Designed for both classroom use and as a text for self-teaching language learners, this book consists of 30 work units, an extensive Italian-English and English-Italian vocabulary list, idioms, and dialogues, all focused to build proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and understanding Italian. Word-completion and multiple-choice exercises, word games, and entertaining stories in dialogue form are supplemented with photos of Italian landmarks, cartoon-style illustrations, and reproductions of Italian classical art that give students something of the flavor of contemporary Italian culture. Italian Now! emphasizes practical, functional use of conversational and informal written Italian but also offers solid foundation in Italian grammar, verb forms, and correct sentence structure.