Whether sprawling out under a beach umbrella, cycling or hiking in the mountains. Podcasts are certainly ideal for the holidays.
Here are eight headline titles to catch up on in the summer of 2021.
Let’s start with work-related topics. Anyone versed in English will want to listen to “Hello Monday” by Jessi Hempel, senior editor at Linkedin. The author package including guests as an essential product for understanding the trends and phenomena characterising a rapidly changing world of work, often told in advance. Not only in terms of changes in how and where we work, but especially in the way work interacts with our identities, motivations, sociality and well-being.
And after a successful first season, the Adecco podcast revs up for a second season of “Job Busters”, again investigating bogus myths and legends in the world of work. Together with a series of eminent guests and personal stories, the young brand strategist, content creator and digital marketing expert Federica Mutti dives deep into the most widespread stereotypes. She places a special focus on recovery from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For those who are looking for inspiration to change and renew themselves, look no further than journalist Cristina Rosso’s “RetroUtopia”. Her podcast chronicles success stories that have become so thanks to a mistake or failure. Taking cues from guests such as multi-starred chef Davide Oldani and actress Michela Giraud, discover how success is often born out of unexpected events and setbacks. A breath of fresh air for an optimistic start after the pandemic.
Turning to widely discussed environmental issues, “The Source is the first Italian climate fiction podcast that, in dystopian form, recounts the consequences of climate change in a country that has ignored scientists’ recommendations for 15 years. The Italy of 2035 has only just got back on its feet in the aftermath of the decade of pandemics, governed by a majority of new influencers and YouTubers who have long since abandoned the environmentalist demands of the ‘old’ influencers of the twenties, while the president of the Republic is virologist Roberto Burioni. Produced by Gruppo Cap, the water service provider for the Milan metropolitan area, the podcast features the voices of Massimiliano Loizzi and Fabrizio Biggio in the role of two radio presenters who find themselves, following the power blackout that has silenced every broadcaster and newspaper, the only source of information for an entire nation.
But the podcast is above all about storytelling. And if you haven’t already heard, you should certainly catch up on the series of interviews that Mario Calabresi hosted in his podcast “Altre Storie” (Other Stories). You will find out, for example, the story of Professor Andrea Crisanti, the first person in Italy to truly grasp the scope of COVID-19. Another story focuses on Yoko Plebani, a Paralympic athlete who refused to bow down to illness.
On the topic of stories, “Prima” is the latest podcast from Sara Poma, author of “Carla”, which came out in 2020. In “Carla”, the author had reconstructed her grandmother’s story based on her old diaries. Meanwhile, in “Prima”, Poma recasts the life story of Mariasilvia Spolato, a mathematician, writer, activist and the first woman in Italy to come out publicly as homosexual in 1972. Historical recasting, at times thrilling and also emotionally charged.
Two further titles deserve to be mentioned among the historical reconstruction podcasts. “Da Vermicino in poi” (From Vermicino Onwards), Stefania Carini’s podcast, available on the Post app, is a three-episode account of how a news story from forty years ago concerning six-year-old Alfredo, who fell into a well, altered the Italian media and our relationship with information.
“Polvere” (Dust) by Chiara Lalli and Cecilia Sala reconstructs the case of Marta Russo’s murder at Rome’s Sapienza University in eight episodes, halfway between investigation and storytelling. The podcast has already become a book. And some swear that it could soon become a TV series.