The Friends Guest Star Who Played Paolo Ad-Libbed His Swooniest Line

Buongiorno a tutti!

Foreign languages came into play quite a bit onFriends; Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) turned out to be surprisingly multi-lingual, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) butchered his French lessons, and his little Nonnie didn't speak a lick of English. But perhaps the most memorable use of a foreign tongue -- ba-dum-tss -- came during Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) Season 1 fling with Paolo (Cosimo Fusco), the hunky Italian neighbor she met during the big blackout. Thanks to a few swoony lines from this ruggedly handsome newcomer, she was able to finally move on from her orthodontist ex, though not in the way Ross (David Schwimmer) had hoped.

Phoebe Buffay Was Infinitely Cooler ThanFriends Fans Gave Her Credit For

According to Fusco, it was completely up to him to come up with the right words to woo Rachel in his scenes. In a recent interview with The Today Show in honor of the sitcom's upcoming 25th anniversary, the Italian actor revealed that his portions of the script were very thin, and he was told to to fill them in as he wished.

"I was asked to improvise, and I was a little bit skeptical because my English wasn't as good as it is now, let's face it. But I was told not to speak any English: 'Just say whatever you want in Italian,'" he explained. "I made up most of the Italian spoken by Paolo. When I stand by Jennifer, I say, 'Look at the moon. Look at the stars.'"

That line from "The One With the Blackout" was just the start of Fusco's Italian ad-libbing, it seems, but it does stand out as one of Paolo's hunkiest moments -- until he made a move on Phoebe and turned into a massive creep, of course.

PHOTOS: The Friends Guest Stars We Hated the Most