Learning Italian by watching movies is a lot of fun! Not only is it a great method to improve language skills but also gives a way of a sneak peek into local life. In this post are 5 movies which can improve your Italian listening skills and vocabulary. This is a 3 part series post on learning Italian with Cinema check out the first part here and the second part here.
Learning Italian with Cinema -III
1. Pranzo di Ferragosto (2008)
Pranzo di Ferragosto centres around Ferragosto – an annual tradition and holiday in Italy that falls on Aug 15.
The movie is the story of a 40-something man in debt. It explores the typical Italian problems of a grown man staying with a demanding yet entertaining mother.
Pranzo di Ferragosto has stereotypical roles and shows how two characters become close on the day of Ferragosto! Highly recommend you to watch this movie for some laughs!
Watch Pranzo di Ferragosto on Amazon Prime.
Read Next: Learning Italian with Instagram
Learning Italian With Cinema (Image Credits: Imdb)
2. Le Fate Ignoranti (2001)
Le Fate Ignoranti is a story of a recent widow who discovers that her late husband was gay!
The story unfolds as she ends up befriending the guy with whom her husband had slept with. Le Fate Ignoranti ends on a transforming note as always with movies starring Margherita Buy. The story is exceptional and makes a good watch for your language learning skills.
Le Fate Ignoranti is available on Amazon Prime.
Learning Italian With Cinema (Image Credits: Wiki)
3. Generazione 1000 Euro (2009)
Generazione 1000 euro is a light romance of two friends who are living together.
Their lives take a turn when another woman joins their marketing company. This is a predictable story of how this woman and another of her female friend ends up comin in the story. You might be adding two and two together to imagine the story now.
Generazione 1000 euro is typical romantic comedy with highly likable characters. It is a good film to learn Italian with and is also relaxing.
Learning Italian With Cinema (Image Credits: Imdb)
4. Palio (2015)
Palio is a documentary revolving around the oldest horse race in the world.
It focuses on the ancient horse race of Siena and is another great way to immerse and understand the regional culture in Italy.
Palio is an eye opener and also a visual treat of a medieval horse race which is a way of life for the Sienese!! Highly recommend you to watch it.
Learning Italian With Cinema (Image Credits: Imdb)
Read Next: Favorite Shows Based in Italy
5. La Bella Addormentata nel Bosco (1959)
This movie will probably come as a surprise to you in this list but learning through children’s books and fairy tales is an excellent way of immersion.
La Bella Addormentata nel Bosco (The Sleeping Beauty) is literally like watching and living your childhood days in Italian.
Not only will you end up enjoying the old school drama but also learn new words and phrases that aren’t present in a “regular” film.
Watch La Bella Addormentata nel Bosco on Amazon Prime.
Learning Italian With Cinema (Image Credits: pazziperilcinema.it)
Conclusion:
Learning Italian with Cinema is a great way to up your language skills. You learn the way locals speak, gesticulate and behave because these things no textbook can teach! Although the process of learning Italian (or any language) is lifelong, watching movies in Italian is a great way to amplify it.
My only goal is to be able to speak more confidently (even if little) when I’m in Italy next. I really want to see myself being more confident and fluent in the coming years.
That being said, I also dislike unnecessary “language pressure” because that rarely works. So my suggestion is to enjoy your language learning journey and stick to what YOU love.
Thanks for reading the post and for being a part of this amazing community of language learners.
Related Reading:
- Best way to learn Italian on your own
- How to prepare for the CILS exam
- Studying Italian for CILS B2 Exam
- 5 Italian Language Books for Intermediate Level
- 15 Italian Words related to Environment
If you loved this post please do share it on social media with a fellow language learner!
Watch this video on the Palio of Siena
19 Comments
Nicole
December 17, 2022 at 2:09 amThis is always my problem: the first two in this post are not even available for me to watch in Virginia (USA). Palio is available for me to rent, and Sleeping Beauty is only available in English in the USA. I’ve tried the whole VPN thing and that doesn’t work either. I have problems with getting Italian content here. I have to turn to YouTube and use things that people have posted from Italy (technically illegally, I’m pretty sure) in Italian, and sometimes if someone does do that they usually don’t have subtitling available. Netflix is really good because there are many shows and movies produced in the states that I can change the subtitling and audio language to Italian, or different combinations of that so I’m good with that, but unfortunately Amazon has not yet done that. I wish they did.
