🇮🇹 Italian
Italian graded readers: what to read at each level
There is a good range of Italian graded readers, especially from Alma Edizioni and ELI, alongside learner collections from English-language publishers. Italian is easy to decode, so learners often move up levels too fast; the vocabulary and verb tenses then catch up with them. Staying slightly below your comfort limit pays off.
ReadNative's Italian book is Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, retold as one graded story from A1 to B1 over 44 chapters. It is free, and you can read the first chapters free in your browser, tapping any word for its English meaning or any sentence for a translation.
Italian graded readers on ReadNative
What to read at each level
A1
Present tense, everyday nouns, short sentences. The opening chapters of Pinocchio — the piece of wood, Geppetto, the talking cricket — are built for this.
A2
Passato prossimo and imperfetto, object pronouns. Continue through Pinocchio's adventures or try A2 readers from Alma Edizioni.
B1
Longer narratives with the future, conditional and some subjunctive. The final chapters of Pinocchio reach B1.
B2
Native fiction in plain style, such as contemporary crime novels, and your own EPUBs imported into ReadNative with tap-to-translate.
Not sure where you are? Take the Italian vocabulary test or check a text with the difficulty checker.
Questions
What is a graded reader?
A book written or retold with controlled vocabulary and grammar for a specific level, so a learner can read a whole story in Italian with little dictionary use. The aim is lots of comfortable reading, not decoding.
How do I know if a book is the right level?
If you understand the story and need to look up only a few words per page, it is right. If every sentence needs help, drop down a level; if you never tap anything, move up. In Italian the step from graded books to native texts is steep, so do not rush it.
Is the original Pinocchio suitable for learners?
Not at first — Collodi's 19th-century Italian has dated vocabulary. Read the graded retelling first and the original at B2.