Paolo skips work because he wants to dedicate himself to what he really likes to do. When Faber invites him to perform, at first Maura seems annoyed but in the end she supports him.

Paolo, after a show, receives a proposal from an impresario to perform in his theater. Later, at the company Christmas dinner, he is given the task of organizing the gift exchange, an occasion on which he decides to give a sincere speech.

After the company Christmas dinner is over, Paolo returns to Maura, who seems almost relieved that it went badly. For Christmas Eve dinner, the two join the children at the grandparents' house, but an inevitable conversation awaits Paolo.

While the parents shout all their disappointment and disillusionment at Paolo, Maura enters the room to defend her husband and ask her in-laws to encourage him. But as soon as she returns to work… Paolo already has a brilliant plan in mind and his father will find out, whether he likes it or not!

Paolo and Maura go to the theater to see Jannacci's show, but he suddenly fell ill and has a very high fever. Chiesa then asks Paolo to save the evening.

Paolo enjoys great success during his performances in Rome. The newspapers praise the brilliance of his comedy and, finally, he decides that the time has come to resign from Cosider.

Paolo goes to visit his mother, who talks to him about her concerns for his future, which in her opinion offers no guarantees. Paolo works in television and, while friends and acquaintances seem to consider him capable, there is one person who doesn't think the same way…

Confindustria is the main trade association for Italy's manufacturing and service sectors. This inspirational video was produced for its annual meeting, and Italian luminaries from Marco Polo to Renzo Piano are invoked to tell the story of Italian innovation.

The Italian Alps are a pretty spectacular spot to learn the basics of snowboarding. Matteo and his two very capable students show us the ropes.

Daniela explains how some adverbs, depending on how they are used, will be regular or irregular in the comparative form.

Daniela discusses how journalists and the mass media often tack on -issimo to nouns and adverbial expressions, something which is not strictly correct but is prevalent nonetheless.

Daniela explains what are called "indefinite modes." They are indefinite because they don't refer directly to a person or object. They commonly occur in a subordinate clause, and we need the context of the main clause to give us that information. There are three forms: the infinitive, the past participle, and the gerund.

In Italian, there's not only a past participle, as in English, there is also a present participle. Many nouns and adjectives we use every day come from this tense, as well as from the past participle.

In this segment, Daniela talks about the gerund. As you will see, in Italian, the gerund is often used by itself, whereas in English we need an extra word before it — a conjunction or preposition. We are on more familiar ground when Daniela talks about using a gerund with the verb stare (to be) to form what we call the present continuous or present progressive.

Daniela gives us some more examples of gerunds used in subordinate clauses. Asking ourselves what questions the gerund answers can help us understand its role in a sentence.