The Italian Language

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V and U were variants of one and only letter: u. The consonantal sound v was non-existent in Latin. We can see this in the following words: VINVM, IVLIVS, where we pronounce winum (not vinum) and Yulius. V was differentiated from u and transformed into a consonant representing a new sound at a later stage.
The letters J, and W were added to the alphabet at a later stage to write languages other than Latin. J, a variant of i, was first used during the 16th century by Petrus Ramus, while w was originally a double v or u (vv, uu) and was first used by scribes writing Old English during the VII century.