0:00:18 > 0:00:22'My name is Francesco da Mosto,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25'and I am about to go on a long journey.'
0:00:29 > 0:00:30Si!
0:00:36 > 0:00:40'For us Italians, family is everything.'
0:00:40 > 0:00:41Ciao, Papa.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45'Leaving mine behind is like leaving a part of myself.'
0:01:09 > 0:01:13'I have spent most of my life on these canals,
0:01:13 > 0:01:18'but I'm something more than just a Venetian.
0:01:18 > 0:01:24'My mother is Sicilian, and I have family in almost every part of the country.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28'So I have decided to leave home
0:01:28 > 0:01:31'and see Italy from top to toe.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44'Once, my Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider
0:01:44 > 0:01:48'was the most important thing in my life.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52'But then I was a carefree bachelor, before I had a family!'
0:02:08 > 0:02:12This is a moment most Italian drivers fear,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15a Venetian getting into a car.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20But I always say, once you've navigated down the Grand Canal,
0:02:20 > 0:02:22you can do anything.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35'Some of the things I'm going to see will be familiar to you,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38'but others will be more surprising,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43'little secrets that, for me, are the essence of Italy.'
0:03:46 > 0:03:48This is always a strange moment.
0:03:48 > 0:03:55As soon as a Venetian arrives on the mainland, he feels like un pesce fuor d'acqua,
0:03:55 > 0:04:00a fish out of water, a little intimidated.
0:04:02 > 0:04:10'So it's nice to remember that for century after century, all this was part of Venice too.
0:04:13 > 0:04:20'Venice was just the heart of a vast empire that stretched through northern Italy.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25'Here, away from the confines of the lagoon, we could build
0:04:25 > 0:04:31'spectacular country houses to escape the bustle of the city.'
0:04:42 > 0:04:46But it is a little too early to relax, don't you think so?
0:04:46 > 0:04:51I want to show you first something very special,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56something that is behind so much of our modern world.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05It lies in the town of Padua.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Most tourists don't come here.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27They get too taken by Venice.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32But this town can claim something over Venice.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37This is the birthplace of Western art.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53This is the Capella degli Scrovegni.
0:05:53 > 0:05:59It was built around 1305 by Enrico Scrovegni.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04He built it to ask God's forgiveness
0:06:04 > 0:06:08for the wicked life of his father, a villainous moneylender.
0:06:10 > 0:06:16To decorate the chapel, Enrico commissioned the painter Giotto.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20He would change the face of religious art.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Giotto was disperato - desperate.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Christ was always shown as a distant figure.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38Think of those strange, cold images on church icons.
0:06:38 > 0:06:45But Giotto wanted to show Christ as a real person, who feels pain and love.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50He wanted to show Christ in a way that the people could understand.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54So he turned the Bible into a romance.
0:06:56 > 0:07:02In telling the story of Christ, Giotto looks for drama and emotion.
0:07:09 > 0:07:15The tears of the distraught mothers at the Massacre of the Innocents
0:07:15 > 0:07:19are the first tears in Western art.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27We see Christ in a full range of emotions -
0:07:27 > 0:07:29anger,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31humiliation,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35betrayal, suffering.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40His death is marked by anguish.
0:07:53 > 0:07:59Giotto was the first painter to show us life as we see and feel it.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03It seems obvious, but it had never been done before.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08From this room comes every painting we see today.
0:08:13 > 0:08:20At one end, Giotto shows Enrico Scrovegni offering this chapel
0:08:20 > 0:08:26to the Virgin Mary, begging her to forgive his family for their sins.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32It's strange to think that the moving force
0:08:32 > 0:08:34behind the birth of Western art
0:08:34 > 0:08:39was not the quest for beauty or knowledge,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43but the most Italian of emotions, "mea culpa" -
0:08:43 > 0:08:45guilt!
0:09:13 > 0:09:18Let me tell you something about Italy. We are a young country.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22We only came together 150 years ago.
0:09:22 > 0:09:29Before that we were a collection of cities and states ruled by different people.
0:09:33 > 0:09:39Every town is like a capital city of a tiny country...
0:09:41 > 0:09:45..each with its own great buildings,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49each with its own history and traditions.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17This is Vicenza.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19There's money here.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Look at these streets, so clean and ordered.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27And all these marvellous palaces. It's nice here.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42Nearly everything in this town owes its look to one man,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46the architect Andrea Palladio.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50In the 16th century, he built the great palaces which
0:10:50 > 0:10:56would show Italy that Vicenza had become a rich and powerful city.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Palladio came from a poor family.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10He was apprenticed to a stonemason at the age of 13.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15But his natural genius was noticed very quickly.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20He was able to take what was magnificent
0:11:20 > 0:11:24from the architecture of ancient Rome,
0:11:24 > 0:11:29and apply it tastefully and playfully to his clients' new homes.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38BELL RINGS
0:11:41 > 0:11:43- Buon giorno.- Buon giorno.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46- Grazie.- Prego.
