Keeping Italian Alive Over the Summer: Simple, Real-Life Ideas

Summer is finally here: classes are over, days are sweetly long and warm, weeks fold lazily one after each other. Time is on your side: how about some Dolce Vita? Slowing down, savouring little pleasures, taking a break from the everyday rush: who’s in? Learning can easily fit into the picture, though. Just, at a different pace and with different expectations (read: no grades, no exams). Here are some ideas to keep your Italian alive over the summer.

Music, Podcasts, Social Media in Italian

Want to practice your listening skills, or simply enjoy some music? You’d better be ready for some easy and catchy songs, since summer music is inevitably associated with the tormentone (summer hit). The term comes from tormento (torment, harassment) and it is easy to guess why. It might be early to crown a winner yet, but a strong 2026 candidate is Al mio paese, from Levante, Delia, and Serena Brancale. The song (whose title means “In my hometown”) and the video clip are already being widely discussed. The song is ideal for the summer —easy listening, catchy arrangement— and takes inspiration from a few traditions from Southern Italy, such as the traditional dances taranta and pizzica. Its passionate feature and strong references to the South of Italy, however, are among the points being discussed. The lyrics praise the beauty of an unnamed southern town from the perspective of a native who no longer lives there (having supposedly moved to a big northern city). While supporters read this as a cheerful ode to Southern culture and beauty (as a pop song should, after all), critics say this perspective amplifies and romanticises the typical stereotypes associated with Southern Italy, yielding an almost cartoonish picture. Wherever the truth may be, this can be an option to tune it to the Italian summer vibe, while maybe researching and learning more about history, beauty, and issues of Southern Italy. Aside from debatable tormentoni, there’s a lot of Italian music out there—let your taste and instinct guide you and esci dalla bolla (get out of your bubble): you’ll be surprised and even pleased!

If podcasts are more your cup of tea, you’ll have plenty of choices here, too. You can have charts guide your choices, or maybe randomly try one with the most appealing title. True crime, news, history, pop culture, books, music, you name it. A few not-to-miss podcast personalities: the history superstar you wouldn’t expect, Alessandro Barbero (historian, writer, and university professor specializing in Medieval and military history with a cult following); journalist Cecilia Sala, covering news from all over the world; Mario Calabresi for a well-crafted daily press review; Pablo Trincia, with his true crime and deep investigative documentaries.

Last, why don’t you spend some more time on social media? You might actually benefit from following Italian content creators: they talk the everyday language, use colloquial terms you hardly find in books, and —possibly— cover topics of your interest! While it’s hard to give meaningful, specific advice, we can certainly mention the most famous and followed Italian social media star, tiktoker Khaby Lame. As of 2026, he is the most-followed user on TikTok, but if you’re one of the few who do not know him, he basically simplifies overly complicated life hacks. He does that silently, so he’s probably not the most useful account to improve your language, but it’s still culture, isn’t it?

Whomever you choose to listen to or follow, you’ll certainly profit from immersing yourself in authentic cultural products—and you’ll have fun too. And if you decide to embrace a full dolce vita summer style made of resting and carpe diem-ing, well, you can always show off a little bit of Italian if asked what you’re doing: that pleasing inactivity is technically dolce far niente! Buona estate!