0:00:03 > 0:00:06I'm embarking on a new railway adventure
0:00:06 > 0:00:09that will take me across the heart of Europe.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15I'll be using this - my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide,
0:00:15 > 0:00:20dated 1913, which opened up an exotic world of foreign
0:00:20 > 0:00:22travel for the British tourist.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27It told travellers were to go, what to see and how to navigate
0:00:27 > 0:00:31the thousands of miles of tracks criss-crossing the Continent.
0:00:31 > 0:00:32Now, a century later,
0:00:32 > 0:00:37I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy
0:00:37 > 0:00:41where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48I want to rediscover that lost Europe that, in 1913, couldn't know
0:00:48 > 0:00:52that its way of life would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10I'm continuing my journey through Italy.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15My route began in Pisa and took me east to Lucca.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20After I explore the region's capital Florence,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24I'll leave Tuscany and travel north to Bologna.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Before reaching my final stop, Lake Garda.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35'Along the way, I'll learn how violence erupted in Florence
0:01:35 > 0:01:39'after the Futurists arrived by train.'
0:01:40 > 0:01:41There was no friendly discussion.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45They arrived here to defend Futurism with their fists.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51- A-ha!- Release the tagliatelle!
0:01:51 > 0:01:55'I'll tangle with a dish that titillated the taste-buds
0:01:55 > 0:01:57'of Edwardian tourists.'
0:01:58 > 0:02:02'And I'll experience the Italians' century-long need for speed.'
0:02:02 > 0:02:04HORN TOOTS
0:02:04 > 0:02:05HE CHUCKLES
0:02:22 > 0:02:26I'm in the beautiful Renaissance city of Florence.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31CHURCH BELLS CHIME
0:02:31 > 0:02:34- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.- Cappuccino.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36- Grazie.- Prego.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Uno pasta.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40- Buon appetito.- Fantastico. Grazie.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47The word tourist used to apply to people doing
0:02:47 > 0:02:51the Grand Tour like Byron, and Shelley and Keats.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55But mass tourism had already got underway by the beginning
0:02:55 > 0:02:58of the 20th century, thanks to the railways.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01And then travellers of the old sort snobbishly
0:03:01 > 0:03:05tried to set themselves apart from the mass tourists
0:03:05 > 0:03:07by inventing new tests.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Had you come to Florence for months? Were you here to study?
0:03:11 > 0:03:16Could you do without your Baedeker's Guide or, indeed, your Bradshaw's?
0:03:23 > 0:03:28The boom in train travel in the 1840s meant that the middle classes
0:03:28 > 0:03:32were now able to appreciate cultural treasures which had once been
0:03:32 > 0:03:35enjoyed only by aristocrats on their Grand Tour.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42That change was well satirised by the writer, EM Forster,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47in his 1908 classic, A Room With A View, partly set in Florence.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53But far removed from that gentle and old-fashioned British novel,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Italian Futurists had a hard headed determination
0:03:56 > 0:03:59to turn society upside-down.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06I'm meeting historian Dr Irene Auerbach
0:04:06 > 0:04:08in the Piazza della Repubblica.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Irene, what was Futurism?
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Italian Futurism was a movement that strove to rejuvenate
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Italian culture and society.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27It was planned as a cultural revolution, really,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30and they wanted to change the society
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and the static society of Italy
0:04:33 > 0:04:37by a radical change with achievements,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42which glorified the achievements of the industrial revolution.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49The movement was started in Milan in 1909 by a poet, Filippo Marinetti.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55He saw an industrial way of life as the future and loathed the old Italy.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Futurists would fight for a secular, modern nation
0:04:59 > 0:05:01using any means possible.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07I believe that Filippo Marinetti launched a manifesto.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12- He talked about incendiary violence. Was there incendiary violence?- Yes.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17The first manifesto of Futurism was really a scandal because they
0:05:17 > 0:05:23glorified war and they proclaimed the love of danger, fearlessness.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27- And to reject the past? - Yes, of course.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31They wanted to destroy museums, academies and also libraries.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36The Futurist movement was not only an artistic or literary movement,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38it was much more.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42It was a way of life, it was a new way of looking at the world.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45At the start of the 20th century,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Futurist art was the catalyst for a violent event in Florence
0:05:49 > 0:05:52as leading members clashed with local journalists.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Irene, why have you brought me to this beautiful, historic cafe?
