Learning to Speak Italian like a Local

It sounds like you already have a good teacher. I used italki.com to find a Russian teacher and have been very pleased with her. Italki has teachers and what they call “community tutors” who are not professionals. You can watch their videos and look at resumes, then take a trial lesson.

Other than lessons, I watch movies. I’m not yet at the level to read for pleasure but that’s another good way to improve your language skills.

I have used, and still use, the Pimsleur Italian language course that I bought several years ago on CD. I like them because I can listen to them in the car on the way to and from work.

I also purchased the lifetime subscription to Rosetta Stone when they offered a great deal last year during the COVID pandemic.
I haven't used that one very much yet.

With Pimsleur, it seems that I learned to speak the language better than I learned to understand it. During many of my interactions in Italy, I ended up speaking Italian while the person I spoke with replied in English... that often seemed to be the best way to communicate.

I definitely need to get better at understanding both written and spoken Italian. As for speaking it, I feel that I'm way ahead of the average tourist, but nowhere near fluent.

Anyone wanting to learn to speak like a native must master this!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5wAWyqDrnc

I used ConversationExchange.com to find a native Italian speaker with whom I've been practicing Italian near-weekly. We've been speaking for 8+ years now and have become friends. We met in person when I went to Rome a few years ago.

During the pandemic, I found another conversation partner - another native speaker who lives near me in California, so there isn't the time difference.

Since both are native speakers, they are able to help me with the "right way" to say things, and the "native" way of expressing myself. I speak with each of them for 90 minutes each week, half in Italian and half in English to help them practice.

speaking like a local means practicing directly there, in italy, since the grammar is quite complex and there are lots of colloquial expressions, plus every region has its own dialect, nowaday spoken mainly by elderly people, but still quite widespread expecially in southern italy and in Veneto.
btw, I think that the most useful method is to watch italian movies or series with subtitles ( except Gomorra that is in neapolitan)

Read Italian books/newspapers (paper or online). Every time you encounter a new word, write it down and look it up.
Watch Italian TV (news, tv series). Every time you hear a new word, write it down and look it up.
Keep a list of these new words, memorize them by trying to remember the translation FROM ENGLISH INTO ITALIAN (the reverse is not effective).
I do not recommend to watch Italian programming with English subtitles. You will end up reading the subtitles and learning nothing. Also the subtitles are not always faithful to the Italian version.

What I recommend is watching Italian TV possibly with Italian subtitles (like those for the hearing impaired). Hearing and reading at the same time will help your vocabulary and spelling. Unfortunately it's not easy to find Italian programs with hearing impaired subtitles, but sometimes you get lucky.

Write comments in Italian newspapers forum (like this one), discuss with others on those forums. Be an Italian troll if you wish (just make sure you don't get banned for being a troll). Write anything you want in Italian (essays, comments, letters)

For learning to speak, when you think (our brain always thinks), make an effort to think in Italian, even better think aloud. If you don't know the word you are thinking, look it up.

And of course find a native speaker to speak with (online or locally).

All of the above helped me to learn English a long time ago (especially the trolling part). It should work for you too.

Thank you all. Roberto da Firenze your answer was particularly helpful. And, Diane, you gave me the best laugh I have had in some time.

All good suggestions. I find recipes in Italian to cook with. The hard part is the conversions, though.