Italy’s state broadcaster Rai unveiled its 2025-26 television schedules in Naples on 27 June, with Chief Executive Giampaolo Rossi saying the line-up reflects a drive to “rationalise costs” while preserving the company’s public-service remit. The headline announcement is the return of Oscar-winning actor-director Roberto Benigni, who will deliver a prime-time monologue on St Peter from the Vatican in December. The programme will mark the close of the Catholic Jubilee Holy Year and Benigni’s first appearance on Rai in roughly a decade. Beyond the Benigni event, the grid offers more continuity than novelty. Flagship entertainers Carlo Conti, Antonella Clerici and Milly Carlucci keep their prime-time slots, while a new cultural talk show is entrusted to actor Luca Barbareschi. American actress Whoopi Goldberg is slated to join the long-running soap “Un posto al sole” in 2026. Shows hosted by Simona Ventura and Paola Perego have been dropped. Tighter budgets translate into shorter seasons for several information programmes: investigative staple “Report” is trimmed to 24 episodes from 28, and “PresaDiretta” to 14 from 16. Rossi said the changes aim to balance financial sustainability with audience loyalty.