0:05:58 > 0:06:01I brought you to the Giubbe Rosse
0:06:01 > 0:06:05because it's a famous cafe where the artists and writers of Florence met.
0:06:05 > 0:06:11In 1911, the painter and critic Ardengo Soffici,
0:06:11 > 0:06:16who lived here in Florence, wrote a critique on the Futurist painting
0:06:16 > 0:06:19and he criticised them very harshly.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23He said what they were painting was not what they had said
0:06:23 > 0:06:25in their manifesto.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28They weren't living up to their ideals?
0:06:28 > 0:06:30At that time he said, no.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34Now, how did Marinetti take this criticism?
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Oh, he was very angry about this and he didn't like criticism very much.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42He decided, with the painters, to go to Florence
0:06:42 > 0:06:44in defence of Futurist painting.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48They came here to defend Futurism with their fists.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51There was a great brawl here at the Giubbe Rosso.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54When the Futurists in the evening wanted to depart
0:06:54 > 0:06:59from the train station, the critics waited there for them
0:06:59 > 0:07:01and there was another fist fight.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06And they all had to go to the police station and to make peace there.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Irene, it's an amazing story.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Although the brawling groups made a temporary peace,
0:07:14 > 0:07:19as war swept Europe from 1914, Futurism ran out of fuel
0:07:19 > 0:07:24and was later absorbed by Mussolini's Fascist movement.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Futurism, with its goal of rejecting the nation's history,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30itself became a thing of the past.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Today I'm heading out of Florence.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Bound north, towards another well-known stop
0:08:02 > 0:08:05on the early 20th century tourist trail.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Bologna.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14One thing the Futurists were right about was that the future was speed.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19And today many of the world's fastest cars and bikes bear Italian names.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23And the Italians have thrown themselves into high speed rail
0:08:23 > 0:08:25with gusto too.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27I'm on my way to Bologna.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31In my 1913 timetable the fastest train seems to take about
0:08:31 > 0:08:33three and a half hours.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Today, that's reduced to about 35 minutes
0:08:36 > 0:08:40and nearly all of my 50 mile journey
0:08:40 > 0:08:44will be through tunnel under the Apennine Mountains.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58- TANNOY:- Buongiorno. Il treno fermera a Bologna Centrale.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Constructed in 1864, this line has allowed passengers to access
0:09:04 > 0:09:09the Po Valley, just over the Appennine Mountains, for 150 years.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17MUSIC: Brindisi from La Traviata
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Like many other capitals of former Italian states,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Bologna has a long history of rivalry with its neighbours.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40The city even has its own leaning towers, built before their more
0:09:40 > 0:09:42famous counterpart in Pisa.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06As well as being celebrated for its architecture,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Bologna is also a food lover's paradise.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13And there's one dish that the city is most famous for.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25I'm looking for a restaurant that has the very best spaghetti bolognese, please.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Oh, my gosh, no!
0:10:27 > 0:10:30- Assolutamente, no!- No?- No, no, no!
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Spaghetti bolognese not here in Bologna.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Spaghetti bolognese is one of Italy's most famous food exports
0:10:57 > 0:11:00and I'm intrigued to understand why I can't find it here.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06- Monica, I'm Michael. - Hello. How are you?
0:11:08 > 0:11:11I've come to Monica Venture's pasta workshop.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13They've been making traditional Bolognese dishes
0:11:13 > 0:11:17for over 70 years, and I'm hoping that she can help.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Everywhere I go, I ask for spaghetti bolognese
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and people get quite cross, quite excited. What's going wrong?
