Cities take *a* (*vado **a** Roma*), countries, regions and large islands take *in* (*vado **in** Italia*, ***in** Sicilia*), and people take *da* (*vado **da** Marco*, ***dal** medico*).
The three rules that cover almost everything
Cities → a. Vado a Milano, sono a Londra, abito a Napoli. No exceptions worth noting.
Countries, regions, large islands → in. Vado in Italia, *in Toscana, in Sardegna. Small islands follow the city rule and take a: a Capri*.
People → da. Vado da Marco, sono dal dentista, ceniamo dai miei. Where English says "to Marco's", Italian uses a single preposition.
Places that take in with no article
A cluster of everyday places wants bare in: *in banca, in farmacia, in biblioteca, in ufficio, in centro, in montagna, in piscina, in chiesa*.
But once the place is specified, the article returns: sono in banca versus sono nella banca di mio padre.
A governs an equally fixed set: *a casa, a scuola, a teatro, a letto, al cinema, al mare, al lavoro*. There's no logic to reconstruct — they're blocks, and they're learned like single words.
The second job of da
Origin: vengo dall'Inghilterra, *da Roma*.
Duration, when something is still going on: studio italiano da due anni — "for two years and counting", not a closed period.
The agent in a passive: il libro è stato scritto da Calvino.
Purpose, where English uses a compound noun: occhiali da sole (sunglasses), camera da letto (bedroom), macchina da scrivere (typewriter).
Related questions
Is it vado in Roma or vado a Roma?
*Vado a Roma*. Cities always take *a*; *in* is for countries and regions.
How do you say I'm going to the doctor's in Italian?
*Vado dal medico*. People and professions take *da*, never *a*.
Updated 2026-07-29