The Heart of Italy Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe


The Heart of Italy

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Whoever said all roads lead to Rome was lying.

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For a thousand years, Roma dominated the world.

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It was the capital of the greatest empire ever seen.

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Its art and architecture shaped the western world

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and became the emblem of "civilisation" itself.

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Other capitals, like London, are just a part of the country they are in

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and don't always represent it.

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But Roma IS Italy.

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When I think of the size of Roma,

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and all the great buildings, statues and fountains, it's overwhelming.

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We know Roma wasn't built in a day,

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but I'm amazed it got built at all.

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Romans are famous for being lazy.

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They even have their own commandments, devoted to most sacred act of all - rest.

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Rule number one -

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Romans are more concerned with, how you say?

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Putting your feet up and taking life easy.

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They know their city is pretty good as it is.

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The hard work was done centuries ago!

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Roma is a city of fantastic sculpture.

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It is everywhere.

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But I have my own favourites which I visit again and again.

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The Galleria Borghese is packed with sculpture

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but it's the work of one artist that outshines everyone else.

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His name was Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

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He lived from 1598 to 1680 and as many as eight Popes

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would seek him out as the most desirable artist in the world.

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His work in the galleria Borghese would launch his career and come to define Baroque sculpture.

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Baroque was the style that dominated the 17th century.

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It means many things, but if there's a word that defines it, it's "movement".

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Never before had sculpture moved in the way Bernini's did.

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This great work, completed in 1622, shows the abduction of a young woman,

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Proserpina, by Pluto, God of the Underworld.

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He scoops her up and despite her struggle, carries her away before our eyes.

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I love Bernini's attention to detail.

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Pluto's fingers sink into Prosperina's flesh.

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And his brow, twisted by her pushing hand.

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So full of life and so...

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How do you say? Sensuale.

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In this sculpture, carved just a year or so later,

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Bernini shows the god Apollo trying to rape a water nymph called Daphne.

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According to myth, she cried out to her father, the river god, to save her.

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And at the last moment, he transformed her vulnerable flesh into a tree.

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Bernini wanted Daphne to turn into a tree before our eyes.

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As we walk around the sculpture,

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we see Daphne slowly changing.

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Apollo no longer grasps a beautiful young woman,

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but a tree.

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# Down each avenue or via

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# Street or strata

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# You can see 'em disappearin'

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# Two by two

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# On an evening in Roma... #

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Fantastic!

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On my last night, I head for the heart of Roma -

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like everyone else!

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There are hundreds of fountains here in the city but Fontana di Trevi is the mother of them all.

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Let's face it, if you call this a fountain,

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it is like calling Big Ben an alarm clock.

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This is a real monumento d'acqua.

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Designed by Nicolo Salvi in 1732, it took almost 30 years to complete.

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It shows the god Neptune harnessing the waters of the world.

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But most people come here for one reason.

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It's said if you throw one coin into the fountain you'll come back to Roma.

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If you throw two,

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you'll marry a beautiful Roman girl.

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If you throw three coins, you'll marry a beautiful girl in Roma.

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I don't know what happens with four...

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but it's got to be pretty good!

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ALARM BEEPS

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For us Italians, a day has not begun until you have your coffee.

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And what better place than the oldest cafe in Italy?

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Coffee is not grown in Italy, and yet we have made it our own in the eyes of the world.

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The Caffe-Latte, the Macchiato, The cappuccino...

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all Italian.

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But king of them all is the Espresso.

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Coming here is a little bit like going back in time.

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This cafe has been serving coffee in the same orange cups since 1760.

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People like Casanova had his coffee here, so it's good enough for me.

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Of course, you British can't really see the point of our espresso.

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It seems too small, a waste of money,

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but for us Italians, this is the real thing.

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On the way out of Roma is the EUR district,

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also known as "Roma moderna".

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It's like a city within a city.

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Every country has its embarrassing periods.

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And Italy has plenty.