0:11:26 > 0:11:29You have to ask for something else with Bolognese.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31Tagliatelle al ragu.
0:11:31 > 0:11:32How do you make that?
0:11:32 > 0:11:35It's very easy.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Tagliatelle is not like spaghetti, it's not semola
0:11:38 > 0:11:40but it is flour and eggs.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42I am here to show you.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46This is sfoglia to make tagliatelle.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50'The pasta must be freshly made
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'and I can't wait to taste some true Bolognese cooking.'
0:11:55 > 0:11:58OK, then you roll like that.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Start to cut.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04The size,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08it should be seven millimetres of tagliatelle with ragu,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13because every sauce got its proper size.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15- Do you want to try?- Yes.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20'Different pasta shapes are paired with different sauces.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23'A thicker sauce will cling better to a fatter,
0:12:23 > 0:12:24'longer ribbon.'
0:12:24 > 0:12:27- A little bit more?- A little bit more, yes, like that.- OK.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31- Not too much.- Not too much. And not too little.- OK.- A-ha!
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Release the tagliatelle.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Suddenly we have lovely ribbons of tagliatelle.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42'Now that we have the pasta, we need the sauce.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48'Monica's invited me to her home to show me how that's made.'
0:12:48 > 0:12:51- Grazie, Monica.- Prego.- Grazie.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01- So...- You can see that the water is boiling and the ragu is ready.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04'The pasta may take just seconds
0:13:04 > 0:13:07'but the meaty ragu is cooked over five days.'
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Oh, they look lovely, Monica.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Va bene.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22OK. Ready?
0:13:26 > 0:13:30- How is it? - It's absolutely wonderful.- OK.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33The pasta is perfectly cooked, wonderfully fresh
0:13:33 > 0:13:35and the meat sauce, wow!
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Here's my tip for survival in Bologna -
0:13:38 > 0:13:41do not ask for spaghetti bolognese!
0:13:47 > 0:13:51In the early 20th century the Futurists wanted to ban pasta,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55citing it as the enemy of speed and modernity.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03However, as a newly-industrialised Italy began to lead the way
0:14:03 > 0:14:09in the production of cars and planes, another of this city's creations
0:14:09 > 0:14:12most certainly won the Futurist seal of approval.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22Bradshaw's has steered me towards the Piazza del Nettuno
0:14:22 > 0:14:28and there's something familiar about Neptune's trident.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33I think that weapon pierced the future and came to represent speed.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40The symbol of the trident, inspired by one of Bologna's most
0:14:40 > 0:14:45famous statues, was adopted by Italian car firm Maserati in 1920.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Fabio Collina, the company's classic cars manager,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54is picking me up in a 1969 Quattroporte.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58- Va bene, Fabio.- Ciao, Michael. - Andiamo via.- Andiamo.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07I want to learn more about the famous sports car manufacturer
0:15:07 > 0:15:09conceived over a century ago.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16What was the origin of Maserati cars?
0:15:17 > 0:15:22The origin of the factory, Maserati, is here.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24It's in Bologna.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29The Maserati brothers opened the first workshop
0:15:29 > 0:15:33in the very centre of the town.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36What were they doing in the workshop? Were they already making cars?
0:15:36 > 0:15:38At the very beginning, not.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41They were a service workshop.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45After the war, when the brother came back from the war,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50they decided finally to prepare cars for race.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- Were they successful?- Absolutely.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Every car they prepared, the car won.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Where are we going now, by the way?
0:16:00 > 0:16:03- Now we are driving to Modena. - To Modena?- Yeah.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16The company moved to Modena in 1939.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19With other car manufacturers also in this region,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23including the first incarnations of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26no wonder it's called the Motor Valley.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38I'm getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the production line
0:16:38 > 0:16:42from a retired mechanic from the company, Giorgio.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Giorgio, it's a very impressive facility -
0:16:47 > 0:16:49it's very clean, it's very quiet.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54And while the cars are stationary, what is happening to them?
