Italian B1 for Citizenship: CILS vs CELI vs PLIDA
Facts checked on 13 November 2026 against Law 91/1992 (art. 9.1, coordinated text on normattiva.it), Constitutional Court ruling 25/2025, and the exam pages of the Università per Stranieri di Siena (CILS), the Università per Stranieri di Perugia (CELI) and the Società Dante Alighieri (PLIDA). Rules, fees and dates change: confirm them with your prefettura or consulate, and with the exam centre, before you register.
If you are applying for Italian citizenship by marriage or by residence, you have to prove Italian at level B1 or higher. The Italian B1 citizenship requirement has been in the law since December 2018, and the proof is a certificate from one of four recognised bodies, three of which come up in every forum: CILS, CELI and PLIDA. In this post you will find who needs B1 and who is exempt, how the CILS B1 Cittadinanza, CELI 2 i and PLIDA B1 exams differ in format, scoring and resits, when you can sit them in 2027, and how to prepare without wasting a session.
Who needs Italian B1 for citizenship
Article 9.1 of Law 91/1992, inserted by Decree-Law 113/2018 for applications filed from 4 December 2018, says that citizenship by marriage or civil union (art. 5), and citizenship by residence or any other "concession" route (art. 9), require "an adequate knowledge of the Italian language, not lower than level B1" of the European scale (CEFR, in Italian QCER). B1 is the floor: a B2 or C1 certificate from a recognised body counts too.
Whether you need B1 depends on your route, so first find your route and its waiting period:
| Route | How long before you can apply | B1 |
|---|---|---|
| Marriage or civil union, living in Italy | 2 years after the marriage | Yes |
| Marriage or civil union, living abroad | 3 years from the marriage date | Yes |
| Either marriage route with children, born or adopted | Both periods halved | Yes |
| Residence, non-EU citizen | 10 years | Yes |
| Residence, EU citizen | 4 years | Yes |
| Residence, stateless person | 5 years | Yes |
| Residence, parent or grandparent Italian by birth | 2 years (since Law 74/2025) | Yes |
| Residence, born in Italy | 3 years | Yes |
| Adult adopted by an Italian citizen | 5 years after the adoption | Yes |
| Recognition by descent (jure sanguinis) | No residence period | No |
Three things about the timelines:
- The 10 years remain. The referendum of 8 and 9 June 2025 would have cut the period for non-EU citizens to 5 years. Turnout was 30.6%, below the quorum of 50% plus one, so the vote did not count.
- Descent needs no language test. Recognition by descent is not granted under art. 5 or art. 9. The 2025 reform (Decree-Law 36/2025, converted by Law 74/2025) narrowed who counts as a citizen by descent but added no language requirement.
- The marriage must still stand when the decree is adopted. You apply online on the Ministry of the Interior portal: the prefettura handles the file if you live in Italy, the consulate if you live abroad.
There is a 250-euro contribution to pay with the application, the decision takes up to 24 months (extendable to 36), and the B1 certificate is due when you file, so arrange it first.
Who is exempt from the B1 certificate
Art. 9.1 exempts two groups from presenting the certificate: applicants who signed the accordo di integrazione (the integration agreement, art. 4-bis of Legislative Decree 286/1998) and holders of the permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo, the EU long-term residence permit.
A third group was added by the courts. In ruling no. 25 of 2025 (7 March 2025) the Constitutional Court found art. 9.1 unconstitutional insofar as it did not exempt applicants with serious limitations in the ability to learn a language because of age, illness or disability, certified by a public health facility (struttura sanitaria pubblica).
The law also accepts a titolo di studio instead of an exam: a qualification from a public or state-recognised (paritario) school or institution, where the recognition comes from the education ministry (or from the foreign ministry for schools abroad).
One caution for every exempt group: offices may still check, and practice differs between prefetture. Confirm your exemption with your prefettura or consulate in writing before you file.
The four accepted certificates: CLIQ
The certificate must come from a body recognised by the education ministry and the foreign ministry. The prefettura guidance lists four, which together form the CLIQ association (Certificazione Lingua Italiana di Qualità):
- CILS, Università per Stranieri di Siena
- CELI, Università per Stranieri di Perugia
- PLIDA, Società Dante Alighieri
- CERT.IT, Università Roma Tre
Each works through its own exam centres in Italy and abroad; in Italy, the prefettura guidance also names the CPIA (public adult-education centres) as a place to get the certificate. CERT.IT is accepted like the others but has fewer centres, so this post covers the three you are most likely to find near you.
