Certification of Italian as a foreign language CILS
ItalCultura offers intensive preparation courses for CILS exams. Students have the opportunity to test their proficiency in Italian, and receive an official designation of their level of linguistic ability. Certification is awarded by the Universita’ per Stranieri di Siena and is recognized by the Italian Government on the basis of an agreement with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The CILS exam takes place twice a year: in late Spring and December at the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago (an Italian Government entity).
The next CILS exam at the Italian Cultural Institute will take place on on the days indicated below. Registration closes 60 days prior to the exam dates. To register for the CILS exam at the Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago or for any questions related to taking the exam at our office, please send an email to maryanne.melchior@esteri.it. Please note that in addition to the standard exam fee, each candidate will be required to pay an additional fee of $60 to the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago to cover the costs of administering the exam.
2024 Exam Dates
For more information regarding the CILS exams, including the opportunity to review the contents of prior exams, please click here.
To prepare yourself for the CILS exam, visit our website http://LearnItalianChicago.com for information regarding the Italian language courses offered at ItalCultura, the language school at our Institute!
A list of other locations throughout the world that are still offering the CILS exam can be found here: https://cils.unistrasi.it/84/16/Le_sedi_di_esami.htm
For any questions related to the exam or the fees required to take the exam, please send an email to maryanne.melchior@esteri.it.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also established relations with the following institutions:
Università per Stranieri di Perugia (CELI – CIC), Università degli Studi Roma Tre (IT – ele.IT)
Società Dante Alighieri (PLIDA)
In accordance with the standard system of the General European Framework
| Università per Stranieri di Perugia | Università per Stranieri di Siena |
Università degli Studi di Roma Tre | Dante Alighieri | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level C2 Padonanza |
CELI 5 | CILS Quattro-C2 | IT | PLIDA C2 | |||
| Level C1 Efficacia |
|
CILS Tre-C1 | —— | PLIDA C1 | |||
| Level B2 Progresso |
CELI3 | CILS Due B2 | —— | PLIDA B2 | |||
| LIVELLO B1 Soglia |
CELI2 | CILS Uno B1 | ele.IT | PLIDA B1 | |||
| Level A2 Sopravvivenza |
CELI1 | CILS A2 | —— | PLIDA A2 | |||
| Level A1 Contatto |
CELI1 | CILS A1 | —— | PLIDA A1 |
New regulation relating to the acquisition of Italian citizenship based on marriage to an Italian citizen.
Law n. 132 (December 1, 2018) introduced some news concerning citizenship in particular regarding the linguistic requirement. The new law (in force since 4 December 2018) introduced the art. 9.1 to the law of 5 February 1992, n. 91.
This provision provides, as a condition for the recognition of citizenship pursuant to arts. 5 (“Citizenship through Marriage or Same-Sex Union”) and 9 of the aforementioned law, possession of an adequate knowledge of Italian, not less than level B1.
The assessment of this requirement must be carried out through the acquisition of:
– qualification awarded by an Italian public or equivalent Italian educational institution; or
– certification issued by a certifying body.
Certification bodies, belonging to the CLIQ unified certification system (Certificazione Lingua Italiana di Qualita’), are:
– Universita’ per stranieri di Siena
– Universita’ per stranieri di Perugia
– Universita’ Roma Tre
– Societa’ Dante Alighieri
Certifications of a level not inferior to B1 issued by the aforesaid entities (eventually in collaboration with the local Italian Cultural Institutes) may be considered valid.