The fastest way to improve your Italian is watching native Italian content, but only if you watch the right shows! So, in this guide I’ll share five new Italian shows on Netflix that beat months of study plus the one trick to watching Italian shows that most people ignore.
Pronti? Cominciamo! (Ready? Let’s get started!)
TL;DR: 5 NEW Italian Shows on Netflix in 2026 for Beginners
If you want to improve your Italian faster, watching Italian shows and Italian movies on Netflix can help, but only if you choose shows that are slightly above your level. This is called comprehensible input: not too easy, not too hard, but just right.
1. Italian Netflix Comedy for Everyday Conversation: Maschi veri
Maschi veri is a light, funny series about four Roman friends navigating modern relationships and masculinity.
- Best for: casual Italian, friendship, humour, Roman expressions
- Useful phrases: Ma che c’hai?, Ammazza!, Te che fai?
2. Italian Netflix Drama for Clear Standard Italian: Mrs Playmen
Mrs Playmen tells the story of Adelina Tattilo and Italy’s most famous erotic magazine in the 1970s.
- Best for: clear dialogue, standard Italian, cultural vocabulary
- Useful words: la buoncostume, la signorina buonasera
3. Italian Netflix Series for Formal Italian: La legge di Lidia Poët
La legge di Lidia Poët is based on the true story of Italy’s first female lawyer.
- Best for: formal Italian, polite expressions, legal vocabulary
- Useful phrases: Le chiedo scusa, Posso chiederle se…, Temo che voglia…
4. Italian Netflix Show for Regional Accents: Motorvalley
Motorvalley is set in Emilia-Romagna and follows a racing team competing in the Italian Gran Turismo Championship.
- Best for: conversational Italian, regional rhythm, motorsport vocabulary
- Useful expressions: sta roba, una testa calda, essere in gamba
5. Italian Netflix Comedy for Sicilian Expressions: Sicilia Express
Sicilia Express is a comedy about two Sicilian nurses travelling between Milan and Sicily through a magical rubbish bin.
- Best for: visual comedy, Sicilian accent, north-south cultural contrast
- Useful words: Amuninni, cabasisi
How to Use Italian Shows on Netflix to Learn Faster
Don’t try to understand every single word. Choose shows in your Goldilocks Zone: easy enough to follow, but challenging enough to teach you new vocabulary, accents, and natural expressions. For extra exposure, create a separate Netflix profile in Italian so your menus, titles, and recommendations appear in Italian too.
The Key Idea
The best Italian shows on Netflix for beginners are the ones that give you real Italian in context: clear dialogue, natural speech, useful expressions, and just enough challenge to keep your brain learning.
Watch this guide on my YouTube Channel
Why These Italian Netflix Shows Beat 6 Months Of Study
First, let me share the one trick to watching Italian shows which make these particular shows beat months of study. You see, most Italian learners watch shows that are either too easy they don’t learn anything or are too difficult that nothing sticks so they give up!
The trick is to watch Italian shows that are slightly above your level, but not so much that your brain switches off. Linguists call this comprehensible input and it’s the fastest way to learn Italian. I call it the Goldilocks Zone. Not too easy. Not too hard. But juuuust right.
That’s exactly what these five shows give you. A perfect blend of real-world Italian, natural speed, and everyday vocabulary that would normally take six months to pick up from a textbook.
1. Best Italian Netflix Show for Beginners: Maschi veri (Real Men)
This first show is the perfect starting point for comprehensible input. The Italian in this first show is exactly what you’d hear sitting down with a group of Italian friends. Fast, funny, full of personality, but still clear enough that you can follow every plot turn.
It’s called Maschi veri and is a light, funny series that follows four friends in their forties with a WhatsApp group chat called maschi veri (real men). They see themselves as classic alpha males who’ve always played by a certain set of rules. The problem is, those rules no longer apply, because women have stepped up. Faced with a world they no longer recognise, they end up enrolling in a course to confront their toxic masculinity and navigate these new dynamics.
For beginners, this is a brilliant starting point. The dialogue is clear, natural, and delivered in the kind of informal Italian you’d actually hear among friends. The eight episodes run about 30 minutes each, so it’s very manageable.
