Non è sempre la solita storia helps students explore the language and culture of Italy in a meaningful, up-to-date context. Readers will engage in and learn from the story of a group of young artists who start their own company. They collaborate with an American artist to stage an exhibition set in Ca' Dario, the most haunted house in Venice.

An immersion text, the language, grammar, and cultural instruction come together seamlessly. A visual dictionary provides pictorial clues to new words in the texts. True/false questions after each reading allow students to immediately check comprehension. Target vocabulary and grammatical structures are recycled throughout the text for review and to function as building blocks for new language and conversational skills. All verbs are used in the past tense, as is appropriate for the intermediate level.

Non è sempre la solita storia is appropriate for intermediate Italian, and can also serve as a review and refresher for students at the advanced level.