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It was here in the 1935 that the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini

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envisaged a modern city that would match the splendour of ancient Rome.

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But when the Second World War broke out four years later,

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EUR was far from finished.

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Even so, there are reminders from the Fascist era all around.

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This is the Palazzo della Civilta' Italiana -

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an extraordinary marriage of Fascism and Modernism!

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Mussolini's presence is still very much here, especially at the Palazzo degli Uffici.

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You know, Italians have a strange relationship with Mussolini.

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My grandparents had to leave their homes and hide away up in the mountains.

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But in many parts in Italy, if you scratch beneath the surface,

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you will find an uncomfortable admiration for his legacy.

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Everyone remembers how Mussolini made the trains run on time, pushed the mafia out of Italy,

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put the church in its place,

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and created for the first time a sense of nationhood in the hearts of the people.

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In the basement of the Palazzo is "Il Bunker del Duce."

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It was built as an emergency shelter for government officials.

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Macabre reminders of that time lie buried deep inside the building.

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These heads, all of Mussolini, were intended to adorn monuments outside,

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but now are just lying here.

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It's a little creepy being down here.

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Mussolini was a scary figure in himself.

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But three of him? It's too much.

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Mussolini failed to create his perfect city in EUR.

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But, elsewhere, he was more successful.

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I'm driving south through the Pontine Marshes

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which once stretched 800 square kilometres.

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This area used to be known as "I Pantani d'Inferno" -

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the Marshes of Hell.

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Many great men in history had tried to drain the marshes.

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Emperors like Julius Caesar, in Roman times,

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and the Popes in the 1500s.

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But they all failed.

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It was Mussolini that succeeded.

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Today, this is all that is left of the marshes of hell.

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In the 1930s, thousands of unemployed

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were moved from the north of Italy to drain and develop this land.

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Here's Mussolini himself, joining the workforce.

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The land they cultivated was then handed back to them as a reward.

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But Mussolini also wanted to build towns to show the world how he, Mussolini,

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had tamed the marshes and had made heaven out of hell.

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Sabaudia is the best of several towns Mussolini created.

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Work began on 5 August, 1933.

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It only took 253 days for the whole town to be completed.

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Mussolini wanted to take the best of Italy's history.

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So the streets are laid out in a Roman grid,

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while the government buildings boast medieval-style tall towers.

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This balcony was for speech giving.

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Here, Mussolini could stroll up and down and proclaim

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and thousands of adoring followers could cheer below.

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Back on the road, I'm driving towards the hilltop town of Tivoli.

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In 1549, a new Governor arrived to rule this district.

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His name was Ippolito d'Este.

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It should have been a big honour - but not for Ippolito.

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You see, he had just failed to be made Pope so this town was just a consolation prize.

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Ippolito's problem was his incredible ambition.

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But it was to have an unexpected and wonderful result.

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Ippolito built himself a magnificent home, thinking,

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"If I can't be Pope, at least I'll have a palace worthy of one!"

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The water gardens of Villa d'Este are one of the marvels of Italy.

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There are 51 fountains

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with 398 spouts...

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..364 jets,

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64 waterfalls,

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220 basins

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and 875 meters of canals.

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Nobody since the Romans had realized the potential of water as a creative medium.

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This became the inspiration for every water garden in Europe.

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Ippolito created a theatre of water.

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These fountains are like stages.

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The water leaps and bounds, performing for our delight.

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Despite being a candidate five times, Ippolito never became a Pope.

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His garden, which had begun as a hobby,

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became an obsession - it is the only thing he is now remembered for.

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But maybe this is not a story about failure after all.

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Many Popes have been forgotten about, but nobody forgets this garden.

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I hope you like what we Italians call gialli...

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crime stories.

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And this is one of Italy's best - and it's real.

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The setting is this, the remote hill town of Gesualdo.

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The year, 1590.

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It is a story about death - tragic love -

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and one of the most delicate subjects in Italy - infidelity.

