Chapter 9: Interviste e testimonianze | Speak and Write Italian, Volume III

Chapter Overview and Objectives

After their walk through the neighborhood, Elena, Marco, and Chiara decide to do something more deliberate with what they heard: they arrange to interview Signor Bruno, an elderly neighbor who has lived on their street for over fifty years, about how the neighborhood has changed. This chapter turns Unit II, Media e società, from describing places toward reporting what people say about their own experience. You will learn to understand an interview, ask follow-up questions, and report what someone told you using reported speech with verbs like ha detto che, ha spiegato che, and ha raccontato che, and you will begin forming indirect questions to relay what someone asked or wanted to know. By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Understand the main content and structure of a short interview or personal testimony.
Ask natural follow-up questions in an interview setting.
Report what someone said using ha detto che, ha spiegato che, and ha raccontato che.
Form controlled indirect questions to relay what someone asked.
Track who is speaking and whose perspective is being reported across a longer account.
Write a short reported account of another person's experience.

Communication Scenario

Chiara suggests that instead of only talking among themselves about the neighborhood, they should ask someone who has actually seen it change. Signor Bruno, who has lived on their street since he was a young man, agrees to sit with them for a short interview on a bench near the piazza.

You will read and listen to Elena, Marco, and Chiara interview Signor Bruno about how the neighborhood has changed, noticing how they ask follow-up questions and later report what he said.
You will then complete your own interview task: reading a short testimony, and writing a reported account of someone else's experience.

Where This Chapter Fits

Chapter 9 completes Unit II, Media e società, and introduces its major productive grammar target: reported speech with ha detto che, ha spiegato che, and ha raccontato che, along with controlled indirect questions. This chapter reuses the relative clauses from Chapter 8 in passing, as tools for describing the person and place being discussed, rather than reintroducing them as new material.

Coming Into This Chapter

You closed Chapter 8 able to describe a place, tradition, or neighborhood using relative clauses with che, cui, and dove, and to scope cultural claims carefully.

In This Chapter

You will understand and conduct a short interview, ask follow-up questions, and report what someone told you, tracking whose perspective is being relayed as you move between direct and reported speech.

Looking Forward

Chapter 10, Verifica 2: Media e società, consolidates Chapters 6-9 without introducing new productive systems, checking your ability to summarize media, interpret rules, describe culture, and report an interview together.

Vocabolario — Core Vocabulary

Core Vocabulary

This chapter introduces productive vocabulary for conducting and reporting an interview, along with a smaller set of receptive items connected to formal reported speech and interview conventions.

Italian	English	Notes
l'intervista	the interview	productive
la testimonianza	the testimony, account	productive
il ricordo	the memory	productive
raccontare	to tell, recount	productive
spiegare	to explain	productive
dichiarare	to state, declare	productive
chiedere (a qualcuno)	to ask (someone)	productive
rispondere	to answer	productive
l'esperienza	the experience	productive
il punto di vista	the point of view	productive
approfondire	to go into more depth	productive
a proposito di…	speaking of…, regarding…	productive
secondo lui/lei	according to him/her	productive
mi chiedevo se…	I was wondering whether…	productive
l'intervistato/l'intervistata	the interviewee	receptive
cioè	that is, I mean	receptive/filler
insomma	well, in short	receptive/filler
sbobinare	to transcribe (a recording)	receptive

Cioè and insomma are common spoken fillers that appear in authentic interviews; you should recognize them when you hear or read them, but you are not expected to produce them deliberately at this stage.

Pronunciation Focus

Pronunciation Focus — interview intonation

Interview questions often rise gently toward the end, even when they are not yes-no questions, to signal genuine curiosity rather than a formal test: E come si è trasformato il quartiere in tutti questi anni? Practice this rising, interested tone separately from the flatter tone used to state a fact.

9.1 Turn-taking and backchanneling

Italian speakers commonly show they are listening with short sounds and words such as mm, certo, capisco, and davvero?, often overlapping slightly with the speaker rather than waiting for a complete silence. This is a sign of engagement, not interruption.

9.2 Rhythm in reported speech

When you shift from quoting someone directly to reporting what they said, your pitch tends to fall and become more even: compare the more animated "Questo quartiere era completamente diverso!" with the flatter Ha detto che il quartiere era completamente diverso. Practice this shift deliberately so your reported speech does not sound like a direct quotation.

