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Language

Italian

Romance Languages

Italian is a Romance language of the Indo-European family, native to Italy and also spoken in San Marino, Vatican City, Switzerland and parts of Slovenia and Croatia (Istria).

Facts

ISO 639-3 Code

ita 2

Speaker Count

65,000,000 2

2022 native-speaker estimate from the article infobox; a further total estimate of about 85 million, without a stated year, is also given and is not used here as the identifying key.

Status

Living 2

Wikipedia article on Italian: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27.

Attested From (Year)

from 901 5

Region

Italian peninsula; also native to Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, Switzerland, Slovenia (Istria), and Croatia (Istria) 2

Classification

Language Kind

Safe 1

Official Status

Official Language 2

Browse and compare

Word Order

SVO 3

Difficulty for an English Speaker

Category I 4

Italian

1 entry

Script Type

Directionality

Origin Period Start Year

Script Family (Lineage)

Script Status

Unicode Status

Influenced

Latin Script

Connections

In Family

Source Wikipedia: Italian Language

Written In

In the Other Atlases

Cases Where Used

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

The Lateran Treaty

Also in Divinity Atlas: used in this subject.

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Wikipedia: Nazareno PactLead

Quote, Lead

The Nazareno Pact (Italian: patto del Nazareno)

Reichskonkordat

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Wikipedia: ReichskonkordatArticle text

Quote, Article text

Article 34 This Concordat, whose German and Italian texts shall have equal binding force, shall be ratified and the certificates of ratification shall be exchanged as soon as possible.

Statuto Albertino

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Treaty of Wuchale

Also in History Atlas: used in this subject.

Original Language Of

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Bicycle Thieves

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Caesar Must Die

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Cinema Paradiso

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Divorce Italian Style

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Miracle in Milan

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Nights of Cabiria

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Suspiria (1977 film)

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Suspiria (1977 film) (Wikipedia)Cast

Quote, Cast

provides the narration in the original Italian version

The Canterbury Tales

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The House of Smiles

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Leopard (1963 film)

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

The Way We Laughed

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

To Bed or Not to Bed

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Alessandro Manzoni

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Andrea Camilleri

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Benvenuto Cellini

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Dante Alighieri

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Gabriel García Márquez

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Giacomo Leopardi

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Giorgio Bassani

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Giovanni Boccaccio

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Source Hugo Pratt (Wikipedia)Article text

Quote, Article text

translations made from Pratt's original Italian scripts

Invisible Cities

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

La Damigella di Scalot

Also in Literature Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Showing 1 to 50 of 80 in Original Language Of, page 1 of 2.

Located In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.

Found In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources

1. Glottolog: Italian (Glottolog languoid ital1282)

GlottologEndangerment, AES status

Quote, Endangerment, AES status

AES status: not endangered

View the Source

2. Wikipedia: Italian Language

Wikimedia Foundation

Lead section
Italian (italiano ... or lingua italiana ...) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family.
Infobox, ISO 639-3
ita
Article text
As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world.
Lead section
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.
Infobox, Official language in
Italy
In Family: Indo-European, Infobox, Language family
Indo-European > Italic > Latino-Faliscan > Latin > Romance > Italo-Western > Italo-Dalmatian > Italo-Romance > Tuscan > Northern Tuscan > Florentine > Italian

View the Source

3. WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures): Italian / Order of Subject, Object and Verb (WALS datapoint)

WALS Online (World Atlas of Language Structures)Datapoint page

Quote, Datapoint page

Feature: Order of Subject, Object and Verb by Matthew S. Dryer Value: SVO

View the Source

4. Effective Language Learning: Language Difficulty Ranking

Effective Language LearningForeign Service Institute categories list

Quote, Foreign Service Institute categories list

Category I: 23-24 weeks (575-600 hours) Languages closely related to English Afrikaans Danish Dutch French Italian Norwegian

View the Source

5. Omniglot: Italian language, alphabet and pronunciation

OmniglotLanguage at a glance

Quote, Language at a glance

First written : 10th century

View the Source

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