A2 · Getting started
Longer stories about daily life, past and future.
- Coccodrilli in Acqua Salata There are hundreds of crocodiles in the salty lake, and the lake once grew and covered farms and roads. Audio
- Il Lago Sotto il Mare Polly finds a big salty lake in a dry valley, with old coral in the rocks around it. Audio
- Una Collina Piena di Buchi Men dig the blue stone out of the hill by hand, because machines would break it. Audio
- Acqua Che Si È Fatta Dura Inside the grey rock there is blue stone, and it comes from only one place in the world. Audio
- La Pietra Scese Lungo il Fiume Polly learns that the blue stone came down from the mountains, and that it has a name. Audio
- La Pietra Blu sulla Spiaggia Polly flies along a coast between mountains and the sea, and finds a strange blue stone. Audio
- Una Spiaggia Senza Nulla Sopra Polly finds a long empty beach in a national park, and then she flies home. Audio
- L'arrivo dei surfisti The riders arrive with jet skis and long boards, ready for the giant waves. Audio
- Il Gigante The giant waves arrive, and a tiny rider flies down a wave as tall as a building. Audio
- Il ponte che ha avuto il suo prezzo Polly walks the Brooklyn Bridge, where workers got sick building it underwater, and elephants once proved... Audio
- L'animale che fa i cubi Wombats make cube shaped poop, and now we know why. Audio
- Questo uccello dorme mentre vola Frigatebirds fly for many days and sleep only a little. Audio
- Il pranzo di un intero paese In the Dominican Republic, everyone eats the same lunch at the same time. Audio
- La cena cucinata da un vulcano In the Azores, people cook food inside a hot volcano. Audio
- L'ultimo treno Tomas misses the last train in Tokyo and sleeps in a tiny room. Audio
- La tazza vuota On his first day, Pedro drinks from a cup that is not his. Audio
- Il numero quarantasette Carla waits a long time at the clinic for a small cut. Audio
- Persa a Lisbona Sofía gets lost in Lisbon and a woman helps her with a map. Audio
- La camera con il balcone Marcos gets a hotel room with a nice balcony. Audio
- Un tavolo per uno Mia eats alone in a small restaurant, and the waiter helps her choose. Audio
- La spezia che una volta costava come l'oro Saffron comes from tiny flower threads picked by hand, and for most of history a pound of it cost about the... Audio
- Il lago che sparisce ogni estate In Slovenia, a huge lake fills a valley in winter and then vanishes underground every summer, leaving... Audio
- Il parco vicino a casa mia A squirrel describes the small park next to its tree: the pigeons by the benches, Mr. Badger and his bread,... Audio
- La città che mette l'oro sul gelato Kanazawa in Japan makes almost all of the country's gold leaf, and wraps whole sheets of it around soft ice... Audio
- Il volo che dura novanta secondi A tiny plane hops between two Orkney islands in Scotland on the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Audio
- Quello che il fuoco non ha mai preso Polly looks at Kanazawa one last time, waits out the rain, and flies away over the sea. Audio
- Lanterne su una strada che lavora Polly walks a lantern-lit street of old wooden teahouses that still works today, and finds ice cream... Audio
- La cucina alle prime luci Before sunrise, Polly visits Omicho market, three hundred years old, where crabs are sold in winter. Audio
- Battuto finché quasi non c'è più Polly visits a gold leaf workshop, where a piece of gold the size of a coin becomes a sheet as big as a table. Audio
- Le sei cose che un giardino dovrebbe essere In Kenrokuen garden, Polly sees koi in a big pond and ropes that keep snow off the pine trees. Audio
- Tetti bianchi e lunghe mura At Kanazawa Castle, Polly finds long stone walls and roofs made of lead that look white. Audio
- La città che fu risparmiata Polly arrives in Kanazawa, an old city between the sea and the mountains that was never bombed in the war. Audio
- Salire Di Nuovo Polly climbs back up and leaves. Audio
- Acqua in fondo Polly finds fresh water at the bottom of the cliff. Audio
- Il rosa non esiste Pink has no wavelength of its own; it is a color the brain invents when the eyes see red and blue light... Audio
- Stai brillando proprio adesso The human body constantly emits an extremely faint light, invisible to the eye but detectable with a... Audio
- La nebbia si chiude dietro di lei On her last afternoon, Polly flies high over the island before fog rolls in and hides it behind her. Audio
