· 7 min read
Learn Italian for Free: Courses to Trust
By Language Lab editorial team
Learn Italian for free with The Open University's three beginner courses, the BBC's archived Italian lessons and official CILS sample exams. Plus a weekly plan.
You can make a solid start in Italian without paying anything. The Open University's OpenLearn has three free beginner courses, Getting started with Italian 1, 2 and 3, each listed at 8 hours of study, with interactive listening and speaking activities and quizzes. The BBC's archived Italian pages still offer beginner material: the video series Talk Italian, an interactive drama called La Mappa Misteriosa designed to be completed in 12 weeks, a level test and holiday phrases with audio. When you want to measure yourself, the CILS Centre in Siena publishes sample exams. Italian is also one of the quickest languages for English speakers: the US State Department lists it at 24 weeks of classes, in its easiest category.
The free resources at a glance
| Resource | Who makes it | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started with Italian 1 | The Open University | Ordering food and drink, please and thank you, nouns and their gender; 8 hours |
| Getting started with Italian 2 | The Open University | Asking and telling the time, including the 24-hour clock; pronunciation of numbers; 8 hours |
| Getting started with Italian 3 | The Open University | Train and ferry travel, journey times, c'è and ci sono; 8 hours |
| Talk Italian | BBC (archived) | Online video tutorials for beginners |
| La Mappa Misteriosa | BBC (archived) | An interactive video drama with vocabulary and grammar lessons; 12 weeks |
| Italian Quick Fix | BBC (archived) | Holiday phrases to listen to, read, print and download |
| CILS sample exams | University for Foreigners of Siena | Examples of the official exam papers |
The Open University's three courses
These are extracts from the university's own short courses for beginners, and they are built around situations you will meet in Italy. The first takes you into an Italian bar: by the end you should be able to order food and drink using key phrases, understand the different ways of serving coffee, say please and thank you, and recognise nouns and their gender. The second teaches the time, including the 24-hour clock used for arrivals, departures and opening hours. The third covers enquiries about train travel, journey times and distances, and the structures c'è, there is, and ci sono, there are.
Each course offers interactive activities to practise listening and speaking, and quizzes so that you can test your learning. Take them in order.
The BBC's archived Italian lessons
The BBC no longer updates its Languages site, but the pages remain online and say so clearly. For Italian they include Talk Italian, a set of online video tutorials, and La Mappa Misteriosa, described as an interactive learning video drama adventure to complete in 12 weeks; the page gives the Common European Framework level as A1. There is also an Italian test to place yourself between complete beginner and quite fluent, and a guide with facts, essential phrases and the alphabet. Some of the old pages rely on players built for Flash, which may not run in a modern browser, so treat the archive as a bonus.
Why Italian rewards a beginner quickly
- It is read as it is written. The BBC's guide quotes the Italian saying si legge come si scrive.
- Pronunciation is clear, with every vowel distinctly enunciated.
- Vocabulary is similar to other languages of Latin origin, and you already use Italian words: ciao, pizza, cappuccino, piano, solo.
- The official estimate is short. The US State Department lists Italian at 24 weeks of classes, alongside Portuguese and Dutch.
The parts that need work, according to the same guide, are gender, since nouns are masculine or feminine and adjectives must agree with them, and verbs, which have six endings in each tense.
A free weekly plan
- Four days, 30 minutes: one section of the Open University course, with its listening and speaking activities.
- Every day, 5 minutes: BBC holiday phrases aloud.
- Twice a week: do the course quiz before rereading anything.
- Once a week: go back to last week's section and test yourself on it.
- Once a month: try part of a CILS sample exam at A1 or A2.
This plan uses the two techniques a 2013 review of learning research rated as high utility, practice testing and distributed practice. Rereading and highlighting were rated low.
What free courses do not give you
Three 8-hour courses are 24 hours of study, a beginning and not a destination. They also cannot hold a conversation with you. Language Lab's Italian course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, which supplies the spoken practice.
Frequently asked
Can I learn Italian for free?
You can start for free. The Open University offers three free beginner courses of 8 hours each, and the BBC's archived Italian pages include video tutorials and an interactive drama.
What is the best free Italian course for beginners?
The Open University's Getting started with Italian 1, followed by 2 and 3. They teach practical situations such as ordering in a bar, telling the time and travelling by train.
Is the BBC Italian course still available?
The BBC's Italian pages, including Talk Italian and La Mappa Misteriosa, are archived and no longer updated, but they are still online.
Is Italian easy to learn?
It is among the easier languages for English speakers. The US State Department lists it at 24 weeks of classes in Category I, and the BBC's guide notes that it is read as it is written.
Are there free Italian practice tests?
Yes. The CILS Centre at the University for Foreigners of Siena publishes sample exams, and the BBC archive has a level test.
How many hours are the free Open University Italian courses?
8 hours of study each, 24 hours in total.
Sources: The Open University, OpenLearn, Getting started with Italian 1, 2 and 3; BBC Languages, Italian, A Guide to Italian and Italian Quick Fix (archived pages); University for Foreigners of Siena, CILS Centre, FAQ; US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: The Colosseum, Rome, Ank Kumar / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
