Benvenuti alla nostra prima newsletter!

We’re Angelique and Gabriele, and we’re glad to have you on board with us in this exclusive community we’re building. As you may know, our podcast, The Italian Escape, seeks to fix a problem no one really talks about in the Italian language learning world.

Where can I find accessible Italian content that’s not too advanced or boring for me?

This was the same question I (Angelique) had while finding materials to keep her going in her language learning journey. Surely, she should not have any problem now that we’re living in a globalized world. But lo and behold, she struggled.

Oftentimes, the content may either be too easy, institutional, boring, or too advanced for a non-native speaker. There’s nothing in between, and if there is, you’ll end up wasting so much time and energy finding one. It’s as though you’re looking for a needle in the haystack.

What if we serve you the needle you’re looking for?

And that’s why we created our podcast.

We wanted to produce content that people just like I (Angelique) would have wanted access to. While our podcast is perfect for audiophiles, we also wanted to share with you other stuff you might be interested in.

Enter The Italian Escape Dispatch.

With our newsletter, we want to send you pieces of Italy for you to enjoy. Each month we will be providing a list of our favorite stuff, a secret music playlist, and extra news or recaps that you may have missed in the past weeks.

Now that we’re at the peak of our summer holidays, we’re grabbing the chance to share with you tons of materials that make your summer worthwhile.

Click here & start listening!

This list has been curated by Angelique

• Un'Estate Fa

This is not exactly a book but I find it easy to learn a new language through visual tools, such as a comics. This is a comics created by Zidrou and Jordi Lafebre.

Also called, Glorious Summers in English, it illustrates wonderfully the idyll summer that takes place around Europe. The story focuses on a Belgian family, which goes to an annual adventurous trip to wherever they please. Every chapter tells us a different timeline of the family's lives, therefore showing us various crises Pierre and Mado face while they seek to enjoy their summer family tradition.

Having discovered this during the lockdowns, I loved this comics from the get-go because it gave me a sense of hope and bliss when things went dark in Italy.

The second volume of this comics is now also available, if you want to give this series a try!

• Sotto il Sole di Amalfi

This Netflix film is a sequel to the film, Sotto il Sole di Riccione. The story focuses on the relationship between Vincenzo and Camilla. Having been away from each other for sometime, they meet once again during summer to confront the present, as well as the future stance of their relationship.

I loved this film because it not only shows the beauty of Amalfi Coast but also gives us preview of what "young summer love" is all about in Italy. It's definitely a feel-good kind of movie, though you'll definitely get to see a bit of trouble happening in paradise.

• Ci Vuole Una Scienza - Un'estate all'asciuto

In one of our episodes, I mentioned about the ongoing draught happening in Italy. Being a science buff myself, I also try to keep myself updated within the science world in Italian.

Ci Vuole Una Scienza is a podcast produced and written by Emanuele Menietti and Beatrice Mautino. Normally they publish an episode every Friday but they're on a summer break right now (as the rest of Italy).

I'm sharing with you this episode, which I found fascinating. It's on the science and consequences behind the draught, or la siccità, happening here and across Europe. During the episode, you'll also get to hear other updates from the world of science.

• Latest Episode: L'eroe dei due mondi

  For this episode, we talked about the one and only - Giuseppe Garibaldo, one of the most famous Italian heroes who spent his life fighting for freedom and unified Italy. Listen to our conversation and learn about his values and the stories of this mythical hero.

• Free Transcripts!

  As some of you might have noticed, we created a Transcripts page for you to follow our episodes.

• Want to go hardcore & learn Italian with us?

  If you're the type of person who is highly committed to learning Italian, we have something special for you. We've published special versions of our transcripts (with time stamps and color codes in English & Italian), as well as our vocabulary lists (arranged by proficiency level).

  Join us in Patreon to access them!

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Also, do you have any stuff you'd like to recommend to us for next month's newsletter?

Write to us at [email protected]!