Easy Italian readers for beginners and intermediates boost your confidence and build your vocabulary.
Italian is my sixth language. Graded readers are an essential source of comprehensible input for my language learning. Discover my recommended easy books to read in Italian.
How to choose Italian graded readers
Conveniently for us language learners, Amazon offers a rapidly growing collection of easy Italian reading on both Kindle and paperback. These Italian texts for beginners and intermediates feature simplified language adapted to different levels. They generally include vocabulary lists, summaries, and comprehension questions.
When choosing an easy Italian reader, avoid those translated from generic stories in English. They lack the cultural insights and colloquial expressions of easy Italian readers written by native speakers. The graded readers in Italian below are all by native speakers, most of whom are teachers, and feature authentic Italian settings and language.
Reading on a Kindle is my favorite way to practice reading Italian. It’s a convenient way to get Italian reading practice due to the integrated free dictionaries. Just long press on a word to see the definition.
All the easy Italian stories on this list are available inexpensively for Kindle as well as paperback. Some can even be borrowed for free with Kindle Unlimited. Hint: Follow your favorite authors of graded readers in Italian on Amazon to get notified when their Kindle books go on sale.
To improve your audio comprehension, listen to the audio version while reading, if available.
These easy Italian books for beginners and intermediates are listed in increasing order of difficulty.
Italian Graded Readers for Beginners and Intermediates
1. Short Stories in Simple Italian : Le Avventure di Paul a Roma
By Serena Capilli (2022)
Levels: A1-A2 (Beginner)
Available as e-book: Available
Paul is bored with his job in London and goes on vacation to Rome. This fun simple Italian story follows Paul’s adventures as he explores the city and makes a big decision about his life.
Each chapter is short enough to finish in one sitting without overwhelming the learner. Chapters feature a vocabulary list, interesting insights and tips on language usage, and a quiz and comprehension questions to test your understanding.
This Italian graded reader costs a little more than some others on this list, but is worth it as it includes helpful free audio and Quizlet flashcards on the author’s website.
2. Non puoi essere tu: An Italian story of mystery for Italian A2-B1 level learners
By Sonia Ognibene (2017)
Levels: A2-B1 (Advanced beginner to low intermediate)
Available as e-book: Available inexpensively
Engaging supernatural mystery set in Piedmont. Federica spots her friend Marcella standing behind her cousin in a recent photo on Facebook. The only problem is that Marcella died a year ago under strange circumstances. Follow Federica as she tries to solve the mystery of her friend’s death.
This graded Italian reader has a summary (riassunto) after each longer chapter and provides clear vocabulary explanations in parentheses.
Sonia Ognibene has a whole series of these supernatural mysteries that gradually increase in reading difficulty. See below for the next in the series.
Her books are also very reasonably priced, a nice bonus.
3. Sarai mio: An Italian story of mystery for A2-B1 level learners
By Sonia Ognibene (2018)
Levels: A2-B1 (Advanced beginner to low intermediate)
Available as e-book: Available inexpensively
This gothic romance, Volume 2 of Sonia Ognibene’s supernatural mysteries, is more challenging than the previous book in the series, Non puoi essere tu (above).
It’s a fun spooky read with a twist at the end.
Check out the rest of the supernatural series here. The level of difficulty increases as you go.
She has also published an Italian-English story for all levels:
4. Italian Short Stories for Beginners: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Italian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way!
By Lingo Mastery (2018)
Levels: A2-B1 (Advanced beginner to low intermediate)
Available as e-book: Available
I’ve used Lingo Mastery readers before for Portuguese and Russian. They are a quality learning resource for a low price.
Each of these 20 short stories in Italian for beginners include:
- summaries in Italian and English
- a vocabulary list
- a set of multiple-choice questions to test your understanding
Every chapter focuses on a different aspect of Italian like vocabulary, pronouns, numbers, adjectives, or adverbs.
The stories can be quite charming and whimsical. Most feature authentic Italian settings. A few have generic storylines and could take place anywhere. They may perhaps have been recycled from other Lingo Mastery collections.
The English definitions of the vocabulary are occasionally mistranslated given the context. The vocabulary lists are also a bit long for my taste, and include many words similar to English whose meaning is easily guessed, like speciale (special) or uniforme (uniform).
These relatively minor shortcomings aside, at 20 stories, this easy Italian reader provides excellent value for learners.
To improve audio comprehension, listen to the audiobook version while reading. It’s available free with an Audible trial from Amazon.
5. I segreti di Miriam – Engaging Short Stories in Italian for Beginner and Intermediate Level
By Rebecca Romano (2022)
Levels: A2-B1 (Advanced beginner to low intermediate)
Available as e-book: Available. Can be borrowed for free with Kindle Unlimited.
This easy Italian book follows the adventures of Miriam, a young woman from Florence, beginning as she attends a cena al buio (dining in the dark) experience. The book consists of a series of connected stories that gradually increase in complexity.
Each chapter is divided into three small episodes that are easily digestible for learners. The text contains the 1000 most common words in Italian. Chapters include a vocab list, summaries in English and Italian, and comprehension questions.
If you enjoy I segreti di Miriam, Miracolo a Natale is the Christmas-themed sequel to Miriam’s adventures.
Have more recommendations for intermediate and beginner Italian reading? Please share your favorite simple Italian books in the comments.
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