Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
This segment opens with a sort of poem, demonstrating how kids growing up in fascist Italy were expected to behave. Minority groups had a pretty hard time, too.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Mussolini inveighs against the middle class, saying that it is the enemy of fascism. Much of the footage in this segment features EUR, the Rome district that was built in the 30s and 40s.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The segment looks at the Royal Academy of Italy's dictionary of Italian, which was filled with quotes from Mussolini. By the end of World War II, the dictionary had gotten to the letter “C.”
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
After the war came TV. It changed everything, and provided a new way to unify the Italian language and teach people reading and writing.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The narrator goes over the vanishingly small number of expressions coined during Mussolini's time that are still in use today. The song that gives the series its name is provided in full.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
What is chromotherapy? Marino, who is a chromotherapist, explains this fascinating branch of alternative medicine.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Alberto Angela, well-known presenter of historical TV documentaries, takes us on a journey to discover some of the "wonders" — both man-made and natural — of this "treasure peninsula" called Italy. The journey begins at the Royal Palace in Caserta.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
It's hard to fathom the scale of this royal palace. We learn how many workers it took and how long it took to build. The grand staircase is of amazing dimensions, and, when seen from the top, our host seems like a small dot at the bottom of it.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
We visit the magnificent, immense Throne Room, with its small but elegant throne, and vaulted, frescoed ceiling.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Alberto Angela takes us from the public throne room to the private chambers of the Royal Palace. In order to obtain the desired wall coverings, a whole complex was built for manufacturing silk. It's still operating today. Incredibile!
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The narrator makes us aware of the vast number of people necessary to run the Palace. We visit the most intimate place in the Palace: the queen's dressing room and bathroom. It is fascinating to learn all the ways in which it was outfitted to both pamper and protect the queen.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
If we thought the interior of the Royal Palace of Caserta was amazing, we should get ready for even more amazement as we go outside and see the spectacular park — a true capolavoro (masterpiece) — which Luigi Vanvitelli, architect and engineer, designed, giving water the starring role.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Exploring the gardens further, we come upon a grotto, as well as what looks like an ancient Roman site, replete with original statues. It was all part of Vanvitelli's plan.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
We leave the Royal Palace of Caserta and head towards Cilento in Campania where there is a huge Benedictine monastery. When we see the term convento, we might assume it is a convent for nuns, but in Italian, un convento can be a religious community for either monks or nuns (or both).
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Alberto Angela us takes back in time, to a city that came about in a totally different way: splendid Matera in Basilicata. It's definitely worth a trip.
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