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The lack of commitment of Italian companies to apprenticeship is frequently correlated to its relatively high cost compared to other contractual possibilities. However, one could challenge this oft-invoked explanation: if the competition between employment contracts is so intense, how can one understand the use of apprenticeship when it takes place? To address this question, this article starts with an analysis of regulatory texts and statistics concerning apprenticeship in Italy and confront it with interviews conducted with actors of apprenticeship (regional managers, employers and apprentices). This approach reveals several types of embeddedness in which apprenticeship contracts can make sense: within the compromises of a family business in the North of the country or through the prospect of emigration of a young graduate of a technical institute. Consequently, this article illustrates the conditions under which first-time entrants access the labour market.