Sex Education, The Italian Way
by Stefano Guerini Rocco
Overview
2022
1 season, 8 episodes
Duccio Chiarini
Simona Nobile, Luca Padrini
Laura Grimaldi (head writer), Oliviero Del Papa, Simona Nobile, Luca Padrini
Rai Fiction, Panama Film
Debora Vrizzi
Maria Fantastica Valmori
Tecla Insolia, Ludovica Ciaschetti, Isnaba Na Montche, Edoardo Pagliai, Simone Fumagalli, Laura Martinelli, Alessandro Garbin, Valentina Carnelutti, Francesco Siciliano, Tatiana Lepore
RaiPlay
Gallery
Poster
Trailer
Representation strategies, rhetorics and stereotypes
Narrative & characters
5 minuti prima is a RaiPlay Original series that addresses the theme of adolescents’ first sexual experiences with a direct, non-moralizing tone. The protagonist, Nina (Tecla Insolia), sixteen years old, feels stuck and inadequate when it comes to her “first time,” while her friends appear to navigate sexual discoveries, identity shifts, and emotional relationships with ease. The story unfolds along multiple narrative threads following a heterogeneous group of characters united by the search for authenticity and the desire for self-determination. The narrative universe brings together female, male, and non-binary experiences, intertwining the trajectories of a gay boy fully accepted by family and friends, a girl with ADHD who experiences her sexuality in a fluid and polyamorous way, and other characters exploring identity, desire, and belonging. The representation avoids the moralizing formulas typical of mainstream television: the focus is not on sex education in a pedagogical sense, but on portraying a complex lived experience, made up of hesitations, experiments, mistakes, and discoveries. In this regard, 5 minuti prima situates itself within a narrative horizon akin to international teen dramas such as Skam or Sex Education, while maintaining a distinctly national identity.
Stereotypes & strategies of inclusion
Compared with mainstream network productions, 5 minuti prima aligns with the editorial direction typical of RaiPlay Originals, privileging languages, themes, and approaches close to Generation Z, and emphasizing inclusive, realistic, and intersectional representations. Despite operating within the institutional framework of public service, RaiPlay experiments with formats and themes closer to those of international OTT players, adapting them to a national cultural and production context. In this perspective, RaiPlay represents Rai’s attempt to reinforce its public service role within the digital ecosystem while also positioning itself as a competitive player in the on-demand content market. In general, RaiPlay Originals adopt narrative strategies inspired by complex inclusion models, aiming primarily at a young audience—Gen Z or young Millennials—who are more sensitive to values such as inclusivity, authenticity, and intersectionality, and more accustomed to fragmented, personalized forms of media consumption. For this reason, 5 minuti prima avoids reducing diversity to a decorative element or a “problem” to be solved. Instead, it adopts an approach that places lived experience and the plurality of adolescent subjectivities at the center. The protagonist, Nina, embodies a figure far removed from the stereotype of the girl who must be “educated” or “unlocked.” Her uncertainty is not portrayed as a deficit to be overcome quickly, but as a process of self-awareness developed through creativity: in the pornographic comics she draws in solitude, Nina transforms anxieties and fantasies into images, creating a personal and safe space for the exploration of desire.
This narrative choice frees female adolescent sexuality from the logic of social pressure and the linearity of initiatory paths, highlighting forms of self-knowledge that do not necessarily pass through immediate physical experience. Within the group of friends, diversity is represented as an integral part of everyday life. For instance, Simone, a gay teenager, lives his orientation openly and is accepted by family and peers, without the narrative resorting to the rhetoric of trauma or bullying. This approach normalizes LGBTQ+ presence and situates it within a perspective of meaningful diversity. Similarly, Daniela, a girl with ADHD, is not defined solely by her neurological condition. Her identity emerges above all through a free, fluid, and polyamorous sexuality, portrayed in intimate contexts with both boys and girls, dismantling the stereotypical association between neurodivergence and either asexuality or relational incapacity.
