The Best TV Shows on Rai 1

Every Rai 1 Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Our curated list, current as of September 2026, showcases over 20 of Rai 1’s highest-rated series. Highlighting Rai 1’s quality programming, Sanremo Music Festival and Eurovision Song Contest stand out, premiering in 1951 and 1956. Rai 1 has delivered an expansive roster of over 20 shows, dating from 1951 all the way to 2025.

  • Ulisse - The Pleasure of Discovery
    Ulisse - The Pleasure of Discovery (2001)9.2

    Alberto Angela leads the dissemination program dedicated to history, art and culture. A historical, archaeological, informative story, with the presence of some protagonists of the Italian cultural or artistic scene.

  • Superquark
    Superquark (1995)9.0

    Television program of cultural diffusion, born in September 1995, designed and conducted by Piero Angela, development of transmission appreciated Quark.

  • Jeux Sans Frontières
    Jeux Sans Frontières (1965)8.7

    Jeux sans frontières ("Games Without Borders" in French) was a Europe-wide television game show, based on the French programme Intervilles which was first broadcast in 1962. In its original conception, it was broadcast from 1965 to 1999 under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which owned the format. In non French-speaking countries, the show had alternative titles. It is also widely known as "It's a Knockout", the title of the BBC's domestic version and national selection for the programme.

  • My Brilliant Friend
    My Brilliant Friend (2018)8.1

    When the most important friend in her life seems to have disappeared without a trace, Elena Greco, a now-elderly woman immersed in a house full of books, turns on her computer and starts writing the story of their friendship.

  • Doc
    Doc (2020)8.1

    When Doctor Andrea Fanti loses 12 years of memories from a brain injury, he finds himself adjusting to a world full of strangers.

  • Reazione a catena - L'intesa vincente
    Reazione a catena - L'intesa vincente (2007)8.0

  • Sanremo Music Festival
    Sanremo Music Festival (1951)7.9

    The Sanremo Music Festival is the most popular Italian song contest and awards, held annually in the town of Sanremo, Imperia, Italy, and consisting of a competition amongst previously unreleased songs. The Festival was the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest.

  • The Count of Monte Cristo
    The Count of Monte Cristo (2025)7.9

    Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

  • Inspector Rex
    Inspector Rex (2008)7.8

    A spin off from the Austrian series Kommissar (Inspector) Rex. Rex the Police Dog moves from Vienna to Rome to continue his career.

  • The Ladies' Paradise
    The Ladies' Paradise (2015)7.7

    Follow Teresa Iorio, a young woman who leaves her rural Sicilian hometown for Milan to find work--and much more--at a newly opened department store: The Ladies' Paradise.

  • Medici: Masters of Florence
    Medici: Masters of Florence (2016)7.7

    The story of the Medici family of Florence, their ascent from simple merchants to power brokers sparking an economic and cultural revolution. Along the way, they also accrue a long list of powerful enemies.

  • Sandokan
    Sandokan (2025)7.6

    Sandokan is a Malaysian pirate who, along with his friend Yanez and their crew, attacks the British forces from his island of Mompracem. During his adventures, he falls in love with Lady Marianna Guillonk, an English-Italian aristocrat.

  • A Doctor in the Family
    A Doctor in the Family (1998)7.5

    The adventures of the unpredictable Martini family led by the tireless Grandpa Libero.

  • Long Live Rai2!
    Long Live Rai2! (2022)7.5

    Between infotainment and variety, a good morning with Fiorello and Biggio. At the center are the news, the events that happened and those that will happen, commented in an ironic and pungent style but always with lightness and good humor. A condensation of moments of variety, with a high rhythm: music, songs, ballets, duets, gags with guests and playmates, a cast in constant evolution that, day after day, will always see new protagonists. Unusual fifths of the show are via Asiago 10 (in the first season) and Foro Italico (in the second season) and the expected glass, a studio with transparent walls.

  • Eurovision Song Contest
    Eurovision Song Contest (1956)7.4

    The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition, organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and featuring participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner.

  • Tommy & Oscar
    Tommy & Oscar (2000)6.6

    Tommy and Oscar is an Italian animated television series created by Max Alessandrini and Iginio Straffi, and produced by the Italian company Rainbow S.r.l. and by RAI Fiction. There was the movie in this series that was going to be released in 2004, but it is unreleased.

  • Father Matteo
    Father Matteo (2000)6.3

    Don Matteo is a thoroughly ordinary Catholic priest with an extraordinary ability to read people and solve crimes. He’s a parish priest who never met an unjustly accused person he didn’t want to help.

  • Christopher Columbus
    Christopher Columbus (1985)6.2

    After his proposal to sail west to the East Indies is rejected by Portugal, Columbus overcomes court intrigue in Spain to gain support for his expedition.

  • Enchantment
    Enchantment (1998)6.0

    Incantesimo is a long-running drama series on Italian television, broadcast on the RAI network. It is set in a hospital called Clinica Life in Turin, Italy, and revolves around the life of the doctors and nurses in the hospital. According to the official website, it is "interested in social themes, the incoherence of daily life, solidarity, love and passion, not forgetting moments of comedy". Incantesimo was first broadcast in March 1997, is now in its 10th series and has broadcast 400 episodes. Incantesimo is also being broadcast on the Chinese CCTV 8 network, dubbed into Mandarin. Many notable Italian actors and actresses have starred in the series including, Orso Maria Guerrini, Delia Boccardo, Kaspar Capparoni, Paolo Malco, Guido Furlani, Alessio Boni, Vanessa Gravina, Paola Pitagora, Alessandra Acciai and Barbara Livi. The series was especially popular in Bulgaria, where it was aired on BNT 1 and Nova Television. In Armenia it was aired on ArmeniaTV and TV5 in Russian, as well as on Shant TV in Armenian.

  • DopoFestival
    DopoFestival (1992)N/A