0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.
0:00:08 > 0:00:15I've been travelling all through my country and now I've reached the south.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23It is a region of great natural beauty
0:00:23 > 0:00:27and villages where time stands still.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35This is a land where religion still holds sway over reason,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38tradition over modernity.
0:00:52 > 0:00:58You know, northerners can feel a little daunted by the south, a bit out of place.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01But I'm not worried... because I'm one of them.
0:01:01 > 0:01:08My mother is pure Sicilian and our family has been here for 500 years.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12In a strange way, this part of my trip
0:01:12 > 0:01:14will be a homecoming.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13I'm entering Puglia, the region we call "il tacco d'Italia",
0:02:13 > 0:02:16the heel of Italy.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18It's an enchanted land.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35It's no secret that we Italians don't like paying taxes.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38But only in this part of Italy
0:02:38 > 0:02:42has tax-evasion resulted in a unique form of art.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52This is the land of the trulli,
0:02:52 > 0:02:58cone-shaped houses that date back hundreds of years.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07The strange design of the trulli is for one reason -
0:03:07 > 0:03:10so they could be dismantled very easily.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13They were made without cement,
0:03:13 > 0:03:18so they could pull the top, il tappo, the plug, out of the trulli
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and all would collapse.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26So when the local count heard the tax man was coming,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29all the tappo were pulled out.
0:03:29 > 0:03:35Each trulli would fall down and he wouldn't have to pay property tax.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37But the Count was...
0:03:37 > 0:03:41The word in Italian is bastardo.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45You see, he didn't pay tax himself,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49but he made all his tenants pay tax to him.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59Over the centuries, entire villages of trulli sprung up.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08This is Alberobello.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Nowadays, you are allowed to use cement
0:04:14 > 0:04:18and the trulli make popular homes.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:05:52 > 0:05:57In the Middle Ages, Puglia was the heart of a great civilization.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02I'm heading towards a building
0:06:02 > 0:06:06as mysterious as the great pyramids of Egypt.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27This is Castel del Monte.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28When I came here as a boy,
0:06:28 > 0:06:33I thought I had entered an ancient and mystical land.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41This is no ordinary castle.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46There's no moat, no drawbridge, no windows for pouring down boiling oil.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53No, this is a place devoted to magic.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The castle has eight walls,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01each of which ends in a tower with eight sides.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12In the middle is an eight-sided courtyard.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Inside, every floor has eight rooms.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Why all these eights?
0:07:23 > 0:07:28In the Middle Ages, the eight was the number of divine balance,
0:07:28 > 0:07:33of harmony between the real and spiritual world.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09I said this castle is a mystery.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13People came here in search of divine wisdom.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18They would have understood the true meaning of this castle.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21But we today can only wonder.
0:08:42 > 0:08:48Below the town of Ostuni sit luscious and ancient olive groves.
0:08:54 > 0:08:55But I am not alone.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01Here lurks a terrifying creature.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Well, perhaps not this terrifying!
0:09:09 > 0:09:15But a tarantula spider nevertheless that has inspired a local tradition.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21I've come to Ostuni to see a dance so powerful
0:09:21 > 0:09:26that it is said to cure the bite of the tarantula spider.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38This is the tarantella.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43At first glance, it looks not unlike your Morris dancing,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47but this is about to get very wild.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54The tarantella has been danced since the 1300s
0:09:54 > 0:09:58when a plague of spiders hit the town of Ostuni.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04For centuries, it was believed the dance was the only way
0:10:04 > 0:10:09to cure the effects of the spider's poison.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14Now, it's just an excuse for a good party!
0:10:18 > 0:10:22In the past, dances like this used to go on for days.
0:10:22 > 0:10:29Even now, when people hear the music, they feel compelled to join in.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59I'm on the road to Matera, in Italy's poorest region.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Built into the side of a gorge,
0:12:06 > 0:12:13it is a town of cave dwellings known as Sassi.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18In a region of constant war and plunder,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22the Sassi were easy to defend.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40This was a town with one purpose - survival.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49Well into the 20th century, Matera's poverty was shocking.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54The reports of visitors describe starving and diseased children
0:12:54 > 0:12:57begging not for money, but medicine.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Peasants and farmers lived here
0:13:23 > 0:13:26with their families and their animals.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31The only source of ventilation and light was the entrance door.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34No running water.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36It must have been really grim.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01By the 1950s, the squalor of the Sassi was so staggering
0:14:01 > 0:14:05that it became known as "la vergogna d'Italia",
0:14:05 > 0:14:08the shame of Italy.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16Back then, many Sassi were abandoned,
0:14:16 > 0:14:23but 50 years on, the Sassi are being cleaned up and lived in again.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31Today, even tourists are finding their way to Matera
0:14:31 > 0:14:33to see a forgotten treasure.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44This rock church was created in the Middle Ages.
