Italy - like France - is an obvious choice for many ESL/EFL teachers looking for work in Europe. Italy's popularity as a teaching destination has meant that finding ELT work is not always as easy as might have been hoped. An internationally recognized TESOL Certificate (generally the CELTA or Trinity Cert.TESOL) is a minimum requirement; the ability to speak Italian will also boost your chances of finding work considerably.

Teachers are generally employed as 'Contract workers' or 'Freelance workers'. Italy's corporate legislation on Social Security payments has made it more attractive for Private Language schools to take on freelance teachers, as teachers who fall into this category must make their own Social Security payments. But many schools do employ teachers on contracts, and a significant number of contracts are given out each year to native English language teachers in the State Primary and Secondary schools. Under the Italian Government's Lingue 2000 initiative, Secondary-age students wishing to take government-recognized international exams (in particular the Trinity EFL exams) can have the exams accepted as credits for high school graduation. This has seen a boom in the demand for this kind of EFL exam, and for teachers to teach them.

International school chains like Linguarama, Berlitz and Inlingua are very present in Italy, training many would-be EFL teachers for subsequent teaching positions in their own schools. Foreign organizations such as UK-based SaxonCourt also send EFL teachers out to institutions such as the British Schools, which have over 70 branches across the country.

Many of the more respectable schools in Italy belong to AISLI (Associazione Italiana Scuole di Lingua Inglese), and/or to EAQUALS (a pan-European association of language training providers). Both AISLI and EAQUALS member schools are tightly regulated and generally offer favourable working conditions for their teachers.

A word of warning: many ESL/EFL teachers who depart for Italy on short-term contracts never come back...