I wrote this book especially for Italian-Americans who want to improve their Italian by reading short stories — enjoying the process, without boring grammar manuals.
I'm Olga, a teacher of Italian, based in Italy with over nine years in the classroom.
I wrote a book for italian language learners. It's a series of ten Italian short stories — one per city, from Turin to Agrigento — written for learners at A2 to B1 level.
The main character is Danny Russo. 32 years old. Brooklyn. Speaks a little Italian. When his grandfather Salvatore died, he left Danny three things:
— An old photograph
— A Sicilian flat cap that had belonged to his own father
— A notebook. Forty pages of recipes written in dialect.
Nobody in the family could read a word of it. Two years later, Danny books a one-way ticket to Turin and starts going south.
The book is called Nonno's Italy.
Every conversation teaches real Italian. Not textbook Italian. Italy Italian. ——— In every chapter:
✦ A short story in real Italian (A2–B1)
✦ Vocabulary in context — not in a list at the back
✦ Cultural notes: bella figura, campanilismo, the Italian sense of time
✦ Italian gestures
✦ Exercises and a regional proverb
Written by a teacher of Italian who lives and works in Italy, with over 8,000 hours of teaching the language to people just like Danny. Happy to answer any questions — about the book, and about learning Italian.