Italian · Italiano
Guided 95 resource listings .
Italian has full A1–C2 paths and on-site tools on this site — start with the level that matches your speaking, not your reading vanity. Last reviewed 2026-08-01
About Italian
- Language family
-
Indo-European, Italic, Romance Source: Glottolog ital1282
- Where it's spoken
- Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City
- Speakers
-
roughly 65 million native speakers Estimate source: Ethnologue language page (ita)
- Writing
- Latin
Italian evolved from the Tuscan dialect of Vulgar Latin and was popularized as a literary standard by Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio in the 13th and 14th centuries, long before political unification in 1861 made it a national language. Of the major Romance languages, it retains vocabulary and sounds closest to Latin. Its cognate overlap with Spanish, French, and Portuguese makes it a natural second Romance language to add.
Speaker counts are approximate orders of magnitude for learners, not census figures. Family labels follow Glottolog-style classification; vitality notes (when shown) follow UNESCO WAL / Ethnologue-style framing and should be re-checked for program planning.
Sources
- ISO 639-3:
ita - Glottocode:
ital1282 - Ethnologue — Italian (ita)
- Glottolog — Italian (ital1282)
How to start
- Pick one free course (or free-with-upgrades) below and finish a short beginner unit before hopping apps.
- Bookmark one dictionary or grammar reference and look up every unknown word for a week.
- Add 10–15 minutes of listening most days — news, radio, or a teaching channel.
- Drill vocabulary with First 500 words , then situational lists in topic decks .
- Go deeper with the Language Hacks – Italian series · Buy on Amazon.
- When ready, use a tutor marketplace listing below for short speaking sessions.
Practice on this site
Deep links into trainers and drills that already cover Italian.
Language home First 500 words Topic decks Root Explorer Root of the day Cloze practice Conjugation Explorer Quick practice False-friend quiz Register & nuance Collocations Output workshop Media sheets C1 tasks Listening picker
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| Resource | Type | Levels | Cost | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Anki Shared Italian decks
Well-known learning resource.
|
course free | A1-B2 | free | 2026-08-02 |
|
BBC Languages Italian
Well-known learning resource.
|
course free | A1-A2 | free | 2026-08-02 |
|
Conjuguemos Italian
Well-known learning resource.
|
course free | A1-B1 | free | 2026-08-02 |
|
DLI GLOSS Italian lessons
Defense Language Institute graded listening/reading lessons.
|
course free | B1-C1 | free | — |
|
Internet Archive Italian
Well-known learning resource.
|
course free | A1-C1 | free | — |
|
Live Lingua Italian library
Public-domain course downloads with audio where available.
|
course free | A1-B1 | free | 2026-08-02 |
|
Loecsen Italian
Free travel phrases with audio.
|
course free | A1-A2 | free | 2026-08-02 |
|
One World Italiano
Established One World Italiano resource for Italian learners.
|
course free | A1-B2 | free | — |
|
OnlineItalianClub
Free Italian grammar and listening exercises.
|
course free | A1-B2 | free | — |
|
Open Culture Italian lessons
Well-known learning resource.
|
course free | A1-B2 | free | — |
|
RAI Scuola
Established RAI resource for Italian learners.
|
course free | A1-B2 | free | — |
|
ThoughtCo Italian
Free Italian grammar and phrase articles.
|
course free | A1-B1 | free | — |
Know a better classroom-friendly resource for Italian? Suggest it with attribution.