The Taviani brothers talk about how color and images can be more important than the story itself. There are clips from interviews with them when they were much younger, and the director of photography contributes some thoughts, as well. The movie featured in this segment is Good Morning, Babylon from 1987.

Orazio confides in his psychiatrist friend and confesses to his present feelings about his wife and women in general. They stop off to see a patient of Giovanni's.

Marino and Giuditta tell us how they ended up getting Covid, and what their symptoms were.

Are you ready for the passive voice? In many ways, the Italian passive works as it does in English. If we have a subject, a transitive verb and a direct object, we can form either an active phrase or a passive one. But there are some rules, and Daniela sets out to explain them.

Lorenzo and Dante meet up at the park and commiserate a bit. Dante asks Lorenzo for a favor.

Renzo is playing soccer and wants to take the penalty kick. Virginia goes to meet her former husband's ex-wife and son. Gaetano and Bettina are spending their lunch hour together, but he seems a bit distracted.

Perhaps as an apology, Ugo makes some sketches for the wedding on ice. The wedding couple practices at the rink, but there is a visitor. Dino and Melody have a moment, but his mother may not be so thrilled about that.

In Sicily, at one time, horses would work in the sulfur mines and slowly become blind. The story is told through a Sicilian ballad, sung by Domenico Modugno. Mimì's mother sits with him as he prepared his bags, but she struggles to understand why he would want to leave. See complete lyrics (in Sicilian) here.

If you have ever visited Italy, you have probably run across the term pinacoteca describing a picture gallery, and wondered where it came from. You will find out in this video about a room called the "tablinum" in the Assisi domus, discovered because they wanted to build an elevator!

This segment explains the title of the movie, Saint Michael Had a Rooster. The Taviani brothers, as well as the lead actor, talk about some aspects of the story, and Nanni Moretti comments on the camera technique.

Giovanni's patient is a bit off-balance and Orazio is very uncomfortable in her presence. His doctor's visit isn't much better.

What symptoms did Giuditta and Marino have? And how did they handle their family duties?

After summing up about the passive voice, Daniela goes on to talk about some other related constructions. It's important to remember that the passive is formed with transitive verbs only. But when we don't have a named subject or agent, we have a few other ways to make a sentence passive-like. One way uses the famous particella (particle) si. Si is used for so many things in Italian that it is bound to create confusion for learners, even advanced learners. Don't worry, part 3 of the lesson will explain further. Another way uses the verb andare (to go) to indicate something that must be done. Here too, the stress is on the action, not the subject or agent.

Eva meets up with Max to discuss the plan. Later she meets with the girls with hopes of involving them. And finally, Eva goes to see Augusto.

Nora discovers that Ugo is taking skating lessons on his own. She meets up with Cecilia to choose some wedding accessories, but clearly, Cecilia is distracted and finally confides in Nora about her feelings. Naturally, Nora compares every relationship to the one she has or had with Ugo.