- Un villaggio collegato a un vulcano Polly learns that the same volcano heat that cooked lunch also warms a big public pool and heats homes in... Audio
- Cena sepolta all'alba Polly watches a cook bury pots of food in the ground, where the volcano's heat cooks dinner with no fire. Audio
- Un cratere, due colori Polly finds a huge old crater with two lakes, one blue and one green, joined together under a strip of land. Audio
- L'uccello dato per perso due volte Polly looks for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird that lives only in one forest and was once thought to... Audio
- Gli ultimi due giardini d'Europa Polly finds one of the only two tea farms left in Europe, started after the island's orange trees died. Audio
- Nove isole, tre placche Polly arrives over São Miguel, the biggest of the nine Azores islands, made of black rock, green fields,... Audio
- Sorbisci forte, è educato In Japan, slurping your noodles loudly is not rude, it is a sign that you are enjoying the meal. Audio
- La cascata che cade verso l'alto On very windy days, strong gusts can blow a Norwegian waterfall's spray back up into the sky. Audio
- Il cerchio e la barca del mattino On her last evening, Polly finds an old stone circle and sits quietly at its edge as the sun goes down. Audio
- Il grano dei novanta giorni Polly visits an old mill and learns how a fast-growing old grain became Orkney's bread and its whisky. Audio
- Il raduno sugli scogli Polly visits a chapel built by prisoners of war from two metal huts and hears how it was made from almost... Audio
- Costruito con quello che avevano Polly finds a huge group of grey seals gathering on Orkney's rocks just before baby seals are born. Audio
- Il villaggio sotto la tempesta Polly watches a straw-backed Orkney chair get made, a design that comes from having no trees. Audio
- La sedia accanto al fuoco A storm uncovers a stone village older than Stonehenge and the pyramids. Audio
- Arriva la barca del mattino Polly flies over windy islands with no trees and learns their fields hide thousands of old, buried sites. Audio
- C'è un Wallaby a Piede Libero in Cornovaglia A small Australian kangaroo has been hopping around an English market town for days, and nobody knows where... Audio
- Grida o Perdi la Tua Fermata A shared minibus with no bell and no screen, where the only way off is to say so out loud, early and twice. Audio
- La Scogliera Sopra Di Lei Polly finds the cliff hanging over her head and watches birds dive. Audio
- Addio, città rosa Polly says goodbye and follows the river away. Audio
- Le pecore alla porta Polly walks with the sheep to the mountain. Audio
- Una giornata al fiume Polly rests by the river and sees a fox. Audio
- Gli animali dipinti Polly sees very old animal paintings on red rocks. Audio
- Il vecchio muro Polly flies to the old watchtower on the mountain. Audio
- La casa storta A stone marten shows Polly a famous crooked house. Audio
- La città rosa Polly finds a small pink town inside a river loop. Audio
- Il pranzo che non finisce mai In Spain, the best part of lunch starts when the food is finished. It even has its own name. Audio
- Non ordinare mai solo un latte in Italia In Italy, the word latte does not mean coffee. One small word can bring you a big surprise. Audio
- Polly prende l'autobus Polly's first bus ride: does this bus go downtown, one ticket, how much, where do I get off, next stop,... Audio
- Polly chiede la strada Polly is lost on the way to the library and asks an owl for directions: excuse me, where is it, is it far,... Audio
- Polly ordina un caffè Polly's first cafe order: good afternoon, a coffee with milk, do you have churros, the check please, how... Audio
- Polly al mercato Berta takes Polly to the market. Polly buys fruit for the first time: what is this, two apples, how much, a... Audio
- Polly conosce qualcuno Polly moves to a new street and meets Berta the bear. First greetings: hello, your name, nice to meet you,... Audio
- Cento Palloncini All'Alba Before sunrise, the sky over the valley began to fill with giant balloons. Audio
- Il Polpo e i Suoi Tre Cuori The octopus is a clever sea animal with three hearts and blue blood. Audio
- I cavi sotto il mare Long cables under the ocean carry almost all of the information that travels between countries. Audio
- Da dove viene il caffè Coffee begins as a red fruit on a green plant and travels far before it fills a cup. Audio
- Dormire su un treno di notte Night trains in Europe carry travelers between cities while they sleep in cozy beds. Audio