Being set in Rome, you’ll pick up Roman expressions like:
- Ma che c’hai? — The Roman way of saying Ma cosa hai? (What’s wrong with you?)
- Ammazza! — A very Roman expression of surprise or disbelief, similar to “Wow!” or “Oh my god!” in English.
- Te che fai? — The Roman version of Tu cosa fai? (What are you up to?)
Getting a taste of regional Italian at this stage is an advantage, because wherever you travel in Italy, you’re going to come across it.
Are you enjoying this guide? Make sure you download your free PDF cheat-sheet which includes a list of all these shows PLUS 5 Italian movies on Netflix that are perfect for comprehensible input. To get your copy, just enter your details below.
2. Learn Real-World Italian on Netflix with Mrs Playmen
This next series teaches you more real-world Italian than any textbook ever could, and it’s also so addictive you’ll forget you’re learning Italian.
It’s called Mrs Playmen and is the true story of Adelina Tattilo, a woman raised in a deeply Catholic family who finds herself at the helm of Italy’s most famous erotic magazine in the 1970s. When her husband, Playmen‘s founder, flees the country to escape tax-fraud charges, she steps in and transforms the magazine entirely, turning it into a platform for topics Italian society at the time didn’t dare talk about openly.
The dialogue is well-paced, clearly spoken, and mostly standard. Exactly what you want to be training your ear on at this level. You’ll catch the occasional Roman cadence, but the dialogue stays easy to follow.
You’ll also come across words that capture the atmosphere of the period, like:
- La buoncostume — Literally “the good custom”, a special police division responsible for offences against public decency.
- La signorina buonasera — Literally “miss good evening”, the elegant TV announcer who introduced programmes on Italian television, and a real style icon of the time.
3. Best Netflix Show for Formal Italian: La legge di Lidia Poët
This next show uses lots of formal Italian, but not the stiff textbook kind. It’s the kind you’d actually hear in everyday situations with strangers and officials.
It’s called La legge di Lidia Poët and is based on the true story of the first woman ever to practise law in Italy. Season three, which just came out, picks up with Lidia back in court, this time defending a close friend accused of murdering her abusive husband. A deeply controversial case for the society of the time.
And if that wasn’t complicated enough, the prosecutor on the other side is the man she’s secretly in a relationship with, while her journalist ex is back in town to cover the trial.
What makes this show particularly valuable from a language-learning perspective is that you get to hear formal, elegant Italian used naturally in conversation, not the stiff textbook version.
It’s a brilliant way to learn the formal you, Lei, and the subjunctive mood, with examples like:
- Le chiedo scusa — I beg your pardon.
- Posso chiederle se… — May I ask you if…
- Temo che voglia… — I’m afraid that he/she wants…
- Se mi potesse dire… — If you could tell me…
- Che lei sappia…? — As far as you know…?
You’ll also pick up legal vocabulary that’s genuinely useful, like:
- La separazione consensuale — The consensual separation.
- Rinviare a giudizio — To commit someone to trial.
- Deliberare il verdetto — To deliver the verdict.
The dialogue is clear and polished. You might catch the occasional trace of the Turin accent, but it’s subtle enough that it won’t slow you down.
Are you enjoying this guide? Make sure you download your free PDF cheat-sheet which includes a list of all these shows PLUS 5 Italian movies on Netflix that are perfect for comprehensible input. To get your copy, just enter your details below.
4. Best Netflix Show for Regional Italian: Motorvalley
This next show will help train your ear to understand regional Italian without feeling overwhelmed, which is important because you’ll hear this a lot when you travel around Italy.
It’s called Motorvalley and its title is a nod to the nickname of the Emilia-Romagna region, the birthplace of some of the most legendary car brands in the world, from Ferrari and Lamborghini to Maserati and Ducati.
The story follows Elena, whose family owns a prestigious racing team. When she’s pushed out, she decides to start her own and recruits Blu, a young and talented driver fresh out of prison, and Arturo, a once-celebrated driver who retired after a serious accident. Together, they compete in the Italian Gran Turismo Championship, united by the desire to win and prove everyone wrong.
