Disney Channel Italia is the Italian version of Disney Channel. Disney Channel Italy also includes a +1 hour timeshift service (Disney Channel +1), a +2 hours timeshift service (Disney Channel +2), a channel for pre-school children (Disney Junior), an English-audio channel with subtitles (Disney in English), and a channel for male teenagers (Disney XD). In December 3, 2011, Disney Cinemagic lanuched as a block on Sky Cinema Family.

On December 20, 1997 Disney Channel officially began broadcasting in Italian on Telepiù. The channel used the slogan La TV che accende la TV ("The TV that turns on TV") but was quickly changed to Libera la tua Immaginazione ("Free your Imagination")when the channel was launched in 1998.

Among the first programs on the channel were classic Disney cartoons, such as Timon & Pumbaa and Aladdin: The Series. It also showed classic Disney films and some Disney Channel Original Movies in Il Fantastico Mondo Disney (The Wonderful World of Disney) each evening at 20.30 (8:30pm). Also, every Saturday, a new film was shown.

Italy ⁱ/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km² (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.

Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.

Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company, and headquartered in Burbank, California. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. Disney Channel International Networks, currently run by President Carolina Lightcap, is a group of more than 90 entertainment channels and/or channel feeds for children and families available in over 160 countries and 30 languages. The platform brands are Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Disney Cinemagic, Hungama TV and Radio Disney.

The channel specializes in television programming for children through original children's television series and movies, as well as third-party programming. It is marketed mostly toward young children, with the exception of their weekend primetime block that is aimed at pre-teens and teenagers ages 9–14, and the Disney Junior programming block aimed towards children ages 2–5. In recent years, the diversity of viewers has increased with an older audience, typically teenagers, young adults and young families.