- Come le Api Fanno il Miele Honeybees turn sweet flower nectar into golden honey through hard teamwork in the hive. Audio
- La Lunga Via della Seta The Silk Road was a famous trade route that linked China with Europe for many centuries. Audio
- L'uccellino nell'orologio In Germany's Black Forest, carved wooden cuckoo clocks call out every hour while children wait and laugh. Audio
- Il pesce che scala le cascate In Hawaii, a fish smaller than your finger climbs up waterfalls taller than buildings, using its mouth as a... Audio
- La città dove era vietato morire When a small Italian town ran out of space in its cemetery, the mayor signed an order telling people not to... Audio
- Il gatto che prende l'autobus Every morning a cat climbs onto the same city bus, watches the streets go by, and gets off at his own stop. Audio
- La prima luce nel villaggio While the whole village sleeps, one window glows: the baker lights the oven so fresh bread will be ready by... Audio
- Vapore e piccoli piatti A first night at a Taipei night market, where pointing, smiling, and one brave question buy a very good... Audio
- I Cammelli di Pietra Polly hopped along the wall beside the little channel. Audio
- Il Mare Verde Polly flies over the Amazon, a green forest like a sea, with the biggest river in the world. Audio
- Il sole che non tramonta On her last night the sun never sets, and Polly sees her whole week before she says goodbye to Iceland. Audio
- La lunga corsa chiamata maratona The marathon is a very long running race with a curious and surprising history. Audio
- Il Rio delle Amazzoni, il fiume più grande The Amazon is the river that carries the most water in the world. Audio
- Vladivostok Polly arrives in Vladivostok and flies off over the Pacific Ocean. Audio
- L'Amur Polly reaches the Amur River and meets a rare crane on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian. Audio
- Lago Baikal Polly spends a day on the train along Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on Earth. Audio
- Fusi Orari Polly explores the dining car and learns that the train uses one time zone across all of Russia. Audio
- Attraversando gli Urali Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the line between Europe and Asia, on the Trans-Siberian train. Audio
- Le Foreste di Betulle Polly watches Russian birch forests from the Trans-Siberian train and learns that forty percent of Russia... Audio
- Stazione di Yaroslavsky Polly boards the Trans-Siberian train at Moscow and begins her seven-day journey to Vladivostok. Audio
- Addio alla Pasta Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples. Audio
- L'Editore di Se Stesso Polly learns that octopuses can change their own nervous systems by editing RNA in real time. Audio
- Pizza e la Lunga Pausa Pranzo Polly has lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria and learns about traditional Neapolitan pizza. Audio
- La Pelle che Vede Polly learns that octopus skin can sense colours even though octopus eyes cannot. Audio
- Il Corpo che Pensa Polly watches an octopus solve a maze with two arms working independently. Audio
- Il Barattolo Polly watches an octopus open a jar to catch a crab and learns how short an octopus's life is. Audio
- La Baia di Napoli Polly arrives in Naples and meets a giant Pacific octopus at the world's oldest marine biology institute. Audio
- Lasciando la Valle Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite. Audio
- La Via Lattea sopra Glacier Point Polly watches the Milky Way at Glacier Point and looks through a telescope at the centre of our galaxy. Audio
- Mezza Cupola Polly flies up Half Dome on warm air with a flock of swifts, sees the summit, then glides back down. Audio
- Il Falco in Picchiata Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive, learning what makes the falcon the fastest animal in the world. Audio
- La Sequoia Polly visits a giant sequoia nearly 3,000 years old and learns about its fireproof bark. Audio
- In Giro con il Ranger Tomas Polly spends the morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning about bear feeding and peregrine falcon nests. Audio
- Sopra la Valle Polly flies into Yosemite Valley, watches climbers on El Capitan, and rides the shuttle bus at dusk. Audio
- L'odore di cannella A new neighbor leaves a small surprise outside her door. Audio
- Due chili di pazienza A first trip to the local market with a vendor who refuses to let her leave with the wrong tomatoes. Audio
- Polly e la Lingua Antica Polly, the curious parrot, delves into the mystery of Echoing Canyon's cryptic echoes. Guided by local... Audio
