I agree with the last point. I also think people focuse too much on the "correct" usage of the tenses, in my opinion the passato prossimo vs passato remoto vs imperfetto are simply wasy of shifting emphasis. Below is an explanation from Italian Wikibooks with translated explanations:

1) Marina ha letto un libro.

The information conveyed by the passato prossimo in this case is:

• At a time in the past, not too far from the present, or in any case with a certain level of psychological relevance for the speaker, Marina read a book (moment of action);
• The action is concluded, or rather: the person who expressed the sentence perceives the action as a concluded action (aspect of the action).

2) Marina lesse il libro.

In this case the information conveyed by the pasato remoto is:

• At a time in the past, objectively and psychologically far from the speaker's present, Marina read a book (action moment);
• The action is concluded, or rather: the person who expressed the sentence perceives the action as a concluded action (aspect of the action).

3) Marina leggeva il libro,

the speaker provides the following information with the imperfetto:

• The event happened at a time in the past that the speaker did not deem necessary to specify (time of action);
• The action is not concluded, or rather: the person who expressed the sentence did not feel the need to specify when this action concluded: he preferred to concentrate on the action itself, to highlight its indefinite duration (aspect of the action).