Best shows and YouTube channels to learn Italian

Roberto Benigni's wartime fable, one of the most widely seen Italian films there is. Almost all of it is spoken in clear, standard Italian, which makes it a gentler first film than its subject matter suggests.

Seven friends at a dinner party agree to read every message and take every call out loud. It is the most remade film in the world, so there is a good chance it exists in your own language too: watch that version first, then the Italian original, and you will follow far more than you expect.

A satire set on the shoot of a dreadful Italian TV drama: witty, very funny, and the sharpest crash course there is in how contemporary Italy works. The speech carries more regional colour than the rest of this list, so save it until you can already follow a normal conversation.

The Rai and HBO adaptation of Elena Ferrante's Naples novels, and a genuinely good Italian series, which is rarer than it should be. Much of the dialogue is in Neapolitan rather than standard Italian, so keep the Italian subtitles on.

Alessandro Masala's news commentary, four days a week and around twenty minutes an episode. He speaks at full speed but very clearly, and he lays out each story before he comments on it, so you get the context you need to keep up.

The best journalism in Italy, free to read and written in plain, well-structured Italian across every topic, which makes it reading practice you can steer towards whatever you already care about. Most of its podcasts sit behind a paywall, but several turn up in part on YouTube.