0:11:51 > 0:11:57'This is the Villa Rotonda, Palladio's most famous creation.
0:11:58 > 0:12:05'It was begun around 1556 for a retired Vatican priest, Paolo Almerico.'
0:12:10 > 0:12:13You may feel that you've seen this before.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15And you have.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20This building inspired the houses of Britain's rich for centuries.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24This is where the English country house was born.
0:12:30 > 0:12:36'It's been so influential that it's easy to forget how radical it was.
0:12:36 > 0:12:43'For a start, it didn't look like somebody's home at all, but more like a Roman temple.
0:12:43 > 0:12:50'Then there is the way it has no front or back like most houses,
0:12:50 > 0:12:55'but is exactly the same on all four sides.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58'This was because it was on a hill,
0:12:58 > 0:13:03'and Palladio wanted it to look beautiful from every vantage point.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09'It is difficult to film inside,
0:13:09 > 0:13:15'but luckily, the Villa Rotonda belongs to a friend of my father's.'
0:14:19 > 0:14:20Ciao.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39MUSIC: "Una Rotonda sul Mare" by Fred Bongusto
0:15:01 > 0:15:03The day is coming to an end.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10I'm going to spend the night in romantica Verona.
0:15:17 > 0:15:25When I was a teenager, a friend a few years older brought me here for crazy parties.
0:15:25 > 0:15:31It was here in Verona that I discovered wine, cigarettes and girls.
0:15:31 > 0:15:38So I felt a little similar to the hero of Shakespeare's great play,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Romeo and Juliet.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Shakespeare's tale of star-crossed lovers
0:15:49 > 0:15:54who find their love destroyed by the hatred between their families
0:15:54 > 0:15:59is the greatest tragedy about young love ever written.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15Thousands of people come each year to this,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19the house that Juliet is supposed to have lived in.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23On the walls of the entrance,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27people record their own experiences in love.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37"I need love".
0:16:39 > 0:16:42"Dino loves Steffi".
0:16:56 > 0:17:02'We are asked to imagine that this balcony, built in 1935,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06'was the setting for the famous love scene
0:17:06 > 0:17:10'where Romeo serenades his beloved Juliet.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17'But if you close your eyes and let your imagination play,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19'anything is possible.'
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Shakespeare never came to Verona,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13and yet he set his greatest love story here.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19It is because Italy was, and is, the country of love.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22MUSIC: "That's Amore" by Dean Martin
0:19:22 > 0:19:25# When the moon hits your eye
0:19:25 > 0:19:29# Like a big pizza pie That's amore... #
0:19:29 > 0:19:35'Here in Italy, we suffer none of your English shyness about our passione d'amore.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38'We express what we feel.'
0:19:38 > 0:19:40- Ciao.- Ciao!
0:19:40 > 0:19:44'We even have a daily ritual devoted to love.
0:19:47 > 0:19:55'Around eight o'clock, we dress in our finest clothes and walk up and down the main street for an hour.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58'It is called the passeggiata.'
0:19:58 > 0:20:02# When the stars make you drool Just like pasta fazool
0:20:02 > 0:20:05# That's amore... #
0:20:05 > 0:20:10We are out to show ourselves, and most of all, to look.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14We are a nation of voyeurs.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18And when we see something we like, we say so.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20- Ciao.- Ciao.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25And if doesn't work, pazienza. No matter,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27we try again.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32# Amore, that's amore... #
0:20:32 > 0:20:33Ciao!
0:20:38 > 0:20:40RADIO CRACKLES
0:20:49 > 0:20:56# Dimmi quando tu verrai... #
0:20:58 > 0:21:02# Dimmi quando, quando, quando
0:21:03 > 0:21:06# E baciandomi dirai
0:21:08 > 0:21:11# Non ci lasceremo mai! #
0:21:11 > 0:21:14MUSIC CONTINUES
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Here there is a ferry.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Let's try to see if with this ferry, we can arrive to Ferrara.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Could be useful.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48# ..Non ci lasceremo mai!
0:21:50 > 0:21:54# Non ci lasceremo mai!
0:21:56 > 0:22:00# Non ci lasceremo mai! #
0:22:18 > 0:22:24'Ferrara is a town famous for its bicycles and grey weather, just like your England.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30'I've come here in pursuit
0:22:30 > 0:22:36'of one of the most beautiful but infamous women who ever lived,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38'Lucrezia Borgia.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45'Lucrezia was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI.
