Italian (Italiano in Italian) is a Romanic language spoken by about 63 million people, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of the four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino and the Vatican City. Standard Italian was adopted by the state after the unification of Italy and is based on the Tuscan dialect.

Unlike most other Romanic languages, Italian has retained the contrast between short and long consonants which existed in Latin. As in most Romanic languages, stress is distinctive. Of the Romanic languages, Italian is considered to be one of the closest resembling Latin in terms of vocabulary, though Romanian most closely preserves the noun declension system of Classical Latin, and the Spanish verb conjugation system, while Sardinian is the most conservative in terms of phonology.

Italian is affectionately called "il parlar gentile" (the gentle language) by its speakers.

Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first non-native language of pupils. In the United States and the United Kingdom, Italian ranks as the fourth foreign language taught in schools. Throughout the world, Italian is the fifth most taught non-native language, after English, French, Spanish, and German.