I'm born and raised in Italy and TIL. Makes sense, ciao -> sciao -> schiavo (slave).
BTW, interesting fact: "The Venetian word for "slave", s-ciào [ˈstʃao] or s-ciàvo, derives from Medieval Latin sclavus, a loanword from Medieval Greek Σκλάβος, related to the ethnic "Slavic", since most of the slaves came from the Balkans."
I'll be extremely sad if one day we'd have to lose the most common salutation because somebody deemed it offensive.
BTW, interesting fact: "The Venetian word for "slave", s-ciào [ˈstʃao] or s-ciàvo, derives from Medieval Latin sclavus, a loanword from Medieval Greek Σκλάβος, related to the ethnic "Slavic", since most of the slaves came from the Balkans."
I'll be extremely sad if one day we'd have to lose the most common salutation because somebody deemed it offensive.