Group dynamics play a fundamental role: the absence of strongly moralizing adults and the centrality of peer relationships create a narrative space where encounters among diverse experiences become opportunities for collective growth. The relationships among the characters, though marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, rest on reciprocal acceptance, reflecting a model of inclusive adolescent sociability able to embrace differences in gender, orientation, and personal condition without reducing them to stigmas or fixed roles.
In this way, 5 minuti prima succeeds in grafting into the Italian fiction landscape elements of representation already consolidated in international teen dramas, such as attention to plural identities, normalization of minority orientations, and non-stereotypical portrayals of female sexuality. The result is a choral narrative which, while rooted in a specific cultural and territorial context, offers a model capable of dialoguing with the best practices of inclusion at the global level.
Conversations
Tecla Insolia discusses the series, her character, and what it means to be young in Italy today (La Stampa, October 8 ottobre, 2022).
“5 minuti prima with Tecla Insolia: Sex Becomes a Cartoon for the First Time”. In La Repubblica, October 5, 2022. Chiara Ugolini interviews director Duccio Chiarini.
«This is a generation that, through social media, is highly exposed to freedom, representation, and nuance,” says Chiarini. “But this exposure creates enormous pressure, and this pressure—the tension between inner drives and external forces—creates a short circuit that all the characters in the series try to fight in their own way. I believe that the themes of sex, gender identity, and relationships are far more openly addressed by them, with less modesty and shame than previous generations. But this does not mean that they are without difficulties».
“5 minuti prima: Tecla Insolia on Her Nina: Between Insecurities and First Times”. In TaxiDrivers, October 6, 2022. Veronica Ranocchi interviews Tecla Insolia.
«What I put of myself into Nina is this hesitant way of approaching people, which then hid behind a passion. I also love drawing, like Nina, and that’s something I had never admitted. But certainly, beyond drawing, I borrowed from her the idea of seeking an artistic expression for discomfort. For me, it has been acting and singing; for Nina, it is drawing. The differences lie in age: I am a little older than she is, so I am beginning to understand things that to her seem impossible to grasp—such as the idea of time, and that not everything must necessarily be rushed».
“The Vulnerabilities of Adolescents and Their First Sexual Experiences”. In Torino Today, July 15, 2022. Marco Drogo interviews director Duccio Chiarini.
«The idea of this series is to recount the disoriented fragility with which many adolescents still experience their first sexual encounters, despite the superficial representations that depict them as a highly uninhibited generation. The problematic relationship with sex and feelings experienced by the protagonist—around which the stories of the supporting characters revolve—thus composes a delicate mosaic narrating, with gentleness, a more intimate and profound passage into adulthood».
Business strategies and communication rhetorics
Strategies
Produced by Rai Fiction and Panama Film exclusively for RaiPlay, 5 minuti prima presents itself as an experimental teen drama designed to engage Generation Z through progressive and intersectional narratives. Like other OTT players in the national market, RaiPlay aims to target a younger and ideally more progressive audience, one that recognizes inclusive storytelling and the valorization of diversity as important alternatives to more conservative, normative, and stereotypical commercial logics. The series’ head writer, Laura Grimaldi, confirmed that the project was born precisely from RaiPlay’s desire to create a product with a “fresh and challenging” language, capable of distinguishing itself from generalist television narratives and, above all, of capturing the attention of young audiences. For this reason, RaiPlay encouraged the writers not to “self-censor,” providing as references not only Skam Italia (2018–), but also Netflix’s Sex Education (2019–2023), which in recent years has become emblematic of inclusive and intersectional representations in teen series. This production approach reflects RaiPlay’s broader strategy: to build an original offer capable of positioning itself as a credible alternative to international OTTs, by emphasizing themes and languages perceived as authentic by young viewers. The series adopts an ensemble structure, short episodic formats, and a contemporary urban aesthetic designed for fragmented digital consumption.
