Italian
Note some of these are affiliate links – that means if you decide to buy the product I get a small but welcomed commission! I have used every one of these myself and thought they were useful.
Books
CELI/CILS exam preparation books. Note these are not just useful for exam preparation – they have reading/listening/writing/oral exercises with an answer key so are super useful for practice even if you don’t plan to take the exam. The links here are to the B2 versions. Unfortunately other levels are pretty hard to find but useful if you can get them.
Percorso
Traguardo
Other books
Parola per parola
Designed for A level students but was truly invaluable to me as a B1/B2/C1 student. Separated into topics, with really great sentences and phrases for use in written and oral work (for example ‘la soluzione migliore sarebbe che il governo lanciasse un programma di grande diffusione….). Not quite as good as the Spanish version but still has some great ideas.
La nuova prova orale
Designed for use in preparation for oral exams but in reality is excellent for use in conversation and generally improving fluency. It has various topics and increases in difficulty as the book goes on (for example starting with travel and ending with biogenetic engineering). A really great book for use as a teacher, in fact my Italian italki tutor got a copy and now uses it with lots of other students of hers!
Podcasts
L’italiano vero
Native speakers with different accepts talking about everyday topics
Power Pizza (for advanced learners)
A couple of guys who review things like films and video games. They speak naturally (quickly!) and use words and phrases that you wont pick up in books.
Simple Italian podcast
This one is a little slow for me, but great for lower level learners as the host speaks slowly and clearly
Con parole nostre
A group of 3 Italian women who discuss various topics related to Italy and its culture. Natural conversations with the three of them engaging bouncing off one another make it one of the better ones for practising the art of listening to a group conversation rather than a monologue.
You tube
Learn Italian with Lucrezia
A firm favourite of myself and many other learners! Excellent explanations of grammatical topics that can normally be hard to comprehend plus videos of everyday life in Rome.