Italian Keyboard: à, è, é, ì, ò, ù and the Capitals It Lacks

How do you add the Italian layout to Windows or a Mac?

Windows sets the Italian keyboard up with the Italian language, and you can add it on its own: in Settings, Time & language, Language & region, pick Language options under Italian, then Add a keyboard, and choose Italian or Italian (142).

macOS lists Italian and Italian – QZERTY among its input sources under System Settings, Keyboard, Text Input. Microsoft and Apple give the full steps in the pages listed at the end. Without either, this Italian keyboard online types every letter, and the shortcut cards below work from an English layout.

Where do à, è, ì, ò and ù sit on the Italian layout?

Each one gets its own key, and you press it once. Microsoft's Italian keyboard layout (opens in a new tab), KLID 00000410, is the one Windows sets up for Italian: Microsoft's list of default input profiles pairs it-IT with it. We read all of its keys on 2026-10-25, and it has no dead key at all.

• è is right of P. Shift on it types é, the only acute accent on the layout.
• ò is right of L. Shift gives ç, which is outside the Italian alphabet.
• à is right of ò, with the degree sign ° on Shift.
• ù sits beside the lower half of Enter, with § on Shift.
• ì is the second key right of 0, next to Backspace. Shift gives ^ as a plain character, not as an accent.

So the two kinds of e share a key: the grave of caffè alone, the acute of perché with Shift. The Italian alphabet page explains which words take which. The other vowels come with a grave only.

Which capitals does the Italian layout leave out, and how does a Mac type them?

All of them. We searched every key of the Windows Italian layout with and without Shift, AltGr and Caps Lock: À, È, É, Ì, Ò and Ù are not there. Caps Lock on the è key still types a small è. A Swedish layout, checked the same way, gives Å from Caps Lock, so the search does find capitals where a layout has them.

The Mac does better. Its input source named Italian has the same accent keys in the same places, and Caps Lock leaves them small too. The capitals sit one layer up: hold Shift and Option, then press E for È, V for É, W for À, R for Ì, T for Ò or U for Ù. UCKeyTranslate read that layer for us on macOS 26.6.2.

In the editor at the top, Shift and then a letter gives its capital on any system. For the Windows codes and the US-keyboard route on a Mac, see the table of capitals on the Italian alphabet page.

Why is there no tilde on an Italian keyboard, and no backtick?

Microsoft's Italian layout has none at all. No key, in any of its four states, types ~ or `, while the brackets and the other code symbols are all on AltGr. Italian (142) (opens in a new tab), KLID 00010410, keeps every letter key where it was and rearranges AltGr so both fit. Microsoft's list of Windows layouts dates both to before Windows XP.

Character	Windows: Italian	Windows: Italian (142)	Mac: Italian
~	not on the layout	AltGr with +	Option with 5
`	not on the layout	AltGr with ù	Option with the key left of 1
@	AltGr with ò	AltGr with Q	Option with ò
#	AltGr with à	AltGr with 3	Option with à
[ and ]	AltGr with è and with +	AltGr with 8 and with 9	Option with è and with +
	Shift and AltGr with è and with +	AltGr with 7 and with 0	Shift and Option with è and with +

The Mac column is the Italian input source, read on the same day. Italian – QZERTY, the other Mac source, puts Z in the top row and the accents and symbols on the number row, with the digits under Shift.

Can the Italian layout type other languages?

Hardly any. With no dead key, a letter that has no key of its own is out of reach, and the only letters beyond a to z with keys of their own are the Italian vowels and ç. So the ñ of Spanish, the ä of German and the ã of Portuguese all need another way. Checked against the alphabet of every language AccentPad covers, from the same data: