AVANTI: BEGINNING ITALIAN

I bought this book as requested by my university for my Beginning Italian I course. Amazon's price was a few dollars cheaper than other online sources and almost $100 dollars cheaper than my school's bookstore.Pros:-- The book is colorful and uses images as well as text to teach.Cons:-- Very limited activities are able to be completed individually, most require a classmate/partner or further instruction from the professor. This made studying difficult.-- Even with Amazon's cheaper price the book was very expensive for the information provided. I felt that a lot of key terms were absent due to the belief that we already knew them -- but since it is a beginners book, we didn't.Conclusions: I would not reinvest in this book. However if it is required that you buy this text book and the online code separate...once you buy the online code the company offers to send you a full color loose leaf textbook for about $15. As others have stated this book, and the accompanying online connect product, are just a lazy excuse for a teaching tool. Teachers lean of this book and the online software to teach and the students suffer. This book in no way advanced my education, I ended up renting another Italian book that was not assigned/suggested to help complete my education. What a waste of money.THE ONLINE CODE DOES NOT COME WITH THIS BOOK

I am content with the book but I was disappointed that the book did not come with the Access Code. I paid $160 for a book that said it came with an Access Code but it did not and now I have to spend $50 or more on an Access Code in the middle of the semester. I could have spent $30 more and get my book from my school's Bookstore that had an Access Code included. I am not sure if I am going to continue to get my books from Amazon.com because this is not the first time it has happened. This is why I am rating it 2 stars.

I’m renting this again for a second semester. I cannot believe how much it would cost me to buy this well worn copy from Amazon, so I decided to send it back at end of last semester and rent it again. My major peeve with this book is that the accented syllables are not demoted with a dot, as is customarily done in other Italian textbooks.

I needed the online access code for my class so this was useless. It should be very clear when ordering that you do NOT get the access code.

Hidden in the long description about this item it says that the access code to Connect is NOT included however it also goes on to describe how this textbook is beneficial because of the online integration. I found other textbook offers online with the access code for similar price. Do NOT buy this item!

You owe me and everyone an access code!! What a ripoff!

I was very disappointed when I purchased this item only to receive the TEACHER'S EDITION of this book. My student cannot use this in his high school class! It has a big yellow stripe across the top that states it is the teacher's edition....so it does not accurately reflect the picture shown.

It's not cheap, but if you are teaching yourself Italian, this is the book to use. Lord, even movie suggestions, which have worked out very well. An excellent language textbook.