Italy offers something for every traveler. Sit on the island beaches of Sicily or take in the spectacular views of the Dolomite Mountains. We can’t forget the waterways of Venice that wind through Italy’s one-of-a-kind city. The list goes on, and one thing is for sure: this country is far from lacking in beautifully diverse communities and experiences.
That diversity extends to languages spoken throughout Italy. Although Italian is the predominant vernacular in Italy, there are many different languages spoken on the peninsula and Italy’s islands. In this article, we’ll take a look at each one, paying close attention to where they came from and who speaks them now.
If you’re yearning to explore the famed museums of Florence, the architectural ruins of Rome, the blue waters of Capri, or the fun and sometimes mysterious carnivals all over Italy, you can make the most of your trip by learning some Italian before you go. Instead of endless conjugation charts, try our unique Dynamic Immersion method that engages your brain’s natural capacity for language learning. Salute (cheers) to feeling confident in every conversation!
>> Want to start with the basics? Here are 10 essential sayings in Italian to learn today.
What is the official language of Italy?
You won’t be surprised to learn that the official language of Italy is Italian. However, as in other languages, there are many regional dialects of Italian. Dialects are different variations of speaking the same language. These small distinctions in pronunciation or vocabulary are usually linked to certain geographic regions, but they are occasionally connected to a specific class or race of people. Since most Italian dialects are tied to a region, we can break them down into three primary dialects.
- Tuscan region: People tend to soften some consonant sounds following a vowel, one of the characteristics of what is known as the “Tuscan gorgia.”
- Northern Italy: “E” sounds are pronounced somewhat differently than other places in Italy. And when it comes to grammar, Northern Italians do something interesting: they tend to avoid using the preterite (past) tense.
- Central and southern Italy: You’ll notice an emphasis on certain consonant sounds, such as “b” and “g” sounds. However, they may drop syllables, particularly the first or last syllable of a word. They may also add the “t” sound between certain consonants.
How many languages are spoken in Italy?
Italy is home to nearly 30 indigenous languages. By “indigenous,” we mean languages originating in the country. The majority of these languages are Romance languages, all of which have descended directly from Latin.
Vulgar Latin was the language of the Roman Empire (first century BCE to fifth century CE), but not of all those who lived within its boundaries. Only certain classes of Romans—workers and soldiers among them—spoke this form of Latin. Here, “vulgar” takes on the same meaning as “vernacular,” the common language. Upper class Romans spoke classical Latin.
As the empire declined, two things happened: spoken Latin became less homogeneous and more separated, and it came under the influence of other languages because of invasions, conquest and colonization. With time, each territory’s version of Latin developed into a separate language with a common base. Those are the Romance languages.
As part of the Roman Empire, Italy was no exception. It’s just that Italian became the dominant language of that territory. And remember, the borders of today’s Italy did not exist back then. Indeed, empire borders changed considerably over the course of six centuries, and borders continued to change after the empire collapsed. In the territory known today as Italy, other Romance languages developed side by side with Italian, and many of them are still spoken today!
Understanding the languages of Italy
We’ve already mentioned that Italian, like other languages, has regional dialects: different modes (affecting pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar) of speaking the same language. In this section, we focus on the prominent languages spoken in Italy, but to be clear: these are distinct languages, not dialects.
We’ve presented the list below starting with the most widely spoken languages. You’ll be surprised by the sheer number and variety of languages spoken in Italy!
Italian
As we said above, Italian is Italy’s official language. Today, it is spoken by at least 85 million people, about 67 million of whom live in Italy.
It is the official language of both San Marino, a small independent republic surrounded by Italian territory on the peninsula, and Vatican City. Like San Marino, Vatican City is also landlocked by Italian territory. It stands as its own independent ecclesiastical state in Rome, and despite being the smallest nation-state in the world, it is home to another official language: Latin! It is the only place in the world that has given Latin that status.
Italian is also spoken on Italy’s two large islands: Sicily and Sardinia, and it’s one of the official languages of Switzerland. A few communities in Europe, including parts of Slovenia, Croatia and France, use Italian as a common language.
Neapolitan
Spoken in southern Italy and in the city of Naples, Neapolitan belongs to the Italo-Romance group, a subgroup of the Romance languages. Neapolitan is protected in the region of Campania, which houses the city of Naples where a specific variety of the language is spoken.
About 5.7 million people speak Neapolitan, a language that is mutually intelligible with Italian, in some cases. Unlike Italian, Neapolitan has neuter nouns, meaning they are not gendered as in Italian, which, for example, uses an “o” for most masculine nouns like figlio (son) and an “a” for most feminine nouns like figlia (daughter).
Neapolitan has not been standardized, so the spelling of words may vary. The Neapolitan word for “tree,” for example, has three different spellings! It is not uncommon for languages that lack standardization to make their way onto endangered languages lists. Neapolitan is classified as “vulnerable” by UNESCO, the lowest risk on the language ladder, meaning that most children speak Neapolitan in the regions where it thrives, but it isn’t taught in schools or used in government.
