This highly successful, market leading text for an introductory Italian course features a balanced, flexible approach that stresses communicative competency and cultural awareness. The 18 thematically organized chapters present grammar and vocabulary in context and offer a wide range of practice activities including personalised exercises, interviews and role-plays. The new seventh edition has been subject to numerous improvements including; culture notes reflecting the diverse aspects of contemporary Italian culture; explanations of Italian sounds, stress and syllabication; clear, easy to follow grammar explanations in English; the inclusion of cinema and politics in the lesson themes; A new Oggi in Italia CD Rom features short clips and transcripts and links to a bilingual glossary while the text specific web site has been created to increase the students cultural awareness.