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Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry Italian Verse Raccontino (Italian meaning narrator or story teller) is a poetic narrative written in any number of couplets linked by a single rhyme. Found at Writer's Café. I've been unable to find a history or original example of this form. One source on line suggests this is an English form but no time frame is indicated nor other reasons given for this assumption. Because the name has Italian roots, is syllabic rather than metric (more typical of Italian poetry than English poetry) and carries a single rhyme (which is much easier in Italian than English), it better fits the profile of an Italian stanzaic form than an English form. So I lean toward Italian roots. The elements of the Raccontino are: narrative, tells a story. written in any number of couplets. syllabic. The number of syllable is set by the first line. Whatever number of syllables occurs in the first line should continue throughout the poem. rhymed xa xa xa xa xa xa etc. x being unrhymed.