About Subscriptions
Support for The Italian Dispatch
Every week, this newsletter features clear-eyed essays about Italian culture, history, politics, and contradictions. It’s written from Rome and grounded in reporting and lived experience, not advocacy or social media trends.
It is published year-round, with brief pauses in August and around Christmas and New Year’s.
New posts remain free to read and discuss. What has changed is access to the archive beyond the three newest posts, which is available to paid subscribers.
This project takes time. It involves research, travel, interviews, and editing -- often on subjects that don’t lend themselves to quick takes or easy generalities. Paid subscriptions help make the work sustainable and keep the newsletter independent, reader-supported, and free of distractions.
In an Italian historical sense, subscribing is also a form of patronage … a quiet act of generosity that for generations has helped keep cultural work alive.
Subscription tiers
Lettori (free):
Access to read and comment on the three most recent posts, plus access to one older archive post.
Abbonati (paid):
Full access to the entire archive, the ability to share an archive post each month, plus a few small perks, including a voucher for monthly gift subscription for a friend. Annual subscribers in the E.U., U.K., or U.S. will receive an Italian Dispatch refrigerator magnet in the mail.
Patroni (founding members):
All Abbonati benefits, with additional sharing privileges, occasional cliché-free Italy travel suggestions, and acknowledgement in the “Thanks to” section of an in-progress print book drawn in part from material originally published in The Italian Dispatch.
Most of all, it includes my sincere thanks for supporting the project early.
Through March 31, subscription rates are €5 per month or €50 per year. After that, standard rates will apply. The Patroni tier is available for a limited time for a one-time fee of €250.
Whether free or paid, readers are what make this newsletter worth doing. Subscribing is simply a way to help ensure that The Italian Dispatch can continue, thoughtfully, independently, and weekly.
If you’re a student or researcher interested in a specific archive post for academic reasons or intellectual curiosity and the subscription fee is a barrier, feel free to get in touch.