Most Italian speakers are living in Italy, however, there are many Italian speakers living in different countries like America, Vatican City, and even Switzerland. The Italian language is spoken by approximately eighty-five million people which includes sixty-seven million native speakers. The language is still taught in schools across the world including right here at CSI! As of this time, Italian is the twenty-second most spoken language worldwide and the fourth most studied language in the world. The Italian language is said to be spoken in over twenty-five different countries as well, this shows us that the Italian language is not endangered and will probably never be endangered since it is spoken and taught all around the world and not just in the place it has originated from– Italy. The language population is considered high since there are roughly over thirty spoken Italian dialects including Sicilian, Tuscan, Venetian, and more (Richards).

The Italian language is spoken by about eighty-five million people, it’s the national language of the country of Italy. Italian is spoken in twenty-six countries in the world, given all of this information it’s clear to see that Italian is a blooming language that is spoken daily by millions. According to Fordham University, Italian is a national language with a large speaker population. Ethnologue records Italian as a fully developed language with a language status of 1. Italian is used daily in media, government, and education, and is socially spoken by people of all ages, making its vitality bloom. Not only is Italian spoken nationally but it’s spoken by people from all over the world and new people are learning Italian every day (Esoldi 2022).

Italian has an extremely diverse range of dialects, depending on the region, time, and social class. There are also many different wants to classify them depending on the scholar. There is a big difference in the northern and southern dialects, which is also shown in the culture of Italy where southern and northern are so separated. There are also differences between the central southern dialect and the middle and upper dialects (Cugno 2023: 197).  

Classical Latin and its late ancient successor, vulgar Latin, are the foundations of all Italian dialects and all of the other Romance Languages. The Latin of the Renaissance and the Middle Ages acted as a written literary language in Italy. This occurred after the commonly spoken vulgar Latin changed to the vernacular Italian dialects. Because of this, the Italian literary language “conquer[ed] its territory from medieval Latin” (Kristeller 2015: 50). In the 10th through 12th centuries, Italian dialects were used throughout the peninsula while Latin was used exclusively for literary expression. Then in the 13th through 18th centuries, Latin became an alternative literary language. The more Italian grew and expanded as a literary language, the more Latin died out. In the 13th century, lyrical poetry flourished in 3 schools: Sicily, Bologna, and Tuscany– after this influence of lyrical poetry, there was an impact made on their dialects and the resulting literary language (2015: 50-51).

Italy’s cultural values are centered around strong family ties and community family is essential to Italian culture, involving frequent gatherings, and Italian cuisine is celebrated for its regional diversity. International dishes such as pasta and pizza and ingredients such as olive oil are popular back in Italy, of course, but Italian cuisine remains characterized by strong regional traditions, local geography, way of life, and history. Northern Italian gastronomy is well known for its use of butter, rice, polenta, and cheeses. Seafood and shellfish are prevalent on the coasts. Meat dishes are popular in central Italy. On a regular day basis, religious activities play a smaller role than they did in previous centuries, while Sundays and special holiday celebrations like Christmas and Easter are significantly important to the Italian traditions (Signoretta, Larner 2024).