0:22:45 > 0:22:52'It was rumoured she was the lover of both her father and her brother.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56'She became known as "the greatest whore in Rome".
0:22:56 > 0:23:04'But her story would inspire painters, composers and writers through the ages.'
0:23:22 > 0:23:24DOOR BUZZES
0:23:35 > 0:23:41'After marrying the Duke of Ferrara in 1501, Lucrezia changed.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46'She became a loyal wife and a caring mother.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50'She came here to pray and find salvation.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56'Today, the closed order of Clarissa nuns
0:23:56 > 0:24:02'live in the convent as they have done for 600 years.'
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Buon giorno, madre.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05Grazie.
0:24:15 > 0:24:16Grazie.
0:24:19 > 0:24:27'Lucrezia Borgia asked to be buried here modestly, with the rest of her family.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45'To Alfonso, duke of Ferrara.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47'To Lucrezia Borgia, his wife.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51'To Alexandro and Isabelle, their children.'
0:26:42 > 0:26:48'Bologna is a city of ochre brick, quarried from nearby.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52'It gives the place a warmth, even in rainy weather.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58'This is one of Italy's most vibrant cities.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02'It is because of the university at the heart of it.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11'Bologna University was founded in 1088.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16'It is the oldest university in the world.
0:27:16 > 0:27:22'And yes, it is much older than your Oxford and Cambridge!'
0:27:30 > 0:27:35This was the first university to practise human dissection.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39They were trying to reveal the secrets of life.
0:27:39 > 0:27:45It was a journey of discovery as great as putting man on the moon.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59'This dissection theatre was built in 1637.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02'It is made entirely from wood.
0:28:04 > 0:28:10'Built next door to a hospital, the students were never short of bodies.
0:28:10 > 0:28:16'Here, corpses were cut open and analysed,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19'divine mysteries revealed.'
0:28:21 > 0:28:26The church worried that these doctors were trying to play God.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30From behind those doors, the Inquisition watched,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34and often they stopped the dissections.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39'It became difficult for medical students
0:28:39 > 0:28:43'to get first-hand experience of the human body.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49'But an artist called Ercole Lelli came up with a solution.'
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Ercole Lelli made these two statues,
0:28:57 > 0:29:01gli spellati, "the skinned ones", out of wood.
0:29:01 > 0:29:08He liked them a lot and wondered if such models could be more than decorative.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20'In the 1740s,
0:29:20 > 0:29:26'Lelli created eight life-size anatomical models out of wax.
0:29:26 > 0:29:32'He even designed the beautiful cabinets they are in.'
0:29:40 > 0:29:43The method is a little disturbing.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46Although the models are made of wax,
0:29:46 > 0:29:50it is wax shaped around real human skeletons.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06'For the next 100 years, the Bolognese school of wax modelling
0:30:06 > 0:30:12'continued to preserve the afflictions of common people.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22'Yes, these are medical tools,
0:30:22 > 0:30:27'but they are also portraits of the forgotten.'
0:30:39 > 0:30:42BELL CHIMES
0:30:42 > 0:30:46MUSIC: "Cuore Matto" by Little Tony
0:31:25 > 0:31:30In the province of Lombardy is a beautiful land of lakes and rivers.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35'From the waters rises a fairytale city
0:31:35 > 0:31:40'that was the domain of a great family of princes, the Gonzaga.'
0:31:42 > 0:31:47I feel at home in Mantua, because it is built on a lagoon like Venice.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51But it's not to everyone's taste.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54When the Pope came here in 1459,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58he complained that the town was marshy and malarial.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03The Gonzagas never forgot the insult.
0:32:09 > 0:32:15'From that time, the Gonzagas called upon Italy's greatest artists
0:32:15 > 0:32:20'to make their city as magnificent as Roma.
0:32:31 > 0:32:39'It's a great town to drive around, especially as I seem to be the only one on the roads!'
0:32:39 > 0:32:41SIREN WAILS
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Buon giorno.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59'On foot, I make my way to the Palazzo del Te.
0:32:59 > 0:33:06'It was begun around 1526 on the orders of Federigo Gonzaga,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10'who wanted a pleasure palace to take his mistress.'
0:33:17 > 0:33:19The Palazzo del Te
0:33:19 > 0:33:23is a building devoted to the senses.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27This is un palazzo afrodisiaco.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Ah, look,
0:33:41 > 0:33:47up here is written "Honesto ocio post labores",
0:33:47 > 0:33:51"Honest fun after hard work".