Grammar and Sentence Patterns

Language Focus — reported speech with ha detto che

To report what someone said, use a reporting verb followed by che and a clause: Il signor Bruno ha detto che il quartiere era molto diverso cinquant'anni fa. (Mr. Bruno said that the neighborhood was very different fifty years ago.) Notice that a present-tense statement ("il quartiere è diverso") often shifts to the imperfect when reported after a past-tense reporting verb, because the speaker is describing an ongoing state at that past moment. This chapter treats this shift as a pattern to notice and use in high-frequency cases, not as a complete tense-shifting system.

Language Focus — reported speech with ha spiegato che and ha raccontato che

Ha spiegato che introduces an explanation or clarification: Ha spiegato che il mercato si è spostato negli anni Novanta. (He explained that the market moved in the nineties.) Ha raccontato che introduces a narrated memory or story: Ci ha raccontato che da bambino giocava in quella piazza con gli amici. (He told us that as a child he used to play in that square with his friends.) Choose the reporting verb that matches what kind of information is being relayed: a fact, an explanation, or a story.

Language Focus — indirect questions

An indirect question reports what someone asked, without using question marks or direct word order: Gli abbiamo chiesto se ricordava il vecchio mercato. (We asked him whether he remembered the old market.) Gli abbiamo chiesto come fosse cambiato il quartiere. (We asked him how the neighborhood had changed.) Use se to introduce a reported yes-no question, and a question word (come, quando, perché, cosa) to introduce a reported information question. This chapter introduces indirect questions in a small set of controlled, high-frequency frames rather than as a fully developed system.

Language Focus — pronoun reference across a reported account

When you report a longer account, keep track of whose perspective each pronoun expresses: Il signor Bruno ci ha detto che, quando lui era giovane, i suoi genitori gestivano un piccolo negozio proprio lì. (Mr. Bruno told us that when he was young, his parents ran a small shop right there.) Here lui and suoi refer back to il signor Bruno, not to the speaker reporting the account. Ambiguous pronoun reference is one of the most common errors when learners begin reporting longer testimonies.

This chapter reviews relative clauses (il quartiere in cui è cresciuto) as recycled material from Chapter 8; it does not introduce new relative-clause patterns. Focus your new productive effort on reported speech and indirect questions.

Model Dialogue

Setting: Elena, Marco, and Chiara sit with Signor Bruno on a bench near the piazza, recording a short interview.

Chiara Signor Bruno, da quanto tempo abita in questo quartiere? seen-YOR BROO-no, da KWAN-to TEM-po a-BEE-ta in KWEH-sto kwar-TYEH-reh? Mr. Bruno, how long have you lived in this neighborhood?

Signor Bruno Da più di cinquant'anni. Sono arrivato qui da ragazzo, con i miei genitori. da PYOO dee CHEEN-kwan-TAN-nee. SO-no ar-ree-VA-to kwee da ra-GAT-tso, kon ee myay-ee jeh-nee-TO-ree. For more than fifty years. I arrived here as a boy, with my parents.

Marco E come si è trasformato il quartiere in tutti questi anni? eh KO-meh see EH tras-for-MA-to eel kwar-TYEH-reh in TOOT-tee KWEH-stee AN-nee? And how has the neighborhood changed over all these years?

Signor Bruno Moltissimo. I miei genitori gestivano un piccolo negozio proprio lì, dove ora c'è la banca. Il quartiere era più povero, ma tutti si conoscevano. mol-TEES-see-mo. ee myay-ee jeh-nee-TO-ree jeh-STEE-va-no oon peek-KO-lo neh-GO-tsyo PRO-pryo lee, DO-veh O-ra CHEH la BAN-ka. eel kwar-TYEH-reh EH-ra PYOO PO-veh-ro, ma TOOT-tee see ko-no-SHEH-va-no. A great deal. My parents ran a small shop right there, where the bank is now. The neighborhood was poorer, but everyone knew each other.

Elena Mi chiedevo se ricordasse ancora il vecchio mercato, quello di cui ci hanno parlato. mee kyeh-DEH-vo seh ree-kor-DAS-seh an-KO-ra eel VEK-kyo mehr-KA-to, KWEL-lo dee koo-ee chee AN-no par-LA-to. I was wondering whether you still remembered the old market, the one people have told us about.

