Hi Adriana, A good start (but not a perfect system) would be to match совершенный вид глагола with passato prossimo, and и несовершенный вид глагола with imperfetto. As I said, this is not a perfect system because then you need to learn trapassato verb forms, as well as passato remoto, plus other differences between Italian and Russian past tenses.

L'imperfetto si usa per esprimere un'azione abituale, che si faceva sempre: "Da bambino andavo al mare tutte le domeniche". Un'azione ripetitiva, che si faceva tante volte: "Mia zia faceva sempre dei dolci buonissimi". Un'azione durativa, che è durata per un certo tempo: "Ieri pioveva". Il passato prossimo invece si usa per esprimere un'azione non abituale, che è stata fatta una sola volta: "Da bambino una volta sono andato al mare". Un'azione puntuale, avvenuta una volta: "Mia zia ieri ha fatto dei dolci buonissimi". Un'azione momentanea, breve, che è durata o è avvenuta in un momento: "Ieri è piovuto un po’".

Hi, Imperfetto literally means "not concluded" and it is used to report past actions that had a developing in the moment you talk about, or refer to a generic past period where the same action was frequently repeated (habit) --- Mentre andavo a scuola, incontrai te -- While I was going to school, I met you --- Quando ero bambino, andavo a scuola -- When I was a child, I used to go to school You can see that English has different translations for our Imperfect, this might help you see the difference between an Ongoing action (while I was going...), a Period (when I was...) and a Habit (I used to..) Passato Prossimo and Passato Remoto both refer to a concluded action in the Past -- now as a student, just stick on these, because the other compound tenses have a meaning when relating to them: (I quote myself) Our Compound Past -- called Passato Prossimo (eg. "ho studiato") -- is the very same of the Perfect tense -- called Passato Remoto ("studiai") -- but the first one is used when we want "to shorten the distance between us and the Past" (no matter when, even in Prehistory): for example it is used a lot in Travel Guides, so that the Past appears "nearer" -- which is the meaning of "Prossimo" (see: Proxima Centauri). The Perfect instead means "concluded and far away " -- that is "Remoto" (see: Remote control) and it is used in History books. If you want to make a very good practice of verbs, head to Fairy Tales. Search -- grimmstories -- and you'll find translations into your language. For deepening how Verbs relate, see: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordanza_dei_tempi