Magpies [gazze ladre] in folklore are known to be attracted by shiny things. Rossini's opera La Gazza Ladra recounts the story of Ninetta, a servant girl. She is wrongly accused of stealing the silverware that the family magpie stole.

Ninetta is in prison, condemned to death, and things are looking very bleak, indeed. Don't worry though; in the end, love and justice win out, and everyone except the magistrate lives happily ever after.

Video on Romina Power’s comments at a conference of the Animalisti Italiani [Italian Association for the Rights of Animals]. Power voices her complete disapproval of the abuse of animals killed to make fur coats.

Our Maratea friends sing two very famous songs, by two equally famous singers, which continue to be sung by successive generations. We're talking about "Azzurro" [Blue] by Adriano Celentano and "L'italiano" [The Italian] by Toto Cutugno. Have fun listening!

Adriano tells us about the famous southern Italian folk dance, la tarantella. He also tries dancing it himself.

Ezio Lottieri, a lover of music and especially the Rolling Stones, always carries his harmonica with him. In this video he tells about his experience at the Dedalo Festival 2009, where he met the well-known artists Davide Ravera and Patrizia Ferrarini. Ezio performed various songs with these two artists at the Festival in Caltabellotta.

Ezio recalls that Davide, a well-known artist, asked him to join him in playing a song at a festival. Davide had written the piece and it's called "Road to Hell." Obviously Ezio accepted.

The second part of Via dell’inferno (Hell Road/Road to Hell) where songwriter Davide Ravera creates an atmosphere of cold winter, tears, music, freedom, longing for home, and beginning again.

What are the names of the notes in Italian? Alessio, a music teacher from Pisa, starts off his music lessons by explaining how these names originated in a Tuscan monastery in the 11th century.

Our music lessons continue with Alessio, who shows us the special tool for deciphering the notes on a pentagramma (staff). If the chiave (clef) changes, so do the names of the notes!

Alessio shows us how, now that we have the clefs, we can read music intuitively. And he explains why three different clefs are used in music.