Signor Bruno Certo che me lo ricordo! Cioè, era il cuore del quartiere. Ci raccontava sempre mio padre che si trovava qualsiasi cosa lì. CHEHR-to keh meh lo ree-KOR-do! cho-EH, EH-ra eel KWO-reh del kwar-TYEH-reh. chee rak-kon-TA-va SEHM-preh myo PA-dreh keh see tro-VA-va kwal-SEE-a-see KO-za lee. Of course I remember it! I mean, it was the heart of the neighborhood. My father used to always tell us that you could find anything there.

Marco Grazie mille, signor Bruno. Ha detto delle cose davvero interessanti. GRA-tsyeh MEEL-leh, seen-YOR BROO-no. a DET-to DEL-leh KO-zeh dav-VEH-ro in-tehr-eh-SSAN-tee. Thank you very much, Mr. Bruno. You've said some really interesting things.

Domande di comprensione — Comprehension questions:

How long has Signor Bruno lived in the neighborhood, and how did he arrive there?
What does Signor Bruno say his parents used to do, and where?
What does Signor Bruno say about the old market?

Guided Practice

Esercizio 1 — Rewrite each direct statement as reported speech, choosing ha detto che, ha spiegato che, or ha raccontato che:

Signor Bruno: "Il quartiere era più povero." → Signor Bruno ______
Signor Bruno: "Il mercato si è spostato negli anni Novanta." → Signor Bruno ______
Signor Bruno: "Da bambino giocavo in quella piazza." → Signor Bruno ______

Esercizio 2 — Turn each direct question into an indirect question:

"Ricorda il vecchio mercato?" → Gli abbiamo chiesto se ______
"Come è cambiato il quartiere?" → Gli abbiamo chiesto come ______

Esercizio 3 — Choose the pronoun that correctly refers to Signor Bruno: I ______ genitori gestivano un negozio (suoi / miei).

Esercizio 4 — Read the short testimony below and underline every reported-speech verb, identifying whether it introduces a fact, an explanation, or a story.

Listening Practice

Ask an instructor, study partner, or fluent Italian speaker to read the passage below aloud, at a natural pace, twice.

If no speakers are available, this is a Listening Script for Independent Use. Read it aloud yourself, slowly at first, then at a more natural pace. Any spoken model should be verified by a fluent Italian speaker before being treated as a pronunciation standard.

Dopo l'intervista — After the interview:
Dopo aver parlato con il signor Bruno, Chiara ha riassunto l'intervista per un'amica che non era presente. Ha detto che il signor Bruno vive nel quartiere da più di cinquant'anni e che è arrivato lì da ragazzo con i suoi genitori. Ha spiegato che i genitori del signor Bruno gestivano un piccolo negozio proprio dove oggi c'è la banca, e che il quartiere, a quei tempi, era più povero ma più unito. Ha anche raccontato che suo padre parlava spesso del vecchio mercato, dove si trovava qualsiasi cosa. Alla fine, Chiara ha detto che le sarebbe piaciuto intervistare anche altri vicini, per raccogliere più punti di vista sulla storia del quartiere.

Compito di ascolto — Listening task:

Question	Answer
How long has Signor Bruno lived in the neighborhood, according to Chiara's summary?	______
What did Signor Bruno's parents do, according to the summary?	______
What does Chiara say she would like to do next?	______

Speaking Practice

Pratica controllata — Controlled practice: report a statement

With a partner, take turns making a simple statement about your own past, then reporting your partner's statement aloud using ha detto che, ha spiegato che, or ha raccontato che.

Compito comunicativo — Communicative task: mini-interview

Interview a partner about a place that has changed in their own life (a neighborhood, school, or town), asking at least three follow-up questions, including one indirect question such as Volevo chiedere se….

Portfolio orale — Oral portfolio: report the interview

Give a short oral summary of the interview you conducted, reporting at least three things your partner told you and preserving their point of view accurately.

Reading Practice

Read the short testimony below, adapted for this level.

