10 Best Italian Magazines for Language Learners

Italian magazines—also called riviste—are breezy and interesting to read, and they’re an awesome way to pick up new vocabulary. 

Let’s look at some of the best magazines Italy has to offer language learners. You can access all of these online too for an instant dose of Italian. 

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1. Best for Entertainment: TV Sorrisi e Canzoni 

TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (TV Smiles and Songs) is a lot like America’s TV Guide Magazine. It’s a lighter read that features articles about celebrities, movies, TV shows and music, so you can stay up to date with what’s new in Italian entertainment. It can be really fun to see the Italian take on media like “I Puffi” (The Smurfs).

From a language learning perspective, this magazine works best when combined with other Italian practice methods, namely, watching Italian TV series and movies. It’s much more interesting to read about the latest Italian hit TV show if you’ve been watching it, too. 

2. Best for Fashion: Vogue Italia

As you probably guessed from the name, Vogue Italia is Italy’s version of Vogue magazine. Filled with beauty tips, celebrity gossip and all things fashion, Vogue Italia is a great way to learn about the latest trends and styles in Italy.

Milan, for example, is known as one of the fashion capitals of the world. How great would it be to see the latest fashions coming out of that city the moment they emerge?

Plus, their website is available in both English and Italian, which means you can access in-context meanings of any unfamiliar words or phrases quickly. (Just be aware that not all content on the site is available in English.)

3. Best for Investigative Journalism: L’Espresso

L’Espresso is a weekly Italian magazine founded in 1955 and based in Rome. It’s an extremely popular news magazine, featuring articles on politics and important cultural events in Italy and around the world.

Known for its serious investigative journalism, this magazine will appeal to Italian learners who have a passion for current events and foreign affairs.

Keep in mind that the articles here are probably best for more advanced Italian learners, because some of the terms used are technical and difficult to understand for beginners. However, this shouldn’t stop Italian learners at any level from checking it out, as long as you have a dictionary handy!

4. Best for Science and Technology: Le Scienze

Le Scienze (The Sciences) is a great Italian magazine for people who love to learn about subjects like biology, chemistry, engineering and technology. It contains tons of fascinating articles that range from discussions of the latest innovations in the medical field to the science behind cooking the perfect steak.

Even if you’re not a scientific genius, you can still find something that intrigues you in this magazine. I really liked an article about how reading novels has been shown to make a person more empathetic. You won’t just be learning Italian while you read—you’ll be learning, period. 

This magazine has articles written on various reading levels and includes many photos and graphs that can be helpful for beginner and intermediate learners.

5. Best for Global News: Internazionale

Another publication that every Italian learner should know would be Internazionale. It’s based on the brilliant idea of taking top-notch news articles from around the world and publishing them in Italian. For example, you might find content from The New York Times, El País in Spain and Le Monde in France all on the same issue.

I enjoyed reading news from around the world with different voices and perspectives—but all in properly translated Italian. 

You can supplement this with its daily and weekly podcasts to train your Italian listening as well. 

6. Best for Weekly Local News: Sette

Sette is one of the most popular Italian magazines out there. It’s released every week as part of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Branching out from the newspaper’s daily updates, Sette gives you longer, more detailed pieces, and you can easily find it on newsstands. 

Entertainment, lifestyle and politics are all discussed here, from book and movie reviews to actor interviews and AI’s impact on the internet. 

In case you stumble on vocabulary you’re not familiar with, you can also try using their Italian dictionaries, which even cover idioms, synonyms and frequent mistakes.

7. Best for Puzzles: La Settimana Enigmistica

La Settimana Enigmistica (roughly, The Weekly Puzzle) isn’t like most magazines. Instead of articles about science or news or celebrities, it contains nothing but puzzles.

This makes it a fantastic tool for Italian language learners, because solving crossword puzzles and riddles in Italian using only Italian-language clues is much more difficult than just reading an article! This will keep your brain engaged and force you to think in Italian, pushing you toward fluency.

The magazine also contains Sudoku puzzles and other familiar brain teasers, so no matter what your puzzle preference is, you’re sure to find something fun here.

8. Best for Business: Millionaire

If you already read business and technology news regularly, then you can get in some Italian learning as well with Millionaire. This magazine has been running since 1990, and it’s written in easy-to-understand Italian. You’ll get to hear about the latest tech advances and maybe even get ideas from entrepreneur success stories and practical guides for building your own business. 

It also gives you an Italy-based perspective, diving into trends like dental tourism and crowdfunding in Italy. Even though I stay pretty updated with tech, I found Millionaire fascinating because of all the cultural info, such as apps that are popular in Italy. 

