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.

Here's the last segment about the verb tenere where Marika provides several expressions using the verb. In some cases, we can use "to keep" and "to hold" when translating, but not always.

Borgo Sansepolcro is an out-of-the-way Tuscan city. But, as this video sets out to explain, it boasts one of the most beautiful paintings in the world, so it is well worth the journey. The video begins with some passages from a 1925 essay by Aldous Huxley: “The Best Picture.” We have translated the Italian translation back into English, for learning purposes, but you can find the original English version here.

We learn in this segment that the verb tenere can mean not only "to hold," but also "to keep" or "to have."

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.

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.

As promised, Marika talks about the verb tenere (to keep, to hold), beginning with its conjugation. Let's keep in mind that Italian tenses don't always correspond to the English ones. For example, the passato prossimo is conjugated like the English present perfect tense, but is used differently in expressing events in time. The imperfetto is translated various ways in English. See this lesson about the imperfetto.

People often wonder where the name ferragosto comes from, as well as the holiday itself. Marika fills us in with its fascinating history and evolution.

In Italy, August is the warmest month, and most Italians try to go on vacation for at least part of the month. The most important vacation day is August 15th, called Ferragosto.

Let's learn some numbers and colors in Italian.

Inspector Barreca gets to where the Italo-Australian has been stopped and fiddles with something without being seen. In the locker room of the stadium, Del Vento enjoys his victory shower, a moment he always looks forward to. Then he sets out towards Calabria to visit some relatives.

We're at a police station, where the printer is acting up and a phone call comes in from a patrol car. We also hear what happens after the soccer game when the president of the Teramo Calcio comes to congratulate the team.

Fulvio and Fabia take turns reading an extract from the book, Crimine infinito (Infinite Crime). The novel is based on the true story of a soccer player who gets involved in the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian organized crime syndicate.

This is a kind of trailer, not for a movie, but for a book about the Calabrian mafia-like organization called the 'Ndrangheta, and the investigation into its crimes, called Operazione Crimine-Infinito (Operation Infinite Crime). Coming soon: the author reading some extracts from the book.

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.