Percorsi is designed to provide beginning learners with a variety of tools to develop their communicative competence in the four major language skills –listening, speaking, reading, and writing—and to acquire familiarity with Italian culture.  All of the features in Percorsi have been carefully designed to support two key aspects of the language acquisition process:  language comprehension and language production. Reviewer Quotes I thought the cultural presentations were very good. They were far superior to most elementary texts … I am impressed by the quality of this text. It has been well thought out, is up-to-date, and thorough in its presentation . ~ Elissa Tognozzi, UCLA I love the structure of the chapters. It is very clear and progresses nicely, with an attractive blend of vocabulary, grammar, exercises, and explanations, that sustains the attention and keeps the chapter interesting and varied. I am very impressed . ~ Cristina Mazzoni, University of Vermont I find the many suggestions for practice very attractive, especially those for group work. I also like that all practice is contextualized, and that the vocabulary is also pertinent to the topic . ~ Cinzia Noble, Brigham Young University One thing I continue to love is the deductive reasoning approach to Occhio alla lingua and having students think and find patterns. I believe this kind of conscious awareness is particularly helpful for adult language learners . ~ Colleen Ryan-Scheutz, University of Notre Dame The well-conceived Strategie di lettura and Strategie per scrivere sections are another noteworthy feature of Percorsi . No other beginning Italian textbook on the American market can match Percorsi with regard to the attention given to promote students reading and writing skills. Percorsi is truly a superb textbook . ~ Marina de Fazio, University of Kansas Percorsi is your pathway to Italian language and culture. Your journey will expose you to the beautiful country of Italy and introduce you to many Italians and their way of life, opinions, and values. Percorsi provides you with the tools to develop your ability to effectively communicate in Italian so that you will be free to explore the country on your own. Buon viaggio! "The most attractive feature is one the authors claim sets them apart from other textbooks: the close correlation of all components that are part of a chapter. It was a true pleasure to see this clearly implemented." Madeleine Kernen, Missouri State University "One thing I continue to love is the inductive reasoning approach to 'Occhio alla lingua' and having students think and find patterns. I believe this kind of conscious awareness is particularly helpful for adult language learners. " Colleen Ryan-Scheutz, University of Notre Dame Francesca Italiano is the Director of the Italian Language Program at the University of Southern California.  She has a Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles in Nineteenth Century Italian Literature and an M.S. from USC in Applied Linguistics. She is the coauthor of the literary reader Incontri Attuali and the author of the second edition of the intermediate Italian textbook, Crescendo !  She is currently working with the USC Language Center in the development of the VIE (Virtual Italian Experience) video game, which is based on Percorsi . The VIE project is being funded by a two-year NEH grant.     Irene Marchegiani , Professor Emerita of Italian Language and Literature at California State University — Long Beach, is currently Coordinator of Student Teaching for European Languages at the State University of New York — Stony Brook, where she teaches second language acquisition methodology courses as well as courses in European Studies.  At CSULB, from 1985 to 1999 she was the Director of the Italian program. Professor Marchegiani has taught Italian language, literature, and culture at all levels.  She has written articles on Giacomo Leopardi and on contemporary Italian poetry, with a particular emphasis on women writers.  She edited the volume of poetry Land of Time (Chelsea Edition, 2006) by Luigi Fontanella and co-edited The Poetics of Place: Florence imagined (Olschki, 2001).  She has conducted research and published articles on Italian epic poems about Cristopher Columbus and on second language acquisition. In collaboration with Professor Charles Jernigan, she has translated Torquato Tasso’s Aminta (Italica Press, 2000), which was awarded the prestigious “Diego Valeri” Monselice prize in 2002. She has co-translated other volumes of poetry including The Star of Free Will by Maria Luisa Spaziani. Professor Marchegiani has published several of her poems in various poetry journals, in Italy and in the U.S.A., and in 2004 she published La vita in cerchio , her first collection of poetry. She is member of the editorial board of the literary journals Gradiva and Journal of Italian Translation . With Francesca Italiano, she publis