The World of Languages · Indo-European
Italian · italiano
The language of opera, Dante and the dinner table: the closest major language to Latin, and still a patchwork of local dialects.
- 60 million native speakers
- 66 million speakers in total
- Latin script
- FSI Category I · 24 weeks
- Official in 4 countries
Where Italian is spoken
Tap or hover over a country. Colours show the language's status, based on Unicode CLDR territory data (population estimates mix sources and years).
Top countries by speakers
- Italy · ItaliaOfficial language · 58M (95%)
- Germany · GermaniaWidely spoken · 5.9M (7%)
- United States · Stati UnitiWidely spoken · 1.2M (0.34%)
- France · FranciaWidely spoken · 1.2M (1.7%)
- AustriaWidely spoken · 807k (9%)
- Switzerland · SvizzeraOfficial language · 381k (4.3%)
- MaltaWidely spoken · 263k (56%)
- Croatia · CroaziaOfficial regionally · 66k (1.6%)
- San MarinoOfficial language · 31k (89%)
- Vatican City · Città del VaticanoOfficial language · 820 (82%)
Key numbers
- Native (L1) speakers
- 60 million
- Second-language (L2) speakers
- 6 million
- Total speakers
- 66 million
- Source
- Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia
Italian at a glance
Italian (italiano, pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana, pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna]) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It is a standardised form of literary Florentine Tuscan and, together with Sardinian, is the least differentiated language from Latin. Current estimates indicate that between 68 and 85 million people speak Italian, including approximately 64 million native speakers as of 2024.
Italian is an official language in Italy, San Marino, Switzerland (Ticino and part of the Grisons), and Vatican City, and it has official minority status in Croatia, Slovenia (Istria), Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in 6 municipalities of Brazil. It is also spoken in other European and non-EU countries, most notably in Malta (by 66% of the population), Albania (upwards of 70%), and Monaco, as well as by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas, Australia, and on other continents.
From the Wikipedia article Italian language (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Name in Italian
- italiano
- Family
- Indo-EuropeanClassical Indo-EuropeanItalicLatino-FaliscanLatinicImperial LatinRomanceItalo-Western RomanceItalo-DalmatianItalian RomanceCentral Italian Romance
- Writing system
- Latin alphabet (21 native letters; j, k, w, x, y in loanwords)
- Direction
- Left to right
- Official in
- Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City
- Codes
- ISO 639-3
ita· Glottologital1282· Q652 - Writing sample
Tutti gli esseri umani nascono liberi ed eguali in dignità e diritti. Essi sono dotati di ragione e di coscienza e devono agire gli uni verso gli altri in spirito di fratellanza.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…”
Linguistic profile
How hard is Italian for English speakers?
The US Foreign Service Institute puts Italian in Category I: about 24 weeks (600 class hours) of full-time study to reach professional working proficiency.
Source: FSI language learning timelines. See all languages ranked: hardest · easiest.
Feature values from the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS Online, CC BY 4.0).
The Italian script
Latin alphabet (21 native letters; j, k, w, x, y in loanwords). Tap a character to hear it (your device reads the letter name or sound).
Standard letters from Unicode CLDR exemplar characters.
Useful Italian phrases with pronunciation
Numbers 1–10
- uno
- due
- tre
- quattro
- cinque
- sei
- sette
- otto
- nove
- dieci
Days of the week
- Mon lunedì
- Tue martedì
- Wed mercoledì
- Thu giovedì
- Fri venerdì
- Sat sabato
- Sun domenica
Everyday words
- water acqua
- cat gatto
- dog cane
- coffee caffè
- beer birra
- bread pane
- book libro
Phrases and words checked against Wiktionary; days and months from Unicode CLDR. Audio uses your browser's built-in Italian voice when available.
Dialects and varieties
Standard Italian
Italy, San Marino, Vatican, Switzerland
Based on 14th-century literary Florentine, the language of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.
Neapolitan
Naples and Campania
A distinct Romance language: “Comme staje?” for “Come stai?” (how are you?).
Sicilian
Sicily
Shaped by Greek, Arabic and Norman influences: “Talìa!” means “Look!”
Venetian
Venice and the Veneto
Gave English the word “ciao”, from “s-ciào vostro” (your servant).
Tuscan (gorgia toscana)
Florence
The famous “Coca-Cola” test: c between vowels softens to an h sound, “la hasa” for la casa.
Hear the dialects
Fun words, untranslatables and false friends
abbiocco
The drowsiness that hits after a big meal.
sprezzatura
Studied nonchalance: making difficult things look effortless (Castiglione, 1528).
menefreghista
Someone who simply couldn't care less.
magari
“Maybe / if only! / I wish!”, all in one word.
False friends for English speakers
| Italian | Looks like | Actually means |
|---|---|---|
| camera | camera | room |
| parenti | parents | relatives |
| morbido | morbid | soft |
| fattoria | factory | farm |
Curious facts
- At Italian unification in 1861, only a small minority of Italians are estimated to have spoken standard Italian; most used local dialects.
- Musical vocabulary is Italian worldwide: piano, forte, allegro, crescendo, soprano.
- Italian has double consonants that change meaning: pala (shovel) vs palla (ball), nono (ninth) vs nonno (grandfather).
- The Accademia della Crusca, founded in Florence in 1583, is the world's oldest language academy.
Famous Italian-speaking voices
Singers & musicians
Writers & poets
Film & TV
Other famous figures
Descriptions from Wikidata; photos from Wikimedia Commons under the licences shown.
Italian culture now
La Dolce Vita
1960 film directed by Federico Fellini
Life Is Beautiful
1997 Italian film by Roberto Benigni
My Brilliant Friend (TV series)
2018 Italian-American television series
Sanremo Music Festival
Italian song contest
Gomorrah (TV series)
Italian crime drama television series
Måneskin
Italian rock band
Learn Italian on YouTube
Free lessons from teachers and channels with Italian courses. Videos load only when you press play.
The story of the language
Quick quiz: how well do you know Italian?
Where to learn Italian
Learn Italian
LangMagic's guide to learning Italian.
LangMagicItalian Content Portal
Italian videos, with smooth progress from teachers' channels to native content.
LangMagicThe Endless Book
Read text you can understand, in the style of your favourite author and genre. About 30 languages.
LangMagicLangMagic Speak
Speaking lessons built around your topics, from materials you choose.
LangMagicLangMagic Meet
A virtual meeting platform built for language lessons, with follow-up exercises.
FreeWikivoyage Italian phrasebook
Free travel phrasebook with pronunciation guide
FreeWikibooks: Italian
Free, open textbook
FreeOmniglot: Italian
Script, pronunciation and useful phrases
FreeWiktionary: Italian dictionary
Free multilingual dictionary
Sources
- Speaker numbers: Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia.
- Countries, populations, alphabets, days and months: Unicode CLDR 46.
- Classification: Glottolog 5.3. Grammar features: WALS Online.
- Introduction: Wikipedia, Italian language (CC BY-SA 4.0). People and culture: Wikipedia and Wikidata. Images: Wikimedia Commons.
- Writing sample: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, from the Unicode UDHR collection. Phrases and words: Wiktionary. Difficulty: US Foreign Service Institute.
- Map: Natural Earth via world-atlas (public domain).