Italian · English · C1–C2

Advanced Italian stories, with the English alongside (C1–C2)

Poe, Bierce, Hawthorne, Melville and Twain in Italian: dense, stylish prose, with the English original there for the sentences worth a second look.

32 advanced stories in Italian, 27 of them free

Each one opens in your browser with no account, the Italian and the English side by side, paragraph by paragraph, shortest first. Every free story is also a free Italian–English ebook for Kindle, Kobo or any e-reader: downloading needs a free account, no payment (which file to pick).

Besides the classics, this level has stories from Il forno di notte, original Italian stories written for the library.

Open the advanced Italian–English stories in the library, where you can search them and switch to another level or pair.

To listen as you read, see the Italian stories with audio.

What advanced Italian stories are like

Advanced stories are dense on purpose: Poe’s narrators circle their own guilt, Bierce bends time, Melville’s Bartleby prefers not to. The Italian carries that style with long sentences, rare words and a literary register.

At this level you rarely need the English for the plot. It is there for the phrases that are hard to pin down, and for comparing how the same effect is achieved in two languages.

How to read Italian at C1–C2

Read the Italian as literature

Read at your normal pace and let unfamiliar words go when the meaning is clear. Stop only where the style or a turn of phrase interests you.

Use the English for nuance

When a word could mean two things, the English shows which one the story needs. That is where advanced readers still learn the most.

Read aloud

Literary Italian has rhythm. Reading a paragraph aloud, then checking its English, trains your ear as well as your eye.

More on the method in how to read a parallel text.