Read books in Italian. Tap any word.
Learn Italian by reading · italiano
Italian is one of the most rewarding languages to read: phonetic, musical, and full of classics that are free to download. Nufa lets you open a real Italian book, read without interruption, and tap any word for a translation the moment you need one.
— No, ragazzi, avete sbagliato. C’era una volta un pezzo di legno.pezzo di legno
a piece of wood
Collodi teases the reader: every fairy tale starts with C’era una volta un re — “once upon a time there was a king”. Here the hero is a piece of wood, and the children who expected a king were wrong.
Why reading works for Italian
- Italian novels use the passato remoto for narration — a past tense you'll rarely hear in northern Italian speech but meet constantly in books.
- Reading trains your ear for the language's rhythm, because Italian is spelled almost exactly as it sounds.
- Idioms and regional turns of phrase are easier to understand with the sentence around them — tap Explain and you get both.
How Nufa reads
- Bring any book. Import your own EPUB or PDF in Italian — it is parsed on your phone and never uploaded — or download a public-domain classic from the built-in catalogue.
- Tap to translate. Tap a word or select a phrase. The translation appears over the page and goes away when you read on.
- Ask for an explanation. When a sentence won’t yield, tap Explain for the grammar, the idiom or the cultural reference behind it.
- Keep the words that matter. Saved vocabulary keeps the sentence you found it in. Review it when you like — there are no streaks and no daily goals.
A starter shelf in Italian
Public-domain classics, roughly easiest first.
- Le avventure di Pinocchio — Carlo Collodi. Written for children, loved by adults. Perfect first book.
- Novelle per un anno — Luigi Pirandello. Short stories, everyday language.
- I promessi sposi — Alessandro Manzoni. The great Italian novel. Long, rewarding.
Start reading
Nufa is free to download on Android. The whole reader is free, with 10 translations and 10 explanations a day; paid plans raise the daily limits. See pricing.