This project investigates the processing of canonical and non-canonical word orders in Italian. Using reading experiments, we examine the extent to which the processing of non-canonical word orders is more difficult than the processing of canonical word orders, and which factors influence this difficulty in monolingual and bilingual speakers. For monolingual speakers, we investigate whether there is a correlation between the time of acquisition of a structure and the amount of its processing difficulty. For bilingual speakers, we consider the role of language competence and cross-linguistic influence. We focus on the processing of postverbal subjects in connection with different verb classes.