Nazionale

Nazionale is an Italian adjective meaning national, relating to a nation or to the state in general. It derives from Latin nationalis, via late Latin and Old French national, and is cognate with similar terms in many languages. In Italian, nazionale can describe things belonging to or characteristic of a nation, such as national laws, budgets, institutions, or symbols.

The word is also used as a masculine noun to refer to a country’s national sports team. In Italian, the team is often called La Nazionale, and the phrase la Nazionale italiana di calcio denotes the Italian national football team. Outside football, many other national teams exist in rugby, basketball, volleyball, and other disciplines; in headlines you may see "la Nazionale" to denote the team in question.

In broader use, nazionale appears in compound terms like budget nazionale, politica nazionale, giustizia nazionale, or lingua nazionale, indicating policy, legislation, or institutions at the national level rather than regional or local. The term is widely used across media, government, education, and sport to distinguish national scope from local.