Origin of Italian: Italian is, together with Sardinian, widely considered the modern language closest to the Vulgar Latin spoken in the Roman Empire. Modern Italian is a Romance language developed in Tuscany, and can be traced back to Dante Alighieri's Florentine writings in the 14th century. 

Regional differences: There are many dialects in Italy, and quite a few of them are very different from Standard Italian, some even belonging to different linguistic branches of the language family tree. Despite the vast differences, they are often considered Regional Italian instead of separate languages. In certain places, such as Venice and Naples, it is not uncommon to hear regional vocabulary used by locals even when they speak Standard Italian. Pronunciation varies greatly depending on where in Italy you are.