Can You Really Earn a Living Teaching English in Italy?

Teaching English in Italy is probably the most talked-about income option for expats moving here. You can turn your native language into work, you don’t necessarily need to tale italiensk to get started, and there’s enough demand. On the surface it sounds like one of those things where the pieces just… fit.

That said, the reality is a bit more nuanced than that. A lot depends on how you go about it, where you land, and what your visa situation is. So in this article, we’ll look at how the market actually works, what you realistically need, how much you can earn, and how to get started.

Why Italy Actually Needs English Teachers

First, some good news: the demand is real. But it’s uneven.

Most of Italian high school students study English as part of the national curriculum, and that’s before you factor in the corporate sector, where executives, engineers, and finance professionals across Milan, Turin, and Rome are constantly chasing B2 or C1 certifications to stay competitive in international markets. Sprogskoler across the country stay busy. International schools catering to expat families and globally-oriented Italians keep hiring. And the private lesson market – those one-on-one sessions you arrange yourself – is alive and well in every corner of Italy, from big cities down to mid-sized towns.

So it’s not like you’re showing up to a market that doesn’t exist. The question is how you plug into it. And where you intend to move matters a lot – rural areas, towns with an already saturated expat teacher market, or smaller cities where demand is lower can make the search much harder. If you want to dive deeper and compare each town, you should try our Town Explorer.

The Main Ways to Teach English in Italy

Language Schools (Scuole di Lingua)

This is the most accessible entry point for most people, and the most common. Private language schools operate all over Italy, from the obvious hubs like Rome, Milan, and Florence down to smaller cities like Verona, Bari, or Palermo. They offer courses to children, teens, adults, and business professionals, and they’re generally the easiest place to land a first teaching job in Italy without a mountain of credentials.

Giving exact salary numbers is difficult, as it really depends on your contracts and how many hours you work during the week. Indeed, many language school positions are also part-time by nature, structured around afternoon and evening hours when students finish school or work. So it’s quite common for teachers to patch together hours from two or even three schools to hit something livable.

International Schools

If language schools are the entry-level path, international schools are the upper tier. These are private institutions that follow foreign curricula – the International Baccalaureate, British A-levels, or American-style K-12 programs – and they serve families who want an English-medium education for their children.

The pay at international schools is meaningfully better. However, the krav are also higher. You’ll almost always need a recognized teaching qualification from your home country – a PGCE if you’re British, state teacher certification if you’re American – plus a bachelor’s degree and ideally a few years of relevant classroom erfaring. These schools are looking for professionals.

If you already have a teaching background at home, this is absolutely worth pursuing before you move. But the demand is really high, and very often they want to see you in person. In this case, focus on bigger cities like Rome, Milan, Bolognamen også the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions (these areas have an army base and there are lots of American expats).

State Schools (Scuole Statali) and Government Programs

In principle, you can teach English in Italian public schools. In practice, getting in as a non-EU citizen is significantly more complicated and not the most realistic first move for most expats.

The Italian government, through INDIRE, runs a language assistant program that places foreign teachers in Italian public schools. It’s a structured route and one of the cleaner ways to land a formal work contract – which matters a lot for visa purposes. That said, places are limited and competition is real, so it’s not something to count on as your primary plan, especially in the first year.

Some language schools also run contracts with state schools, acting as intermediaries that place teachers in public classrooms for specific projects or as a conversation teacher – many language high schools look for the so-called “lettrici”, so native English Speakers who have a few hours per week in conversation classes with students. This is a grey area of the Italian education system that works in practice, and it’s worth asking about when you’re talking to potential employers.

Corporate and Business English

This is an underrated route, especially if you’re based in or near a major city. Many companies across northern Italy – particularly in Milan’s finance, fashion, and manufacturing sectors – invest in English training for their staff. Corporate English trainers typically work on a freelance basis, billing by the hour, and the rates are considerably better than language school wages. You’re looking at anywhere from €30 to €55 per hour for business English or exam prep coaching, depending on your qualifications and the client.

The downside is that corporate work is inconsistent. You might have two clients one month and five the next. It takes time to build a client base, and it usually works best as a supplement to a more stable teaching arrangement rather than a standalone income – at least initially.

