Extreme Southern Italian

The Extreme Southern Italian dialects are a set of languages spoken mainly in Sicily, southern Salento, southern Cilento, and most of Calabria with common phonetic and syntactic characteristics such as to constitute a single group. The name "Italian" refers to the fact that these languages are spoken in Italy, not that they are part of the Italian language (see Languages of Italy § Language or dialect).

Today, varieties of Extreme Southern Italian are spoken daily, although their use is limited to informal contexts and is mostly oral. There are examples of full literary uses with contests (mostly poetry) and theatrical performances.