The article provides an overview of the lines of research that have characterized the analysis of intonation in Italy over the last twenty years, suggesting that studies have mainly focused on inter- and intra-linguistic variation. The former has not only been documented, but also examined from a comparative perspective, in an attempt to highlight similarities and differences between intonation systems investigated by means of a shared methodology, and to develop coherent and fully comparable analyses. Attention has also been directed towards intra-linguistic variation, given the observation of multiple intonation patterns available to speakers to express single specific functions. In particular, some attempts have been made both to identify the reasons for the presence of alternatives in phonological inventories and to verify the importance of some factors for the choice of one option over another. In this regard, the final part of the article proposes an in-depth analysis of data concerning the importance of pragmatic aspects such as the social distance.