Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy Tuscan
This beautiful church is worth a stop on the way from Pisa to the seaside. Arianna shares her discovery of it. The ceramic bowls that decorate the church are technically known as “bacini ceramici” in Italian, which could be translated as “ceramic basins.” Art historians who write in English, however, also use the term “bacini” for these tin-glazed works.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy Tuscan
Arianna takes us down to a beach near Pisa, and explains a bit about how beaches work in many parts of Italy.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy Tuscan
Arianna visits Lucca for the first time, and gets some advice from a friend who lives there. Arianna and Eleonora look at the map together to get an idea of how the city is laid out. With its Roman origins, Lucca's urban space was designed with intersecting roads called 'cardos' and 'decumani'.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Mini decides to guide Arianna through one of the main roads of Lucca to the center of the city. It's one continuous road but its name changes several times. Arianna is fascinated by some mysterious numbers appearing on the stones of the pavement.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
The best way to get around Lucca is by bike. Arianna rents one and enjoys riding along the amazing walls of the city, still intact after centuries.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
There are a lot of interesting places to see from the walls, as Arianna rides around on her rental bike: the botanical garden, a tower with trees on it, and the entrance to a pilgrimage route to Rome.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Marino tells about Marechiaro, a small village in the area of Naples called Posillipo. Marchiaro gives its name to a very famous Neapolitan song by Salvatore Di Giacomo.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Arianna and Simone show us the historic center of this city on Sicily's west coast. Points of interest include its Casbah, where ceramic tile artworks tell of the city's Arab history, an unusual central-plan church; and the Satyr Museum.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Arianna and Simone take us through the narrow lanes of Mazara to the little theater, built from leftover materials from ships, and on to the Casbah, full of ceramic artwork.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
We visit some of the narrow alleys with names that have special significance. Arianna and Simone tell the stories of these names and show us some of the beautiful ceramic pots placed around the town.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Arianna explains what a casbah is, and she and Simone take us around to the Tunisian consulate and the old washhouse.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Marika takes us to Venice where we have a look around through her "eyes." We start out near the Doge's Palace.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Marika shows us a famous bookshop in Venice. It's in a critical position with respect to the water level, so special precautions are taken to protect the books when there are high tides. Fascinating!
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
In Venice, the concept of "streets" and "roads" is totally different from most other places in Italy, so there are some new words to learn that apply almost exclusively to this wonderful city. Marika does some show and tell to help us get the picture.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Marika takes us to see a special statue, a fish market and two famous bridges.
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