The Italian people are a Southern European ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and, by virtue of a wide-ranging diaspora, throughout Western Europe, the Americas and Australia. They are one of the Latin European peoples and their native language is Italian, and historically Italian dialects and other regional languages.

There are almost 60 million Italians in Italy, about 750,000 in Switzerland, and about 28,000 in San Marino. There is also a large but undefined, autochthonous population in France (Nice, Corsica). Smaller groups can also be found in Slovenia and Croatia, primarily Istria. There are notable populations of Italian descent in Brazil (Italian Brazilians), Argentina (Italian Argentine), Uruguay (Italian Uruguayans), the United States (Italian Americans), Venezuela (Italo-Venezuelans), Canada (Italian Canadians), Australia (Italian Australians), Peru (Italian Peruvians), and throughout Europe—mainly in Belgium, United Kingdom (Italian-Scots/Britalian), France and Germany (Italo-Germans).