La testimonianza della signora Rossi — Mrs. Rossi's testimony

La signora Rossi, che abita nel palazzo accanto alla piazza, ci ha raccontato la sua esperienza. Ha detto che si è trasferita nel quartiere quarant'anni fa, subito dopo essersi sposata. Ha spiegato che, all'inizio, non conosceva quasi nessuno, ma che il mercato rionale l'ha aiutata a integrarsi: ci andava ogni settimana e, poco a poco, ha fatto amicizia con i commercianti e con altre famiglie. Le abbiamo chiesto se, secondo lei, il quartiere avesse mantenuto lo stesso spirito di un tempo. Ha risposto che, per certi versi sì: la gente si saluta ancora per strada, anche se oggi ci sono molte più famiglie arrivate da altre città e da altri paesi. Secondo lei, questo non ha indebolito il quartiere, ma lo ha reso più ricco.

Mrs. Rossi, who lives in the building next to the square, told us about her experience. She said that she moved to the neighborhood forty years ago, right after getting married. She explained that, at first, she knew almost no one, but that the neighborhood market helped her integrate: she went there every week and, little by little, made friends with the shopkeepers and other families. We asked her whether, in her opinion, the neighborhood had kept the same spirit as before. She replied that, in some ways, yes: people still greet each other on the street, even though today there are many more families who have arrived from other cities and other countries. In her opinion, this has not weakened the neighborhood, but has made it richer.

Domande di comprensione — Comprehension questions:

When and why did Mrs. Rossi move to the neighborhood?
According to the testimony, what helped her integrate into the neighborhood?
Identify one indirect question and one reported statement in the passage.

Writing Workshop

Write a short reported account of someone else's experience.

Compito di scrittura — Writing task: Interview a friend, family member, or classmate (in English or Italian, as needed) about a place that has changed in their life, or use the interview you conducted in the speaking practice above. Then write eight to ten sentences in Italian reporting what they told you. Use at least three reported-speech verbs (ha detto che, ha spiegato che, ha raccontato che) and at least one indirect question.

Introduce the person. Say who they are and their connection to the place.
Report a fact using ha detto che. Relay a simple piece of information.
Report an explanation using ha spiegato che. Relay a cause or reason they gave.
Report a memory using ha raccontato che. Relay a short story or recollection.
Include one indirect question. Report something you asked them.
Close with their overall perspective. Use secondo lui/lei to summarize their point of view.

Lista di controllo — Editing checklist:

At least three reported-speech verbs are used correctly.
At least one indirect question is included.
Pronouns clearly refer back to the person being reported, not to the writer.
The account preserves the person's point of view rather than distorting it.
Accents, apostrophes, and quotation conventions are checked throughout.

Culture and Communication

Culture in Context — interview style and medium

An interview conducted for a neighborhood project, a school assignment, a newspaper, or a family history can differ considerably in tone and formality. A conversation with an elderly neighbor on a bench is naturally more informal than a recorded interview for a local newspaper, even when the topic is the same.

Culture in Context — reporting accurately

When reporting someone's testimony, preserving their stance and meaning matters more than producing an elegant sentence. Distorting what a person said, even unintentionally through careless pronoun reference or an inaccurate reporting verb, misrepresents their experience.

Common Mistakes

Common Mistake — using direct question order inside an indirect question

Error: Writing Gli abbiamo chiesto come è cambiato il quartiere? with a question mark and direct word order.

Correction: Gli abbiamo chiesto come fosse cambiato il quartiere. is preferred in careful writing; no question mark is used, since the sentence is a statement reporting a question, not a question itself.

Common Mistake — losing track of whose pronoun is whose

Error: Writing Ha detto che i miei genitori gestivano un negozio when reporting what Signor Bruno said about his own parents.

Correction: Ha detto che i suoi genitori gestivano un negozio is required, since the parents belong to the person being quoted, not to the speaker reporting the account.

Common Mistake — treating every reported statement the same way

Error: Using ha detto che for every kind of reported information, including memories and explanations.

Correction: Choose the verb that matches the content: ha spiegato che for a reason or clarification, ha raccontato che for a story or memory, and ha detto che for a simple statement.

Chapter Summary

This chapter turned Unit II from describing places toward reporting what people say about their own experience. You learned to conduct a short interview, ask follow-up and indirect questions, and report what someone told you using ha detto che, ha spiegato che, and ha raccontato che, while carefully tracking whose perspective each pronoun expresses. Elena, Marco, and Chiara moved from exploring their neighborhood on their own to hearing it described by someone who has watched it change for fifty years.

