The Italian Language: History, Speakers, and Cultural Significance

Italian (italiano or lingua toscana) is a Romance language of the Indo‑European family. It is the official language of Italy and Switzerland, with about 62 million native speakers worldwide. Italian evolved from Vulgar Latin and is closely related to Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Romanian. It boasts a rich literary tradition from Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, and is the language of opera and the Roman Catholic Church. Common greeting "ciao" works both formally and informally.