"Tenerci a" is an idiomatic expression, it makes little sense when translated word for word. As a whole it means that the subject considers something important ("Ci tiene a conoscerti" = "He wants to meet you (it is important to him)", "Ci tiene a te" = "You are important to him, You mean a lot to him"). The "ci" doesn't refer to anything in particular any more than it does in phrases like "Ce la faccio" = "I can do it", "Ce l'ho" = "I have it", etc. you just have to remember the idiom as it is, as if it were an item of vocabulary.

"Ci tiene a conoscerti" is more than just "he wants to know you", he really cares about meeting you. I wouldn't say that "tenerci" is an idiomatic expression, it is classified as "verbo procomplementare" where "ci" is a clitic ( a clitic pronoun) that "leans" or "welds" to the verb "tenere". The verb tenere without "ci" wouldn't have the same meaning as explained above. Clitics are an important feature of the Italian language but are not limited to Italian.

Hi, I would say that Coligno had answered, but they didn't give you the translation. So I try to. First of all, if I can add: the -CI would mean (as it does) "there, in that context", it's a way to define a precise circumstance. And 2. "he wants" does not really render the affective importance that "tenerci" implies. However, is not slang, it just has an informal use, and the verb "tenere" (to keep, to hold) has not been transformed from its original meaning (*) Therefore the most appropriate translation could be -- "He really cares if he could be knowing you" (**), or just -- "He is really interested in knowing you" (which I consider more appropriate) but we can't say "he's attached to .." because "knowing someone" is not a physical object that he owns in that moment, right? bye * http://dizionari.corriere.it/dizionario_italiano/T/tenere.shtml ** https://www.collinsdictionary.com/it/dizionario/italiano-inglese/tenere-a-tenerci-a