TESOL Italy is a grassroots organization, run by teachers and for teachers. It is a non-profit Italian organization founded in 1975 by Mary Finocchiaro and Renzo Titone along with other foreign language teaching experts and pioneers. It has approximately 300 members in Italy and abroad and is an affiliate of TESOL International Association, based in Virginia, USA, with over 12,000 members worldwide. TESOL Italy is also an associate of IATEFL, based in the UK with over 4,000 members in more than 130 countries throughout the world. Moreover, TESOL Italy is accredited by the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) Direttiva 170/2016.