Arturo Massolari works the night shift and returns home at dawn, just as his wife Elide is waking up. Their lives follow a delicate rhythm of small rituals, gestures of care, and tired tenderness. Between the silence of empty streets and the warmth of a shared home, this is a quiet story of love, routine, and invisible bonds.
After watching a film set in India, Marcovaldo steps into a foggy night where reality and dream blur together. Lost among deserted streets, he continues to wander, wrapped in his colorful fantasies. The world around him disappears, and he keeps chasing illusions, until, convinced he is simply boarding a bus, he ends up instead...
Marcovaldo works for a company where he waters a lonely plant every day. Forgotten in a dark corner, the plant mirrors Marcovaldo’s own quiet struggles. When the rain comes, he takes it outside, and an unexpected adventure begins. A delicate, bittersweet story about hope, resilience, and the fragile beauty hidden in everyday life.
Giuseppe Corte arrives at a famous hospital to treat a mild illness. At first, he is placed on the bright seventh floor, reserved for light cases. But little by little, through a series of misunderstandings, he is moved lower and lower, toward the floors of the seriously ill. A disturbing story about fear, fate, and the loss of control.
A short unsettling story by Dino Buzzati, suitable for B2–C1 level readers.
Mathilde is a young and beautiful woman, born into a poor family. Dreaming of a life filled with luxury and admiration, she feels trapped by her modest reality. One night, an unexpected invitation to a prestigious ball offers her a glimpse of her dreams. But a small mistake will change her life forever.
A young man leaves home to explore the vast kingdom of his father, believing he will reach the borders in a few weeks. But as the years pass, the journey seems endless. Through deserted lands and fading memories, he relies on a group of loyal messengers to keep him connected to a distant past that grows more unfamiliar with each passing year.
One morning, Marcovaldo wakes up to an unusual silence. As he opens the window, he discovers that the entire city has disappeared under a thick, white blanket of snow. The familiar buildings, streets, and noises are all erased. Enthralled by the transformation, Marcovaldo steps outside, ready to explore a world where everything seems new and full of possibility.
In the countryside near Caserta, thousands of tons of Milan’s waste have been dumped for decades. Toxic materials, industrial residues, and even human remains poison the land. Hidden behind official documents and criminal networks, a parallel system of illegal waste disposal has reshaped southern Italy’s landscape, transforming abandoned fields into silent graveyards of garbage, death, and forgotten histories.
In eighteenth-century Paris, a suffocating stench filled every street, home, and church. The city rotted under the weight of decay, disease, and death. Amid the unbearable heat and filth, near the foul Cimitière des Innocents, a woman gives birth beneath a fishmonger’s stall. From blood, rot, and waste, a child is born—destined to carry within him an extraordinary and terrifying gift.
Masino is a boy about eleven or twelve years old, full of flaws and often scolded by parents, teachers, and classmates. Tired of constant reproaches, he finds comfort in his imagination and decides to write a story to defend boys like him. However, his rebellious and naive ideas will meet the ironic smile of the adult world.
