Italian, the slow way

Learn a language by reading the things you love.

Short bilingual stories, slow podcasts, real-life scenes, and Olo — a tutor who gets you speaking. At your level, every day. Tomorrow's lesson is built from the words you met today.

Bilingual A1 → C1 iPhone & web
Verso home screen showing a Buon pomeriggio greeting, a Sotto il Rialto featured scene, a review reminder, and a Listen row of short Italian lessons

Four ways in. One quiet habit.

Most apps drill you with translations. Verso meets a word four ways — in a lesson, in a scene, in a story, in a chat — and every word you meet joins your review deck, so it sticks where words actually live: in moments.
1 Tutor

Lessons with Olo. Out loud.

Step-by-step lessons from A1 to C1. Olo teaches one idea, then you practise it by speaking — hold the mic and answer. Gentle corrections, never a red X.

Come ti chiami?
Mi chiamo Sara.
Perfetto! Piacere, Sara.
2 Describe

Real-life scenes, narrated in Italian.

Short slice-of-life clips with native narration. Watch, listen, absorb. Each scene resurfaces at the right time so the words stick — not when an algorithm wants engagement.

3 Read

Bilingual short stories.

Every Italian word is tappable. Tap once for an instant gloss, lemma, and audio. Save it with one tap and it becomes tomorrow's lesson.

tiepida lukewarm
ADJ
odorare to smell
V
strada street
N · F
4 Chat

Practice the conversations you'd actually have.

Pick a scenario — a friend, a restaurant, a job interview — and Verso plays the other side at your level. No script, no judgment.

Cosa vuoi mangiare?
Vorrei una pizza, per favore.
Da bere?
Feature · 01 Tutor

A tutor in your pocket. Who never sighs.

Olo walks you through short lessons on a map — greetings, ordering, the past tense, opinions. First a quick explanation with native-sounding audio, then practice: Olo asks, you answer out loud, and the conversation carries on from what you said.

  • Speak, don't tap. Hold the mic and answer. Olo understands imperfect Italian and nudges you toward the right form.
  • A path from A1 to C1. Lessons build on each other, and a placement test starts you at the right stop.
  • Words that stay. Every lesson's vocabulary joins your review deck automatically.
Verso tutor map: Olo standing on the first A1 lesson, Ciao, come ti chiami?, on a felted Tuscan village path of lessons
Feature · 02 Describe

Italian in thirty-second scenes.

Real-life situations — a kitchen, a café, a market — with native Italian narration and bilingual captions. The kind of language you'd actually hear, paired to the moment you'd hear it.

  • Bilingual captions. Italian on top, English below. Tap any word for a translation.
  • Tagged by situation and level. Filter by what you want to learn — and what you can handle.
  • Spaced-repetition resurfacing. Each scene comes back when you'd benefit from a re-watch, not when an algorithm wants engagement.
Describe scene showing a gondola on a Venice canal by the Rialto bridge, with the bilingual Italian and English caption 'I turisti salgono sulla gondola' below
Feature · 03 Read

Tap any word. Italy answers back.

Every Italian word is tappable. Open it for an instant gloss, lemma, and audio. Save it in one gesture — and it becomes tomorrow's lesson, on its own schedule.

  • Paragraph-aligned English. Read the Italian, glance at the meaning, never lose the thread.
  • One-tap save. Build your vocab deck while you read, without breaking the page.
  • Stories at every CEFR level. A1 first words to C1 nuance — start where you are, grow into the rest.
Story reader screen showing Il gatto del cortile, an Italian paragraph with tap-underlined words and an audio player at the bottom
Feature · 04 Chat

Speak Italian. No stage fright.

Pick a scenario — coffee with a friend, ordering at a restaurant, a first date — and Verso plays the other side. The conversation adapts to your CEFR level, so you're stretched, not stuck.

  • Six everyday scenarios — Amici, Al lavoro, In viaggio, In famiglia, Al ristorante, Un appuntamento.
  • Conversations at your level. A1 stays gentle. C1 doesn't pull punches.
  • Pause and resume any chat — no streak penalty, no progress lost.
Chat con Verso screen showing six conversation scenarios at A2 level — Amici, Al lavoro, In viaggio, In famiglia, Al ristorante, Un appuntamento

Meets you at your level.

A short placement test on first launch puts you in the right level. Every story, scene, and lesson scales with you — A1 through C1, on the CEFR scale.
CEFR
A1
First words
CEFR
A2
Daily life
CEFR
B1
Conversations
CEFR
B2
Opinions
CEFR
C1
Nuance

Free to start. Cheaper than a coffee in Rome.

Free gets you a taste of everything, every day. Plus removes the caps and funds new content. That's the whole deal.

Free

€0 forever

For trying it on.

  • 10 minutes a day across stories, podcasts, and scenes
  • 3 tutor lessons a week with Olo
  • A daily practice chat
  • Full spaced-repetition review — no daily cap
  • All CEFR levels A1 → C1
Start free

Guides for English speakers.

How to learn Italian, the apps and books worth your time, and what to read first. All guides →

Questions, honestly answered.

This is a young app made by a solo indie team. The list of features is small and we'd rather underclaim than oversell.

01

Do I need to know any Italian to start?

No. A1 content assumes nothing. A short placement test on first launch puts you on the right level.

02

How much time per day?

Five minutes is the daily goal. The free tier gives you ten minutes a day plus three tutor lessons a week before nudging you to Plus. Most days, that's enough.

03

What if I miss a day?

No streak shaming. Your review queue waits and reshuffles, so you're never staring at hundreds of cards on Monday morning.

04

iPad? Android? A laptop?

The iPhone app is on the App Store. Everywhere else — Android, iPad, a laptop — open app.get-verso.org in your browser. Nothing to install. A native Android app is in the works.

05

Is the audio a native speaker?

The narration and Olo's voice use high-quality AI Italian voices, tuned to sound natural and clear. They aren't recordings of people — we'd rather tell you than let you guess.

06

Why not gamified like Duolingo?

Because games teach you to play games. Verso teaches a language the way you'd actually pick one up — by reading, listening, and forgetting on schedule.

Today is a good day to start reading Italian.

Download Verso or open it in your browser, take the level test, and your first story is waiting on the other side.