Over the years, accessible media services have gained importance in our globalised society, due to the huge amount of information available and the increasing number of people with some kind of sensory impairment. Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing (SDH), as one of these services, is now reaching the state of maturity, but too little attention has been paid so far to the discussion of topics other than the technical characteristics and practice of SDH. As legislation plays a crucial role in the implementation and availability of audiovisual accessibility practices and services, this paper sets out to provide an overview of the Italian legislation on audiovisual accessibility, with a specific focus on hearing impairment. By doing this, the objective of the article is to show where Italy stands in Europe on this topic, therefore suggesting the measures that should to be taken to foster greater audiovisual accessibility not only for the hearing impaired, but for all.