Anna and Marika are seated in an historic park, and reflect upon the meaning of life. In the end, they arrive at the conclusion that despite what's bad, life is marvelous and should be lived to its fullest.

Adriano introduces us to his girlfriend, Vladi. She is pretty, sociable and speaks five languages. He talks about their common interests and hopes their relationship will last forever.

Tiziano Ferro starts off his "eco-tour" sponsored by the Italian electric company, Enel. He suggests small ways in which each of us can save on energy.

Tiziano Ferro talks about his relationship with pen and paper. Familiarize yourself with sonno and sogno, both of which have to do with the night.

Silvia is an editor (in real life) for Il Fatto Quotidiano (The Daily Event), a national newspaper with some special characteristics. Silvia tells us what kind of news she covers, and some of the problems she encounters.

Marika's friend, Anna, is back to wish us all a Merry Christmas, and to share what Christmas means to her.

Anna has recently become a mother! She shares with us some of the experiences she had during her pregnancy.

Anna speaks about her prenatal and postpartum experience with the Italian National Health Service. She also discusses the five-month maternity leave that working women receive.

Anna describes her delivery, from the first contractions to that magic moment when nothing else matters.

What does it mean to be a European? Is the variety of languages in Europe an obstacle to actual unification? Umberto Eco explores these questions and offers some interesting insight.

Me Ne Frego [I don't give a damn], was one of the mottoes of Fascism, coming originally from the writings of Gabriele d'Annunzio and employed by storm troops during World War One as a war cry for courage and daring, with the meaning, "I don't mind dying for freedom." The motto gives the title to this documentary about the influences of Italian Fascism on the Italian language. It was produced by the Istituto Luce Cinecittà, with materials from the historical Luce archives, and narrates the obscure attempt by the Fascist regime to create a new and unique language, a new “Italian” that fit the dogma of the dictatorship.

Mussolini forbade the use of dialects and the minority languages that were spoken in the regions bordering the countries to the north in favor of one language for all. Italians were bombarded by fascist propaganda and Mussolini's very frequent speeches.

The segment looks at how Mussolini patterned his fiercely nationalist rhetoric after poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, while harkening back to the glory of Imperial Rome. The song in the segment refers to Balilla, an 18th century Genoese boy. In 1746, Balilla threw a stone at an Austrian official of the occupying Hapsburg Empire, which led to the War of the Austrian Succession.

A great deal of effort went into purging foreign words from the Italian language under the fascist regime. Newspapers, magazines, and book publishers were at the forefront of the effort and were tasked with finding Italian replacements for foreign words and expressions. Many fascist-era terms have fallen by the wayside, but some succeeded and are still in use today. As an example, the word manifesto [poster] was successfully introduced to replace the French term affiche.

Mussolini continues to get rid of any traces of foreign words, and even mounts an exhibit against the use of the common formal second person singular address "Lei" (you) in favor of "Voi." See this lesson about "Voi" to get some background.