Ciao!
say it: “chow”
Italian
in its own words: italiano
- Speakers
- 68 million (estimate)
- Family
- Indo-European – Romance
- Vitality
- Safe
- Where it is spoken
- Austria, Switzerland, France, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, San Marino, Holy See (Vatican City State)
- Script
- Latin
- Official language
- Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Holy See (Vatican City State) (de facto), Croatia (regional)
Fun fact
Musical terminology is largely Italian – piano, forte, allegro, crescendo – because it became established in 17th- and 18th-century Italian music.