- Polly e il Canyon che Echeggia Polly the parrot, exploring the American Southwest, discovers a mysterious echo in Echoing Canyon that... Audio
- Polly Incontra un Pittore Polly the parrot visits Paris. Polly sees the Eiffel Tower and tries a croissant. Polly meets a painter in... Audio
- Polly Visita Parigi Polly the parrot visits Paris. Polly sees the Eiffel Tower and tries a croissant. Audio
- Una Corsa per il Tesoro Polly, Leila, and Omar team up to find the treasure, racing through Marrakech as obstacles arise, including... Audio
B1 · Finding your flow
Polly's weekly adventures and real-world stories.
- Il Lago Che Sta Sotto il Mare Polly finds the largest lake in the Caribbean, saltier than the ocean, lying in a valley lower than the sea. Audio
- Risali il Fiume e la Troverai The blue stone came down the river, not out of the sea. Polly follows it up into the mountains. Audio
- Otto Chilometri Senza Nulla Sopra Polly finds an empty protected bay at the far corner of the country, then flies home over the coffee... Audio
- La Strada Senza Più Spazio Polly arrives in the southwest of the Dominican Republic, where the mountains meet the sea, and finds one... Audio
- La corsa in cui vince sempre il formaggio Once a year in England, people chase a wheel of cheese down a dangerously steep hill, and the cheese almost... Audio
- Due animali nuovissimi, grandi quanto un'unghia Scientists in Montenegro just described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- Il giorno in cui un vero insetto ruppe un computer In nineteen forty-seven, engineers found an actual moth stuck inside a giant computer, taped it into their... Audio
- Il gamberetto con un sole dentro la chela A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so fast that it creates a flash of heat nearly as hot as the surface of... Audio
- La casa divisa tra due paesi In a small town on the Belgian-Dutch border, some houses sit in two countries at once, and the front door... Audio
- L'esercito che perse contro gli uccelli In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was sent against emus eating the wheat crop in Western... Audio
- Gli scimpanzé hanno l'accento A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls found that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- Internet vive sott'acqua Almost all international internet traffic travels along cables lying on the sea floor, which break... Audio
- La città che vive in un solo palazzo Almost every resident of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building reached through a... Audio
- Diecimila atleti, una sola serata di apertura The 2026 Asian Games, hosted jointly by Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, bring together roughly ten thousand... Audio
- La banca che accetta solo formaggio An Italian bank keeps a vault holding more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Quel numero della batteria è una supposizione A phone's battery percentage is not a direct measurement, but an estimate calculated from voltage and... Audio
- Questa spiaggia è fatta di spazzatura A sparkling beach in Northern California is made entirely of old dumped glass, smoothed into colorful... Audio
- Questo edificio non ha il quarto piano In much of East Asia, elevators skip the number four entirely, because it sounds exactly like the word for... Audio
- Un braccio che sa assaggiare Octopus suckers contain special receptors that let an arm taste whatever it touches, even in total darkness. Audio
- Lo stipendio più grande nella storia dell'atletica A brand new athletics championship this month paid its winners more than the sport has ever offered before. Audio
- Insegnare a un computer a parlare balena Researchers are using artificial intelligence to search for real structure inside the clicking patterns of... Audio
- Il lento battito degli alberi Laser scans at night revealed that trees pulse gently every few hours, possibly pumping water through their... Audio
- Fiori alle tre del mattino At three in the morning, Bangkok's biggest flower market is more awake than midday, and it never really... Audio
- Il Pranzo Che un Intero Paese Mangia In the Dominican Republic the main meal lands at midday, it is almost always the same three things, and the... Audio
- La Tua Mappa Sarebbe Sbagliata Prima di Pranzo Satellite clocks tick faster than clocks on the ground, and if nobody corrected for it your phone would... Audio
