L'Eredità [Inheritance] is an immensely popular daily quiz show on the RAI [pronounced rye], the Italian public TV and radio network. This episode benefits the Telethon Foundation, which provides funds for research into genetic diseases, and is based on Jerry Lewis's Telethon. To understand the play on words they use at a certain point, see the various meanings of macchina here. Learn more about this Italian game show here.

Francescopaolo, the contestant, is presented with a long list of Italian winners of either a Nobel Prize or an Academy Award Oscar, and has to choose which prize they were awarded.

Sara, an attractive girl from the province of Perugia, is up next. In the pairing game, she has to determine whether a traditional dish is cooked or raw.

This is a great chance to practice bone and muscle vocabulary, since that's what the pairing is about in this episode. The first contestant is named Santo. "Santo" means "saint," so there's some joking about it being just his name, not a description. Carlo, contestant number two is a musician and works in music therapy. He sings a few phrases of an aria from the Puccini opera Tosca.

Claudio is given a list of Italian places and has to say whether they're in the north or the south of Italy.

Agnese, the contestant from Rome, is quizzed on a list of soccer players and she has to respond whether they're ex-players or current players. A new contestant, Antonella, responds to a list of words, saying if they're adverbs or adjectives.

In this segment, there are "true or false" questions. Aside from the answers themselves, there are explanations of some true statements that are quite fascinating.

Carlo quizzes all the contestants on such varied topics as the existence of a Renaissance-era ostrich egg globe and the healthiness of ricin (it's deadly).

The contestants face another round robin of questions, this time regarding four specific years. It's a great chance to practice those long, one-word numbers Italians use.

Laura joins Carlo in questioning the contestants about animal traits in this elimination round.

Famous battles, movie roles, and 60s pop songs are some of the subject that the contestants get quizzed about.

We're down to two contestants: Agnese and Francescopaolo. Carlo's seven questions are pretty tough and involve international material.

There's one contestant left, but the questions keep on coming.

We're in the final phase of the game. Will Francescopaolo have written the right word?

Francescopaolo is back in the game. He makes an usual request to Carlo. His new challenger is Ilaria, who Carlo introduces to the audience.

Ilaria and Matteo are the new contestants. Ilaria is quizzed on a list of Italian male celebrities and has to decide whether they're actors or singers.

Carlo presents Matteo with a list of countries and asks him whether they're situated in the Atlantic or the Pacific.

Carlo presents Tiziana with a list of animals and she has to decide whether they have hooves or not. Caterina, a freelance art professional from the Veneto, enters the game.

Caterina is quizzed on the subjunctive and a new contestant, Nicola, is introduced.

Nicola is unsure on several pairings, but Francesco Paolo knows his stuff.

Contestants give true or false answers to questions that are all over the board, and sometimes amusing.

The contestants are having major problems with historical chronology, and Carlo Conti is frankly a bit shocked.

Today's big question revolves around TV personalities and how they got their start in the business. Caterina gets the jolt, like a gong, on that line of questioning. Later, Ilaria draws a blank on Giacomo Leopardi's poem, “The Lonely Sparrow.”

Caterina, Francescopaolo, and Matteo are at the “bivio” [fork in the road] stage of the game and have a fifty-fifty chance of selecting the right answer. What makes it fun but hard is that many words have double or triple meanings.

St. Luke, Giulia Farnese, Leonardo Di Caprio, and Lionel Messi are among the subjects touched on in this segment.

Francescopaolo and Matteo have reached the part of the game known as the “duel.” They go head-to-head on an array of topics, including a cartoon series and Dante's favorite thing to eat.

Carlo has a fun anecdote about Dante, the poet's love of eggs, and his prodigious memory. The winner is anointed and both contestants, Francescopaolo and Matteo, have a moment in the limelight.

Francescopaolo is at the guillotine stage of the game. This means that for every wrong answer that he gives, his winnings are halved.

Francescopaolo has to write down a word that links the five guillotine words together. Francescopaolo and his sister have different ideas about the word.

Carlo introduces us to his teacher assistants, and as its Christmastime, they're wearing Santa-inspired costumes. Alessandra and Massimiliano are the two contestants.

Carlo asks Massimiliano to name the stars for a list of films and Francesco, a new contestant, is introduced.

Carlo provides Francesco with the names of tools and Francesco has to supply the name of the profession where the tool is used. Lara gets the same question format, but has to answer whether celebrities are over or under 1.7 meters (about 5'-6").

Valerio is the new contestant. Carlo provides him with a list of countries and he has to reply whether they're republics or monarchies.

Rossella, a new contestant, is presented with list of animals and she has to respond whether they're carnivores or herbivores.

Alessandra is quizzed on the multiplication tables and gets mighty close to winning. A round of true or false questions follows Alessandra's pairings.

Carlo provides the contestants with a set of four dates and they have to link important events to the dates. Carlo spends a fair bit of time making funny sounds.

Carlo asks the contestants to match events to a series of dates and some fun facts emerge.

Contestants are asked about the many uses of dental rinse or mouthwash.

In this segment we learn about even more things to do with ordinary mouthwash.

We're at the bivio or crossroads part of the game, and some contestants are either very close to being eliminated or are indeed eliminated. There's always something new to learn on this quiz show.

Contestants are quizzed on the latest Korean plastic surgery trend and on a Christmas legend.

Carlo quizzes the remaining contestants on geography, beverages, music, and a word in the dictionary compiled by the famous Crusca Academy in Florence.

Lara is the finalist and this is the "guillotine" part of the game. The last time she was with Carlo is when she was in the running for Miss Italy.

Lara gets a chance to explain why she chose the word she chose and how she connected the five words given to her.