Chapter Review

Parte A — Comprensione (Comprehension)

1. Return to the model dialogue and answer in English:

How long has Signor Bruno lived in the neighborhood?
What does Signor Bruno say about the old market?

Parte B — Grammatica (Grammar)

1. Rewrite as reported speech: Signor Bruno: "Il quartiere era più povero."

2. Turn into an indirect question: "Ricorda il vecchio mercato?"

3. Choose the correct pronoun: I ______ genitori gestivano un negozio (suoi / miei), referring to Signor Bruno.

Parte C — Lettura (Reading)

1. Return to the testimony and answer:

Why did Mrs. Rossi move to the neighborhood?
What does she say has changed, and what has stayed the same?

Parte D — Scrittura (Writing)

1. Write the reported account following the writing workshop steps above.

Parte E — Parlato (Speaking)

1. With a partner or recorded solo, complete the oral portfolio task described in the speaking practice section.

Practical Performance Task

Chapter 9 Performance Task — Interviste e testimonianze

La voce del quartiere — The Voice of the Neighborhood

Complete the following connected tasks in order.

Listen to Chiara's summary of the interview and complete the listening table.
Read Mrs. Rossi's testimony and answer the comprehension questions, identifying one indirect question and one reported statement.
Speak by conducting a short interview with a partner and orally reporting what they told you.
Write a reported account of someone else's experience, using at least three reported-speech verbs and one indirect question.

Criterion	What is assessed
Comprehension	The learner identifies key details and perspective in an interview or testimony accurately.
Reported speech	The learner uses ha detto che, ha spiegato che, and ha raccontato che appropriately.
Indirect questions	The learner forms at least one controlled indirect question correctly.
Pronoun reference	The learner keeps pronoun reference clear and accurate across the reported account.
Interviewing skill	The learner asks relevant, natural follow-up questions.
Mechanics	Accents, apostrophes, and quotation conventions are applied accurately.

This task does not require full literary or journalistic tense-shifting in reported speech; controlled, high-frequency patterns are sufficient at this stage.

Answer Key

Model Dialogue — Comprehension

Signor Bruno has lived in the neighborhood for more than fifty years; he arrived as a boy with his parents.
Signor Bruno's parents ran a small shop where the bank is now.
Signor Bruno says the old market was the heart of the neighborhood, and that his father always said you could find anything there.

Guided Practice

Esercizio 1: (1) ha detto che il quartiere era più povero (2) ha spiegato che il mercato si è spostato negli anni Novanta (3) ha raccontato che da bambino giocava in quella piazza

Esercizio 2: (1) ricordasse il vecchio mercato (2) fosse cambiato il quartiere

Esercizio 3: suoi

Esercizio 4: Answers will vary depending on the passage chosen; check that the learner has correctly identified reported-speech verbs and classified each as fact, explanation, or story.

Listening

According to Chiara's summary, Signor Bruno has lived in the neighborhood for more than fifty years.
His parents ran a small shop where the bank is now located.
Chiara says she would like to interview other neighbors to gather more points of view on the neighborhood's history.

Reading — Comprehension

Mrs. Rossi moved to the neighborhood forty years ago, right after getting married.
The neighborhood market helped her get to know shopkeepers and other families.
Example indirect question: se, secondo lei, il quartiere avesse mantenuto lo stesso spirito; example reported statement: ha detto che si è trasferita nel quartiere quarant'anni fa.

Chapter Review — Parte B

Signor Bruno ha detto che il quartiere era più povero.
Gli abbiamo chiesto se ricordasse il vecchio mercato.
suoi

Looking Ahead

Cosa sai fare ora — What you can do now

You can now understand and conduct a short interview, ask follow-up and indirect questions, and report what someone told you using appropriate reported-speech verbs while keeping pronoun reference clear across a longer account.

Andando avanti: Capitolo 10 — Continuing on: Chapter 10

Chapter 10, Verifica 2: Media e società, consolidates Chapters 6 through 9 without introducing new productive systems, bringing together media summary, public rules, cultural description, and reported interviews in an integrated checkpoint before Elena, Marco, and Chiara move into Unit III.