The rule says that you cannot use the passato remoto when the action is still having consequences in the present. This rule is true in every Italian region. Let me quote some examples from the Accademia della Crusca website: "L'uomo è comparso sulla terra all'inizio dell'era quaternaria" (= è comparso e ci vive tuttora) http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/lingua-italiana/consulenza-linguistica/domande-risposte/sulluso-passato-remoto "Caratteristica, nell’italiano moderno, l’opposizione tra "è nato" (detto di un vivente) e "nacque" (detto di chi è morto): ‘Alberto Arbasino è nato nel 1930’/’Giovanni Verga nacque nel 1840’." http://forum.accademiadellacrusca.it/forum_7/interventi/2111.shtml.html Is it compulsory in formal Italian? I would let the Accademia Della Crusca answer that question, too: "Le migliori grammatiche dicono che nell'Italia settentrionale prevale l'uso del passato prossimo, nell'Italia meridionale l'uso del passato remoto, benché il passato prossimo vi acquisti terreno; in Toscana l'alternanza è tuttora viva e significativa." http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/lingua-italiana/consulenza-linguistica/domande-risposte/sulluso-passato-remoto ...it depends on the regions. In northern Italy you may always use the passato prossimo: bringing the passato remoto in a formal speech is a matter of style, whereas you can almost never hear it in informal contexts. For as regards the use of it in Central and Southern Italy, I am not the right person to tell, because I am from the North.

'Passato prossimo' has the same construction of present perfect and 'passato remoto' has the same construction of 'past absolute', nevertheless the haven't the same meaning. Both are used for a completed past action in its final aspect, while for an repetitive or continuous or ongoing action in the past, 'imperfetto' (imperfect tense) is used. The difference between 'passato remoto' and 'passato prossimo' is that the first one is used for actions having no relation with present while the second one is used for actions still maintains relations with present. Since the writer is who decides that, you can say the two tenses are, in some way, interchangeable. For example, you can say: "Ieri vidi un cavallo..." because nothing of that is related with your present. On the other hand you can say "Mio nonno è nato nel..." because you are going to descrive the relation between what your grandfather did and what you currently are. Finally, 'passato prossimo' is mostly used in informal speech, mainly at nord; while 'passato remoto' is more used at sud.

the Passato Prossimo is used a lot more in Italy for everyday conversation. and about your question, yes in italian "ho mangiato" or "mangiai/mangiavo", it's not the same, like in english, the second verb "mangiai" refears to a previous action compare to "ho mangiato". Beside that, to give you more information about past tenses in italian, we have passato prossimo, imperfetto, trapassato prossimo,passato remoto, trapassato remoto. YES! it is a lot. We use all these tenses to express the order in which those activities took place in the time. Here some scheme to help your studies. http://grammatica-italiana.dossier.net/grammatica-italiana-17.htm write me for anything, also in pm :) Francesco

in english you use the present perfect when you have not an idea of time (when the action began), on the other hand in the past simple you have a specific idea of time. In Italian there is not this difference and nowadays in the south of Italy (especially in Sicily) people use the passato remoto, in the rest of Italy we always use the passato prossimo, ever! =) If you add me we could have a conversation an half in english and the other half in Italian, using skype =) let me know...