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Let me tell you something about Italian men.

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There's nothing worse than the idea that your wife could have been unfaithful.

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It's the most humiliating betrayal.

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Even today, if you really want to insult an Italian man, you do this.

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"Cornuto", which means "your woman has been cheating!"

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Let me introduce you to our anti-hero.

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The mysterious prince Gesualdo.

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He lived in this castle

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towering over the town.

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Prince Gesualdo married Donna Maria d'Avalos and they had a son.

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But soon Donna Maria took a lover - the dashing Duke of Andria.

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One night in October, Gesualdo told his wife he was going out hunting.

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But legend says he was hiding.

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He waited for the lover to come around.

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At the right moment, he quietly crept up to her room

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and killed them both in bed.

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But soon the sense of guilt tormented Gesualdo.

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It is said he became a recluse in his castle and slowly went mad.

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Then Gesualdo began to compose some of the most haunting and beautiful music

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to come out of my country.

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Let's face it, Caserta today is not the kind of place you would want to spend the rest of your life.

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And yet it's in this little southern town that lies the greatest palace in all Italy.

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This enormous palace was begun in 1752 by the ruler of southern Italy,

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the King of Naples, Carlo di Borbone.

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He wanted a palace befitting the new kingdom he had created.

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It feels a little obscene.

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The south of Italy was one of the poorest areas in Europe.

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Still a medieval and feudal society.

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The palace stretches over 44,000 square metres.

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It has 1200 rooms,

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an observatory, a chapel,

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34 staircases and over 1700 windows.

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The throne room wasn't completed until 1847,

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almost 100 years after Carlo began this palace.

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The current Bourbon king didn't have so much time to enjoy it.

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The Bourbons were so concerned with looking grand

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that they hadn't noticed the revolution growing in their kingdom.

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Only 13 years later, the revolutionary patriot

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Giuseppe Garibaldi swept through the south of Italy with his army.

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The Bourbon dynasty was brought crashing down.

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But at the very heart of this immense royal building

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lies something small and intimate...and wonderful.

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This is a piccolo teatro -

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a jewel-box theatre.

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My favourite.

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It was completed in 1769 for King Ferdinando,

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and has been used for opera ever since.

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It's not supposed to rain in the south of Italy.

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Lake Averno.

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It sits in a great volcanic crater -

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one of 40 volcanoes in the area known as Campi Flegrei -

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the Flaming Fields.

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No where else in the world are you so aware of going through a legendary landscape.

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According to the Romans, this lake was the entrance to the underworld.

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Next to the lake is the only active crater - Solfatara.

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For centuries Solfatara has been famous for its steaming jets of sulphurous vapours.

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Even today, it's a dangerous place to explore.

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It's warm and stinky!

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The whole area is closely watched by scientists and vulcanologists,

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because of the frequency of earthquakes

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which make the ground level rise and fall from year to year.

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Nobody can tell when the next one is going to happen.

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In Roman times this was believed to be the home of Vulcan, the God of Fire.

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Today it is home to the Angarano family which has lived here since the 19th century.

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ECHOING BOOM

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"See Naples and Die" they used to say.

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But today even getting here alive is a remarkable thing.

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Neapolitans are perhaps the worst drivers in the world.

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You British may think it's too noisy,

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probably even too dirty.

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But once you get to the centre you discover the jewel of real Naples.

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If Roma is the heart of Italy, then Naples is its soul.

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Ciao!

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The streets of Naples are always full of ritual.

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The people here are religious and superstitious.

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It was here, in the middle of the 18th century in the Spaccanapoli quarter,

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that rumours spread of a mysterious prince.

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Some said he'd sold his soul to the devil for magical powers

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and certainly he had visions of the future which cannot be explained.

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It's easy to see how such rumours got around.

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Prince Raimondo was an unusual figure.

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For a start, as most Neapolitans, he was an inventor.

