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Non sono potuto venire, ma per fortuna era sabato.

Non sono potuto venire, ma per fortuna era sabato.
I could not come, but luckily it was Saturday.
From Lesson 102:Past tense of modal verbs·Italian

Breakdown of Non sono potuto venire, ma per fortuna era sabato.

venire
to come
il sabato
Saturday
potere
can, to be able to
per fortuna
luckily, fortunately

Questions & Answers about Non sono potuto venire, ma per fortuna era sabato.

Why is it sono potuto with the auxiliary essere instead of ho potuto?
When a modal verb like potere (can/to be able to) is followed by an infinitive in the passato prossimo, it usually borrows the auxiliary verb of that infinitive. Because venire (to come) requires essere, the modal verb phrase becomes sono potuto venire instead of ho potuto venire.
Since the auxiliary is essere, does potuto change if a woman says this?
Exactly! Because it takes essere, the past participle must agree with the subject's gender and number. The ending in sono potuto tells us a male is speaking. If a female speaker said this, it would be non sono potuta venire.
Why use the imperfect tense era for "it was Saturday" instead of the passato prossimo?
We use the imperfect tense (era) here because being Saturday is just background information or a past state. The specific, completed event is that the speaker couldn't come (non sono potuto venire), which requires the passato prossimo.
Is per fortuna the only way to say "luckily"?
Per fortuna literally means "for luck" and is the most natural, common way Italians say "luckily" or "fortunately". You might also see the single adverb fortunatamente, which means the exact same thing.

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