Finding original TV shows and movies in Italian is pretty hard if you aren’t living in Italy. Most content isn’t even available or has much less available than in Italy itself. Here is exactly how to watch Italian TV online OUTSIDE of Italy using Raiplay and Netflix!
After watching almost all the original content in Italian that Netflix had to offer, I was looking for more! I asked my language exchange partner, Sara, how she normally watches TV.
And that’s when she told me that I could watch Italian TV online using Raiplay! This is a totally free service with tons of TV shows (or fictions in Italian) but it is only available for people living in Italy.
So here is how we get around that and get a ton of Italian TV content from anywhere in the world!
Watch Italian TV Abroad with Raiplay & Nord VPN
The first thing you need to do is head to Rai and create an account. Click the “Accedi” button on the top right, then choose how you’d like to create your username and password.
If RaiPlay won’t let you create an account because you are outside of Italy (mine works sometimes and other times it doesn’t), then you’ll need to skip these steps and sign up for the VPN first.
You can use Facebook or Google and a few other social media to create an account, or just use your email address.
After you’ve created your account (if you were able to without a VPN) you can test some of the shows and see which ones work without needing to be in Italy.
For example, I clicked on “Sogno Azzurro” and was able to watch it without needing to be in Italy or turn on a VPN! However, this is not the Italian TV show that I wanted to watch.
Instead, I scrolled down to the “Fiction” section (Italian TV series) and clicked on the first show that was recommended to me.
I clicked the “Play” button or “Riproduci” and it wouldn’t load. I kept trying, just in case, and then the following message popped up on the screen:
This meant that this particular show (and most of the Italian TV Shows that are on RaiPlay) are not available to view outside of Italy. So this is when we need to turn on our VPN!
Basically, if you’ve never used a VPN before, it tricks your computer into thinking that it’s in a different country. So we can make our computer seem like it’s in Italy when in reality, I’m writing this from Mexico.
The cheapest VPN that actually works is NordVPN (I’ve used it all over the world for years!). I truly think that if you love language learning and are serious about it, NordVPN and italki are two of the best investments you can make.
They almost always have deals running, and coming from someone as crazy frugal as me, it is worth it. I use it every single day to watch RaiPlay, Peacock, or Hulu (since those only work in the USA), or Netflix to get TV shows only available in Europe.
Once you have NordVPN, you can just choose “Italy” and wait until you are connected
After I connected to my Italian VPN, I was able to watch RaiPlay abroad without any problems.
Get More Italian TV from anywhere using Netflix & NordVPN
You can use this same method to get even more Italian TV outside of Italy on Netflix! Not only do they have more TV shows and movies in Italian, but they also have more shows that have Italian subtitles and audio than if you weren’t using a VPN.
Depending on what country you are in, shows may or may not show that they are dubbed in Italian and have Italian subtitles.
I currently live in Mexico and just searched some of my favorite TV shows and checked if they had Italian subtitles and they didn’t.
HOWEVER, then I turned on my VPN and switched it to Italy, and VOILA! They magically had both subtitles and audio in Italian.
This may not be the case for most American shows (The Office is only in English )’:) but it is definitely worth a try!
Here are a few that I found had audio & subtitles in Italian with the Italian VPN on:
- Community
- Brooklyn 99
- New Girl
- Rick & Morty
- Prison Break
- Bojack Horseman
Language Learning Must-Haves
- iTalki Language Classes: The #1 reason why I’ve been able to learn languages from home. Take conversation classes from a native speaker for only $5-$10 an hour.
- How to Be Fluent Books: Two of my favorite books about language learning have definitely got me super excited about learning a language and I highly recommend reading both!
- Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It
- Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World
- A Language Planner: Keep track of your scheduled language classes, set language goals, and organize your study schedule with my favorite planner ever.
- Harry Potter in Your Target Language: Reading a beginner book that you’re familiar with is an incredible way to learn vocabulary quickly!