Italy is generally considered by academics to be one of the countries with the greatest linguistic diversity in Europe. The law recognizes a dozen minority languages, historically rooted in areas now inhabited by a total of about four million people. Their state of health and their diffusion change a lot depending on the place and the community, but almost everywhere their use has decreased a lot during the last half century. Today, institutions, scholars, associations and ordinary citizens are trying to breathe new life into these old words, with alternating results.