Italiano avanzato - Advanced Italian

Where to find engaging content that will allow you to expand your vocabulary, learn interesting facts, and take your Italian to the next level? On our Patreon page, of course! We have been creating special content for our top-tier patrons since 2021, and we have a rich library of videos and articles all in Italian, with audio, glossaries, translation, and exercises, so you can try your hand at advanced Italian without feeling lost. You can become a member for $10 a month to access all posts, or purchase access to specific posts (only available for selected articles). Pick your favourite topics and test yourself!

Listen & Read

Discussions, articles, and other reading content in Italian, with audio recording, keywords, English translation, questions, and exercises. Listed from newest to oldest:

Perché Milano è la città della moda? Milan is a city of contradictions. Many consider it 'ugly', and yet it has established itself as one of the capitals of fashion. Let's read how Milan has changed over the last decades.

Il bicentenario del Museo Egizio e il futuro dei musei As the Egyptian Museum in Turin celebrates 200 years, the museum director and its president reflect on the future of museums, between cancel culture, lack of funding, and mass tourism.

L'astronauta veste Prada: la democratizzazione dello spazio passa per il lusso? Even NASA has succumbed to the allure of Italian fashion: the suits of astronauts on the next lunar mission will be designed by Prada, a luxury brand from Milan. Are we really moving towards the democratisation of space?

Il leone di San Marco a Venezia... è cinese! One of the symbols of Venice and the Veneto region is actually a Chinese sculpture. A new study by Padua university challenges Veneto's notorious parochialism and xenophobia.

Vita da expat in Italia Are Milan and Rome good cities to live in as an expat? Read the latest data and the experience of an American expat who has found a ‘family of choice’ in Italy.

Dal calcio alle Olimpiadi During the Olympic Games in Paris, there was nothing else Italian media would talk about, especially after the first gold medals won by Italian athletes. But wasn't football the most followed and beloved sport in Italy? After the debacle at the European Championships, the Italian football team seems to have fallen out of favour.

I nuovi italiani re dell'atletica Now more than ever, the question resounds: who has the right to call themselves Italian? Does it depend on place of birth, parents, skin colour, religion? Meanwhile, new Italians of foreign origin dominate athletics.

Italiano, dialetto, italiesco Modern Italian was imposed on the masses during the 20th century with the aim of replacing the many dialects spoken in Italy. Today we are witnessing the spread of a hybrid Italian, from TV to Parliament.

Esploratori a Venezia: una storia a bivi Read an interactive story set in Venice. At the end of each section, click on the option you prefer and continue from there. At the end of the story you will find some interesting facts and a glossary.

Dai energia al tuo italiano! Tips and methods to bring new energy into your Italian. All in Italian with translation.

Una storia di fantasmi Read a scary ghost story inspired by a tale from Eastern Europe and learn all about the passato remoto, the Italian past tense most used in literature.

L'Italia bellissima e un po' finta dei social media The stereotypical Italy of the big tourist destinations is becoming less and less authentic. Today, more than ever, the needs of tourists and locals clash, and Italy, so small, uncomfortable and crowded, is not reacting well to the invasion.

Radici: italiano e dialetti degli italo-americani Many Italian-Americans remember - and sometimes speak - a regional Italian, based on archaic local dialects that most Italians today cannot understand. Many of them would like to learn Italian and also rediscover the dialect of their ancestors.

Aida in salsa tricolore all'Arena di Verona The opening night of the Arena di Verona's 100th opera season, with Giuseppe Verdi's Aida broadcast worldwide by RAI, became an over-the-top display of Italian nationalism. Read two reviews of the evening, one positive and one negative.

Cancellata: una riflessione su cancel culture e femminismo Read an extract from linguist Vera Gheno's latest book, a collection of significant words: cancellata is a term with an interesting etymology that gives rise to a very topical reflection, between feminism and cancel culture.

Alimenti curiosi e insoliti - Curious & unusual Italian food The EU decision to allow cricket meal in food products caused an outrage in Italy. Yet, Italian cuisine includes some unusual products that would turn many people's noses up. Let's discover Italian food and culinary traditions... out of the ordinary.

Gli italiani e il cambiamento Italians dislike change, especially when it comes from Europe and Germany. The European Parliament's proposal to replace all endothermic vehicles with electric cars from 2035 was greeted in Italy by a compact and transversal opposition.