0:14:57 > 0:15:04It was carved out of the solid rock of the cliff face in the 8th century.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Frescoes, painted sometime around 1100,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22decorate the triple-aisled church.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32This is the Madonna del Latte,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus.
0:16:20 > 0:16:26It is Easter Saturday, a day of mourning for the dead Christ.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52Only on this day does the 16th century figure
0:16:52 > 0:16:57of the Addolorata Maria, the Virgin Mary holding the body of Christ,
0:16:57 > 0:16:58leave the church.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02She is carried through the streets of Nocera Terinese.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24This Easter procession is typical of towns all over the south.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30But here the villagers take their devotion further.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35I'd been warned the scenes are not for the faint-hearted.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43Events climax as the men of the town flagellate themselves
0:17:43 > 0:17:47until the streets run red with blood.
0:17:47 > 0:17:53They believe their suffering takes them closer to Christ in his passion.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23I'm going to the house of Giovanni Raschilla.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38To smell the blood, to see the face of the little boy,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42it's a day I will not forget.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51It makes me feel a foreigner in my own country.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40On the end of Italy's big toe sits the town of Reggio Calabria,
0:21:40 > 0:21:46a dirty and bustling port, usually a place to pass through, not to stay.
0:22:00 > 0:22:0530 years ago, Reggio Calabria wasn't on the tourist map.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Then in the sea off the coast
0:22:08 > 0:22:12were discovered two of the greatest artworks of the classical age.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24The Riace Bronzes were created 2,500 years ago,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27but lost in a shipwreck.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40It is thought they were made by the Greek sculptor Phidias,
0:22:40 > 0:22:46who also sculpted the Elgin Marbles for the Parthenon in Athens.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51What are these sublime figures?
0:22:51 > 0:22:52Men or gods?
0:22:52 > 0:22:57They look both human and divine at the same time.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02They are an idealized view of the human form.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14Their discovery would rewrite the history of art.
0:23:17 > 0:23:23This was sculpture of a quality no-one thought possible of classical Greece.
0:23:25 > 0:23:31They are made of bronze, but the eyes are inlaid with bone and glass,
0:23:31 > 0:23:37the teeth made of silver, the lips and nipples of copper.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42The statues are very lifelike.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Despite being bronze, they seem to be real flesh.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Indeed, it's all I can do to stop myself reaching out...
0:23:56 > 0:24:00Always sign of a good statue, I think.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Grazie.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22After my travels through the Italian mainland,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26now I'm going home to the land of my mother.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29I've spent so much of my life here.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47This is how, when I was a boy, we would arrive to Sicily.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51I always see this exotic island appearing before us
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and I would feel a tremendous excitement.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Sicily is the jewel of the Mediterranean.
0:25:37 > 0:25:43In its long history, it has been conquered by the Greeks,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45Romans, Arabs,
0:25:45 > 0:25:52Normans, Spaniards, French and now the Italians!
0:25:56 > 0:25:59What has made Sicily so desirable
0:25:59 > 0:26:04is its strategic position in the middle of the Mediterranean
0:26:04 > 0:26:05and its fertility.
0:26:05 > 0:26:11The Romans call it, "the nurse at whose breast the Roman people are fed".
0:26:11 > 0:26:15This was a prize worth winning.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22To travel through Sicily is to travel back in time.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I feel like your British timelord.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30How you say? Dr What?
0:26:39 > 0:26:44It was the ancient Greeks who first colonized Sicily
0:26:44 > 0:26:46in the 8th century BC.
0:26:46 > 0:26:52They transformed the east coast of the island into a centre of trade
0:26:52 > 0:27:00and artistic excellence that would rival Athens itself.
0:27:00 > 0:27:06It's often forgotten that the great minds of ancient Greece found their homes here -
0:27:06 > 0:27:09Plato, the philosopher,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12Archimedes, the mathematician,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Aeschylus, the playwright.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22This is the Greek theatre of Taormina,
0:27:22 > 0:27:28just one of Sicily's great ruins from the classical age.
0:27:28 > 0:27:35Its stage provides a stunning frame for the volcano of Mount Etna.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38From the dawn of time,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42it has dominated the island and the lives of its people.
