animato
With spirit; in an animated, lively manner.
In Depth
Animato instructs performers to play with spirit and liveliness. It can appear as a standalone tempo marking or as a modifier within a passage, such as piu animato (more animated). The marking affects character as much as speed — the music should feel energized and full of life.
When animato appears mid-phrase, it often signals a shift from a calmer passage into something more vibrant. Performers achieve this through brighter tone, more pronounced articulation, and a subtle increase in forward motion. It is common in Romantic-era piano and orchestral music.
Verdi sometimes wrote animato in his opera scores at moments where he wanted the singers to literally come alive on stage — the musical direction was also a stage direction.