Book

Italian Scary Short Stories for Beginners

€19,99Halloween offer · ends Nov 1

From the Janara who slides under a locked door in Benevento to the skulls of the Fontanelle that Naples families still adopt, each of the 20 chapters in this book is built around a real Italian legend, written in clear everyday Italian with short sentences, a vocabulary section of 20 words, and five comprehension questions per story.

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Benefits

Real folklore, not invented monsters | every one of the 20 stories retells a legend Italians actually grew up with, from the Janara of Benevento to Colapesce under Sicily | Written for beginners | short sentences, present and simple past, heavy dialogue, so you read the plot instead of decoding it | 400 words and expressions explained | 20 per chapter, each one marked when it is distinctly Italian or tied to one region | 100 comprehension questions | five after every story, with the full answer key at the back | One continuous story | the 20 chapters follow a few October nights in one house above Naples, so reading them in order pays off | Vocabulary bolded in the text | the first time a listed word appears in the story it is in bold, so you meet it in context before you read the definition | Regions, not just Rome | Campania, Tuscany, Abruzzo, the Marche, Liguria and Sicily each bring their own creature

Product details

Shipping & returns

Printed on demand and shipped physically. For delivery times, returns and the EU 14-day right of withdrawal, see our store policies.

Format & details

Paperback, A5 format. Printed on demand and shipped physically.

What is inside the book

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Twenty stories, one continuous thread. Maddie arrives at a stone house in the hills above Naples and Nonna Rosa tells her one legend a night. You meet the lupo mannaro, the Janara who becomes thin as air, the walnut tree of Benevento where the witches met, and the Munaciello who hides the keys. Each chapter stands alone, but the house and the family carry across all twenty.

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A vocabulary section after every story, 400 words in total. Each chapter closes with 20 words and expressions taken from the story you just read, with a short English definition. The ones that are distinctly Italian or tied to one region carry a Reg tag, so you can tell la janara and il corniciello apart from la notte and il vento. The first time a listed word appears in the story, it is printed in bold.

Italian Scary Short Stories for Beginners mockup pdp-wrap

Five comprehension questions per chapter, 100 in the book, with the answer key at the back. The questions ask what happened and why, not which word means what, so they check that you followed the story in Italian. The correct answer is spread evenly across the four options, 25 percent each, so you cannot pass by always picking b.

Who this book is for

Beginners who finished an app streak and want a real book they can actually read in Italian.
Readers who like folklore and horror and would rather learn from legends than from dialogues about airports.
Anyone with Italian family who grew up hearing about the malocchio and never learned the words for it.

About this book

How does the book arrive, and how long does shipping take?

This is a paperback. It is printed on demand and shipped to you physically, in A5 format with 105 pages. There is no PDF, ePub or Kindle version of this title. Printing takes a few working days before the parcel ships, and delivery time then depends on your country.

I am a beginner. Is this really readable for me?

Yes. The Italian is written at around A2: short sentences, present and simple past, and a lot of dialogue. Every chapter explains 20 words straight after the story, so you can read first and look up second.

Are these real Italian legends or made up horror stories?

They are real. The Janara and the walnut tree of Benevento, the Munaciello and the Bella Mbriana of Naples, the skulls of the Fontanelle, the Linchetto of Tuscany, the Pantafica of Abruzzo, the witch trial of Triora in 1587 and Colapesce under Sicily are all part of Italian folklore. Several chapters also give the historical explanation behind the legend.

What if the book arrives damaged or never turns up?

Write to us and we reprint and reship it, with no need to return the damaged copy. If a parcel is lost in transit we do the same. One email to support is enough.

Quick answers

Need anything else? Email support@digitalpolyglot.com.

Where do you ship?

We ship physical books to the EU, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and many other regions. Shipping costs are calculated at checkout based on your destination.

How long does shipping take?

Typical delivery: UK 7-8 business days, US and Germany 12-16, more remote regions longer.

Where are orders printed?

Print-on-demand from a global network of facilities across Europe, North America, the UK and Australia. Routed to the facility closest to you.