In my opinion it is Portuguese. I personally am able to better understand Portuguese when I hear it than when I hear someone speaking in Italian.

I think it depends on who you ask and what you mean by similarity. When you compare written Spanish with written Portuguese and written Italian, Portuguese is definitely closer to Spanish (it has far more words in common). But while Portuguese speakers usually have no trouble understanding spoken Spanish, I keep hearing Spanish speakers tell me Italian is easier to understand than Portuguese. I have always been puzzled by that.

(as a side note, in Brazil we joke that to speak Italian all you have to do is speak Spanish and move your hands a lot. I guess Italian is closer to Spanish in sound, but I have no idea what Portuguese sounds like)

(as a side note, in Brazil we joke that to speak Italian all you have to do is speak Spanish and move your hands a lot. I guess Italian is closer to Spanish in sound, but I have no idea what Portuguese sounds like)

How could you be in Brazil and have no idea what Portuguese sounds like'

I keep hearing Spanish speakers tell me Italian is easier to understand than Portuguese.

I agree with that, my vote goes to Italian.

Lament for a Language
Below is a verse written by Jose dos Santos Ferreira, the most famous (and maybe only) poet of Macau's special language, patúa, with translations:

PATUA:
Língu di gente antigo di Macau
Lô disparecê tamên. Qui saiám!
Nga dia, mas quanto áno,
Quiança lô priguntá co pai-mai
Qui cuza sä afinal
Dóci papiaçam di Macau?

PORTUGUESE:
A língua da gente antiga de Macau
Vai disaparecer também. Qui pena!
Um dia daqui a alguns anos
A criança perguntará aos pais
O que é afinal
A doci lingua de Macau?

ENGLISH:
The language of the old people of Macau
Will disappear also. What a pity!
One day, in a few years
A child will ask his parents
What is it, after all,
The sweet language of Macau'

my vote goes to Italian

Here is a piece of dialogue between Susanna and Figaro, from Mozart's opera. Which one do you think is closer to Spanish, or easier to understand?

ITALIAN:

• Cosa stai misurando, caro il mio Figaretto?
• Io guardo se quel letto che ci destina il Conte farà buona figura in questo loco.
• E in questa stanza?
• Certo: a noi la cede generoso il padrone.
• Io per me te la dono.
• E la ragione?
• (toccandosi la fronte) La ragione l'ho qui.
• (facendo lo stesso) Perché non puoi far che passi un po' qui?
• Perché non voglio. Sei tu mio servo, o no?
• Ma non capisco perché tanto ti spiace la più comoda stanza del palazzo.
• Perch'io son la Susanna, e tu sei pazzo.

PORTUGUESE:

• Que estás medindo, meu caro Figaretto?
• Estou vendo se a cama que nos dará o Conde ficará bem neste lugar
• E neste quarto?
• Correto. O patrão generoso nos cede-la
• Eu, por mim, daria-la
• E a razão?
• (tocando a testa) A razão, tenho-la aqui
• (fazendo o mesmo) Por quê não podes fazer que passe um pouco aqui?
• Porque não quero. ÿs tu meu servo ou não?
• Mas não entendo porque tanto te desagrada o quarto mais cômodo do palácio
• Porque sou a Susanna e tú és um palhaço

I was reading an article last night on Wiki:

Spanish and Italian share a very similar phonological system. At present, the lexical similarity with Italian is estimated at 82%.[38] As a result, Spanish and Italian are mutually intelligible to various degrees. The lexical similarity with Portuguese is greater, 89%, but the vagaries of Portuguese pronunciation make it less easily understood by Hispanophones than Italian is. Mutual intelligibility between Spanish and French or Romanian is even lower (lexical similarity being respectively 75% and 71%[38]): comprehension of Spanish by French speakers who have not studied the language is as low as an estimated 45% ? the same as English. The common features of the writing systems of the Romance languages allow for a greater amount of interlingual reading comprehension than oral communication would.

Espero que sea útil.

Josue, this is very interesting as I was just going to say that. If reading, the Portuguese looks definitely easier, however, when spoken, that is a different story.

How could you be in Brazil and have no idea what Portuguese sounds like?

I meant I don't know what Portuguese sounds like to someone who does not understand it. I'm sure everyone has the same inability with their native language.

It's the same thing with accents. You can easily describe what characterizes a particular accent, but I doubt you can describe what's different about your accent. To your ears, people from your part of the country don't even have an accent.

Thank you "josue3" the information you provided is very interesting and useful.

I have no background in either one of these two languages, I agree with "Heitor" that Portuguese is easier to read but I don't know which is easier to understand to my Spanish/English ear.

Based on some of the feedback on this thread is seems like Italian is easier to understand to someone who speaks Spanish...

Thank you all for your feedback-very much appreciated.

What I want to do is start learning a new language, one that is most similar to Spanish and I was debating weather to study Portuguese or Italian.

And I'm inclining towards Portuguese....

(as a side note, in Brazil we joke that to speak Italian all you have to do is speak Spanish and move your hands a lot.
I love it! But why bother to speak at all?
Can you have accent in hand movements? This question may be funny to some, but I do not speak any language without an accent.

(as a side note, in Brazil we joke that to speak Italian all you have to do is speak Spanish and move your hands a lot.

I love it! But why bother to speak at all?

Good point

Can you have accent in hand movements?

Considering how linguistically messed up Italy is, they probably have a lot of "hand dialects"

What I want to do is start learning a new language, one that is most similar to Spanish and I was debating whether to study Portuguese or Italian.

And I'm inclining towards Portuguese....

I hope you decide to learn it; then I won't be the only poster here who speaks Portuguese. It feels so lonely sometimes