- Tu Brilli. Nessuno Può Vederlo. Human skin gives off a faint light all day long, and a Japanese team photographed it in a sealed dark room. Audio
- Questo Blu Esiste in un Solo Posto A stony beach in the Dominican southwest, one pebble that is blue all the way through, and the single... Audio
- Partire alle prime luci Polly watches one last sunrise with Berta and follows the river out of town. Audio
- Il pastore alla porta Polly follows a flock of sheep, a shepherd and his big mastiff dog to the high meadows. Audio
- Il fiume che circonda la città Polly has a slow day at the river and meets a fox at dusk. Audio
- Gli animali dipinti delle rocce rosse Polly visits the red rocks in the forest and finds animal paintings that are thousands of years old. Audio
- Il muro che scala la montagna Polly flies up the old wall to the watchtower and learns its thousand year story. Audio
- Berta e le case pendenti Berta, an old stone marten, shows Polly the crooked streets and a famous leaning house. Audio
- La città nell'abbraccio del fiume Polly follows a looping river and finds Albarracín, a small pink town in the hills of Spain. Audio
- Un caffè, due paesi In one small town, the border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs straight through streets, houses and... Audio
- I tuoi messaggi viaggiano sott'acqua Almost everything you send across an ocean travels through cables lying on the sea floor, not through... Audio
- La spiaggia che brilla di blu la notte On some warm coasts, the sea lights up electric blue when you touch it. The light comes from billions of... Audio
- L'hotel che si muove mentre dormi On a European night train, you fall asleep in one country and wake up in another, with the Alps outside... Audio
- Il giorno in cui il sole si è spento This week, northern Spain watched the first total solar eclipse over mainland Europe in twenty seven years. Audio
- La città che ha riscoperto un fiume For fifty years, Seoul hid a river under an elevated highway. Then the city tore the highway down, and the... Audio
- Un pranzo cucinato da un vulcano On a green island in the Azores, cooks lower a pot into a hot hole in the ground and let the earth slowly... Audio
- Camminando sul Fondo del Mare Twice a day the North Sea pulls back for kilometres, and people walk barefoot across the bare seabed before... Audio
- Gli antichi esseri umani prosperavano nella foresta pluviale Scientists once thought ancient humans avoided rainforests. New evidence from West Africa says they thrived... Audio
- Perché il tuo telefono si spegne al freddo Your phone shows forty percent battery, then dies in the snow. The battery is not empty. It is cold, and... Audio
- Perché il Miele di 3000 Anni Fa è Ancora Commestibile Honey jars from Egyptian tombs three thousand years old are still edible. The chemistry behind a food that... Audio
- La Partita di Tennis che Durò Tre Giorni The longest tennis match ever played: Isner vs. Mahut, Wimbledon 2010, eleven hours, three days, a final... Audio
- Il Polpo che Scassinò la Serratura An octopus called Inky escaped his aquarium tank at night through a drain pipe, and what it reveals about... Audio
- Il castello che il re abitò appena A Bavarian king built a fairy-tale castle on an alpine crag, slept there only a handful of nights, and left... Audio
- Dieci chilometri di altezza Passenger planes cruise about ten kilometres above the ground. That number is not random: it is where the... Audio
- La Terra Respira Polly watches a geyser erupt, learns why hot water shoots up, and finds a country that heats its homes from... Audio
- Pizza e il Lungo Pranzo Polly has the long Italian lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria, learning the protected rules of... Audio
- In Viaggio con il Ranger Tomas Polly spends a morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning how he tracks bear feeding in wildflower meadows... Audio
- Numero quarantasette A small injury, an old magazine, and a waiting room that teaches patience. Audio
- Il treno per Granada An overheard phone call on the train turns a long trip into a kind of company. Audio
- La libreria sbagliata A simple coffee order leads to a strange conversation about a bookshop that doesn't exist anymore. Audio
- La stanza 304 ha vista A late check-in turns into a small gift when the hotel runs out of rooms on the lower floors. Audio
- L'ombra del corridore Polly arrives in Tromsø during the midnight sun and meets Astrid, a 67-year-old marathoner trying to... Audio
B2 · Building confidence
Real places, real news, richer language.
