Building on Renga’s survey study of the Italian cinema taught in Anglophone universities (2014), this article aims to assess whether and to what extent the notion of ‘quality’ plays a role in the selection of contemporary films to teach across the higher education curriculum in the teaching of Italian Studies. In particular, it considers whether there is any consonance between Italian government intervention in the film industry via the MiBACT funding and support scheme for ‘film d’interesse culturale’ (a process updated under the Legge Urbani in 2004), and the films selected for teaching...