Stories, podcasts, and videos can all help you learn Italian when you can follow what they mean. That is the idea behind comprehensible input: learning from Italian you can mostly understand. Italian teachers make many podcasts and YouTube channels for learners. Learners still ask for one big video library that starts from zero, so many of them build their own mix.
These apps help you find Italian at your level, or make the Italian you choose easier to follow. For courses, speaking practice, and tutors, see our Italian app comparison.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level, what you like, and why you want to learn. She writes Italian lessons that fit you, and you can read and listen to each one. Bubblegum also has news and stories, so you can read about music, food, family, travel, or anything else you care about.
If a sentence is hard to follow, just ask Poppy to explain the words or the grammar.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't help you read or watch Italian you found yourself. For a book, an article, or a show you already picked, the tools in Read and Watch Italian You Choose are the better fit.
- Read and listen to lessons, news, and stories about things you like.
- Lessons fit your level and your goals.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading instead of using flashcards.
- Ask Poppy about a sentence while you read.
- You cannot bring in your own books, articles, or shows.
- AI voices read each lesson, not recordings of Italian speakers.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Read and Listen to Stories for Learners
Duostories
Duostories is a volunteer project that brings Duolingo's short stories to more languages, with Duolingo's permission. Its Italian stories are about everyday moments, from a date to a train ticket. It suits learners who like short stories with questions that check what they understood.
- 51 free Italian stories with audio.
- Answer short questions as you read each story.
- A listening mode plays a story and skips the questions.
MobileWeb
Linguin
Linguin is a library of easy Italian to read and listen to. Every text has audio, so you can follow along as you read. It suits learners who know the basics and want more Italian to read.
- Easy news, short stories, folk tales, and podcasts with transcripts.
- Tap any word to see its meaning and hear it.
- Save words and review them with flashcards.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Read Two Languages Side by Side
Beelinguapp
Beelinguapp puts Italian beside a language you know. Read the Italian, then check the other side when you need help. You can also listen as you read.
- Keep a translation beside the Italian to check what you read.
- Listen as the text lights up line by line.
- Stories and news for beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners.
- Flashcards
Mobile
Listen to the News in Slow Italian
News in Slow Italian
News in Slow Italian turns the week's news into short programs for learners. Beginners can start with a course called G.U.T.S., which leads into the weekly news. On phones, its free app is called linguistica.
- News, dialogues, and talks read at a pace made for learners, with new episodes each week.
- Read along with transcripts and English translations.
- Levels from beginner to advanced, and you can switch at any time.
MobileWeb
Watch Italian TV With Learning Tools
Lingopie
Lingopie is a library of TV shows with learning tools built into the player. It suits learners who want to watch Italian TV without setting up a browser extension.
- Italian TV shows, news, comedies, and travel shows with Italian and English subtitles.
- Click any word for a quick translation, or slow the video down.
- Review new words with flashcards made from the videos.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Read and Watch Italian You Choose
These tools help you learn from Italian books, articles, shows, and videos you pick yourself. They suit learners who already know what they want to read or watch.
LingQ
LingQ lets you read and listen to Italian from its library or bring in your own. It highlights words you have not met yet and words you are still learning, so the words you already know stay plain.
- Read and listen to Italian lessons with matching transcripts.
- Bring in YouTube videos, books, and songs as lessons.
- Review words with flashcards.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Readlang
Readlang helps you read Italian on the web or in an e-book you upload. It also has short starter stories, such as a day at the market and a holiday in Rome.
- Click a word or phrase to see what it means.
- Ask for a short explanation of a phrase in its sentence.
- Saved words become flashcards.
- Flashcards
WebBrowser extension
Language Reactor
Language Reactor shows Italian subtitles beside a translation while you watch. It is free to install, with paid extras.
- See Italian subtitles beside a translation on Netflix and YouTube.
- Look up words in a pop-up dictionary.
- Pause and replay one line when it goes too fast.
Browser extension
Migaku
Migaku helps you learn from Italian shows, books, and web pages. Click a word to turn it into a flashcard, then review it later.
- Look up words on Netflix, YouTube, Kindle, and web pages.
- See how much of a show or page you already know.
- Take a photo of Italian text, like a menu, and turn it into flashcards.
- Flashcards
MobileBrowser extension
Free Podcasts, Videos, and News
Many Italian teachers share free podcasts and videos for learners. Italiano sì has videos for complete beginners up to intermediate learners, and Easy Italian has a Super Easy Italian series for your first steps. Podcast Italiano has episodes from beginner to advanced, with transcripts. Learners often recommend Simple Italian Podcast and Italiano Bello for slow, simple Italian, and the Italy Made Easy podcast comes with full transcripts. Refold's community list adds favorites such as Learn Italian with Lucrezia and Italiano Automatico.
For the news, EasyItalianNews.com posts short, easy stories with audio three times a week for free. Slow Italian, Fast Learning, from the Australian public broadcaster SBS, reads the news slowly each week, with transcripts in Italian and English. When you are ready for Italian made for Italians, RaiPlay Sound, from Italy's public broadcaster Rai, has free radio shows and podcasts.
Learn Italian in Your Language
These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps’ counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings, except Language Reactor (Chrome Web Store) and Readlang (its help forum). Word meanings, lesson explanations, and other platforms may differ.
| App | Supported Display Languages | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| Duostories | 1 | Full list |
| Linguin | 1 | Full list |
| Beelinguapp | 22 | Full list |
| News in Slow Italian | 1 | Full list |
| Lingopie | 6 | Full list |
| LingQ | 17 | Full list |
| Readlang | 1 | Full list |
| Language Reactor | 27 | Full list |
| Migaku | 4 | Full list |
Other Apps We Looked At (8)
- FluentUClips from Italian movies, TV shows, and songs, with subtitles you can click and a quiz after each video.
- Yabla ItalianMore than 4,450 videos of Italian speakers, with subtitles in two languages, slow playback, and listening games.
- Coffee Break ItalianA free podcast course in three seasons of 40 lessons, each about 15 to 20 minutes long.
- LengualyticsA community library of Italian videos and podcasts that learners rate by difficulty, with a tracker for your listening time.
- ReelangA feed of short videos from Italian speakers, sorted by level, topic, and accent. It is new and growing.
- Stories with SofiaSlow stories and songs about a family in the village of Dozza, free to watch from A1, with a book that puts English beside every line. It is new and growing.
- Italian Reading & Audio BooksClassic Italian books such as Pinocchio, with audiobooks you can follow as you read.
- Italian graded readersPrinted books written for one level at a time, many with audio, from publishers that teach Italian to foreigners.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much Italian do I need to understand?
Researchers Hu and Nation found that readers can follow a story on their own when they know about 98% of its words. That is about one new word in every 50, so choose stories and shows where you only look up a word now and then.
How many people are learning Italian?
About 2 million people in 130 countries study Italian at schools, universities, and Italian cultural institutes, according to a 2024 estimate from Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Hu and Nation (2000), Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension
- Comprehensible Input Wiki: Italian
- r/italianlearning: I would kill for someone to create a Dreaming Italian (2024)
- r/italianlearning: Closest thing to Dreaming Spanish? (2026)
- r/italianlearning: Looking for an Italian podcast with calm voice, calm vibes (2025)
- Refold: Italian comprehensible input and immersion resources
- Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: First International Conference on Italophony (2024 learner estimate)
- Bubblegum
- Duostories
- Linguin
- Beelinguapp
- News in Slow Italian
- Lingopie
- LingQ
- Readlang
- Language Reactor
- Migaku
Checked on October 8, 2026 against each app's own pages.
