Italian ib self study

So I am fluent in Italian but have been brought up with English my whole life. I've decided to do IB because I really want to languages later on. The only problem is I've never really analysed any Italian Literature texts before and if I would choose the subject I would have to self-study. As I'm technically not an italian native speaker would I find it hard even with a tutor?

If I decide to do Italian Lit as my A Language would i be able to do it as a higher level subject?

I had a similar situation with my son who is a British national but bilingual English / French, so I have some experience of how the IB works in this area.

To begin with, if you are going to be self-taught, with no support from school, you will not be allowed to offer Italian at Higher level as the IB forbids this.

I don't think that it is really feasible to do an A language, with all the literature involved, as a self-study course, even at Standard level. My son tried this and gave up even though he was getting lots of support from me, as I'm a French teacher myself. The workload in IB is enormous and without formal teaching (and the pressure of deadlines) he found that he was simply putting off his French work time and time again - and so, after the first year, he had done very little indeed.

Our solution for my son might suit you, as well: he offered French as a Higher Level B language (which gave him four, not three, subjects at Higher Level). So your best bet might be to offer Italian at Higher level, as a foreign speaker, and do normal English with everybody else.

My college doesn't offer Italian B at Higher level so do you think it would still be possible for me to do Italian Language A (SL) thats self taught with a tutor. (I'm prepared to work hard?)

Not impossible - but you'll need a lot more self-discipline than my son had!!! Hope it works out for you.