Learning Italian, like any other language, involves four activities: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Reading is the first and most instinctive of these, and in some ways the easiest, especially at the beginning. But it remains important at every stage. So what should you read in Italian to improve?
You start with the simple sentences and dialogues in your textbook, which quickly become a little dull. Sometimes textbooks include longer texts too — about famous Italian figures, food, culture, everyday life. These are useful, but they’re soon not enough.
I’m what Italians call a topo di biblioteca — a bookworm. Reading has always been one of the most important things in my life, so when I started learning Polish I had that goal clearly in mind. After two years at university, I went to Warsaw for an intensive course and bought a novel by a famous Polish writer — I wanted something ambitious. The result? I barely understood a word. I stopped every two pages to look things up, lost the thread, read without pleasure and without learning anything. A disaster.
A few weeks later I bought another book, chosen almost random. The only thing I knew was that it looked simple. And in the end I managed to read almost all of it: even when I didn’t understand a word or two, I kept going. Understanding the general meaning was enough. It was an exercise in patience and self-confidence. An approach I recommend to anyone who wants to read in Italian.
Reading simple books in Italian
The best way to start is with simple reading material. One of my students, Paulina, once came back from a trip to Italy with a copy of Pinocchio she’d bought in Tuscany. A beautiful edition, with lots of illustrations: a lovely object. But unfortunately a terrible choice for someone studying Italian at an intermediate level. Pinocchio is a nineteenth-century book, written in a beautiful but very archaic Italian. Sometimes even difficult for native Italians.
Many people think children’s books are a good option for Italian reading practice — but I disagree. First of all, they tend to deal with topics that aren’t particularly interesting for adults: ogres, castles, princesses and dragons are charming, but what use are they on holiday in Amalfi? There’s also a more structural problem: what is simple for native-speaking children is not necessarily simple for adults learning Italian in their free time. These are two very different concepts of simplicity. An Italian child who encounters the passato remoto or the congiuntivo understands it intuitively. An adult learner might not. And that’s a significant difference.
So what can you read? We’re getting there — but one more thought first.
How to read in Italian to improve
The most important question isn’t what to read, but how to read. There are two approaches, with different goals.
The first is reading to learn words and expressions in a structured way — underlining new words, analysing their meaning, writing them in a notebook to review later. This works well for articles and short texts. In that case, you can read the same text twice: once to understand as much as possible from context, and a second time to analyse the vocabulary.
If you want to read a book in Italian, this approach becomes complicated and can turn frustrating. In that case, I recommend my second-Polish-book method: read without stopping, understanding what you can and moving forward. Reading this way builds confidence and creates the pleasure of reading in Italian. As I always say, when you’re learning a language as an adult in your free time, pleasure is fundamental.
What to read in Italian: some concrete suggestions
A great place to start is graded readers — texts written specifically for Italian learners, with progressively increasing difficulty levels. The publisher Loescher offers some free readings online, while Alma publishes excellent ones at low cost. These are the ideal starting point before moving on to “real” books.
When you’re ready for novels, start with something contemporary written in modern Italian. Some accessible and widely-read titles: Io non ho paura by Niccolò Ammaniti, La solitudine dei numeri primi by Paolo Giordano, or the novels of Antonio Manzini with the iconic cop Rocco Schiavone.
I also write a lot for my own students — podcast texts, articles, weekly materials and even a short detective story. If you’d like to read it, write to me.
The most important thing in all of this? Never lose the pleasure of reading. That’s the real key to improving.
Looking for an online Italian tutor to practise with, read with and talk about books? Book a free introductory call — let’s talk about it.