Mushrooms and the hospital
Marcovaldo, being the person who loves nature in all its shapes and kinds, couldn’t go by the mushrooms which were growing near his tram stop. Also he, being an open minded and good hearted man, couldn’t but share the pleasure of eating them with other people. He loudly announced “Mushrooms are growing here by the street! Come along! There's plenty for all!”. People were glad to have free food and went for them. But, unfortunately for all of them, mushrooms appeared to be poisonous and soon these strangers met again in the hospital after the stomach-pump had saved them all from poisoning. The irony satirizes human desire for easy and free profits.
Family Dreams
One day Marcovaldo saw woodcock flying over the city and he decided that in the nearest time he would have a roasted one for his dinner. He told that to his family and that night all of them had dreams about that bird, but these dreams were a kind of different, depending on their characters: “Marcovaldo dreamed of the roof dotted with fluttering, trapped woodcock. His wife, Domitilla, more greedy and lazy, dreamed of ducks already roasted, lying on the chimneys. His daughter Isolina, romantic, dreamed of humming-birds to decorate her hat. Michelino dreamed of finding a stork up there”. The irony here mocks Marcovaldo and his family.
Bad wife
Marcovaldo always eats his lunch outside. He has special benches in park where he enjoys his meal depending on the season of the year. One day he was eating and thinking how happy he is to taste the flavor of his wife's cooking here, when at home, among the quarrels and tears, the debts that crop up in every conversation, he can't enjoy it. And then he thinks: "Now I remember. These are the leftovers from last night's supper." And he is immediately seized again by discontent, perhaps because he has to eat leftovers, cold and a bit soured, perhaps because the aluminum of the lunch-box gives the food a metallic taste, but the notion lodged in his head is: The thought of Domitilla manages to spoil my meals even when I'm far away from her. The irony shows “deep” reflection of Marcovaldo about his life and wife.
Family shopping
Marcovaldo’s family is very poor and they cannot afford to buy a lot of stuff, even the one they really need. But they don’t leave themselves without feeling the pleasure of choosing products. It is a kind of their family sport: they come to the supermarket, go through the rages of food, pick up some stuff so their cart is not empty and they look just like other people who can buy those things, and then, having satisfied themselves, they put it back and leave the supermarket with empty hands. The irony here shows sad reality of Marcovaldo’s life.
