Do You Need to Speak Italian to Live in Italy?

Italy ranked dead last in the EU for English proficiency. Here's what that actually means for expats planning the move.

If you’re asking whether you need to speak Italian to live in Italy, you’re probably hoping the answer is no. And technically, it is.

You can rent an apartment, buy groceries, and sit in a café in Rome with zero Italian. Thousands of people do it.

But “living in Italy without Italian” ranges from manageable to genuinely frustrating, and the version you get depends a lot on where you are and what you expect from the country.

Here’s the part nobody tells you: Italy is the worst English-speaking country in the European Union.

In 2025, the EF English Proficiency Index gave Italy a score of 513 out of 700, placing it dead last among EU member states. Even France, which has a famously complicated relationship with English, beat Italy. The highest-performing region in Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia in the northeast, still scored below the European average.

That shows up in very practical ways. It’s the pharmacist who doesn’t have the English for what you’re describing. It’s the functionary at the municipal office who glances at his colleague, then back at you. It’s the landlord who sends the lease in Italian and expects it signed by Friday. And as we’ll cover shortly, there is a more insidious issue.

What English Actually Gets You in Italy

In the tourist-heavy cities, English functions well enough. Rome, Florence, and especially Milan have English-speaking staff in hotels, many restaurants, and some banks.

Photo by Ari Dutilh on Unsplash

Younger Italians, particularly anyone who finished school after 2010, tend to have basic English, especially if they work in any sector with international exposure.

Step outside that bubble and things go south quickly. Literally. A mid-sized city like Pescara, Lecce, or Reggio Calabria has far fewer English speakers than Florence.

Move to a hill town in the Marche region or a village in Basilicata, which is where many expats end up after deciding they want the real Italy, and the working assumption is that you speak Italian. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but you should make a bona fide effort.

Across the whole country, only around 34% of Italians report speaking English, according to European Commission data. Most of that 34% is concentrated in cities and among people under 40.

I grew up in this country and though my English when I left was appalling, it was considered very advanced by Italian standards.

The north-south gap is real too. At some point after your relocation, you’ll meet your 73 year old neighbor who is a lovely lady, has a wealth of recipes and knowledge to impart, and would give the shirt off her back for this new quirky international neighbor (you). And you simply won’t be able to communicate past gestures.

When Italian Becomes a Legal Requirement

This is where that “I’ll figure it out” plan stops working: paperwork.

If you plan to stay in Italy long-term and want the legal security that comes with it, Italian is not optional.

After five years of legal residency, you can apply for the permesso di soggiorno CE, the EU Long-Term Residence Permit. The requirement is A2 Italian: a basic level, enough for simple exchanges, everyday transactions, and following straightforward instructions. Not fluent. But not zero either.

Want citizenship through marriage or after ten years of continuous residency? The bar rises to B1, an intermediate level. That’s been the law since December 2018.

Citizenship by descent is different. No language test. Though the appointment at the consulate will be considerably more pleasant if you arrive with some Italian.

The short version of the tiers: A2 to secure long-term legal residency. B1 to become Italian through naturalization or marriage. Nothing required for descent, but you’ll want it anyway.

The Bureaucracy Problem

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Nothing brings the language gap into focus quite like Italian bureaucracy.

The codice fiscale (your Italian tax identification number, needed to sign a lease, open a bank account, register with a doctor, or essentially exist in the system) is usually obtainable in English through a consulate. That’s the easy part.

Everything after that gets harder. Registering your residency at the anagrafe (the local registry office) happens in Italian.

Finding and enrolling with a medico di base (general practitioner) within your district happens in Italian. Renewals at the Questura, the local police office where most permit extensions actually get processed, happen in Italian. Dealing with utility companies, notai (notaries) for property purchases, or writing a formal complaint to your landlord: Italian.

Government offices have no legal obligation to accommodate you in English. Some expats solve this by hiring a commercialista (an accountant who also handles administrative matters) or an immigration lawyer who speaks English.

Others lean on English-language expat networks. Both approaches work, up to a point. But they buffer you from Italy rather than putting you inside it. Every problem you outsource to a translator is a problem you haven’t actually learned to handle.

Can You Build a Real Life There Without Italian?

In major cities like Milan and expat zones in Tuscany, more or less yes. There’s enough English-language infrastructure around private clinics, Facebook groups, English-speaking agents and accountants, that a determined person can manage daily life without much Italian.

What you miss is less obvious, but more important. The neighbour who mentions offhand that the water will be shut off tomorrow. The landlord who explains that the boiler needs to be bled before winter. The shop owner who tells you about the sagra (village food festival) happening down the road next weekend. The friend who takes your side in a dispute with a contractor.