Parla come mangi - La battaglia contro gli anglismi The exaggerated and inaccurate use of English words by companies, public institutions, journalists, politicians and administrators is widespread in Italy. Sometimes this mixture of Italian and English (itanglese) reaches unsurpassed peaks of confusion and ridicule: let's look at a few examples.

Italo Calvino - I due scrittori Read a passage by Italo Calvino: the productive writer and the tormented writer are jealous of each other and are ready to change their way of writing to please an unknown woman. Today they could be a successful influencer and an artist seeking deeper truths, seemingly opposites but both dominated by the desire to please others.

Harry Potter parla italiano Translating the Harry Potter saga created considerable difficulties for translators in every country, who have had to grapple with many 'talking names'. Let's find out how it went in Italy!

Tanti grilli per la testa Many words and expressions used in everyday Italian come from the great classics of literature, so that you may be quoting Dante or Manzoni without even knowing it. Let's learn some of these expressions!

Nel tempio della democrazia In 2022 Liliana Segre, a Holocaust survivor, opened the Senate proceedings shortly before the assembly elected Ignazio La Russa, a politician of known fascist sympathies, as President. Listen to selected parts of Segre's speech, with glossary and translation.

La bella lingua cambia Beauty, purity, corruption of the language: today we try to talk briefly about topics that fascinate and inflame public opinion in every country, but especially in Italy, where the myth of the beautiful language holds back the evolution of the Italian we speak every day.

Dall'impero alla Brexit: Elisabetta II The death of Queen Elizabeth II after seventy years of reign sparked discussions on imperialism, the debate between monarchy and republic, and even the unity of the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, all over the world, including in Italy, millions of people suddenly felt the loss of a person 'who seemed to have always been there'.

Buon viaggio, Piero Piero Angela was to Italian television what Sir David Attenborough is to the BBC, and his passing caused great emotion in our country: with him goes a piece of the best Italy. Here we attempt to introduce him to you, also through the last message that he left to his audience.

La vacanza giusta per te Let's talk about the holidays through a playful reading from a weekly magazine. We rewrote the text to use some of the terms we learnt in our vocabulary lessons on holidays and personality, with many usefuladjectives for everyday informal communication.

Racconti di viaggio - Palermo oltre gli stereotipi Read and listen to a travel story about one of Italy's most beautiful cities, Palermo, seen through the eyes of a girl from Milan who was won over by the thousand architectural, cultural, and gastronomic treasures of Sicily's capital.

Gli anni di piombo al Festival di Cannes The film Esterno notte by Marco Bellocchio deals with a black page in Italian history, an event still vivid in the memory of many of us or our parents. Read and listen to an article on this work and a summary of the facts behind the film.

L'universo spiegato da Margherita Hack Cosmological theories on the origin and evolution of the Universe in the words of Italian scientist Margherita Hack. When talking about scientific hypotheses and theories, the subjunctive and the conditional are used a lot: the moods of uncertainty. With a little astronomy glossary.

La guerra in Ucraina sui giornali italiani The war between Russia and Ukraine is changing the world. On this topic, we read and listen to an editorial published in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Essere e avere - Gianni Rodari A short story by Gianni Rodari gives us the opportunity for a little grammar review, but also has a deeper meaning. Let's read it together and do some exercises.

Viva Verdi! Musica e storia a Parma The Festival Verdi celebrates Italy's most beloved opera composer: Giuseppe Verdi. We’ll talk in particular about a very special edition of Un ballo in maschera, one of Verdi's best known operas.

Italiani si diventa - Marcell Jacobs Listen to an interview with Marcell Jabcobs, an Italian athlete of foreign origin, and read about the achievements of Italian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics, which fuelled the discussion on immigration and citizenship.

Verso l'infinito e oltre - Samantha Cristoforetti In 2014 Samantha Cristoforetti became the first Italian woman in space, when she spent 200 days on the ISS. Thanks to her communication skills, she soon became a beloved public figure. Listen to her voice, with glossary and translation.

Venezia è un pesce Venice is a Fish is an imaginative guide to Venice by Italian novelist Tiziano Scarpa. A new revised edition is now available, but the city hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years.

Special Videos

Exclusive videos in Italian, accompanied by a PDF with transcript, translation, and additional information. Listed from newest to oldest:

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