Beginner stories
Original Italian stories written for this level, with comprehension questions.
Short stories
20 original stories written for this level, each with a comprehension check.
Il caffè di Gennaro
A barista in Naples knows how every customer takes their coffee. Then a new customer arrives.
Al mercato di Ballarò
Salvo takes his German friend Anna to a busy street market in Palermo, where everyone shouts.
Il nuovo vicino
In a Turin apartment building, Signora Rosa wants to know everything about the new young man on her floor.
I tortellini della nonna
Every Sunday in Bologna, Giulia makes tortellini with her grandmother, but her tortellini are never perfect.
Il biglietto del treno
Tom, an English student, takes a regional train to Florence and forgets one small but important thing.
Il gatto della libreria
Every afternoon a grey cat visits a small bookshop in Venice. Nobody knows where it comes from.
Lo zaino sbagliato
In Milan, a boy runs to school and picks up the wrong backpack. Inside there is a big surprise.
Tre gusti di gelato
In Rome on a hot day, Lucia can't choose her ice-cream flavours, and the queue behind her keeps growing.
La bicicletta di Marta
In Ferrara, the city of bicycles, Marta's old bike disappears from outside the library.
Una domenica al mare
A family from Bologna drives to the beach at Rimini, but everyone wants something different.
La festa a sorpresa
In Verona, Luca's friends plan a surprise party for his thirtieth birthday. Keeping it secret is not easy.
In farmacia
Kenji, a Japanese cook working in Genoa, has a bad cold and must explain it to the pharmacist.
La lettera dalla Sardegna
A grandmother in Sardinia doesn't use the internet, so she writes real letters to her grandson in Milan.
L'autobus delle sette
In Bari, Nadia takes the same bus every morning and sees the same people, but she never talks to them.
Il cane che non cammina
In the mountains near Trento, a dog called Bruno stops in the middle of the path and won't move.
Il primo giorno da cameriere
Omar starts work as a waiter in a busy Milan trattoria. He knows the menu, but not the customers.
La festa del paese
Once a year, a tiny village in Umbria fills with music, food and people. This year, Giorgio has an important job.
Un tavolo per due
In Lecce, Francesca books a table at a restaurant for a first date. The date is late, very late.
L'ombrello giallo
It starts to rain in Siena, and a tourist without an umbrella finds help from a stranger in the Piazza del Campo.
La tessera della biblioteca
A retired man in Perugia goes to the library for the first time in fifty years. A lot has changed.