11 Amazing Songs to Help Learn Italian – Italophilia
June 8, 2020 at 5:26 pm[…] Learning Italian with Cinema […]
Kelly
August 10, 2018 at 10:51 amThanks for the recommendations! I hope that I can find some of these movies. I watched a super cute one on the plane…I’ll let you know if I remember the name…but it was about a software designer was trying to create an app, but was trying to get it crowdfunded. One night he got drunk and said he would make a porn with his girlfriend if they got a certain number of sponsors 😂 It was super cute & funny. I loved it.
Italophilia
August 10, 2018 at 11:01 amOh nice!! A very modern story 🙂 Thanks for sharing on twitter
KareninCalabria
August 4, 2018 at 11:14 pmI so agree with everything you say about watching foreign films – in addition to the language acquisition benefits, such a wonderful window on the culture! And I must add that I love Pranzo di Ferragosto and it’s coming around to the time of year to watch it again. I liked it so much, I wrote a blogpost on it, so I hope you don’t mind my sharing the link for anyone wanting to know a bit more about this wonderful film: https://www.calabriatheotheritaly.com/mid-august-lunch/
Italophilia
August 5, 2018 at 5:48 pmOf course not 🙂 I will link your post in my post too. Great idea!! The benefits are immense and I think people who do it, get a big applause from me. Its not so easy though but fun!
ingrid Levin
August 2, 2018 at 12:11 pmHello, I nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award! https://ingridmadisonave.com/2018/08/02/the-mystery-blogger-award-2/
Feel free to participate, no pressure. I just wanted to give your.blog some well-deserved recognition. xx
Italophilia
August 2, 2018 at 3:38 pmThanks so much Ingrid! You are so kind. xx
Kathryn Occhipinti
August 1, 2018 at 2:35 pmIshita, could you let us know if these movies play on American DVDs? I know some DVDs will only play on my computer, or not at all here in America. Or if we can find them on the internet.
Italophilia
August 1, 2018 at 2:37 pmWell I wouldn’t know that since I don’t live in America;) I am sure you will find some of these from the Istituto Cultura in your city?? I found most of them online for streaming.
Silvana
March 5, 2020 at 2:59 amHi Ishita and Kathryn Occhipinti,
I just read this post and I loved it.
Ishita, you are doing a wonderful job for the Italian culture. Your love for it shows in every post.
About Kathryn’s question, I have looked on Amazon Prime Video, and I have found “Mid-August lunch” , which is a really cute movie, and many movies by Ferzan Ozpetek, the director of “Le fate ignoranti” that you mention above. He is a truly wonderful director. Look up his name on Wikipedia, and you will find the English title to all his movies. A lot of them are on Prim Video to rent or to buy.
Continua cosi”, Ishita, e grazie!
Italophilia
March 7, 2020 at 6:32 pmCiao Silvana! Thank you so much for your comment and for reading my blog. I loved that movie btw..Grazie mille cara, ti auguro una buona giornata!
Silvana
March 9, 2020 at 11:52 pmGrazie a te, Ishita.
Ho usato il tuo post sul cinema e quello sulle canzoni come metodo per imparare l’italiano. I miei studenti sono rimasti piacevolmente colpiti dalla tua capacita’ di imparare italiano con la sola forza di volonta’.
Grazie per il tuo lavoro e per la tua gentilezza.
Silvana
Italophilia
March 10, 2020 at 11:36 amChe gentile 🙂 Grazie cara Silvana specialmente per avermi contatta di nuovo e per condividere il mio post con i tuoi studenti!! Sono molte contenta che vi piacuti! (Scusa per gli erroi!)
Kathryn Occhipinti
August 1, 2018 at 2:33 pmAbsolutely! I’ve learned so much Italian from this series. And the characters are fantastic and every episode hold my interest with the story line alone.
Italophilia
August 1, 2018 at 2:37 pmCheck Dailymotion too
Sue Giallombardo Walker
July 31, 2018 at 10:10 pmI enjoy watching the Montalbano detective series.. though they use the Sicilian language every now & then.. love the characters and the Sicilian location scenes..
Italophilia
August 1, 2018 at 12:30 amI love it too!! I was reading the book “The Age of Doubt”… have you read it? I then saw the episode related to it. Its almost like watching a movie.
Kathryn Occhipinti
August 1, 2018 at 2:32 pmAbsolutely! I’ve learned so much Italian from this series. And the characters are fantastic and every episode hold my interest with the story line alone.