San Miniato is where the Taviani brothers were born, but it was also the birthplace of their careers in filmmaking. Their first was a documentary and right away they had some problems with censorship.

We're still in Tarquinia and we visit the tomb of Aninas. We gain some insight into the alphabet the Etruscans used, allowing us to recognize some names, but unfortunately, they didn't leave much in the way of writings to allow us to know much more.

The Taviani brothers talk about how, as young movie lovers, they would grab their bikes and go to whatever movie theater in the area was showing their favorite films. Then they had to go to the big city, Rome, to pitch their first documentary. They learned a valuable lesson.

This magnificent, colorful tomb, dating to twenty-five hundred years ago, depicts a banquet in honor of the deceased, who is clearly a young man. It's a virtual time capsule.

The Taviani brothers lived through the war, so they had a good feel for the terror people felt. But as kids they were also very much affected by the movies offered at the time.

The Matuna family tomb contains many plaster reproductions of everyday objects, adding to the story of how the Etruscans lived. We move on to Tarquinia, where the tombs were carved out of a sedimentary limestone called Macco, allowing the colorful wall paintings to be preserved.

This documentary is about 2 brothers — the Taviani brothers — who are famous for having made many award-winning Italian movies. The short clips from their films will surely entice us to see the complete movies in the original Italian. Perhaps the most famous one is La Notte di San Lorenzo from 1982, whose English language release had the title: The Night of the Shooting Stars.

One of the most famous tombs is that of the Matuna family. The reproductions and depictions of objects found there, ranging from everyday tools to ceremonial and funereal ones, allows us a glimpse of what life would have been like in this ancient civilization.

There were different kinds of tombs built by the Etruscans. Alberto Angela explains how and why they were made the way they were. He also takes us into one of the most famous and beautiful Etruscan tombs.

The Etruscans were an important part of Italy's ancient history, and its lands extended for a large expanse of the peninsula. We visit Banditaccia a Cerveteri, a necropolis north of Rome.

This episode takes us to Sardinia where we see the ancient, majestic stone buildings, unique to Sardinia, called nuraghi.

We finally get to producing the fire itself, using tools found in nature. It's not easy at all, but when you finally succeed, it can be pretty exciting and satisfying.

Erica shows us the various parts of so-called "tinder fungus" and then demonstrates how to prepare it for lighting a fire using a sharp flintstone.

Discovering fire had a huge influence on the daily life of prehistoric man. Erica describes perhaps the earliest technique they used for making fire, and goes on to tell us about a famous mummy.

Erica takes us back to the time when prehistoric man first discovered that fire was not just something to fear, as was the case with animals, but something he could make use of, and later, something he could produce.