CILS vs CELI vs PLIDA at a glance
| CILS B1 Cittadinanza (Siena) | CELI 2 i (Perugia) | PLIDA B1 (Dante Alighieri) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Citizenship only | Citizenship (CELI series for immigrants) | General B1: citizenship, work, study |
| Format | 4 tests: listening 30 min, reading and grammar 40 min, writing 40 min (one 80-120 word text), speaking | Written papers (reading, writing, listening) and an oral based on material the examiners provide | 4 tests: listening about 40 min, reading 40 min, writing 60 min, speaking about 15 min |
| Scoring | Each test out of 12; you must pass every test | Ask your centre | Each test out of 30; at least 18 in every test |
| If you fail one part | The whole exam again | Ask your centre | Resit only the failed skills within 18 months |
| 2027 sessions | 6: 18 Feb, 8 Apr, 10 Jun, 22 Jul, 21 Oct, 2 Dec | 3: 17 Feb, 20 May, 15 Sep | Set centrally: plida.dante.global |
| Fee | 100 euros, in Italy and abroad | Set by the centre | Set by the centre |
CILS B1 Cittadinanza (Siena)
Siena created a special exam for citizenship applicants, listed in its calendar as "B1 C". Siena says plainly that it covers a narrower part of B1 than the standard CILS UNO-B1 and is useful only for citizenship, not for work or university.
The four tests: listening, 30 minutes, 2 tasks; reading comprehension and grammar, 40 minutes, 2 tasks; writing, 40 minutes, one text of 80-120 words; and speaking. The written part takes about 2 hours 5 minutes including a 15-minute break. Each test is scored out of 12 and you must reach the pass threshold in every test; Siena does not publish the threshold as a single number, so treat any figure you read elsewhere as unconfirmed.
The rule that matters most: passed tests are not carried over. Fail one skill and you retake the whole exam at a later session. In return you get six sessions in 2027 and a fee of 100 euros that is the same in Italy and abroad. Ask your centre when the results come out, and build that time into your plan. A free sample paper is on the Siena site under "Prove Liv. B1 c".
CELI 2 i (Perugia)
Perugia runs a series of exams for immigrants: CELI Impatto i at A1, CELI 1 i at A2 (the long-term permit level) and CELI 2 i at B1, the citizenship exam.
It has two parts: a written part with reading comprehension, written production and listening comprehension in two booklets, and an oral, a guided conversation based on material the examiners provide. The immigrant series is built around social and civic life in Italy, most visibly in the oral, so if you find it easier to talk about everyday Italian life than about abstract topics, this format suits you. Your centre gives you the timetable for the written papers and the oral.
The Perugia pages we checked do not state the fee, the pass mark or the resit rule, so ask your centre for all three. The standard CELI 2 (B1) runs on separate dates in 2027: 9 March, 11 June and 16 November.
PLIDA B1 (Società Dante Alighieri)
For citizenship, the exam to look for is the standard PLIDA B1, a general certificate also valid for work and study. The PLIDA pages we checked show no separate citizenship version, so ask your centre for the B1 session.
The B1 specification (Quaderno delle specifiche) sets out four tests: Ascoltare (listening), about 40 minutes, 20 items; Leggere (reading), 40 minutes, 18 items; Scrivere (writing), 60 minutes, 2 guided tasks; Parlare (speaking), about 15 minutes, a presentation, an interaction and a monologue, of which only the second and third are marked.
Each test is scored out of 30 and you need at least 18 in every skill. The resit rule is the most forgiving of the three: fail up to three skills and you retake only those skills within 18 months, at any PLIDA session, even at a different centre, as many times as needed. Sessions are set centrally for all centres, several a year; the fee is set by each centre.
Which exam should you choose
- You may need B1 for a job or a course later. Take PLIDA B1, or the standard CILS UNO-B1 or CELI 2. The CILS citizenship version counts for citizenship only.
- One skill is clearly weaker than the rest. Take PLIDA B1: fail writing alone and you resit writing alone, within 18 months, at any centre. With CILS B1 Cittadinanza one failed test means the whole exam again.
- You are abroad, or want the shortest wait to the next date. Take CILS B1 Cittadinanza: six sessions in 2027 and 100 euros everywhere, so after a fail the next date is never far away.
- You talk about Italian daily life more easily than anything else. Look at CELI 2 i, where the oral is a guided conversation about life in Italy. Three dates in 2027, so plan around them.
- Nothing above decides it. Pick the centre you can reach without a day of travel.
