How to watch Italian TV for free?

We all know, how much it’s important to watch programmes and movies in the language we are learning.

Even if, it might be difficult to start with, you will soon realise that by watching Italian TV you will get accustomed easily to typical expressions of the spoken language or some words that Italians use a lot in conversation.

For example, Italians use often the word “Allora” and the context varies a lot. You can hear it in sentences, like: “Allora, prendo due mele” (translated: “Then, I take two apples”) or “Allora, non mi far arrabbiare!” (translated: “Don’t make me angry!”). These examples gives you an idea that the context really affect the communication and some words are nearly impossible to translate. That is why, watching TV in Italian will help you to grasp the language and sound more like a native speaker.

Let’s take a look at how to watch TV in Italian for free.

Resources to watch Italian TV for free

I am going to tell, how, I myself, watch Italian TV for free from abroad.

• MEDIASET PLAY: Mediaset is the most popular Italian TV network and it is possible to watch their programmes online, by simply signing up to the website. It might be difficult to find the right programme to watch and understandably some programmes cannot be shown abroad. If you like investigative journalism I suggest you to watch a programme called “Le iene“. There are a lot of series too, you just need to find the ones which are watchable from your own country.
• RAI: this is the other popular Italian TV network, similar to the English BBC. They also have a website with a lot of content to stream. Even in this case, you just need to sign up to their website and start watching. If you like documentaries on history, art and culture, I recommend watching “Ulisse“.
• Youtube: we all know, that Youtube is amazing for finding contents in different languages, but you might not know that actually Youtube hosts a lot of episodes from Italian TV channels and even movies. Basically, you need to know what you are looking for. For example, there is a programme which I really like, it’s called “4 ristoranti”, where the chef Alessandro Borghese visits and scores some restaurants in a particular region joined by the restaurateurs taking part in the competition. There is a similar one about hotels and you can even watch Masterchefs. To find the programmes I just listed, simply visit this YouTube channel.
  To find other content, just take advantage of the search bar on Youtube, look for things like: “Reality in italiano”, “documentario in italiano” and so on.
• Neflix/Amazon Prime Video: if you have active an subscription for either Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, I strongly encourage you to look for Italian programmes and movies, because they exist! I have subscriptions for both, in the UK versions, and I can tell you that there are programmes and movies in Italian and for free. You just need to type in the right words, such as: “Movies in Italian”. The advantage of using such sites relies on the fact that you can also opt in for the subtitles in Italian or English which will help you massively in understanding.

So far, we saw all programmes that can be watched for free, however, if you are interested in watching movies in the original language, I recommend you to buy those or better, just rent them online. There are various providers such as Google, Youtube, Amazon which offer movies in the original language for a few pounds. How to do this? Research in your browser the movie that you would like to watch: “Title + movie in Italian” and then, if available, a list of provider will appear.

For example, I searched: “Pinocchio movie in Italian” and here is my result:

As you can see, I can watch this movie for £5,99 on Prime Video. Also, I recommend watching this new Pinocchio film with Roberto Benigni, it is a really good reinterpretation of this cult.

With all the information provided, I am sure, you can now watch some Italian TV for free.

If you need some conversation lessons in Italian, just contact me, I am happy to help.