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Non era un legno di lusso, ma un semplice pezzo da catasta, di quelli che d'inverno si mettono nelle stufe e nei caminetti per accendere il fuoco e per riscaldare le stanze.

Just a common block of firewood, one of those thick, solid logs that are put on the fire in winter to make cold rooms cozy and warm.

Where is the Italian word for "one" here?

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    Other people will answer in detail, but be advised that this English translation is elegant, but not at all literal: it preserves the general meaning, but not the single words. For instance it omits that the piece of wood is not a luxury one, that it is used in stoves and fireplaces, and so on.
    – DaG
    Feb 26, 2021 at 12:46

2 Answers 2

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The Italian sentence might be

Non era un legno di lusso, ma un semplice pezzo da catasta; uno di quelli che […]

However in this context the pronoun can be safely omitted and the sentence flows better with the simple partitive.

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"da catasta" here is to be understood as "da essere destinato alla catasta (di legna da ardere)", so "da" in this case is not "coming from", but it is rather "with the use of", or "that can be used for". As in the sentences: "cane da caccia", "cassa da morto", "roba da buttare".

As for "di quelli che", as egreg has pointed out, you can consider an implicit "uno", so that the phrase would be "(uno) di quelli che". So "di" specifies the kind of log.

And, let me guess... is this the beginning of "Pinocchio"? :)

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