Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Racconti Romani (Roman Tales) are a series of sixty-one short stories (often referred to as sketches) written by the Italian author, Alberto Moravia. Written and published initially in the Italian newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera, they were published as a collection in 1954 by Bompiani. All of the stories are set in Rome after World War II or its surroundings and focus on ''the common people of Rome'' (Roma popolana). The characters in these stories tend to be the unemployed, ex-convicts, waiters, drivers, con artists, thieves and petty criminals, the average man (or woman) and the lower classes aspiring to climb out of poverty (Roma popolana).