The next stop is Novara, a city near Milan, with an interesting history related to when it was under Spanish rule. See map. The video mentions a special sesini tax, and to learn more, check out this lesson.

There are different reasons one chooses to walk a path. The important thing is to feel the need to undertake it. It's not like a stroll in the park, but rather a challenge to one's body, mind, and spirit.

People who want a spiritual but active way to see Italy often choose la via francigena (the road from France), the Italian pilgrimage route from France to Rome that corresponds to the perhaps more famous "Camino de Santiago" from Paris to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

One way for Le Cinque Terre to accommodate refugees landing in Lampedusa has been to teach them how to build dry-stone walls. This is a much-needed skill in the area and therefore the project is an advantage all around.

Le Cinque Terre — a place so many visitors from other countries put on their must-see lists — is the topic of this segment. It's a marvelous example of the relationship between humankind and nature.

A quarryman has to have a passion for his work. Every block of marble is a challenge and has to be observed on all sides and many times to make sure it is good. But succeeding in cutting it and taking it out is an enormous satisfaction.

Vennai is the most important marble quarry in Carrara. Luigi Pasquale talks about when he started working there at about 14 years of age.

We visit the 28th chapel where the scene of Jesus before Pontius Pilate is depicted. We also learn a little secret about how these statues were created.

The first place we visit is practically a theater on a mountain, designed and built to replicate places with religious significance in the Holy Land. The mountain, aptly named, is Sacro Monte (sacred or holy mountain) and is located in Piemonte, to the northwest of Milan.

We move on to Valtorta a spot where cheese is king. Here, they produce a special little cylindrical cheese called an agrì, exclusive to this spot. In fact, Slow Food, an organization that's become international but which began in Italy, has it as one of its special products.

The ancient via Priula leads us to the mountains where we visit a herbal laboratory, in which flowers and plants are transformed into beauty products using historical recipes.

We meet some very charming donkeys and hear about how Francantonio and his sons developed a passion for them.

In the Brembana Valley, the river reigns supreme. In fact, there is still a functioning water mill for grinding corn, as well as people passionate about maintaining centuries-old traditions.

Here and there in the small villages of the valley, there are interesting frescos hearalding back to earlier times. Two local recipes are offered: stuffed curly cabbage leaves and Taragna polenta, a kind of cornmeal with the addition of buckwheat.

The fine white mold that forms on the cheese helps give it its characteristic flavor, but it is also painstakingly scraped off each round. Before the high-altitude pastures are ready for grazing, humans take advantage of the snow and the trails.