Our final stop in the Baroque south of Italy is the church of San Giorgio, a masterpiece of architecture, admired by the entire world. The cathedral appears in the opening credits of the Italian TV series "Inspector Montalbano," and it also features in some episodes.

In Italy, August is the warmest month, and most Italians try to go on vacation for at least part of the month. The most important vacation day is August 15th, called Ferragosto.

People often wonder where the name ferragosto comes from, as well as the holiday itself. Marika fills us in with its fascinating history and evolution.

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.

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.

The Villa San Marco is an amazingly well-preserved luxury villa from the Augustan period, with a wonderful panoramic view of Vesuvius and the gulf of Naples. Marika shows us around the four nuclei of the villa.

Restoring the Resurrection was a lengthy and complex process, consisting of reinforcement, cleaning, and the retouching of the painting itself.

Giuliano Montaldo tells about how he got his start, from being a ham actor in Genoa to becoming an assistant to film director Carlo Lizzani, to making his first movie.

The name of the villa was inspired by the story of Dionysus who watched Ariadne while she slept. It was excavated first by the Bourbons but was buried again. Later in the 50s, digs were resumed and now, it can be visited in all its glory.

The restorers take us through the meticulous cleaning process involving Japanese rice paper, a gel made from marine algae, and a solvent.

Giuliano tells about meeting Vera for the first time, and then he and Vera take turns telling about how their relationship developed.

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.

Vera talks about her parents and how they met and fell in love. Her mother was a stage actress and her father a military commander.

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.

Vera's daughter was a teenager when Giuliano began courting her mother. Giuliano tells some stories about World War II and how crazy things were.