Do You Need the CILS A2 Integrazione, or Is the Free Test Enough?

If you have been living in Italy legally for five years and you are getting ready to apply for the permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo, someone has probably told you that you need to prove A2 level Italian. What almost nobody explains clearly is that there are two completely different ways to do that. One is free. One costs 100€ and gives you a certificate you keep forever. Most English speakers only ever hear about one of them, and it is usually the wrong one for their situation.

Here is what each test actually involves, which one is genuinely easier to pass, and why a lot of people should seriously consider doing both.

Why You Need A2 Italian for the Permesso di Lungo Periodo

The permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo is the open-ended residency permit available to non-EU citizens who have lived legally in Italy for at least five years. Alongside the income and housing requirements, you have to demonstrate knowledge of Italian at level A2 of the Common European Framework.

You can satisfy that requirement in two ways. You can sit the free test administered by your Prefettura, or you can present a certificate at A2 level or higher from an officially recognized certifying body like the Universita per Stranieri di Siena.

Note the wording there... A certificate at A2 or higher. A B1 certificate satisfies the A2 requirement too, which matters if citizenship is anywhere in your future. If you are not sure which exam your situation calls for, our quick exam quiz will point you in the right direction.

Option 1: The Free Test at the CPIA

This is the default route, and it is genuinely free. You apply online through the Ministero dell'Interno portal. Your Prefettura then has up to 60 days to send you a letter telling you the date, time, and location of your test. You do not choose the date. You are assigned one.

The test itself is held at a CPIA, the public adult education center for your province, and takes one hour total. It has three parts: Listening comprehension, Reading comprehension, and a Written interaction. The exam is scored out of 100 points, and you must score at least 80% to pass.

If you do not pass, you can apply again through the same procedure, but only after 90 days. Add that to the sixty-day wait for your assigned date, and a single failed attempt will cost five months on a timeline that is already tied to your five-year residency clock.

The part most people do not find out until afterward: you do not receive a certificate. The CPIA reports your result directly to the Prefettura, which passes it to the Questura for your permesso. The result is valid for that specific Prefettura application and nothing else. If you need to prove A2 Italian again for any other purpose, you start over with a different exam.

Option 2: The CILS A2 Integrazione

The CILS A2 Integrazione is issued by the Universita per Stranieri di Siena. It costs 100€ and is offered six times per year on a fixed international calendar, so you can choose a date that works for you and plan your studies and life around it. We keep a full breakdown of the 2026 CILS exam dates and registration deadlines and the 2027 dates if you are planning further ahead.

The exam runs 1 hour and 35 minutes across four sections: Listening, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Writing. Each section is scored separately, and you need 58.33% to pass. Fall below that in even one section and you retake the whole exam, which we cover in more detail in our guide to what happens if you fail part of the CILS exam.

Results come out in roughly 40 business days, and you can download a PDF attestato with the University of Siena's digital stamp while you wait for the official certificate to arrive. The certificate never expires and can be used anywhere you need to document A2 proficiency.

You will need to book through an authorized exam center. Here is how to find a CILS exam center near you, and a full list of CILS exam locations worldwide if you are sitting the exam outside Italy. Our walkthrough on how to register for a CILS exam covers the paperwork.

CILS A2 Integrazione vs the Free Test: Side by Side

	CILS A2 Integrazione	Free CPIA test
Cost	100€	Free
Sessions	6 per year on a fixed calendar you choose from	Your Prefettura assigns you a date within 60 days
Listening	20 minutes	25 minutes
Reading	30 minutes	25 minutes
Writing	40 minutes	10 minutes
Speaking	5 minutes	Not tested
Total time	1 hour 35 minutes	1 hour
Pass mark	58.33% in each of the 4 sections	80% across the whole test
If you fall short	Retake the full exam at any of the 6 exam sessions offered each year	Retake the full test after 90 days
What you receive	A certificate from the University of Siena	Nothing. The result goes directly to the Prefettura
Validity	Never expires, valid anywhere A2 must be documented for life	Your permesso application only

So Which One Should You Take?

For most people, the CILS A2 Integrazione is the better choice, and the reasons compound.

The pass mark is more than 20% lower. You get six chances a year on dates you choose rather than waiting for a letter to tell you when your one shot is. And you walk away holding a certificate that never expires, which means the next time an Italian office asks you to prove your Italian fluency level, you already have the answer.

That last point matters more than it sounds. If you are planning to apply for citizenship down the road, enroll in a course, or register with a professional body, the free test leaves you with nothing to show. You will sit a language exam twice. The CILS gets it done once. If citizenship is your longer-term goal, it is worth reading up on the B1 Cittadinanza exam now rather than later, since a B1 certificate covers the A2 requirement as well.

That said, the free test is real and it works. If cost is the deciding factor in your situation, take it. It satisfies the requirement, it is administered by the state, and there is nothing second-rate about it. Just go in knowing that 80 percent is a tough bar to reach and that you are walking away empty-handed afterward.

Why Not Take Both?

Here is the option almost nobody mentions, and it is often the smartest one available.

Take the free test when your Prefettura calls you in. It costs you nothing but an afternoon, and if you pass, your permesso requirement is handled. Then take the CILS A2 Integrazione at whichever session suits your calendar, so you can also hold a permanent certificate for everything that comes after.

There is no conflict between the two and no downside to doing both. You are preparing with the same material either way. The listening, reading, and writing skills transfer directly from one exam to the other, and the CILS speaking section is simply extra practice that the free test never asks you to use.

If you are on the fence about spending the 100€, this is the framing that resolves it. You are not choosing between two tests. You are deciding whether you want to end this process with a certificate or without one.

The Two Remaining CILS Dates in 2026

There are two CILS A2 Integrazione sessions left this calendar year. October 21, with registration closing September 21. And December 3, with registration closing October 24. We wrote about what the last two sessions of the year mean for your planning when the July session closed.

Individual exam centers often close registration earlier than the national deadline and cap the number of seats. If you are aiming for either of the remaining exam dates this year, contact your center well before the published cutoff rather than on it.

How to Prepare for Either Exam

The content overlap between the two tests is close to total. Same level, same everyday situations, same task types for listening, reading, and writing. Whichever one you sit, you are studying the same Italian. Our guide to how long it takes to prepare for Italy's official exams gives you a realistic timeline.

What changes is where you put your emphasis in the final weeks. If you are sitting the CILS, no section can be neglected, because falling below 58.33% in any one of the four means retaking the whole exam. If you are sitting the free test, comprehension carries almost all the weight and there is no speaking score to lean on, so listening and reading are where you focus your study time.

Our A2 Integrazione exam prep program covers the full CILS A2 Integrazione exam, including the speaking section, with everything taught in English and built around real past exam material. If you are sitting the free CPIA test instead, the same program prepares you for every skill that test measures.