Bonjour/Buongiorno,

It is said that 89% of Italian words have a French cognate. That means a similar word in French to Italian.

Structurally too, the 2 languages are very similar. For example, both languages use the verbs “To have” and “To be” to form perfect tenses. In similar situations, the past participle must agree in gender and or quantity with the subject or with the direct object. There are very many situations however where the past participle must not agree.

Here is a great video with Langfocus who discusses this further.

However, a huge difference between French and Italian is the pronunciation. French words are much harder to pronounce (albeit with some logic and consistency) than Italian words. The latter are pronounced far more as they are written.