0:33:53 > 0:33:58'The artist was Giulio Romano, a young genius who'd had to leave Rome
0:33:58 > 0:34:05'after upsetting the authorities because of his love of erotico.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09'He and Federigo were a perfect match.
0:34:14 > 0:34:20'But the highlight of the palace is the Room of the Giants.'
0:34:29 > 0:34:34It's impossible to describe what I feel being in this room.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38I'm in the centre of a terrible disaster.
0:34:47 > 0:34:53The giants have tried to go to heaven to defeat the gods,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56but Jupiter, the king of the gods,
0:34:56 > 0:35:01has sent them crashing back to earth.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30In this room, Giulio Romano created a total experience.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33Even the sound is epic.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38It's like being in a Hollywood disaster movie.
0:35:49 > 0:35:55'In his time, Giulio Romano was the most famous artist in Italy,
0:35:55 > 0:36:00'the only artist Shakespeare ever praised by name,
0:36:00 > 0:36:04'calling him a "rare Italian master".
0:36:25 > 0:36:29'I'm driving past Lake Garda,
0:36:29 > 0:36:33'the largest of Lombardy's great lakes.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38'Its beauty has inspired poets and musicians.
0:37:07 > 0:37:14'It's hard to guess from these ugly suburbs that I'm entering a city known for money and glamour.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26'Since the economic miracle of Milan in the 1950s,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30'this city has been the powerhouse of Italy.'
0:37:34 > 0:37:39For me, coming to Milan is like going to New York.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42These people are not normal Italians,
0:37:42 > 0:37:48and especially not like us laid-back Venetians.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Here everyone is going somewhere.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53Everyone seems to be busy.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22'Today, Milan is the capital of the fashion world.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27'Designer labels are as important to the Milanese as food and water.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37'Here, even the policewomen wear high heels!
0:38:47 > 0:38:52'Many of Milan's fashion houses have sprung to international fame,
0:38:52 > 0:38:59'none more so than Giorgio Armani, renowned for his "Gigolo" style.
0:39:00 > 0:39:06'Today, he has 346 stores around the world.'
0:41:25 > 0:41:27'Maybe Armani is too smart for me.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31'I'm more at home with my old jacket.'
0:41:52 > 0:41:54I like the tram.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56It's like a little train for kids.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04'Milan is not as beautiful as many Italian towns.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09'Most of the city was devastated during the Second World War.
0:42:10 > 0:42:16'But at its heart, Milan preserves its most precious treasure.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23'It is buried inside the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie.'
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Time has not been kind.
0:42:37 > 0:42:43It is only kept alive through many operations and cosmetic surgery.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51I have to pass through these air cleaning chambers to see it,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55so I don't contaminate it in any way.
0:43:13 > 0:43:19This is one of the jewels of Western civilization,
0:43:19 > 0:43:24a painting so perfect that from the moment it was completed
0:43:24 > 0:43:27it was considered a masterpiece.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Truly, the "miracle of Milan"
0:43:29 > 0:43:34is not the fashion industry or the economy, but this painting.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43'Leonardo completed it in 1498.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47'But within years, due to his mistaken experiment
0:43:47 > 0:43:53'with a new process of painting, it had begun to disintegrate.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56'We almost lost it for ever.
0:43:58 > 0:44:04'In the Second World War, a bomb destroyed most of the room
0:44:04 > 0:44:09'but miraculously left The Last Supper standing.
0:44:10 > 0:44:16'The scene shows the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples
0:44:16 > 0:44:19'before his betrayal and crucifixion.'
0:44:22 > 0:44:28Christ has revealed to the disciples that there is a traitor amongst them.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30"Who is it?" they are thinking.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34"Is it him there? Or is it him next to me?
0:44:34 > 0:44:39"Or, God forbid, have I done something to betray my lord?"
0:44:42 > 0:44:46'Recently, thanks to The Da Vinci Code,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49'people have started to believe
0:44:49 > 0:44:55'the disciple to the left of Christ is not John, but Mary Magdalene.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01'They say that Christ married Mary before his death, and she bore his son.'
0:45:04 > 0:45:10My mother would kill me if she ever heard me talking about such things.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Of course, it's not true.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15Yes, the face of John is feminine.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18But a woman at the Last Supper?
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Blasfemia!
0:45:30 > 0:45:34'Before I leave Milan, I have some family duties to attend to.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39'My brother is taking his boy to watch the football,
0:45:39 > 0:45:43'and my eldest son has come from Venice to go with them.'
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Hey! Ciao!
0:46:03 > 0:46:06'My brother doesn't like football so much,
0:46:06 > 0:46:11'but no cultural tour of Italy would be complete without it.'
