Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Some years have passed, and Michele's widowed mother has had some difficult decisions to make regarding her children. One of these is to send 12-year-old Michele to Milan to be an apprentice at the workshop of the well-known artist, Simone Peterzano. Michele has no desire to leave home and family.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Aldo and Margherita stuck together. He might get bored at her lectures, but he would always be there. They both shared a love for sports and motocycles.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Nina goes back home to get some of her things and finds Cloe. She doesn't hide her resentment, but the two women end up having a conversation. Elena is clearly stufa (fed up) with Giuseppe never having time for her and she takes action.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Vittorio De Sica put himself on the line in order to save his cast and crew, and the film he was making. This final segment describes how he managed to complete La porta del cielo (The Gates of Heaven). The song we hear at the end of this documentary is very famous and was sung by Vittorio De Sica himself for the movie Gli uomini, che mascalzoni... in which he acted. Listen to the entire song here.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Caravaggio is a TV mini-series based on the life of the Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. It opens in 1577 when the painter was 5 years old. The plague had just hit and people who were still alive were burning their household possessions.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
This segment recounts how Aldo De Rosa and Margherita met in a park in Florence as kids and later married. Aldo supported her in her scientific work throughout their marriage, which lasted over seventy years.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Suor Helga is good at reading Giuseppe Moscati's moods and senses something is wrong. Giuseppe knows Elena is suffering on his account but at the same time, he can't help being dedicated to his patients over everything else. He writes Elena a letter and takes it to her house.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The general hands De Sica a letter from Goebbels himself but since De Sica can't read German, it is translated for him ad alta voce (out loud). It's an invitation to Venice, which De Sica does not want to accept.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Although as an athlete, Margherita did make some compromises she felt she had to during the decades of Italian Fascism, she also took a stand against it, risking expulsion from school.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Giuseppe goes to see Giorgio in his fancy doctor's office, hoping to convince him to see Cloe. It's clear Giorgio has chosen the career path of least resistance, and seems more interested in fine art and fine cigars, than in treating patients who need it.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Perhaps not everyone knows that Margherita Hack as a girl was quite the athlete. Her sport was track and field. She also had a passion for cycling and rode her bike well into her seventies.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Elena tries to convince her father that Giuseppe will change after they get married. He remains very skeptical. Giuseppe is spoon-feeding Cloe to give her some nourishment, meanwhile telling her how he decided to become a doctor.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Margherita was much more interested in substance and knowledge than in material things, including physical appearance, and this became her brand, in a certain sense. That didn't keep people from loving and respecting her, although there were some occasional incidents, a few of which are recounted by people who knew her.
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