Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy Tuscan
In this sustainable "eco-village" everyone does their part: people, animals, sun, and rain. The pay off is a non-monetary kind of wealth. A documentary by Moira Volterrani.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy Tuscan
Natale tends his vegetable garden and tries to save his strawberry plants from the neighbor's chickens.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy Tuscan
Natale is proud of his fava beans, which he plans to harvest in time for the holiday family gathering on May first. Other featured produce includes artichokes and wild asparagus.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
A fun way to get some insight into the Italian constitution—an animated illustration of some of its main points. Turri Scandurra: “La Costituzione per tutti” (The constitution for everyone).
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Documentary in three parts, of the famous Italian car race La Mille Miglia (the one thousand miles) with historical shots of some of the greatest drivers in the world and their cars. Fasten your seatbelts for the first part of three.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
This historical footage of the Mille Miglia [thousand miles] car race from Brescia to Rome and back includes a cameo appearance by Ingrid Bergman.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Not only does the race go from Brescia to Rome, it goes back to Brescia, and the last part, uphill, is very tricky. This historical footage and commentary is priceless! Fasten your seat belt for the finish line.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Borgo Sansepolcro is an out-of-the-way Tuscan city. But, as this video sets out to explain, it boasts one of the most beautiful paintings in the world, so it is well worth the journey. The video begins with some passages from a 1925 essay by Aldous Huxley: “The Best Picture.” We have translated the Italian translation back into English, for learning purposes, but you can find the original English version here.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The host describes the fascinating story of a British army captain who, during World War II, happened to have read Aldous Huxley's words (quoted in the previous segment), and remembered them just in time.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Restoring the Resurrection was a lengthy and complex process, consisting of reinforcement, cleaning, and the retouching of the painting itself.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The restorers take us through the meticulous cleaning process involving Japanese rice paper, a gel made from marine algae, and a solvent.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Piero was not just a painter; he was a member of an important family in Borgo Sansepolcro. There is a fresco painting attributed to him that might have alluded to the family business, which was producing and selling leather goods.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
It's rare for a work of art to become the symbol of a city and even be part of its coat of arms, but this did indeed happen in Borgo Sansepolcro. Piero's Resurrection may be thought of as a fresco, but it's much more complicated than that, as we learn in this segment.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
For art historians, it is so interesting to try to figure out, with the materials at hand, what Piero wanted his work to finally look like, but it's a challenge, as the artist's initial sketches have been lost.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
With techniques available today, it is possible to distinguish the various layers of plaster used on different days of work, to determine in what order the artists and their assistants applied the paint. And during the cleaning, details can come out that were previously not visible, including buildings and even letters of the alphabet.
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