C1 · Stretch yourself
Rich, natural texts about places, history and ideas.
- Due specie mai classificate, trovate su una parete rocciosa Scientists in Montenegro have described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- La guerra che l'Australia perse contro gli emù In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was deployed against emus devastating the wheat crop in... Audio
- Gli scimpanzé, a quanto pare, hanno un accento A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls finds that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- La banca che concede prestiti in cambio di formaggio An Italian bank stores and ages more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Perché la tua mappa sbaglierebbe già prima di pranzo Satellites tick at a different rate than clocks on the ground, and without a deliberate correction your... Audio
- Il bagliore che la tua pelle non smette mai di emettere Human skin gives off a faint light around the clock, invisible to the eye, as a Japanese team confirmed by... Audio
- Che cosa porta davvero le tue parole oltreoceano Almost everything sent between continents travels not through satellites but through cables lying on the... Audio
- L'albergo che attraversa i confini mentre dormi On a European night train, a traveller falls asleep in one country and wakes in another, with the Alps... Audio
- Il fiume che Seoul ha tenuto segreto per mezzo secolo Seoul spent decades entombing a river beneath a highway, then reversed course and dug it back into the... Audio
- Quello che la domenica ancora pretende An adult granddaughter returns home for Sunday paella and discovers that her octogenarian grandfather's... Audio
- La città che vive dentro un solo edificio Almost the entire population of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building, reached... Audio
- Un bar, due paesi In the Belgian Dutch town of Baarle, the international border runs straight through streets, houses, and... Audio
- Il castello che il suo re vide a malapena Bavaria's King Ludwig the Second poured a fortune into a fairy tale castle he would inhabit for barely a... Audio
- A piedi sul fondo del mare Twice each day, the tide withdraws for kilometres along the Wattenmeer coast, inviting walkers onto the... Audio
- Il telefono non è morto. Ha solo freddo. A phone that shows forty percent battery and then dies the moment you step into the cold has not run out of... Audio
- A dieci chilometri d'altezza Passenger jets cruise about ten kilometres up not for the view but because that is where thin air starts... Audio
- Il miele che è sopravvissuto agli imperi Honey sealed inside Egyptian tombs thousands of years ago remains perfectly edible today, and the reason... Audio
- Il polpo evaso dalla sua vasca An octopus named Inky vanished from a New Zealand aquarium overnight, and the ingenious route he took to... Audio
- La balena che ha percorso quindicimila chilometri Polly learns about two humpback whales who swam 14,000+ km from Australia to Brazil, breaking the world... Audio
- Scalando il Luogo Più Arido Polly arrives at ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama, the driest place on Earth, where four enormous... Audio
- Lasciare la Valle Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas at the visitor centre and lifts off west out of Yosemite, leaving behind... Audio
- La Via Lattea su Glacier Point Polly watches sunset from Glacier Point and stays for the Milky Way, looking through a park astronomer's... Audio