Sicilian
Sicilianu (Sicilian) is spoken in southern Apulia and southern Calabria on the peninsula, though it is most closely tied with Sicily. Sicily is a large island located between the southwest coast of Italy, and the northeast coast of Africa. The island is only a 2 mile boat ride from the tip of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula!
About 5 million people speak Sicilian in Italy, most of whom live in the regions listed above. More Sicilian speakers reside all over the world, though, with many of them concentrated in New York. About 70 percent of Sicily residents speak Sicilian, a Romance language, but its use is in decline, and UNESCO considers it a “vulnerable” language.
In total, Sicilian has 9 dialects! Due to its political history and geographical position, it’s also heavily influenced by a multitude of languages including Latin, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, Greek, and Arabic.
Venetian
Vèneto (Venetian) is spoken by about 5 million people in the northeastern part of Italy. You’ll find a high concentration of speaks in the province of Veneto—where Venice can be found—and in a few other limited areas of Europe, such as Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia.
Venice is 100 miles west of Slovenia’s border, so how did Venetian gain popularity in Slavic countries? At one time, those areas belonged to the Venetian Republic. After Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Republic, it was divided, and Veneto became part of Italy at the very end of the eighteenth century. Prior to this division, the Venetian language had enjoyed an elevated status as a literary language, including literary translations into the vernacular, starting in the Renaissance.
In time, Tuscan, upon which modern Italian is based, became the dominant language of literature. Had the outcome of the Republic of Veneto been different, who knows what status Venetian would have enjoyed.
Due to immigration, Venetian is also spoken in places like Chipilo, Mexico, and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Lombard
About 3.8 million people speak Lombard across Northern Italy, southern Switzerland, and other small areas of Italy and Switzerland. Although Lombard is a Romance language, it has significant Celtic influence due to previous Celtic settlers in the region. Lombard also has Germanic influences.
All speakers of Lombard also speak Italian. Unfortunately, this language has been classified by UNESCO as “definitely endangered.” In an effort to revitalize the language, Italian musician Davide Van De Sfroos sings some catchy songs in Lombard. However, Lombard enjoys a higher status in Switzerland where it also tends to be more used and protected.
Piedmontese
This language is spoken in the northwest part of Italy by about 2 million people. While most linguists consider Piedmontese to be a language unto itself, even government officials in the region consider it to be a dialect. Because of immigration, it’s spoken in limited parts of Brazil and Argentina.
Piedmontese has a tradition of literature dating back to the Middle Ages, but nowadays mostly educational material can be found in the language. Here are two examples of spoken Piedmontese you can use:
- There are three different ways to say “yes” in Piedmontese: òj, si and sé.
- A curious saying in Piedmontese is Trové Nosgnor ant l’òrt. (I found God in the garden). Note that this shouldn’t be taken literally. It has the sense of finding something very unexpected in a surprising place.
Sardinian
After Sicily, Sardinia is the second largest island of Italy and is located off Italy’s western coast. About 1.5 million inhabitants speak Sardinian. Of all the Romance languages, it is the closest to the Vulgar Latin spoken by the workers and soldiers of the Roman Empire.
Sardinian is considered an endangered language by UNESCO, and despite the efforts of linguists, continues to lack standardization. Linguists fear that it will eventually become a dead language.
Yet another history lesson for you: From the 14th to the 17th centuries, Aragon ruled Sardinia. And because Aragon was part of Catalonia, Catalan was the language of choice in Sardinia, while Spanish was mostly used for official documents.
Some linguists say Sardinian sounds closer to Spanish than Italian, no doubt due to the rich and complex history of the island of Sardinia along with its geographical isolation from the mainland. But indeed it also has influences from Catalan, Italian and Greek from the Byzantine era!
Friulian
Friuli is a region in the far northeastern part of Italy. There, over 500,000 people speak Friulian.
Because Friulian is more distinct than many of the languages listed above, trained ears won’t notice as much influence from languages like Spanish or Greek. This is in large part because Friuli itself has enjoyed a long history of isolation from other communities, having operated as a semi-independent state for long periods of time. Even today, as part of Italy, Friuli functions with some autonomy and celebrates its status and identity.
Though categorized as “definitely endangered” by UNESCO, Friulian is taught as a second language in schools and has special protections as an official language in Italy.
Friulian’s heaviest linguistic influences come from Italian, French and Venetian. Significant works of literature have been written in the language, which has been standardized, but not without some controversy.
If you want to address someone in Friulian, you can say: Mandi! O mi clami _____ (Hello! My name is _____).
Explore Italy with Rosetta Stone
From Neapolitan to Piedmontese, Italy has a rich web of languages that teach us plenty about the history of migration in the region. If you’re planning a trip to Italy, see if you can recognize one or several of the languages listed above!
While regional languages are prevalent, Italian is the primary language of choice in Italy and will no doubt be useful to learn. With Rosetta Stone, you’ll have access to bite-sized lessons, immediate pronunciation feedback, and a suite of extended learning tools to help you get conversation-ready in no time. Learn how to say Ciao, Italia! (Hello, Italy!) and so much more.
Written by Rowena Galavitz
Rowena Galavitz is a Spanish translator, bilingual copy editor, and language and literature instructor with three master’s degrees who loves Spanish and all things Mexico.
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