The psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-Short Version (CISS-SV-21 items) were tested. In a group of 1,291 hospital-based nurses (77.8% women), four alternative factor models of the CISS-SV were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The four models were: M1, the original CISS-SV-21 items three-factor model corresponding to three dimensions (task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping); M2, the four-factor model corresponding to four dimensions (task-oriented, emotion-oriented, contact a friend-oriented, and treat oneself-oriented) of the CISS-SV (21 items); M3, the three-factor model of the CISS-SV (20 items) made up by the same factor structure of M1 without including Item 1; finally, the four-factor M4 of the CISS-SV (20 items), consisting of the same dimensions of the M2 model without including Item 1. The results of the CFA showed that the M4 factor model was the model that was best able to account for the data (RMSEA = 0.06, 90%CI = 0.05, -0.06; CFI = 0.90). Reliability was supported by alphas ranging from .72 to .82. The CISS-SV has acceptable validity and reliability for measuring the coping strategies of nurses.