Even if we have never been to Venice, we all know a gondola when we see one, but let's find out more about this elegant Venetian symbol.

Everyone has heard of St. Mark's Square, but Marika gives us some interesting tidbits of information and then takes us to a see a very special staircase.

Marika takes us to the piazza where Marco Polo supposedly lived. But which house is it? She asks a local. The name of the square is Corte Seconda del Milion. Il Milion is the Italian name of the book, The Travels of Marco Polo.

A short boat ride takes us from Venice to Murano, where they make some of the most beautiful glass in the world.

The Venetian island of Burano is famous for its multi-colored houses and for its lace. It's time to get your camera out, if you haven't already.

The last stop on our trip around Venice is the beautiful, uninhabited island of Torcello. Marika has a few stories to tell about it.

Rossella tells us how she came to be the solitary inhabitant of a beautiful, abandoned village in Calabria, called either Pentedattilo or Pentidattilo.

What a wonderful place Pentidattilo had been, but then plastic arrived and pretty much ruined everything.

Rossella feels that it's her mission to show people this marvelous place. She dedicates part of her home to guests from all over the world.

Rossella talks about why she likes Pentidattilo so much, and imagines what it would have been like when it was populated by families. She has managed to preserve the magic of the place, where time has stood still.

Writer and scholar Fulvio Benelli shows us a part of Rome that tourists always flock to: Piazza Navona. But he tells us the fascinating story of how it came to be.

Fulvio shows us one of the most enigmatic monuments of all Rome, the Pantheon. He gives us some history, some interesting facts, and a legend, as well.

Fulvio describes the monument we look at in this segment before telling what it is. The story has some pretty surprising aspects.

In 1749, King Charles of Bourbon (Charles III of Spain) or Carlo Terzo di Borbone, who was King of Naples at the time, commissioned an important campaign of archeological digs in an area near that city. Marika tells us the story.

After Stabiae was razed to the ground in a war, the Romans decided to build some luxury villas in the area. Luckily, some archeological digs led by archeologist Libro D'Orsi were effectuated in the 1950s, and 3 villas came to light.