Description
What is the CILS B1 cittadinanza certificate?
The CILS B1 cittadinanza (Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera) is the official Italian certification awarded by the University for Foreigners of Siena (Università per Stranieri di Siena) that will certify your level of Italian is B1. It is an officially recognised title that certifies the level of linguistic and communicative competence in Italian as a foreign language. This qualification is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is used to grant Italian citizenship for foreign nationals as well as acceptance in any Italian university or higher education institution in Italy . Due to the amendments to the Italian law in December 2018, it is now compulsory to obtain an Italian B1 language certification for all applicants for Italian citizenship through marriage or residence.
Structure of the CILS B1 cittadinanza test.
The CILS B1 cittadinanza exam proposes tasks that are related to real life situations to assess the candidate’s ability to use language in different contexts of communicative interaction. The test measures all language and communication skills: listening and reading comprehension as well as written and oral production. In this way, candidates have the opportunity to show their linguistic-communicative competence in the four skills.
The total duration of the test is approximately 2h00.
Minimum level required: A2.2/B1
Sections |
Description of each section |
Duration |
Listening comprehension
Test di ascolto |
Three short listening prompts – Multiple-choice questionnaires about the audio prompts – 2 parts | 0h30 |
Reading comprehension and grammar
Test di comprensione della lettura e riflessione grammaticale |
One short reading exercise (350/450 words) – Text to read with gap-filling exercises – 2 parts | 0h40 |
Break | ||
Written production
Test di produzione scritta |
One short writing prompt to choose from – Topics typically involve describing an event or writing an email – 1 part | 0h40 |
Oral production
Test di produzione orale |
Brief self-introduction – Conversation with an examiner based on a chosen (out of 4) specific topic: express opinions, show agreement or disagreement, comment on the examiner’s questions and observations – 1 part | 0h10 |