Last year, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published the first guidelines to comprehensively address the management of cardiomyopathies. This document by the Working Group on Myocardial and Pericardial Diseases of the Italian Society of Cardiology aims at highlighting the most relevant messages and novelties introduced by these guidelines for the management of patients affected by cardiomyopathies. Five main messages are summarized: the key role of the phenotype, the new classification of cardiomyopathies provided in the ESC guidelines, the importance given to new techniques such as cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and genetic testing, the newly provided recommendations given on sport activities and finally how the importance of follow-up evaluations is highlighted. These five main messages are then further analyzed more in depth so as to inform the reader on all the main novelties of the guidelines and to provide a critical approach to this important document.