Abstract: The object of study in this article is the piano work of Italian composers of the late 19th – first half of the 20th centuries. The subject is programming in instrumental music, represented by the genre of the piano cycle. Based on the definition of programming and the classification of types, developed in the works of domestic musicologists M. Aranovsky, L. Kazantseva, Yu. Khokhlova, the author reveals the features of its implementation in the cycles of famous Italian composers F. Busoni, J. Malipiero, A. Casella, M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, created during the historical period under study. Particular attention is paid to considering the issue of continuing the tradition of embodying programming in cycles, established by romantic composers, as well as identifying national features characteristic of Italian art as a whole. The article uses an integrated approach, including systemic-historical and comparative methods of analysis. The author also turned to the method of musical theoretical analysis. The novelty of the research lies in the development of one of the important and relevant areas of musicology associated with the synthesis of arts, within the framework of solving a specific problem: the implementation of various types of programming. The author’s special contribution to the development of this topic is the introduction into scientific circulation of new works of Italian masters that have not previously been studied, the consideration, using their example, of various types of programming in close connection with the tradition that has developed in European art, and the identification of ways to update it. The most important feature is the integrity of the cycles, which is formed at the emotional, figurative, stylistic, compositional, and tonal levels. A conclusion is drawn about the originality of the piano cycles of Italian composers, which is manifested in close connection with national art.