In every society proverbs provide a lively and colourful point of access to the language and the culture, Caterina Cicogna takes the images associated with Italian proverbs and idiomatic phrases and breaks them up into their constituent semantic categories, so that the learner can come to grasp and acquire the structure of figuration in Italian progressively and methodically. The exercise material is based both on receptive/perceptual skills and productive ones. Well-chosen Italian proverbs and idiomatic expressions are accompanied by a wide range of written and oral exercises. For students at an intermediate-advanced level in high schools, community colleges, and universities, this book provides and engaging approach to improving fluency in the Italian language.