0:16:54 > 0:16:57So, in every station, there is a different job.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02We have 12 stations where we fit all the mechanics on the car,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06and another 12 near where we fit all the interior of the car.
0:17:06 > 0:17:1024 to be completely assembled.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12At each of the 24 assembly stations,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15skilled mechanics have just under 36 minutes
0:17:15 > 0:17:17to complete their phase of the work
0:17:17 > 0:17:19before the car is moved on to the next.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Here is just the assembly of the car,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26but later on, there are a lot of checks, testing, finishing area.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31To build one car completely, from zero to the end,
0:17:31 > 0:17:36you need at least 21 working days.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Are Italians still as keen on speed as they ever were?
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Sure - speed is very, very important.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45You see, we must have a powerful car.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46ALARM SOUNDS
0:17:56 > 0:18:00Capable of speeds of up to 190mph,
0:18:00 > 0:18:05these machines can cost as much as £110,000.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Today, I'm being trusted with possibly the most important job.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13The final part of the production process
0:18:13 > 0:18:16is, of course, the test drive.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20And, being in Italy, I've acquired an Italian's taste for speed.
0:18:26 > 0:18:27HE LAUGHS
0:18:27 > 0:18:32As soon as you tap the accelerator, here's that great roar and off we go.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36ENGINE REVS
0:18:40 > 0:18:41HE CHUCKLES
0:18:50 > 0:18:54This is really the only way to arrive at a railway station.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03I'll swap the car for a train before I do any damage.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08I'm heading back to Bologna for the night
0:19:08 > 0:19:12before I continue on the last leg of my journey tomorrow.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43I'll travel over 130 miles north
0:19:43 > 0:19:47towards one of Italy's most glamorous holiday hot spots -
0:19:47 > 0:19:48Lake Garda.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10I will shortly be arriving at Lake Garda.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14Bradshaw's tells me that steamboats ascend and descend the lake
0:20:14 > 0:20:16between Peschiera and Riva,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20corresponding with the railways at each end of the lake.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Situated to the south of the Dolomite mountains,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55and with a Mediterranean climate,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59the lake has attracted tourists - including artists -
0:20:59 > 0:21:01to its shores for three centuries.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05DUCKS QUACK
0:21:05 > 0:21:10In 1912, a British writer visited here to escape
0:21:10 > 0:21:12and to seek inspiration.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16I'm in Gargnano, on the lake's west shore,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21to meet Professor Stefania Michelucci from the University of Genoa.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29- Hello, Stefania.- Hello. - How are you?- Fine, thanks.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Stefania, what adventure is it that brings DH Lawrence to Lake Garda
0:21:33 > 0:21:37the year before my guidebook is published?
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Well, it was a very particular adventure,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42because he had met Frieda,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44who was Frieda von Richtofen,
0:21:44 > 0:21:49who was the wife of his professor in Nottingham,
0:21:49 > 0:21:50and they fell in love,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53they were mutually attracted to each other,
0:21:53 > 0:22:00so she decided to leave England and then they came to Gargnano.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Embroiled in an affair which scandalised England,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Lawrence and Frieda were drawn to Italy
0:22:07 > 0:22:09by its more liberal attitudes,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13as well as by their curiosity about the changes taking place there.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18What did Lawrence think of Lake Garda?
0:22:18 > 0:22:24He had a very different attitude, I would say, modern and new,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28because he wasn't at all romanticising,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31having a sort of romantic view of Lake Garda.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34He tried to understand what it was really like.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38He's sensing that it is...decaying.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40It's going to be overwhelmed
0:22:40 > 0:22:44by the spreading mechanisation and industrialisation
0:22:44 > 0:22:46which is coming from the north.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Although excited by that atmosphere in Italy,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Lawrence wanted to preserve the beauty of regions like Garda.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02It was partly the spectacular scenery here
0:23:02 > 0:23:06that inspired him to write some of his most famous works.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20So this is the view that DH Lawrence and Frieda
0:23:20 > 0:23:22would have had from their bedroom?
