Compared to what? "Complemento di paragone"

Also called "secondo termine di paragone", this chunk contains what is compared with the subject by means of an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree.

Examples: "Lucia guida meglio di Adriano"; "Oggi abbiamo lavorato pių di ieri" ( Lucia drives better than Adriano; Today we have worked more than yesterday).

As the examples show, It "di" in this case translates Eng. "than". It is sometimes replaced by "che": "Ha pių soldi lui che tutti noi" ( He's got more money than all of us)

Comparativo di eguaglianza (the "as [much] as" comparative)

The normal patterns are "tanto... quanto" and "cosė... come"; however, the first element is frequently dropped:
"E' tanto alto quanto suo fratello" ( He's as tall as his brother) more often than not becomes "E' alto quanto suo fratello" or "...come suo fratello". Other examples:

"Luigi guadagna come un direttore di banca" ( Luigi earns as much as a bank manager)

"Ha tante amiche quante nemiche"( She's got as many friends as enemies). Notice the agreement for gender and number.

"Bevettero tanto vino quanta birra" ( They drank as much wine as beer)