Welcome to breathtakingly beautiful Basilicata with its mountains and sea, light and silence.

This segment features Melfi, a city at the base of Mount Vulture, where Frederick the Second of Swabia spent a number of years.

The Archeological Park of Venosa is the highlight of this segment. We see the building projects of Robert Guiscard, the Norman conqueror of southern Italy and Sicily.

The segment features Acerenza and its 11th century cathedral, which was built over pagan and Early Christian constructions.

The segment concentrates on the environs of Matera, its rugged beauty, and the sacred art and architecture that makes use of natural grottoes.

Pythagoras, after leaving Croton, brought his school of philosophy to Metapontum. This key city of Magna Graecia [Greater Greece] brings the series on Basilicata to a close.

Irene introduces us to Venice, unique city, rare and famous throughout the world. Not only for its architectural beauty and historic monuments, but also for its art and cultural exhibitions. Venice is definitive a must-see city.

In this video, Irene talks about the Rialto Bridge, the most famous and important of the bridges that cross the Grand Canal in Venice.

Irene tells us about one of the most famous squares in the world: St. Mark's Square in Venice, with its splendid and architecturally important buildings.

"Quelli che" (those who...), written and performed by the great Enzo Jannacci, lends its ironic and humoristic verses to the soundtrack of Lina Wertmüller's film,"Pasqualino Settebellezze" [Seven Beauties] starring Giancarlo Giannini, and nominated for best foreign film at the 1976 Oscars.

Gianni takes us up to an abandoned villa, and reflects on the tremendous challenges the builder faced.

Gianni explores the interior of the abandoned villa, imagining what it might have been like before.

Arianna shows us around the Cathedral Square, where the bell tower, better known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is located.

This beautiful church is worth a stop on the way from Pisa to the seaside. Arianna shares her discovery of it. The ceramic bowls that decorate the church are technically known as “bacini ceramici” in Italian, which could be translated as “ceramic basins.” Art historians who write in English, however, also use the term “bacini” for these tin-glazed works.

Arianna takes us down to a beach near Pisa, and explains a bit about how beaches work in many parts of Italy.