We are very thankful to the interpreters, Silvia Martuscelli, Ennia Cucchiarelli (Rome) and Maria Fitzgibbon (Florence), who contributed to the quality of the exchanges with stakeholders. Jessica Lagana, Stefano Catani and Carla Di Paola, at the permanent delegation of Italy to the OECD, Andrea Maccarini, member of the CERI Governing Board, and Francesca Brotto, at the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, are gratefully acknowledged for their support at various stages of the review. The review team wishes to record its grateful appreciation to the many people who gave time from their busy schedules to inform the review team of their views, experiences and knowledge. The total number of IWBs in Italy is about 70k in 2012.