Italian Weights and Measures

April 30, 2009 by Tony Page
Filed under Useful facts

Italian Weights and Measures and their equivalents

Units legally used in business in Italy
How to convert the metric system of weights and measures into their Imperial equivalents and vice versa

In general, weights & measures in Italy are metric, as in France.

Units legally used in business in Italy

Kilometre	1000 metres
Metre
Decimetre	1/10 of a metre
Centimetre	1/100 of a metre
Millimetre	1/1000 of a metre

Hectare	100 ares
Decare	10 ares
Are	100 square metres
Square metre	An area equal to that of a square each side of which measures one metre
Square decimetre	1/100 square metre
Square centimetre	1/100 square decimetre
Square millimetre	1/100 square centimetre

Cubic metre	A volume equal to that of a cube each edge of which measures one metre
Cubic decimetre	1/1000 cubic metre
Cubic centimetre	1/1000 cubic decimetre
Litre	A cubic decimetre
Decilitre	1/10 litre
Centilitre	1/100 litre
Millilitre	1/1000 litre
Hectolitre	100 litres

Tonne	1000 kilograms
Kilogram
Hectogram	1/10 kilogram
Etto	1/100 kilogram
Gram	1/1000 kilogram
Carat (metric)	1/5 gram
Milligram	1/1000 gram

The USA and UK

With the switch of the UK to the metric system (although not completely), only the USA still uses the weights and measures system it inherited from Britain. However, although some American measures have the same name as old English measures, they’re not the same…

The American pint has 16 fluid ounces whereas the UK pint has 20 fluid ounces (US=473.176473 ml UK=568.26125 ml)
Note: this is especially important to note when ordering a beer!
The American gallon has 8 pints as does the UK but the measure is different
(US=3.785411784 Litres UK=4.54609 Litres)

People in Britain still commonly refer to the old traditional measurements though.

Here’s how to convert the metric system of weights and measures into their Imperial equivalents and vice versa:

Unit	Conversion factor	New Unit
inches	25.4	millimetres
millimetres	0.0394	inches
inches	2.54	centimetres
centimetres	0.3937	inches
feet	0.3048	metres
metres	3.281	feet
yards	0.9144	metres
metres	1.094	yards
miles	1.609	kilometres
kilometres	0.6214	miles
sq inches	6.452	sq centimetres
sq centimetres	0.155	sq inches
sq metres	10.76	sq feet
sq feet	0.0929	sq metres
sq yards	0.8361	sq metres
sq metres	1.196	sq yards
sq miles	2.589	sq kilometres
sq kilometres	0.3861	sq miles
acres	0.4047	hectares
hectares	2.471	acres
cu inches	16.39	cu centimetres
cu centimetres	0.06102	cu inches
cu feet	0.02832	cu metres
cu metres	35.315	cu feet
cu yards	0.7646	cu metres
cu metres	1.308	cu yards
cu inches	0.01639	litres
litres	61.03	cu inches
pints	0.5682	litres
litres	1.76	pints
US pints	0.47311	litres
litres	2.114	US pints
US gallon	3.785	liters
gallons	4.546	litres
litres	0.02642	US gallons
litres	0.22	gallons
grains	0.0648	grams
grams	15.43	grains
ounces	28.35	grams
grams	0.03527	ounces
pounds	453.6	grams
grams	0.002205	pounds
pounds	0.4536	kilograms
kilograms	2.205	pounds
tons	1016.05	kilograms
kilograms	0.0009842	tons