Education First's latest English Proficiency Index ranked Italy 59th out of 123 countries and regions where English isn’t the native language.
This made it the lowest-ranking EU member state and one of the worst-performing countries in continental Europe.
READ ALSO: Italy drops to bottom of EU ranking for English language skills
But while Italy as a whole fared worse than all other EU members in 2025, proficiency scores varied greatly across the country, particularly between north and south.
Proficiency scores
Italy’s average proficiency score stood at 513 out of 700 in 2025, with regional scores ranging from a minimum of 482 to a maximum of 553.
Under Education First’s scoring system, any score between 450 and 499 indicates “low proficiency,” with speakers able to “navigate an English-speaking country as a tourist” and “engage in small talk with colleagues.”
Scores between 500 and 549 indicate "moderate proficiency,” which allows speakers to "participate in meetings in one’s area of expertise, understand song lyrics and write professional emails on familiar subjects."
Finally, any score between 550 and 599 falls into the "high proficiency” category, meaning that speakers can “make a presentation at work, understand TV shows and read a newspaper.”
Regional differences
Out of Italy’s 20 regions, only the northeastern Friuli Venezia Giulia, which includes the cities of Udine and Trieste, fell under the “high proficiency” band, with a score of 553.
15 regions, including Emilia Romagna (534), Veneto (533), Trentino Alto Adige (532) and Lombardy (526), had “moderate proficiency”.
At the bottom of the table, the southern regions of Campania (499), Puglia (498), Sardinia (491) and Calabria (482) were all given “low proficiency” scores.
City rankings
In addition to Italy’s regions, the study also ranked 31 of the country’s major cities based on locals’ English proficiency.
Bergamo, in Italy’s northern Lombardy region, claimed the top of the table, with a score of 575.
It was followed by Brescia (571), Verona (567), Milan (562), Turin (559) and Padua (558).
At the other end of the ranking, Salerno, in the southern Campania region, was the Italian city with the lowest proficiency level, with 481.
Two other southern cities – Messina (505) and Caserta (496) – completed the bottom three.
Here’s the full city ranking:
- Bergamo 575
- Brescia 571
- Verona 567
- Milan 562
- Turin 559
- Padua 558
- Bologna 557
- Venice 554
- Palermo 551
- Modena 550
- Pisa 550
- Bari 547
- Genoa 543
- Monza 541
- Florence 540
- Udine 540
- Rome 538
- Perugia 538
- Treviso 535
- Varese 530
- Cagliari 530
- Parma 529
- Naples 528
- Reggio Emilia 527
- Vicenza 525
- Como 524
- Trento 518
- Catania 517
- Messina 505
- Caserta 496
- Salerno 481
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