0:27:53 > 0:27:59The name Etna comes from the ancient Greek, to burn.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04It takes an hour to reach the base camp of the volcano by car
0:28:04 > 0:28:09and then it's a tough four-hour climb through snow
0:28:09 > 0:28:11to the rim of the crater.
0:28:19 > 0:28:20- Ciao.- Ciao.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Etna is the largest volcano in Europe
0:29:03 > 0:29:07and one of the most active in the world.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Nine climbers were killed in a recent eruption.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59In the 2nd century BC,
0:33:59 > 0:34:04the Greeks were thrown out of Sicily by the Romans.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07This is the Villa del Casale,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11home to the greatest Roman mosaics in the world.
0:34:36 > 0:34:37These mosaics are amazing.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40For me, they are just as impressive
0:34:40 > 0:34:43as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Roma.
0:34:46 > 0:34:51They cover 3,500 square metres,
0:34:51 > 0:34:58about 129 million pieces in 37 different colours.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06They are an amazing window into Roman life.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18Most breathtaking is this 65-metre-long mosaic.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20It shows hunting scenes
0:35:20 > 0:35:26with exotic wild animals from across the Roman empire.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38It is believed the villa belonged to Maximianus Herculeus,
0:35:38 > 0:35:44Roman emperor from 286 to 305AD.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47He used it for entertaining!
0:35:57 > 0:36:01Maybe these were some of the Emperor's girlfriends.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35After the Roman Empire collapsed,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40Normans and Arabs fought for control of the island.
0:36:44 > 0:36:49For centuries, Sicily was a dangerous place,
0:36:49 > 0:36:54so people built their homes on mountaintops.
0:36:54 > 0:37:01Now they look picturesque, but these were villages built for defence.
0:37:14 > 0:37:20You know, one of the things I love about Sicily is the little villages.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23They feel so secluded and timeless.
0:37:23 > 0:37:30When you come here, it's important to make time to stop and just walk around.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38There are certain things you will always see.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Any self-respecting Sicilian village
0:37:49 > 0:37:53will have lots of stray cats and dogs.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00There are children playing football on the street.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08The teenagers, all dressed up with nowhere to go.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Old women making lace...
0:38:13 > 0:38:17..while their husbands play cards in the bar.
0:38:43 > 0:38:49I'm heading towards the south coast of Sicily on a personal pilgrimage.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59I'm an architect and every architect has a dream -
0:38:59 > 0:39:06that one day, he might be able to build a town entirely from scratch.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09And that's just what happened in 1693
0:39:09 > 0:39:14when the city of Noto was destroyed by an earthquake.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19The reconstruction was given to the Duke of Camastra,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22a powerful Sicilian aristocrat.
0:39:26 > 0:39:32The Duke's vision was to build Noto bigger and better than before.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35It would be marveled at for its beauty and brilliance
0:39:35 > 0:39:39and his name would be remembered for evermore.
0:39:43 > 0:39:49The Duke enlisted the greatest Sicilian architects of the day.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52They created a baroque masterpiece.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02This city is a stage set.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07Every facade is designed to impress
0:40:07 > 0:40:11with fine decoration and sculpture.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14You know, Noto has many beautiful buildings,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17but what I like best are the little details.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20This style of balconies,
0:40:20 > 0:40:25supported by strange creatures and cherubs, is unique to Sicily.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27I love them.
0:40:42 > 0:40:47But while being very beautiful, Noto was doomed from the start.
0:40:51 > 0:40:57The problem is that it was all made from this - the local limestone.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00It's soft and good for delicate carving.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03But it has a bad side.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05It's very fragile.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09Within 200 years, Noto was falling apart.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21The city of beautiful facades and promenades
0:41:21 > 0:41:25has become one of not so beautiful scaffolding.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32This is the duomo.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35It is in so much trouble
0:41:35 > 0:41:41it has scaffolding on the outside and on the inside too.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50It breaks my heart to see it.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56Like Venice, a tragic uncertainty hangs over the city.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16RADIO:
0:42:41 > 0:42:45HE SINGS ALONG IN ITALIAN
0:43:09 > 0:43:13HE SINGS ALONG IN ITALIAN
0:43:43 > 0:43:45In the 18th century,
0:43:45 > 0:43:50Sicily was controlled by a handful of aristocratic families.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53It was an age of extravagance.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04In the town of Bagheria, they competed to build
0:44:04 > 0:44:08the most brilliant and impressive country houses.
