Double negatives are, in fact, allowed in Italian. And Daniela shows us how there can be multiple negations in one phrase. In English, where double negatives are not allowed, we have extra words to get around this rule. We use, for example, "it's not anything" or" not ever," instead of the incorrect "not nothing" or "not never." But it's important to be able to manage all these negatives in perfect tenses where we have a conjugated auxiliary verb and a past participle, and that is what Daniela explains in this lesson.

In Matera, various epochs shake hands, as Alberto Angela put it. Matera continues to amaze us with what's hidden underneath the piazza of the Baroque quarter: Il Piano.

As luck would have it, Adriano has a chance encounter with a young woman who has a problem he is uniquely capable of solving. Teresa and her daughter Maria have an unexpected caller.

The girls are in big trouble, and Gina is sleeping. It's hard to see how they will get out of this unscathed. But help comes in an unexpected way.

It's time for the baptismal ceremony. Manara has reason to believe there's something going on between Marta and Fabrizio, and Toscani and Sardi have a tense moment before going into the church.

There are a couple of words in particular that Italians like to repeat over and over again to forcefully encourage an action. Marika talks about these and other repeated words in the Commissioner Manara series.

To express negation, the adverb non (not) can precede not only nouns, but verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, and adverbs, as well. Daniela shows us how.

Living conditions were so different at the time of the cave dwellings. Imagine having a mule and rabbits running around the house! The government eventually put a stop to this type of dwelling, and much was gained, but much was lost. On the other hand, people had to live somewhere. The Civita, the oldest part of Matera, filled up quickly around the imposing cathedral, and there was no more room for building houses.

Even though he is no longer leading the company, Adriano is as active as ever. Events come together that motivate him to put his theories into practice.

Tizzone, owner of the beauty center, enjoys his tanning session, providing Eva and her friends with the opportunity to carry out their plan. But as usual, they can't plan for everything!

Sardi and Toscani are nervous about choosing the godparents for little Valeria's baptism. Later, Toscani gets lucky about finding some evidence. When speaking to Raimondi about it, he almost comes out with a colloquial expression but thinks better of it. The complete idiomatic expression would have been una botta di culo [a stroke of the butt]. Culo [ass] is often used to mean "luck," either good or bad. So he had a stroke of luck, or, in modern language, "he got lucky."

The popular TV series Commissioner Manara takes place in Tuscany, so in this video, Marika explains some of the peculiarities of Tuscan speech. She also gives some important tips about using articles when referring to family members.

In the last lesson we learned to place non (not) before the verb in a negative sentence, but when there are other words involved, it gets a bit more complicated, especially when we have object pronouns in the mix.

We see the inside of house built into the rock. It is fascinating to learn how families coped with the problems of water, humidity, and cramped quarters.

Adriano decides to leave running the factory to Marcello and goes off on his own to work on his other projects. But country roads are dangerous in the pouring rain...