It was only a few decades ago that Italian became widespread across the peninsula; previously, diverse dialects, specific to certain geographical areas, were often the only language spoken. However, these dialects are still very much alive, and in places are more commonly used than Italian in everyday life.
Thus in 2005, 44% of Italians spoke exclusively or mainly Italian, 51% alternated it with a dialect, while only 5% spoke solely in dialect or in another idiom.
The many Italo-Romance dialects can be classified by their common linguistic roots.
They share a common origin with Latin, but the languages that preceded the Roman era, the substrates, differ from region to region.
Secondary languages and groups of dialects spoken in Italy
Dialectological classification of the speech varieties of northern Italian
The northern dialects, also called Northern Italian, form a dialect group in the peninsula.
- Gallo-Italic or Gallo-Italian (Celtic substrate)
- Piedmontese (Piedmont, Turin)
- Lombard (Lombardy, Milan; southern Switzerland, Ticino, Lake Maggiore region)
- Ligurian or Genoese (including enclaves in Monaco, in Bonifacio and on the islands of San Pietro and Sant’Antioco in Sardinia)
- Royasc (including Brigasc), a dialect of the upper Roya, transitional toward Occitan
- Emilian-Romagnol (Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, Modena, Parma, Piacenza; northern Marche; San Marino)
- Venetian (Venice, Padua, Verona, Trento)
- Istrian (Istria in Croatia)
- Rhaeto-Romance languages :
- Ladin
- Friulian
Central Italy
- Tuscan dialects (hypothetical Etruscan substrate)
- Tuscan (Florence, Pisa, Siena), the dialect on which standard Italian is based
- Roman (Romanesco, in Rome)
- Sassarese (a transitional language with Sardinian) (northwestern Sardinia, distinct from Sardinian and Corsican).
- Corsican and its variants belong to this group
- Central-Southern dialects
- Roman (Latium), different from Romanesco, the Tuscan dialect spoken in Rome
- Umbrian (Umbria)
- Marchigiano (Marche)
- Ciociaro
- Viterbese
- Cicolano-Reatino-Aquilano
Southern dialects
- South (Oscan or Messapian substrates):
- Abruzzese (Abruzzo)
- Molisan (Molise)
- Apulian (northern and central Puglia)
- Campanian (Naples, Neapolitan) or Southern
- Lucan or Lucanian (Potenza)
- Far South (Greek substrate):
- Salentine (southern Puglia)
- Calabrian (Calabria)
- Sicilian (Sicily), also an Arabic substrate
- Tarantino
- Pantesco
Sardinian dialects
- Logudorese
- Logudorese
- Campidanese
- Campidanese
- Gallurese
- Sassarese
Statistics on the dialects and languages spoken in the Italian peninsula
| Group | Population | Language of origin | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sicilian | 5,158,000 | Sicilian, Arabic-Turkish and Spanish | Sicily |
| Sardinian | 1,348,000 | Sardinian | Sardinia (80.72%) |
| Friulian | 653,000 | Friulian | Friuli Venezia Giulia and part of Veneto |
| Tyrolean | 251,000 | German | Alto Adige (69.15%) |
| Occitan | 178,000 | Occitan | Piedmont in the Cuneo valley (4.76%) and Turin, Liguria in Imperia, Calabria and Guardia Piemontese |
| Sassarese | 120,000 | Sassarese | Province of Sassari (36%) |
| Corsican Gallurese | 100,000 | Gallurese | Province of Olbia-Tempio (64%), Province of Sassari (1.8%) |
| Arberesh | 98,000 | Albanian | Southern Italy, Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, Molise, Campania, Basilicata and part of Abruzzo |
| Franco-Provençal | 90,000 | Franco-Provençal | Piedmont in Turin (0.89%), Aosta Valley in Aosta (60%), Puglia in Foggia (0.23%), etc |
| Ladin | 55,000 | Ladin | Trentino-Alto Adige in Bolzano (4.19%), in Trento (1.69%), Veneto in Belluno (10%) |
| Slovene | 50,000 | Slovene | Friuli Venezia Giulia in Trieste (9.6%), in Gorizia (8%), in Udine (3%) |
| Catalan | 26,000 | Dialect of Alghero | Sardinia in Alghero (60%) |
| French | 20,000 | French | Aosta Valley (17.33%) |
| Greek | 20,000 | Greek of Italy | Calabria in Reggio Calabria (0.88%) and Puglia in Salento (1.88%) |
| Bavarian | 3,100 | German | Veneto (Province of Vicenza and Verona) and Trentino (Province of Trento) |
| Croatian | 2,600 | Croatian | Molise (0.79%) |
| Carinthian | 2,000 | German | Friuli Venezia Giulia in Udine (0.38%) |
| Carnic | 1,400 | Friulian | Friuli Venezia Giulia in Belluno (0.66%) |
| Tyrolean | 700 | German | Veneto, Val Pusteria |
| Romaniska | 100 | Romaniska | Sardinia in Isili (CA) |
Sources: http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/europe/italieacc.htm and en.wikipedia.org
