Leaving the outskirts of Rome, Annalena goes to a middle-class neighborhood where she meets professor and writer, Alessandro Piperno. He talks about what it was like growing up there and about his identity as a writer.

Alessandro explains some things about the characters in his books and tells a story about when he won the Strega award. The Strega Award is the most important Italian literary award. It gets its name from one of its creators, the owner of the company producing Strega, a brand of an amaro (after-dinner, digestive bitters).

Annalena continues her conversation with Piperno in his favorite restaurant. They look at some photos from his past while they wait for their meal to be served.

Alessandro Piperno comes from a mixed Jewish family and recounts how he learned, at an early age, to cherish the relationship between Jerusalem and Rome, where Christianity and Judaism blend. Thus we come to the end of this episode about the region of Lazio.

Serena is near one of the beaches of her town, Maratea, where she lives with her family and she tells us a few things about herself.

Serena takes us to visit her house, where besides all the things her mother collects, there's a fireplace, and a view of the sea.

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.

This documentary about the life of Vittorio De Sica, Italian actor and film director, is narrated by Marco Paolini. We begin during the occupation by the Nazis. Vittorio is in Rome shooting a film.

Vittorio De Sica did different kinds of movies, both as an actor, and a director, and had great success, although critics appreciated his comedies more than his serious movies. Whatever kind of film he was directing, he laughed and cried along with the actors. They loved him.

When the Americans bombed Rome in 1943, Maria was shooting a film in the San Lorenzo area, right where the freight yards were, the target of the bombing. Vittorio, on the other side of town, rushed to the site. Life would soon become extremely complicated and dangerous for those in the film industry.

Vittorio De Sica, along with other filmmakers and actors, does not want to be transferred to Venice, as has been mandated by the State. There, he would have to shoot propaganda movies for the Fascists. Luckily a Catholic film company wants to make a movie about a train of sick and deformed people on their way to seek miracles at the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, a popular pilgrimage destination in the Marches region. The kind of train that carries pilgrims is called un treno bianco (a white train).

Our narrator describes what it was like working on the set of La porta del cielo (the Gates of Heaven): the extras, the dangers, the boredom, and the strategies for keeping the cast and crew safe. He also explains how they reconstructed the railway carriages that are featured so prominently in the film.

To recreate the environment of the San Loreto church, the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls was used for the final scene of the film. The crew was accustomed to working in a non-religious setting where they could do as they liked, so it was a full-time job trying to keep their bad habits (such as smoking) in check so they wouldn't get kicked out by their hosts.

During the filming of Heaven's Gate, there were some dicey moments where De Sica had to deal with the German troops and needed all his wits about him. At the same time his crew was cooped up in the basilica and didn't always behave as they should — in fact, tutt'altro (anything but). The narrator also mentions an anecdotal story Fellini told about his experience with the Germans.

Actors, including Alberto Sordi, who were performing at the Quattro Fontane (four fountains) theater on the fateful day of 23 March 1944 are in danger of being caught by the Germans. During the filming of his movie, De Sica leaves the safety of the basilica just once and is caught and questioned by a Nazi General about why the film is taking so long to be shot.