The French government is privileged to have two of Rome's most beautiful properties: Palazzo Farnese, which they rent for a nominal fee and use as their embassy, and Villa Medici, which is the home of the French Academy, and was procured by Napoleon. The narrator speaks of how the land on which Villa Medici was built was highly appreciated by the ancient Romans.

The segment focuses on the reasons behind the founding of the French Academy by Louis XIV

A tour of Villa Medici's reception and private rooms. Ferdinando de' Medici hired the architect and sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati to expand the villa, as well as other renowned Florentines artists to create fresco cycles exalting his life. We catch a glimpse of his frescoed south-facing apartment, which would have been used in the colder months, while the north-side suite was for warmer periods.

We get a look at the plaster casts of Roman and Greek statues in the French Academy's storage rooms, sculptures such as the Venus de Milo. Fellows have made use of these casts to draw inspiration for their own works.

The segment focuses on Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius, who owned a villa on the site of Villa Medici. We catch a glimpse of tunnels and rooms beneath the villa, which were used by Ferdinando de' Medici to imprison Asian slaves when they weren't at work on a garden meant to evoke Mount Parnassus.

We visit the French Academy's gallery devoted to plaster casts of antique sculptures and the large park, which was once used by Ferdinando de' Medici for hunting.

The segment concentrates on two richly frescoed rooms that are set apart from the villa. Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici used these secluded rooms for trysts.

Éric de Chassey, Director of the French Academy, details the mission of the institution.

The first part of a trip to Castel Gandolfo, the Roman city famous for having been the traditional summer residence for generations of popes, but also for its beautiful lake.

At last, we arrive at the lake. We ask to rent a sunbed in order to relax and we lie in the sun to rest, but only after having put on some suntan lotion.

During the hottest hours of the day, the sun beats down, and seeing that we don't have an umbrella, we have to have something refreshing to drink or maybe jump in the water.

After spending the morning sun bathing, a slight feeling of hunger sets in. There are a lot of choices: pizza, first and second courses. But, to stay on the light side, fruit salad with a bit of ice cream seems like the best choice.

What is light? We use it every day, but where does it actually come from? The host suggests doing a little experiment. See if you can follow the instructions in Italian and try it yourself.

Luisella Giulicchi, manager of the European Space Agency ESA, answers questions about light, infrared rays, and lightyears.

Luisella Giulicchi, the system manager for the ESA Copernicus Sentinel six mission, explains what an exoplanet is. Two young researchers do a simple experiment to show us how infrared rays work.

One way to tell if there might be life on another planet is through light. Special telescopes, by way of prisms, analyze and break down the light from distant galaxies into parts. Luca Parmitano, an astronaut of the European Space Agency, speaks to us from the Columbus International Space Station.

To reach outer space, the force of gravity has to be overcome, and that requires a certain "escape" velocity. That's where launchers come in.

Observing what happens when the air comes out of a balloon will help us understand how the launcher of a spacecraft works. An electrical propulsion engineer from ESA explains about different kinds of propulsion used in space exploration.

A simple experiment with a bicycle pump shows us how rocket launchers work. Even though rockets were invented for war and for fireworks, they are also used for peaceful purposes.

Astronaut Luca Parmitano talks to us from the Columbus European Space Laboratory. He explains why tadpoles can help us learn a lot about the weightless conditions of outer space.

This segment is all about so-called "Near-Earth Objects," called "NEOs" for short. They are comets, asteroids, metors and man-made objects, as well. What have they done in the past, and what might they do in the future?

This segment talks about the difference between an asteroid and a comet. Important work is being done with the Hera and Dart missions to study how to deviate an asteroid, thus avoiding possible great damage to our beloved planet

In August of 2014, the European Space Agency Rosetta probe reached the comet 67/P. This mission allowed for the collection of a great deal of data about comets. In fact, in this episode, a comet will be fashioned out of fairly common ingredients in a normal kitchen. That's pretty exciting.

The people who run a seaside restaurant in the province of Marsala describe the place as a little corner of paradise with its pure, curative water and sand, and meals served directly in the water. They are used to speaking Sicilian most of the time, so speaking correct Italian is a challenge. But their love for the place, and their typically Sicilian warmth towards visitors come through.