You can tune in every month for new articles. 

9. Best for Food: GialloZafferano

Italian culture is famous for its incredible food, so don’t miss out on GialloZafferano, one of the top food and cooking magazines in Italy. 

You can get a taste of what it’s like by checking out its website, which is packed with mouthwatering recipes for pasta, pizza, desserts and more, plus regular cooking videos.

Their magazine or app goes further with specialized, seasonal recipes and thoughtful essays about food. You’ll also access pro tips from chefs, kitchen hacks and updates on the latest culinary trends. 

With magazine issues every month, there’s definitely enough to keep you busy in the kitchen.  

10. Best for Lifestyle: The Good Life Italia

From the title, you might guess Good Life Italia is a lifestyle magazine—but it’s more diverse than you’d think. It features a broad mix of business topics, art, design, architecture and travel, with well-written articles about places as diverse as France, Rwanda and Uzbekistan.  

A new issue is released every two months, and there are typically more than 200 pages for you to go through. If you’re aiming for a well-rounded vocabulary, this magazine will help you with that. I ended up reading about wine production and advances in cryptocurrency in the same issue.  

Both paper and digital subscriptions are available, but you can also browse some of the articles on their website. The content is in-depth and analytical, so you’ll be given a lot of food for thought. 

Tips for Reading Italian Magazines

• Find a magazine that appeals to you. With magazines as well as with books, you won’t read anything for long if it doesn’t interest you. If you’re artistic, choose a magazine about the arts. If you’re a chemist, choose a magazine about science. If you love celebrities, choose a magazine that tells you all the latest gossip about them.
• Skim first, read later. Don’t feel pressured to read every article word-for-word on the first try. Skimming lets you get the gist of an article (and suss out whether it’ll even hold your attention) so you have the groundwork to go back and catch anything you missed the first time.

• Highlight words you don’t know. Feel free to highlight and underline to your heart’s content to keep track of the words or phrases that trip you up. You can then look them up with your favorite Italian dictionary or translator.
  You might even try using a context-focused vocabulary tool like Visual Thesaurus, which creates interactive word maps to help you see how new words are related to ones you already know.

• …But don’t get too hung up on them. That being said, don’t spend all your time looking up every single word. That will only take you out of the story and make you lose the flow.

It’s best to read at a steady pace and see if you can pick up unfamiliar words’ meanings from context clues. Only look up the words in the moment if absolutely necessary.

• Enjoy yourself. Magazines are meant to be fun and entertaining, so don’t treat them like a homework assignment. Pick the articles you like and don’t feel bad if you choose to read an article about the Kardashians instead of an article about global warming.

If you enjoy reading magazines in Italian, you can immerse in even more native content with FluentU.   

Why Learn Italian with Magazines?

What is it about magazines that makes them so useful for Italian learners? A lot, as it turns out. Here are just some of the benefits:

• Magazines help you keep up with current events. Just like in the U.S., Italian magazines are meant to keep readers informed on current events in their particular niche. Most magazines are published either once a week or once a month, so if you’re reading one soon after its publication date, you’ll know that the topics inside are fresh in the Italian-speaking world.

It’s a great way to learn more about Italian culture and see how the language is used in a variety of relevant, real-world situations. Plus, if you’re practicing conversation with Italian speakers (which is highly recommended), you’ll have plenty to chat about.

• Magazine articles are short and digestible. They’re typically snappy and to the point (some articles are only a paragraph or two long!). This is perfect for any Italian language learner with very little free time.
• Magazines tend to have a more casual tone than newspapers. Most magazines are written with the goal of delivering information in a fun, personable way. Thus, the writing style is more casual, making them easier to read than newspapers, which can be a bit arduous (and even boring) to read at times.

If you find it difficult to keep up with a news story in a newspaper, try reading a similar article in one of Italy’s famous news magazines instead. 

• Magazines include bright colors and photos. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words; that picture can get you a thousand words closer to understanding an Italian article by giving you visual clues about the topic.

For example, if you’re reading an article about un orso, but you don’t yet know the word for “bear,” a photo of a grizzly bear next to the Italian text would be a great way to let you know what you’re reading about.

Even the bright colors of the magazine pages can help as well, allowing you to understand the tone of the article. More serious articles tend to have few or muted colors but upbeat stories have brighter, more colorful artwork accompanying them.

 

You can find subscription information for all of these Italian magazines at their respective websites for learning.

Even if you find out that you can’t get them delivered to your house, you can still read their content on the internet. That way, you can stay up to date with the latest in Italian news and culture without ever having to board a plane.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)