Capitalization Rules

Capitalization is one of the simplest rules in Italian to state and one of the hardest for English speakers to apply consistently — because the rule is, essentially, "capitalize less than you would in English." Italian does not capitalize days of the week, months, languages, nationalities, religions, or seasons. Writing Lunedì, Gennaio, Italiano, or Cattolico with a capital letter is not a stylistic choice in Italian; it is an error, the same way writing monday in English is an error.

This page maps the full system: what Italian capitalizes, what it does not, the cases that vary by formality (Lei, titles), and the special conventions of correspondence and book/film titles. By the end you should be able to look at any Italian word and know whether it should start with a capital letter.

1. What Italian DOES capitalize

Proper nouns

The names of people, places, organizations, and unique entities are capitalized, just as in English.

A useful subtlety: Italian capitalizes the proper-noun part but generally NOT the accompanying article or generic noun. Il Po (the Po river) capitalizes Po but not il. L'oceano Atlantico capitalizes Atlantico but not oceano. The article is part of grammar, not part of the name.

The first word of a sentence

Sentence-initial capitalization works as in English. After a period, exclamation mark, or question mark, the next word is capitalized. After a colon or semicolon, it is normally lowercase (unless what follows is itself a proper noun).

Formal titles in direct address

Titles like Signor, Signora, Dottor, Avvocato, Professore, and Presidente are normally lowercase in running text but capitalized when used in formal direct address, especially in correspondence.

High institutional titles when referring to the office

When Presidente, Papa, Re, Regina, Ministro, Sindaco refer to a specific office-holder in a formal context, they are often capitalized — though the trend in modern Italian writing is increasingly to lowercase them in journalistic prose.

Formal Lei (optional, traditional)

The formal second-person pronoun Lei ("you," polite singular) and its object/dative forms La, Le, and the possessive Suo/Sua/Suoi/Sue are traditionally capitalized in formal correspondence to distinguish them from the third-person lei ("she"), la ("her"), le ("them, fem."), suo/sua/suoi/sue ("his/her").

2. What Italian does NOT capitalize

This is where the contrast with English is sharpest, and where English-speaking learners make most of their capitalization mistakes.

Days of the week

All days are lowercase: lunedì, martedì, mercoledì, giovedì, venerdì, sabato, domenica. This is the rule even when the day appears at the start of a date or in a header.

Months

All months are lowercase: gennaio, febbraio, marzo, aprile, maggio, giugno, luglio, agosto, settembre, ottobre, novembre, dicembre.

Languages and nationalities

Languages are lowercase: italiano, francese, inglese, tedesco, spagnolo, cinese, giapponese, russo, arabo. Nationalities are lowercase too — both as adjectives and as nouns referring to people: un ristorante italiano (an Italian restaurant), gli italiani amano il calcio (Italians love football). This is a sharp contrast with English, which capitalizes all of these.

Religions and religious adherents

Religions and the names for their followers are lowercase: cattolicesimo, ebraismo, islam, buddismo, induismo; cattolico, ebreo, musulmano, buddista, induista, protestante, ortodosso. The exception is when the religion's name comes from a proper noun that is capitalized in its own right (Cristianesimo is normally lowercase, but the name Cristo is capitalized).

Seasons

The four seasons are lowercase: primavera, estate, autunno, inverno.

Cardinal directions, generic geographical terms

Cardinal directions are lowercase when used as bearings (nord, sud, est, ovest) but capitalized when used as the name of a region (il Nord Italia, il Sud).

3. Italian vs English: a comparison table

This table summarizes the contrast that catches English speakers most often.

The last row is worth pausing on: English capitalizes the first-person singular pronoun I, no matter where it appears. Italian io is always lowercase — a small reminder that the two languages have very different defaults about capital letters.

4. Book, film, and article titles

Italian uses sentence-style capitalization for titles: only the first word and any proper nouns are capitalized, the rest are lowercase. This matches French and contrasts sharply with English title-case (where most content words are capitalized).

Notice that Finzi-Contini keeps capitals because it is a proper name. Otherwise, only Il, La, Cento, I, Una — the sentence-initial words — are capitalized.

5. Capitalization in correspondence

The opening salutation in a letter or email follows specific conventions. The first word is capitalized, and subsequent personal nouns are capitalized as proper names.

The closing also has its own capitalization conventions: Cordiali saluti, Distinti saluti, Un abbraccio, A presto — the first word capitalized, the rest lowercase.

6. Edge cases and traditions

Religious figures

References to God, Christ, Mary, and major religious figures are typically capitalized when used as proper-noun-like references: Dio, Gesù, Cristo, la Madonna, lo Spirito Santo. Generic religious nouns are lowercase: santo, prete, vescovo, messa. A specific saint becomes San before a name (capitalized): San Marco, Santa Caterina.

Historical periods

Major historical periods are capitalized: il Rinascimento, il Medioevo, l'Illuminismo, il Risorgimento. Generic period words are lowercase: l'antichità, il dopoguerra, gli anni sessanta.

Common nouns derived from proper nouns

When a brand name or proper noun becomes a common noun, it is generally lowercase: un kleenex (a tissue), un thermos, uno scotch. Italian is somewhat less consistent than English here, and you will see both forms in print.

Common Mistakes

Key takeaways

• Italian capitalizes proper nouns, the first word of a sentence, and a small set of formal titles in direct address. That is essentially the whole list.
• Italian does NOT capitalize: days of the week (lunedì, martedì), months (gennaio, febbraio), languages (italiano, francese), nationalities as adjectives or as nouns referring to people (sono italiano, gli italiani), religions (cattolico, musulmano), seasons (primavera, estate), or io (the first-person pronoun).
• The contrast with English is sharp. English capitalizes most of these categories; Italian capitalizes none of them. This is the most-violated norm by English-speaking L2 writers.
• The formal Lei pronoun is traditionally capitalized in formal correspondence (La ringrazio, Suo affezionatissimo), but the modern trend is increasingly to lowercase it. In contemporary email, lowercase is safe.
• Book, film, and article titles use sentence-case in Italian (Il nome della rosa, La vita è bella) — only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. This contrasts with English title-case.
• Correspondence openings capitalize the first word and any names: Caro Marco, Gentile Signora Rossi, Egregio Signor Bianchi, Buongiorno Anna.
• When in doubt, lowercase. Italian is consistently less capitalization-heavy than English, and the lowercase choice is almost never wrong.

For the broader spelling system, see Italian Spelling: Overview. For accents on words like lunedì and città, see Written Accent Marks. For punctuation conventions in Italian, see Punctuation.