As a child, Rita Levi Montalcini was shy and insecure. Her father wanted her to get married and have children, but she had other plans for her life. She also had a twin sister who was an artist.

Rita Levi Montalcini was a strong proponent of education and instruction as the means to gain freedom. She was also an example of it. This segment describes a visit to women in prison, and the obstacles Montalcini had to face, as a woman and as a Jew, during the Nazi-Fascist regime.

Because of the racial laws in Italy during the period of Fascism, many Jews left the country, including Rita Levi Montalcini. In Italy she wasn't allowed to work or publish papers, but somehow, she found a way to keep going.

The formal, ceremonious aspect of the Nobel Prize awards was not what Rita Levi-Montalcini was used to, but she used that recognition to her advantage. Winning the Nobel Prize wasn't necessarily the high point in her career.

Rita Levi Montalcini doesn't feel like she made any sacrifices in her life, including not having a family. She had a clear vision of what she wanted out of life, and she followed it.

After winning the Nobel prize, Rita Levi-Montalcini was not as shy as she had been prior to that moment. Because she stood out as a woman in a "man's world," she was able to use her unique position to make her mark, not only in the science world, but in society.

Not only did she win a Nobel prize; in her own country, she was appointed as a Senator for life, a great honor. But she took that job seriously and participated actively and with integrity. Not everyone appreciated that.

In her final years, Rita Levi-Montalci was very, very frail, but she never lost her combative spirit. Romano Prodi recalls the last time he saw her.

The documentary concludes with some valuable advice from Rita Levi-Montalcini about how to live one's life. People who knew her offer some adjectives to describe who she was.

A car problem allows us to meet Eda Gjergo, a young astrophysicist, who will in turn lead us to meet Margherita Hack, the subject of this episode about women luminaries. Hack was a famous scientist, communicator, and activist.

Eda discovered Margherita Hack on a TV show hosted by Piero Angela. This changed Eda's life. Margherita as a young scientist had a rough time in a profession where men were the important ones and had little regard for women.

Margherita Hack made her mark on the University of Trieste, teaching Astronomy there for almost 30 years and linking it with the Observatory. She had to use some drastic means to be recognized, however, being a woman in a man's world. But the balance changed over time, with her help, to involve many more women than before, both as students and researchers.

Margherita was much more interested in substance and knowledge than in material things, including physical appearance, and this became her brand, in a certain sense. That didn't keep people from loving and respecting her, although there were some occasional incidents, a few of which are recounted by people who knew her.

Perhaps not everyone knows that Margherita Hack as a girl was quite the athlete. Her sport was track and field. She also had a passion for cycling and rode her bike well into her seventies.

Although as an athlete, Margherita did make some compromises she felt she had to during the decades of Italian Fascism, she also took a stand against it, risking expulsion from school.