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He invented the first raincoat, a shotgun, an amphibious carriage, an eternal lamp.

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But I think his greatest creation... was this chapel.

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In the 1750s, Prince Raimondo began decorating the family chapel.

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He called in the greatest sculptors of the day to work under his guidance.

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The result is a treasure house of baroque sculpture.

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This monument, entitled The Modesty,

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is dedicated to Raimondo's mother who died at the age of 20.

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The broken tablet marks her premature death.

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This is "Disinganno" -

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Release from Sin.

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Dedicated to Raimondo's father.

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His father had led a dissolute life

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but at last he found release in piety.

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The highlight of the chapel is without any doubt Sammartino's Veiled Christ.

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This beautiful sculpture, carved from a single block of stone,

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depicts the image of Christ covered with a shroud.

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What strikes me most is His face.

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From this angle, it looks like Christ is still suffering.

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But as you move along his body,

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his face changes, as though, at last, He has found peace.

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Out of the thousands of images of Christ in my country, this is the one that moves me most.

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Naples has many wonderful things,

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but I think its greatest cultural contribution to the world was pizza!

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Naples is full of tiny and ancient shops.

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They are called Bassi.

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This is a typical Neapolitan basso.

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A one-room house which is also a shop.

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Bassi have existed since medieval times.

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Today there are still over 40,000 of them,

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where entire families live and carry on their day to day business.

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But many bassi hold a secret.

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In this one lies the entrance to another world.

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You see, there are two Naples.

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The one we all know

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under the sun and another one - under my feet.

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Below the city are hundreds of tunnels and caves.

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Some of the tunnels are over 5000 years old,

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and were certainly used by the ancient Greeks.

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These tunnels are 40 metres deep.

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They stretch for over 100 kilometres.

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Listen! Complete silence.

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Quite a change from the loud hustle and bustle of the city above.

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It's spooky.

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The Romans continued to build the tunnels,

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into an ambitious system of canals and huge wells.

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All this kept the people of Naples supplied with water all year round.

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As I'm walking down the temperature slowly drops,

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and the tunnels are getting smaller and smaller.

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It's a little bit claustrophobic.

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During the Second World War these tunnels were used by people for shelter from air raids.

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There are stories of couples who got married here,

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women who gave birth...

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and many who died because of the bad air

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and the filthy conditions.

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All along these walls are reminders of the suffering of those people forced to live down here

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for weeks, sometimes even months.

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Look - "AIUTO"... "Help."

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Look at this graffiti - Mussolini - Hitler the world "vinceremo".

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We shall win.

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Well, not quite!

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But there's an even darker side to underground Naples.

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Crypts dating as far back as the 1600s.

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In 1656, Naples was hit by a terrible plague.

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At its peak 1,000 people were dying every day.

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There were so many bodies to bury, that they began dumping them in these caves beneath the city.

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It is believed there are many hundreds of thousands of the dead down here.

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Neapolitans have a strange relationship with death.

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They used to come to underground crypts like these and adopt a skull -

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keep it polished and put it in a box.

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They would cry for its death and pray for its soul.

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In exchange, they would ask the spirit to perform favours -

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heal a sick relative or give winning numbers for the lottery.

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In the end, the Church forbade these practices.

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And in the 1980s this section of underground Naples was closed to the public.

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Forever.

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Grazie.

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'I emerge into the church of San Gregorio Armeno.'

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The keeper is anxious for me to leave as quietly as possible - so no-one knows where I have been.

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Ah! Light again!

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# O sole

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# O sole mio

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# Sta 'nfronte a te

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# Sta 'nfronte a te! #

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Maybe I stop smoking!

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PAVAROTTI SINGS: # O sole mio

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# Sta 'nfronte a te

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# Sta 'nfronte a te! #

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In the last leg of my journey, the mystical south of Italy,

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where antiquity is revered,

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tradition honoured.

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'And at last, a fantastic homecoming,

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'as I arrive in the land of my mother.' Mama!

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