Private Lessons

Almost every English teacher in Italy ends up doing private lessons at some point. They’re the classic side income, and they make a real difference to the monthly numbers. Going rate for one-on-one lessons tends to sit around €20-25 per hour in most of Italy, though teachers in major cities with strong CVs and specialized skills (Cambridge exam prep, business English, IELTS coaching) can push higher.

The logistical reality of private lessons is that they’re great for cash flow but chaotic to rely on exclusively. Students cancel, summers dry up, and it takes time to build enough regulars to fill your schedule. But once you have a stable base of five or six private students, even part-time, it makes a noticeable difference.

Of course, in this case we are talking about extra income, something to add to a another job – also because setting this up in a legal way is, let’s say, complicated.

Cambridge and Trinity Exam Preparation – and Becoming an Examiner

One specific niche worth mentioning: exam preparation. Italians take English certifications seriously – Cambridge qualifications like the B2 First and C1 Advanced carry real weight in the Arbejdsmarkedet and for university applications, but IELTS and TOEFL are also in high demand, particularly among professionals and students applying to English-speaking universities abroad. Schools that are Cambridge Authorized Exam Preparation Centres often need teachers who specialize in this area, and there’s consistent demand across all three.

Going a step further, if you accumulate enough teaching experience, you can train to become a Cambridge oral examiner. It’s not a full-time income, but it’s a legitimate credential that pays per examination session and adds weight to your professional profile in a way that Italian schools and students genuinely respect.

The Visa and Application Question

Here’s where things get real, especially if you’re coming from the US, Canada, Australia, or the UK post-Brexit. Getting a proper work visa in Italy as a non-EU citizen for English teaching is genuinely difficult. The Italian immigration system operates on annual quotas (the decreto flussi), and competition is high. An employer would need to sponsor you, proving that no EU citizen could fill the role – which is a process most small language schools simply don’t want to deal with.

So what do people actually do? It really depends on your situation, and we can’t give you a one-size-fits-all answer here. One route that works for a lot of non-EU people at the beginning is the studievisum – if you enroll in an accredited Italian language course lasting more than 90 days, you can work up to 20 hours per week legally. For some people it’s enough to get a foot in the door, build a reputation, and figure out the next step from inside Italy. But it’s a starting point, not a long-term solution – 20 hours a week rarely adds up to enough to live on comfortably, and at some point you’ll need to look at converting your permit or finding an employer willing to sponsor a proper work contract.

However, on the application side. Some of these schools have a separate “work with us” section on their website, where you can reach them by email, or sometimes even publish the job offer on common platforms like LinkedIn. As with most jobs in Italy – this one especially – showing up in person and leaving your CV is always the best way to 1) give a good impression; and 2) increase the chances of being confirmed.

What Qualifications Do You Actually Need?

You don’t need to be a qualified teacher in the traditional sense to start, but you do need something on paper. For most language school and private lesson work, the baseline is a TEFL or CELTA certificate. The CELTA – Cambridge’s Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages – is the gold standard that Italian schools actually recognize and ask for by name. It can be done in person (there are Cambridge-certified centers across Italy in cities like Rome, Milan, and Vicenza) or online, and it takes about a month of intensive study.

A bachelor’s degree isn’t always required for private schools and language academies, but it’s strongly preferred, and for international schools or public school placement programs, it’s non-negotiable. Previous teaching experience helps, obviously.

Italian language skills aren’t usually required at the language school level (you’re supposed to be teaching entirely in English anyway), but in practice, having even basic Italian makes your daily life vastly easier and helps you build the kind of local relationships that lead to private students.

One Last Thing

So finding a job as an English teacher isn’t easy. There’s demand, but there’s also competition. The teachers who make it work tend to treat it like building a small business: a language school for stable hours, a handful of private students, maybe a corporate client or two on the side. It takes time, and the first few months are usually the hardest. But it’s also genuinely doable.

If you’re thinking about making the move to Italy and are trying to figure out how income, residency, and practical life actually fit together, we can help you figure out the visa and tax side of things before you commit.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Immigration rules, tax regimes, and work regulations change. Always consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.