Italo Calvino is an Italian poet and writer. He was born on October 15, 1923 in Santiago de Las Vegas, today part of Havana in Cuba. His parents are Italian agronomists. The family soon returned to Italy and his childhood passed in Sanremo, where he also completed secondary education.
The first few books that Calvino wrote were in the spirit of Italian neorealism. In the 1950s, he reorientated more towards the fairy-tale-fantasy genre - he published "The Bisected Viscount", "The Baron of the Trees", "The Nonexistent Knight". In 1975 he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy, and the following year he received the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. In 1981, he became a Commander of the Legion of Honor.
The American Lectures were about to be read, but the writer died of a cerebral hemorrhage while preparing them. They were published posthumously, as were his other works.
His poem "La storia" is a short summary of life in general.
LA STORIA
Italo Calvino
Io cammino per un bosco di larici e ogni mio passo è storia.
Io penso, io amo, io agisco, e questo è storia
Forse non faro cose importanti, ma la storia è fatta di piccoli gestures.
E tutte le cose che farò prima di morire saranno pezzetti di storia,
e tutti i pensieri di adesso faranno la storia di domani.
HISTORY
Italo Calvino
translation: Iliana Dechkova
I walk through a cedar forest and every step I take is a story.
I think, love, and act, and that too is history.
I may not do significant things, but the story is woven from the small details.
And everything I do before I die will be a piece of history,
and all my thoughts today will make history tomorrow.
📚 New words
| Italian | Bulgarian |
| walking | I am walking. |
| forest | forest |
| step | step |
| gesture | gesture |
| little piece | piece |
| thought | thought |
| tomorrow | tomorrow |
🧠 Text comprehension
A: True or false?
- L'autore cammina per una città.
- Ogni pensiero può essere parte della storia.
- Solo le grandi azioni fanno la storia.
- La storia è anche nei piccoli gesti.
Q: Answer the questions:
- Where is the author walking?
- Cosa significa per lui 'fare la storia'?
- Quali azioni cita l'autore come parte della storia?
- Cosa dice dei pensieri di oggi?
📝 Grammatica: Il presente indicative
Conjugate i verbi nel presente come nel texto:
| Infinitive | I (present) |
| think | ___ |
| love | ___ |
| act | ___ |
| walking | ___ |
✍️ Creative activity
Write a short text (4–5 sentences):
Cosa significa "fare la storia" per te? Pensi che anche i piccoli gesti possono cambiare il mondo?
© 2026 Iliana Dechkova