pnina
1 day 1 hr
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| agree |
Mara Ballarini
1 day 4 hrs
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just skip it!
It is an informal / friendly way to address somebody with whom you have a professional relationship. It doesn't strike any emotional chords though. It is used to do away with the formalities of a typical business relationship and, for this reason, it can be more effective than the traditional “caro” or “gentile” (not to mention "egregio" and so forth..).
This said, I would avoid using the word “friend” as it would be pushing it a bit too far…
The best way to translate it would be by using the person's first name (Dear John or, more simply, John).
As – not incidentally, IMO – you don’t have access to this information, I would simply skip this part and maybe close the text with “Warm regards” or something similar.
Good luck!
| agree |
writeaway
: best solution-since it's not used in this way in English. Just skip it.
1 hr
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Thanks, writeaway
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| agree |
awilliams
3 hrs
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Thanks, Amy
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| agree |
paolamonaco
: l'uso è decisamente questo!
19 hrs
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Grazie mille, Paola
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| agree |
Linda 969
1 day 1 hr
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Grazie, Linda
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| agree |
Ivana UK
1 day 4 hrs
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Grazie, Ivana
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United States
15 yrs experience-ChemE+Trans.
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: Italian to English, French to English, English
Greetings,
I did some research on alternatives to "dear" as a letter opener, and this stuck out as being a great solution for a letter opener. "Hi" doesn't cut in, nor does "Hello". Perhaps it's a bit quirky, but then so is "Carissimo".
Discussion