0:23:22 > 0:23:23Exactly.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26A very inspiring view.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29He was certainly inspired by being abroad
0:23:29 > 0:23:32and by the beauty of the place.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Lake Garda played an important role in his life.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40But he was also desperately needing money
0:23:40 > 0:23:45and so he completed Sons And Lovers, which was his first masterpiece.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50And then he also wrote all the essays of Twilight In Italy.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53After the First World War, Lawrence returned to Italy,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56where he wrote his most controversial novel,
0:23:56 > 0:23:57Lady Chatterley's Lover.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Writers were drawn to Lake Garda's tranquillity,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13but some areas of the lake were far from calm.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17They were caught up in the nation's obsession with speed.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23I'm at the docks to meet Fausto and Mauro Feltrinelli.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Their family has been building boats here for over 100 years.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Fausto. Sono Michael. Piacere.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34- Mauro.- Hi, nice to meet you. - Fausto...
0:24:34 > 0:24:37HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN
0:24:39 > 0:24:40- Si?- Si.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Fausto's great-grandfather Bernardo and his son Egidio
0:24:51 > 0:24:55travelled from town to town repairing boats.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58After a trip to America in 1919,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Egidio discovered how to build not just fishing boats
0:25:01 > 0:25:03but speed boats, too.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13It went...20 knots over the water.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15It was incredible for that time.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20And the fever, the fever of speed took him so strongly.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25The whole of Italy was boiling with the sensation of new speed,
0:25:25 > 0:25:27new life, new progress.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34Egidio, Mauro's great-grandfather, also developed the hydroplane here,
0:25:34 > 0:25:40based on American designs and capable of speeds of over 100mph.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45So, your family developed the high-performance boat business.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Do you then find that the tourists are coming to enjoy them?
0:25:48 > 0:25:50I think it automatically happened.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54Before, work boats, boats for working.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Then, sport boats, racing.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02And suddenly, after the speed, then came just the fun.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05- Can we have some fun with this? - Oh, why not?
0:26:05 > 0:26:07THEY LAUGH
0:26:07 > 0:26:09- But attention, eh?- I'll be careful.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12REVVING
0:26:19 > 0:26:22HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN
0:26:54 > 0:27:00The steady flow of tourists to Italy 100 years ago turned into a flood
0:27:00 > 0:27:03and is now virtually an invasion.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Most of them come still to see
0:27:06 > 0:27:09the historic towers and domes and statues,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12hoping for a room with a view,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15maybe even a Chianti-fuelled romance.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19But on this journey, I've discovered, just off the beaten track,
0:27:19 > 0:27:24another, futuristic Italy of high-speed trains
0:27:24 > 0:27:26and racy cars and boats -
0:27:26 > 0:27:29it's not Italy that we come to visit,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32but with its cool and elegant designs,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35it's certainly one that we admire.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41'Next time in Greece, I'll find out about
0:27:41 > 0:27:45'the surprisingly ancient origins of our modern railways
0:27:45 > 0:27:47'at the spectacular Corinth canal.'
0:27:47 > 0:27:51So, this is incredible - 600 BC,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55two parallel lines of stone, logs running between them
0:27:55 > 0:27:58- and on top of the logs, the ships. - Yes.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03'I have a dream of Olympic glory.'
0:28:07 > 0:28:10MUSIC: Theme from Chariots Of Fire by Vangelis
0:28:10 > 0:28:14'And I trade the train seat for a saddle.'
0:28:14 > 0:28:18I'm having to hoof it through these beautiful olive groves.