The story concentrates on Gigino, a reluctant school boy who hates to study. One day in July he and his brother and sister attempt to study outdoors but cannot keep themselves to the task. Gigino exclaims that he would rather become an ant than to study. Just then a strange-looking little man with big spectacles, a red nose and a black scarf around his neck pops on the scene from nowhere. He takes a snuffbox out, pinches some snuff, shoves it to his nose, sneezes and says, "So be it." Suddenly, Gigino finds himself immobilized and barely able to see. He glimpses at his brother and sister who seem to have become tiny eggs. He then realizes he is confined in an egg, the reason he cannot move.

The remainder of the story is Gigino's adventures as an ant, from which he learns wonderful lessons about life, cooperation, war, peace, and especially that he longs to be a boy again and go home.

Patri's translation reveals a wonderful treatise on ant life and insect life in general. Gigino encounters, antlions, worms that appear like snakes to the ants, wasps, bees, and other insects some of which are friendly and others dangerous.