These things don’t happen in the expat group. They happen in Italian, in passing, unremarkably.

A lot of expats in Italy describe the experience as living behind glass: everything visible, nothing quite touchable. That’s not bitterness. It’s just an honest accounting of what you trade when you can’t participate in the daily texture of where you live due to language barriers.

What Level of Italian Is Actually Enough?

You don’t need to write a novel in Italian. Most expats who feel genuinely at home in Italy are operating somewhere between B1 and B2 in conversation.

Achievable for most adults, and required to sustain real friendships with Italians, but it takes consistent and serious focus over a fairly long time.

The A2 level you need for long-term residency is a lower bar. A few months of focused study can get you there even before you land in Italy, and it’s a good base to perfect on site.

If you’re not sure where you’re starting from, this free Italian level test of mine on Linguetto.com gives you a CEFR placement in about ten minutes, no sign-up required. So you know where you stand.

For building from there, sign up with the site. It uses an adaptive rating system calibrated from 0 to 3000 (structured like a chess rating) so every quiz matches where you actually are, not where a generic curriculum assumes you should be. As you improve, your rating goes up and so does the difficulty of the quizzes.

You get audio pronunciation guidance, instant explanations, and a concrete sense of progress toward A2 or B1.

If you like more structure than just taking quizzes at your level, head right for the Linguetto Articles. They’ll teach you vocabulary and grammar and allow you to practice with quizzes specific to the article you just read. Then from time to time, you can keep testing your level as it improves, with the more general quiz sessions not specific to an article.

I’m biased of course, but I think it’s quite good, though in its early days and definitely a work in progress in terms of content. A fellow Italian teacher was very impressed with it.

As she found out, it’s a site that you cannot outgrow. It will adapt quizzes to your level. Even if you are a highly educated native Italian speaker, some of the tougher quizzes will challenge you.

So, should you learn Italian or not?

Moving to Italy without Italian is survivable. Done every day. But planning to stay indefinitely while treating the language as optional is a setup for either permanent dependence on intermediaries or a quiet, creeping isolation that most people don’t see coming.

Keep in mind that most Italians will think you are cool for being an expat. They’ll have a natural curiosity towards you. They’ll want to be your friend. But most, simply won’t be able to communicate with you unless you know some Italian.

Start learning before you board the plane. Not because you’ll arrive fluent, but because you’ll arrive with a foundation instead of starting from scratch while also managing everything else that comes with relocating to a foreign country.

Immersion is genuinely valuable once you have something to immerse. Without a base, Italian just washes over you.

For a fuller picture of what life in Italy actually looks like once you’re there, Living in Italy: Pros and Cons of Moving There covers both the things that will genuinely improve your life and the ones nobody mentions until you’re already committed. And if you haven’t settled on where in Italy you’d even want to be, Which Region of Italy Should You Move To? is the right place to start.

The country is worth learning the language for. That’s not enthusiasm talking. That’s a lifetime of knowing both.

Did you take the Italian test I mentioned? How did you score? Let me know in the comments below.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can you live in Italy without speaking Italian?

Yes, in practical terms, especially in major cities like Rome, Milan, and Florence where English-speaking services are more available. But daily life becomes significantly harder without Italian for anything involving bureaucracy, healthcare, or legal matters. Most expats who have lived in Italy for more than a year strongly recommend learning at least conversational Italian before the move.

What level of Italian do you need for an Italian residence permit?

For the EU Long-Term Residence Permit, available after five years of continuous legal residency, you need to demonstrate A2 Italian proficiency. A2 is a basic level covering simple conversations and everyday transactions. For Italian citizenship by marriage or naturalization, the requirement rises to B1, an intermediate level, and that rule has been in place since December 2018.

Do Italians speak English?

Some do, particularly younger Italians in urban areas and those working in tourism or international business. As a country, Italy ranked last in the European Union for English proficiency on the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index. English knowledge and accessibility drops like a stone outside major cities and in rural or southern regions.

Is Italian hard to learn for English speakers?

Not especially. The U.S. Foreign Service Institute classifies Italian as a Category I language, one of the more accessible groups for English speakers, requiring roughly 600 to 750 class hours to reach professional working proficiency. Most motivated adults reach conversational A2 within 6 to 12 months of consistent, focused study.

What Italian certification do you need for citizenship?

For citizenship by marriage or naturalization, you need a B1 certificate from an institution recognized by Italy’s Ministry of Education (MIUR) or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI). The most widely accepted certifications are the CELI (Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera) and the CILS (Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera). Citizenship by descent has no language requirement.

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