Learn Italian: Faccio colazione la mattina. - I have breakfast in the morning.

In Italian, you don't 'have' breakfast, you 'do' or 'make' it! The standard expression is fare colazione. Because fare is an irregular verb, the 'I' form is faccio, making it faccio colazione (I have breakfast).

Why isn't there an article like la or una before colazione?

The phrase fare colazione is a fixed expression. You put the verb fare directly next to colazione without any article. This is similar to English, where we say 'I have breakfast' rather than 'I have the breakfast'.

How does la mattina mean 'in the morning'? Where is the word for 'in'?

In Italian, you often use just the definite article (la in this case) with a time of day to show that something happens regularly during that time. So, la mattina translates perfectly to 'in the morning' or 'mornings'. No extra preposition is needed.

Since we use fare for breakfast, can I say faccio cena for 'I have dinner'?

No, this is special to breakfast! While Italians say fare colazione for having breakfast, they usually use specific single verbs for the other main meals: pranzare (to eat lunch) and cenare (to eat dinner).