2027 dates and registration deadlines
CILS B1 Cittadinanza, 2027: 18 February (register by 18 January), 8 April (by 8 March), 10 June (by 1 May), 22 July (by 22 June), 21 October (by 21 September) and 2 December (by 23 October). The standard CILS UNO-B1 has only two 2027 dates, 10 June and 2 December. The last 2026 citizenship session is on 3 December 2026; registration closed on 24 October.
CELI 2 i, 2027: 17 February (register by 22 January), 20 May (by 20 April) and 15 September (by 17 August).
PLIDA B1: the 2027 calendar was not on the pages we checked; see plida.dante.global or your centre.
The deadlines fall about one month before the exam, and up to six weeks for some CILS sessions, so decide now, not the week before. We keep the current dates on our CILS B1 Cittadinanza page.
How to prepare for Italian B1
B1 is the level where you handle everyday life on your own: a letter to the comune, a conversation at the doctor's, your opinion on a familiar topic with a reason. The exams test exactly that, so prepare for the tasks, not for grammar in the abstract.
- Sit a sample paper on day one. Do the free CILS B1 Cittadinanza paper from the Siena site against the clock and mark it honestly; you will know which skill needs the work.
- Find your vocabulary gaps. Take our free Italian vocabulary test. Candidates who have lived in Italy for years usually know the spoken words and miss the written ones: forms, offices, health, housing, work.
- Write to the word count, daily. For CILS that is one text of 80-120 words in 40 minutes, for PLIDA two guided tasks in 60 minutes. Learn complete phrases for opening, asking and closing a formal and an informal message, and the connectors that hold an opinion together (perché, quindi, però, anche se).
- Learn the words with spaced repetition. Fifteen minutes a day with words that return just before you forget them beats a weekend of lists. Our free Italian B1 decks hold 939 B1 words across four decks, with example sentences and audio.
- Speak every day with someone who corrects you. Record yourself for two minutes a day and listen back.
We are building an Italian B1 citizenship kit: the B1 vocabulary by exam topic and the writing and speaking phrases, with a plan that finishes before your exam date. It is not ready yet; if you want to hear when it is, leave your e-mail on the Italian B1 kit page.
If someone close to you is on the same road in another country, see our guides to the Spanish level for nationality, the German level for citizenship and the French level for nationality.
Frequently Asked Questions
I already have a B2 or C1 certificate. Does it count for citizenship?
Yes, if it comes from one of the four recognised bodies (CILS, CELI, PLIDA, CERT.IT). Art. 9.1 asks for knowledge "not lower than level B1", so a higher level satisfies it. A certificate from another organisation is a different question: ask your prefettura or consulate first.
Can I take the exam abroad, in the country where I live with my Italian spouse?
Yes. All four bodies have exam centres abroad, and the CILS B1 Cittadinanza fee is 100 euros in Italy and abroad. Spouses abroad apply through the consulate, so the certificate and the application can be arranged in the same country. Not every centre runs every session, so check with the centre nearest you.
Does the certificate expire?
The certificates carry no expiry date. The office receiving your file still has the last word on what it accepts, so if yours is several years old, ask before you file.
I hold the EU long-term residence permit. Do I still need B1?
Under art. 9.1 you are exempt from presenting the certificate, as are people who signed the accordo di integrazione. Offices may still verify and practice varies, so confirm the exemption with your prefettura in writing before you decide not to sit an exam.
Is the CILS B1 Cittadinanza accepted for a job or a university place?
No. Siena states that the citizenship version covers a narrower part of B1 and is useful only for citizenship. If you may need B1 for work or study later, take the standard CILS UNO-B1, PLIDA B1 or the standard CELI 2, which are also accepted for citizenship.
Official sources
- Law 91/1992, coordinated text (art. 5, art. 9, art. 9.1, art. 9-bis, art. 9-ter): normattiva.it
- Constitutional Court, ruling no. 25 of 2025 (the health exemption): cortecostituzionale.it
- Ministry of the Interior, citizenship (the online application): interno.gov.it
- CILS, exam dates 2027 including B1 Cittadinanza: cils.unistrasi.it
- CILS, free B1 Cittadinanza sample paper: cils.unistrasi.it
- CELI exams for immigrants (CELI 2 i): cvcl.unistrapg.it
- PLIDA, Società Dante Alighieri: plida.dante.global
- CERT.IT, Università Roma Tre: certificazioneitaliano.uniroma3.it
Words on Repeat is not affiliated with the Università per Stranieri di Siena, the Università per Stranieri di Perugia, the Società Dante Alighieri, the Università Roma Tre or the Italian Ministry of the Interior. CILS, CELI, PLIDA and CERT.IT are the certificates of those bodies.