CILS Certification of Italian as a Foreign Language

Certifications of Italian are titles that declare the degree of communicative competence in Italian as a foreign language speaker. The recipients are all foreign citizens, Italian citizens residing abroad (descendants of Italian emigrants) and foreign immigrants in Italy. No special qualifications are required to take the tests.

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 Università 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 at the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago (an Italian Government entity).

The next CILS exam at the Italian Cultural Institute will take place on the days indicated below. Registration closes 60 days prior to the exam dates.  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.

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 email Mary Anne Melchior at maryanne.melchior@esteri.it

The acquisition of Italian citizenship is conditional upon an adequate and certified knowledge of the Italian language, not lower than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

2025/2026 Exam Dates and Levels

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 italculturachicago.com for information regarding the Italian language courses offered at ItalCultura, the language school at our Institute.

For a list of other locations throughout the world that are still offering the CILS exams click here.

For certifications obtained abroad through the network of Italian Cultural Institutes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has established relations with the following institutions: Università  per Stranieri di Siena (CILS), Università per Stranieri di Perugia (CELI – CIC), Università degli Studi Roma Tre (IT – ele.IT), Società Dante Alighieri.

New regulation relating to the acquisition of Italian citizenship based on marriage to an Italian citizen.

Linguistic Requirements

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.

Certification levels according to the standard system of the General European Framework

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.