Communication rhetorics
RaiPlay’s institutional communication emphasizes a dual objective: to represent contemporaneity and to valorize original productions as vehicles of inclusion. As stated in the 2022/23 programming documents, “RaiPlay aims to offer a wide bouquet of original series and programs diversified by genre and theme, with the goal of intercepting contemporary issues linked to the world of millennials and beyond.” In the case of 5 minuti prima, promotional statements highlighted primarily the generational factor (a product “conceived and written for a young audience”). Equally emphasized was the territorial dimension, stressing that filming took place entirely in Turin—an element that lends authenticity and recognizability to the urban narrative. The rhetoric adopted privileges an image of the series as a choral and realistic portrayal of Italian adolescence, capable of addressing sex and relationships “without filters” yet with sensitivity, positioning itself as an alternative to moralistic narratives.
Conversations
“5 minuti prima: Tecla Insolia on Her Nina: Between Insecurities and First Times”. In TaxiDrivers, October 6, 2022. Veronica Ranocchi interviews Tecla Insolia.
«RaiPlay is a fantastic platform, available to everyone, and one that people should really make more use of, because beyond 5 minuti prima, there are many titles worth watching».
Circulation and audience responses
Circulation patterns
The series, conceived for exclusive distribution on RaiPlay, premiered at the Giffoni Film Festival, thereby strengthening its association with young audiences. RaiPlay promoted 5 minuti prima within its broader strategy of expanding its bouquet of Originals, though without investing in dedicated social media campaigns. For instance, RaiPlay did not create social pages specifically for the series, and on RaiPlay’s official Facebook page the launch trailer received only 37 reactions (on 4,500 views) and 5 comments (not all directly related to the series). As with other digital-first Rai productions, specific viewing data were not released—an indication of a distribution strategy still partially experimental and addressed to a limited audience. It is worth underscoring that RaiPlay, unlike Netflix and other streaming platforms active in the national market, is still relatively under-promoted and underused, and its Originals tend to achieve the status of niche phenomena rather than truly popular hits. Exclusive distribution on RaiPlay therefore ensured coherence with the target audience but inevitably limited the visibility of the series compared with Rai Fiction dramas aired in prime time or relaunched on global OTTs.
Reception
Despite limited media visibility, the series received positive critical reception, with commentators praising its ability to treat adolescent sexuality and youth issues with depth and sensitivity, while avoiding stereotypes. Some reviewers highlighted how 5 minuti prima approaches the complexity and realism of successful international titles (Euphoria, Sex Education, Prisma), while maintaining a distinctly Italian cultural grounding. The series was commended for its freshness and originality, and for its ability to escape stereotypes while addressing themes close to the sensibilities of younger audiences. Its exclusive release on RaiPlay was interpreted as a choice consistent with the target demographic but limiting in terms of wider popularity. Some reviews expressed the hope that RaiPlay Originals be more widely promoted, describing them as “hidden gems” within the platform’s catalogue. The series also received a nomination in the category “Best Italian TV Series” at the 2023 Diversity Media Awards, which celebrate productions most attentive to issues of inclusion and diversity. Although it did not win, this nomination confirms the series’ commitment to promoting inclusive narratives for young audiences, consistent with the broader strategies of RaiPlay’s original productions already discussed.
Italian and foreign press
Italian Press
Mario Manca, “5 minuti prima: RaiPlay’s Answer to Skam”, Vanity Fair, October 7, 2022.
«Directed by Duccio Chiarini and produced by Panamafilm in collaboration with Rai Fiction, this little gem seeks to narrate, with simplicity and irony, one of the most pressing dilemmas of adolescence: the discovery of sex. […] The result is a well-made, well-shot series, written and conceived for a young audience that should finally discover the wonderful content of RaiPlay, a free platform that holds priceless treasures which adolescents ought to see».
Valentina D’Amico, “5 minuti prima: The New Teen TV Series by Duccio Chiarini on RaiPlay”, Movieplayer, September 28, 2022.
«The series was conceived and written specifically for a young audience, to which the platform addresses itself with the ambition of approaching the reality and emotions of Generation Z».