It is roughly 10 km (6.2 mi) from Osaka and contacts Kawanishi in the north, Takarazuka in the northwest, Nishinomiya and Amagasaki in the southwest, and Ikeda and Toyonaka in the east.

The area of modern Itami is part of ancient Settsu Province and the hilly area is called the Itami plateau, between the Ina River and the Muko River have been continuously inhabited since the Japanese Paleolithic period.

The names 'Inano', 'Inabe' and 'Ina Prefecture', all of appear to be variants of 'Itami' appear in the Nihon Shoki and in waka poems from the Nara and Heian periods.

During the Edo Period, the town was taken over by the Konoe family of court nobility, and the sake brewing industry prospered under its protection.

Itami has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 28 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is in the Hyōgo 6th districts of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Together with the adjacent Yamamoto district of Takarazuka, the horticultural industry in Itami is one of the three major plant production areas in Japan.

In the Itami area, a method of brewing clear and colorless Japanese rice wine, now known as sake, was discovered.