0:44:16 > 0:44:22This is the Villa Palagonia, built in 1715.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35The garden is full of grotesque statues.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39They were made by a prince of Palagonia
0:44:39 > 0:44:43as caricatures of his wife's lovers.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02Like most feudal lords,
0:45:02 > 0:45:07the Sicilian aristocracy were rich, but did no work themselves.
0:45:07 > 0:45:12Their lives were dedicated to pleasure
0:45:12 > 0:45:16and no palace was complete without a ballroom!
0:45:21 > 0:45:26Imagine this place lit by a thousand candles,
0:45:26 > 0:45:32dark, handsome princes wheeling their elegant, dazzling women
0:45:32 > 0:45:35in a waltz around this room.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40And the mirrors on the ceiling repeating to infinity
0:45:40 > 0:45:43the image of the dancers beneath.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47And everyone dizzy and spinning with champagne.
0:45:50 > 0:45:56They must have thought the dance would go on forever.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13But the aristocracy spent beyond their means.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17In the late 19th century,
0:46:17 > 0:46:25the princes of Palagonia, like many Sicilian nobles, had to sell up.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27It was the end of an era.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00Palermo is the capital city of Sicily.
0:47:00 > 0:47:06Its elegant streets are lined with magnificent buildings and statues,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09amongst the finest in Italy.
0:47:15 > 0:47:20But step off the main streets and it's a different story.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45The city was badly bombed in the Second World War
0:47:45 > 0:47:47and it has never recovered.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59I'm in the centre of Palermo.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02It's incredible that, after all these years,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06these buildings have been left like this.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08Why?
0:48:08 > 0:48:10There is a word that might explain it.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18After the war, money was siphoned
0:48:18 > 0:48:25into Mafia-controlled building projects on the edge of town
0:48:25 > 0:48:27and the centre left to rot.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34For several decades, Palermo was a difficult place to live.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38And as late as the 1980s and '90s,
0:48:38 > 0:48:43violent death was common on the streets of the city.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49BELL TOLLS
0:49:00 > 0:49:08Sicilians see death kind of like un parente noioso, a boring relative,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11not much fun to be with,
0:49:11 > 0:49:16but since a visit is inevitable, one might as well make the best of it.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Until a decade ago, when it was outlawed,
0:49:24 > 0:49:30it was common for people to have picnics on their family tombs.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Flowers and picnics is one way of dealing with death.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42But under the ground here is another.
0:50:25 > 0:50:31I've only been here once before, as a boy, and I was fascinated by it.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34But I know you British have a problem with death,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37so those of you who are a little "sensitivo"
0:50:37 > 0:50:39may want to cover your eyes.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56For the past 500 years,
0:50:56 > 0:51:01this has been the resting place of the Capuchin monks.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12They didn't like to bury their dead, but to embalm them.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22At first, only monks were interred here.
0:51:22 > 0:51:28But then anybody who could afford it could find a home here too.
0:51:32 > 0:51:39There are special sections for men, women, lawyers, doctors and priests.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46There are about 8,000 bodies here.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00Once you get over the shock of this cemetery, it is empowering.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05We spend so much of life worrying about Death visiting us,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08so it's nice to go visit Death.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12And when I am bored of her company, I can leave.
0:52:12 > 0:52:13Ciao!
0:52:28 > 0:52:34I'm heading for the airport to pick up someone very special.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38She's coming in on the flight from Venice.
0:52:38 > 0:52:44In my tour through Italy, I've tried to show you the things that make us unique.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48But I still have to show to you the most valuable thing.
0:52:48 > 0:52:55For us Italians, it's more important than religion, art, or politics.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57Mama!
0:53:03 > 0:53:08The relationship between the Italian male and his mother is sacred.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14He never grows out of her control.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46My mother's family have been in Palermo for 500 years.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54Her family, the dukes of Archirafi,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57once owned the land in the centre of town
0:53:57 > 0:54:00which is now the Botanical Garden.
0:54:26 > 0:54:32My mother is going to take me to the old family home where she was born
0:54:32 > 0:54:36and where my cousins still live.
0:55:58 > 0:56:04Seeing these photos, it makes me think about my own children.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11It seems so long ago I left them behind in Venice.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08My journey has come to an end and I have to say,
0:58:08 > 0:58:12it is difficult for me to come to a conclusion about my trip.
0:58:12 > 0:58:19We Italians say our country is un bel casino, a beautiful confusion,
0:58:19 > 0:58:23not to be explained, but experienced.
0:58:23 > 0:58:25But what a journey!
0:58:25 > 0:58:28It was great fun, no?
0:58:56 > 0:58:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 2006
0:58:59 > 0:59:02E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk