La forma passiva
The passive flips an active sentence so the OBJECT becomes the subject and the agent (the doer) becomes optional, marked by da: active Dante scrisse la Divina Commedia → passive La Divina Commedia fu scritta da Dante. Italian has THREE constructions for the passive: (1) essere + participio passato + da (the standard, all tenses), (2) venire + participio passato + da (in simple tenses only — emphasizes the action), (3) the impersonal si passivante (no agent, generic 'one does X / X is done'). The participle ALWAYS agrees in gender and number with the subject. Only TRANSITIVE verbs can become passive.
Essere + past participle: the standard passive
essere in any tense + past participle (agreeing with the subject) + optional da + agent. Present: La porta è aperta da Maria = the door is opened by Maria. Imperfetto: Le case erano costruite con la pietra = the houses were built of stone. Passato prossimo: Il libro è stato scritto da Dante = the book was/has been written by Dante. Futuro: La cena sarà preparata dallo chef = dinner will be prepared by the chef. Always agree the participle: scritta for feminine singular, scritti for masculine plural, scritte for feminine plural.
Venire + past participle: emphasizing the action
Replace essere with venire ONLY in simple (non-compound) tenses. Same meaning, but slightly more dynamic — emphasizes the action being performed rather than the resulting state. La porta viene aperta alle nove = the door is opened (gets opened) at nine. Il pacco verrà consegnato domani = the package will be delivered tomorrow. You CANNOT say è venuto aperto — venire passive doesn't exist in compound tenses. The contrast is subtle: la porta è aperta can mean 'the door is open' (state) OR 'the door is opened' (passive); la porta viene aperta is unambiguously the action.
The si passivante: impersonal passive
When there's no specific agent (or the agent is generic 'one / people'), Italian prefers si + verb + subject, with the verb agreeing with the subject. In Italia si mangia la pasta = in Italy pasta is eaten / one eats pasta (singular subject pasta). In Italia si mangiano le lasagne = in Italy lasagne is eaten (plural subject lasagne, plural verb mangiano). Si parla italiano qui = Italian is spoken here. Si vendono libri usati = used books are sold. This is the construction you see on shop signs and in cookbooks. With reflexive verbs you'd get clashing si, so Italian shifts to ci si: ci si lava le mani = one washes one's hands.
When you can't make a verb passive
Only TRANSITIVE verbs (verbs that take a direct object) can become passive. Intransitive verbs like andare, arrivare, dormire, morire cannot — there's no object to promote. For these, Italian uses the si impersonale instead to talk generically: si va al mare = one goes to the sea / people go to the sea. Also: verbs of perception (vedere, sentire) and a few others can take an alternative passive with andare that means 'must be done': questo libro va letto = this book must be read / should be read. Useful but advanced — recognize it in reading.
Agent marker: da (and the di trap)
The agent in a passive is introduced by da (= 'by'): scritto da Dante, mangiato dal cane, costruito dagli operai. Don't use di here — di would mean 'of' (origin or material), not the agent. Il libro è di Dante = the book is BY Dante (ownership/authorship — possessive). Il libro è stato scritto da Dante = the book was written BY Dante (passive agent). One nuance: with verbs of feeling, di sometimes works for the cause: è amato da tutti vs older è amato di tutti — modern Italian prefers da.
