A very brief compendium of capitalization rules in Italian, covering the basics. Many are the same as in English, but there are also fundamental differences to be noted.
Please do ask if you still have questions!
1) at the beginning of a sentence, whether it be after a full stop or after a question/exclamation mark
Ex. Giovanni non era ancora tornato. La madre lo aspettava sulla porta. -- Giovanni still wasn’t back. His mother waited for him at the door.
2) to begin direct speech
Ex. "Hai conosciuto la ragazza nuova?" "No, non ancora." -- “Have you met the new girl?” “No, not yet.”
3) for people's or animals' names
Ex. Il cane di Marco si chiama Lilli. -- Marco’s dog is called Lilli.
Ex. Come festeggerai il Natale quest'anno? -- How will you celebrate Christmas this year?
5) for centuries and millenniums
Ex. Il Novecento è stato un secolo di grandi innovazioni. -- The Twentieth century was a time of great innovation.
6) for astronomical names
Ex. Ci sarà vita su Marte? -- Might there be life on Mars?
7) for titles of books, movies etc.
Generally, when the title is made of more than one word, you only capitalize the first one.
Ex. Il visconte dimezzato -- The Cloven Viscount
8) for abbreviations or acronyms
Ex. CONI = comitato olimpico nazionale italiano -- Italian National Olympic Committee
9) for geographical names
Ex. Sono nata a Palermo. -- I was born in Palermo.
10) reverential capitalization
It’s the practice of capitalizing words that refer to a deity or divine being, in cases where the words would not otherwise have been capitalized. The same could be applied to political/authority figures, particularly in a deferential or formal context. It might also mark a distinction between homographs that have a different meaning (e.g., il Paese as in the Italian country, but il paese sulla collina as in the town on the hill).
Ex. Egregio Presidente, Le scrivo da parte dei cittadini. -- Dear Mr. President, I am writing to you on behalf of the citizens.
WARNING! NO capitalization must be applied to:
1) days of the week and months of the year
Ex. Questo sabato c'è una festa. -- There’s a party on Saturday.
Mio fratello è nato a marzo. -- My brother was born in March.
2) languages and nationalities
This rule was once only believed to be valid for nationalities used as adjectives, while they were usually capitalized when employed as nouns
Ex. L’estate scorsa ho conosciuto due ragazzi svizzeri. -- Last summer I met two Swiss boys.
Si dice che gli Svizzeri siano precisi. -- The Swiss are said to be precise.
Today, the tendency is to never capitalize them.
Ex. Gli italiani hanno molte tradizioni. -- Italians have many traditions.