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Noooo!
0:46:24 > 0:46:27'All Italians love football -
0:46:27 > 0:46:29'well, almost everybody.
0:46:38 > 0:46:44'And yes, Italian football is as much about acting as skill.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42'I'm on my way to Turin,
0:47:42 > 0:47:48'a city famous for its mountains and winter sports.
0:47:48 > 0:47:54'But above all else, it owes its size and wealth to one thing...'
0:47:54 > 0:47:56HORNS BEEP
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Cars.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10Italian men are romantic.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13But it's difficult to tell what they like best,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16their women, or their cars.
0:48:17 > 0:48:23MUSIC: "Vieni Su" by Dean Martin
0:48:25 > 0:48:30'The man who introduced the car to Italy was Giovanni Agnelli.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38'He started the Fiat company in Turin in 1899.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49'It quickly became Italy's prime producer of automobiles.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54'Fiat came to mean style and wealth.'
0:48:59 > 0:49:01'Everybody wanted one.'
0:49:21 > 0:49:25'I've come to the factory that made Fiat famous.'
0:49:39 > 0:49:41This is the Lingotto factory.
0:49:41 > 0:49:48When it started production in 1919, it was immediately recognized
0:49:48 > 0:49:52as one of the iconic buildings of the modern age.
0:49:55 > 0:50:00'The Lingotto factory is half a kilometre long.
0:50:00 > 0:50:09'It accommodated 20,000 workers in 43,000 square metres of floor space.
0:50:12 > 0:50:20'But what impressed people most was the racetrack on the roof, where new cars were tested.
0:50:34 > 0:50:39'The daring design of this factory made it admired all over the world.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46'Italy, it seemed to say, was much more than a museum.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49'We were speeding into the future.'
0:51:06 > 0:51:12'By the end of the 20th century, Turin had become known as Fiatville,
0:51:12 > 0:51:16'and the Agnelli were the royal family.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21'I'm about to meet the new king.'
0:51:39 > 0:51:42'John's story is full of sorrow.
0:51:42 > 0:51:47'Now he's one of the richest men in Italy, but it wasn't how it was meant to be.
0:51:48 > 0:51:56'Nine years ago, he was only fifth in line to the Agnelli throne, and growing up in America.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01'But a series of unexpected deaths threw him into the seat of power.'
0:53:42 > 0:53:50'Even when it's stormy and out of season, my last destination has a special mood,
0:53:50 > 0:53:52'a drama of its own.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56'It's everyone's favourite summer place
0:53:56 > 0:54:01'and one of the most romantic coastlines in the world.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26'Portofino has long been a romantic retreat for the stars -
0:54:26 > 0:54:32'Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
0:54:33 > 0:54:39'Even today, this place is a paparazzi's paradise.'
0:54:43 > 0:54:45My family has a house nearby,
0:54:45 > 0:54:50and every year when I was a boy, we would spend the summer here.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53And I remember arriving here
0:54:53 > 0:54:56and diving from the rocks into the water.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59But you couldn't just dive.
0:54:59 > 0:55:04You had to wait until there were a lot of girls looking, then dive!
0:55:05 > 0:55:08Una bella giornata oggi! Andiamo.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY MUSIC
0:55:42 > 0:55:47You see, the people of northern Italy come here for pleasure.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50They have sailing boats, villas.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52This one is that of Dolce Gabbana.
0:55:52 > 0:55:57They have an entire garden here, with four villas.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59Nice place.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08'There is a final thing I want to show you.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13'For me, it is a chance to make a childhood dream come true,
0:56:13 > 0:56:18'a secret place I have only heard about.'
0:56:38 > 0:56:44I was only eight when I heard that Christ lived under the water off the coast here.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47Of course, I was astonished.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49Christ, under the water?
0:56:49 > 0:56:52How strange!
0:56:52 > 0:56:57I learned to dive in the hope that one day I might go see him,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00but up until now, I have never done so.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43'This is the Cristo degli Abissi,
0:57:43 > 0:57:49'the Christ of the Abyss, placed here under the water 50 years ago.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00'It may not be the oldest or most beautiful Christ,
0:58:00 > 0:58:06'but it is for me the most romantic and heroic in all Italy.'
0:58:30 > 0:58:34'In the next leg of my journey,
0:58:34 > 0:58:37'I travel through Tuscany, a magical region,
0:58:37 > 0:58:43'a land so filled with artistic treasures and natural beauty
0:58:43 > 0:58:46'that it has become the envy of you British.'
0:58:49 > 0:58:51Fabuloso.
0:58:51 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Suzanne Macdonald Red Bee Media Ltd 2006