* Phonetics vs. Phonemes: Phonetics describes all the sounds humans can make. Phonemes are the individual sounds that are meaningful in a particular language. Italian has 24 phonemes, but there are more sounds that can be made, depending on how you define "sound".
* Diphthongs: Some languages count diphthongs (two vowels combined into one sound) as individual sounds, while others consider them a single sound. Italian has diphthongs like "ai" in "mai" (never) and "uo" in "uomo" (man).
* Allophones: These are variations of a phoneme that don't change the meaning of a word. For example, the sound of "r" in Italian can vary slightly depending on where it is in a word.
Considering all of this, here's a breakdown:
* Phonemes: 24 (consonants and vowels)
* Phonetic sounds: More than 24, depending on how you classify diphthongs and allophones.
So, the short answer is that Italian has 24 phonemes, but the number of sounds it can make is more complex and depends on how you categorize them.