I'd like to give a plug for CoffeeBreak Italian. I've been using both (Duolingo free) and Babbel to brush up on my very stale Italian, but these little 25 minute podcasts are really fantastic adjuncts to learning. I love the pace and how they explain the concepts. I'm not sure how the course would go if you started from scratch, but it's free to try.
On a related note, here are my 3 month reviews of:
Duolingo (Free) - Fun, gamified learning that REALLY pushes the vocab. You'll learn basic sentence structure, numbers, and plenty of not-at-all useful phrases like "the elephant is not my uncle". I think It's pretty limited and they really don't explain concepts or rules; you just have to pick up that the rule exists. That said, it's fun and you do learn a lot of vocab words. I'd use it as an adjunct to another system if you're serious.
Babbel - Better organized by particular language concepts (eg: past tense is a unit, past tense with irregular verbs is another). It's built more like a real language class. It's also better at giving a traveler useful tools to get around. For example, the backdrops for lessons are related to taking trains, or taking a vacation, and ordering food. Some "backdrops" are oddly chosen eg: discussion of an author/book reviews. Another criticism I'd lob is that the units are really uneven in terms of difficulty. And these difficult areas are KEY BUILDING BLOCKS for the next unit. I wish they did more comprehensive building block review of complex areas. related: I wish it was easier to do review based on particular subject matter problem areas. Like I wish they had a library of quizlets for "indirect objects" or "past tense"
Good luck!