The spoken Italian in this series is very conversational, which makes it great for beginners. You’ll notice the regional cadence of Emilia-Romagna, but it just gives the show a lovely authenticity. It’s nowhere near as strong as a Sicilian or Neapolitan accent.
You’ll pick up some wonderful colloquial expressions that native speakers use all the time, like:
- Sta roba — This stuff, this thing. Sta is a shortened, informal version of questa.
- Una testa calda — A hothead.
- Sbollire — To calm down.
- Essere in gamba — To be very capable. Literally, “to be in leg”.
And naturally, you’ll also pick up some great motorsport vocabulary, like:
- La scuderia — The racing team.
- I giri di prova — The practice laps.
- Un colpo di gas — A burst of acceleration.
5. Best Italian Comedy on Netflix for Beginners: Sicilia Express
This next show proves you don’t need to understand every single word to follow what’s happening because the comedy is physical and the story is visual.
Sicilia Express is a comedy series by Ficarra e Picone, one of Italy’s most beloved comic duos. It’s the story of Salvo and Valentino, two Sicilian nurses who moved to Milan to work at a city hospital. It’s Christmas, and their wives are back in Sicily waiting for them to celebrate the grand opening of their shop.
The problem is, they only have two days off, and the island is notoriously difficult to reach. That is, until a magical rubbish bin appears. They step inside and are instantly transported to Sicily, and back again.
The Italian is accessible, the pace is manageable, and the comedy does half the work for you, because you don’t need to catch every single word to follow what’s happening.
What makes it special, though, is that the whole show is built around the cultural and linguistic contrast between northern and southern Italy. You hear how Italians naturally shift their accent, their vocabulary, and even their sentence rhythm depending on who they’re talking to and where they are. As a beginner, that kind of exposure is invaluable, because this is exactly what you’ll encounter when you visit Italy.
You’ll also get a real taste of the Sicilian language, with its distinctive tr sound, the way double LL flips into a double DD, like bella (beautiful) becoming bedda, and wonderfully expressive words like:
- Amuninni. — Let’s go, come on.
- Cabasisi. — A Sicilian vulgar slang term for a man’s testicles, commonly used to express frustration.
BONUS TIP: How to Access the Full Italian Netflix Catalogue
Here’s a bonus tip! Depending on where you are in the world, some of these shows I’ve mentioned may not be available in your Netflix library. And even if they are, you’re probably still not seeing the full Italian Netflix catalogue.
To fix this, you can use a VPN, which is basically just an app that lets you choose which country you’re browsing from. It’s super easy: just connect through an Italian server and Netflix will think you’re browsing from Italy, thus unlocking the full Italian library.
A VPN is a helpful program that not only protects your actual location but it allows you to ‘pretend’ you are based in another country online. But, what does this mean and how can a VPN help you learn languages with Netflix?
When you go online using any device, it has an indicator attached to it – an IP address. Among other things, this indicator ‘tells the Internet’ and the sites that you connect to what country you are from. This way, Netflix also ‘knows’ where you are from.
The thing is, different content is available on Netflix in different countries, and this availability changes over time with new shows being added or removed.
After you install a VPN (I personally use NordVPN), you can use it to hide your IP address and use one from another country instead. This way, if you find out that a show you’re looking for isn’t available in Australia or the US – you can pretend to be in Italy!
Setting up a VPN is really easy, taking no more than 3 simple steps. To find out more and to get started, click here for details about the VPN I personally use. I use it not only to access Netflix Italia, but all RAI Italia, MediaSet and other Italy-based services. Find out more about NordVPN here.
And while you’re at it, go into your account settings and create a separate Netflix profile set to Italian. It takes two minutes, and from then on, every time you open the app through that profile, you’ll be reading real Italian: menus, titles, descriptions, and recommendations. It’s just another way to sneak more of the language into your day.
What to Do Next to Learn Italian Vocabulary
Even though you now have five perfect Netflix shows to learn Italian, none of it matters if you don’t remember all the new vocabulary you’ll hear. So get my guide where I’ll show you exactly how to absorb any Italian word like a sponge.
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