Bene in Italian is an adverb meaning 'well'. One of the first phrases usually taught in Italian beginners courses is 'Sto bene' as an answer to 'Come stai?' or 'Mi sento bene' (I feel well/good).Roughly you can say that it specifies one's state or 'how' a given action was performed. However, bene only means 'well' and not 'good'. So for example, you can say 'Ho dormito bene', 'Stiamo bene', 'Capisco bene il tedesco' (I slept well, We are well, I understand German well), while you cannot say *Un ragazzo bene, *Una vacanza bene, meaning 'a good boy', 'a good holiday', simply because bene is not an adjective. In those cases you would have to use 'buono' instead.
A likely source of confusion in the use of bene is that when you want to talk about the abstract idea of goodness (the good) the Italian translation is 'il bene' (as opposed to 'il male', the evil). In most contexts, however, follow the bene=well rule, and you will be fine.
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Nice post.Very informative to beginners like me.I should say that in translation we need to understand the exact meaning of a text in one language and convey it accurately in another.It is how it should happen.Good thoughts on your italian translation bene.
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