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Gli sci di Luca sono belli, li stiamo provando insieme a quelli di Anna.

Gli sci di Luca sono belli, li stiamo provando insieme a quelli di Anna.
Luca's skis are beautiful, we are trying them out together with Anna's.
From Lesson 287:Demonstrative pronouns of possession (quello di, quella di)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Gli sci di Luca sono belli, li stiamo provando insieme a quelli di Anna.

How does quelli di Anna translate to "Anna's"?
To say "Anna's" without repeating the noun for skis, Italian uses a demonstrative pronoun followed by di. Because sci is masculine plural, we use the masculine plural pronoun quelli (those). Literally, it means "those of Anna".
Why is the pronoun li placed before stiamo provando?
The word li means "them" and replaces gli sci. When using the present continuous tense (stare plus an -ando or -endo verb), you have two choices for pronouns: place it before the conjugated verb (li stiamo provando) or attach it to the end of the gerund (stiamo provandoli). Both are perfectly correct.
Why does sci take the article gli?
The singular word for ski is lo sci. It takes the article lo because it starts with an s-consonant cluster (sc). When masculine nouns that use lo become plural, the article changes to gli, giving us gli sci.
Why is the preposition a used in insieme a quelli to mean "together with"?
In Italian, the adverb insieme (together) is almost always paired with the preposition a to mean "together with". You might occasionally hear insieme con, but insieme a is the standard, most natural pairing.

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