Europe From Above (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Italy - full transcript
NARRATOR: Italy.
With a unique aerial view,
we reveal the heart of the ancient world.
A land of excitement and wonder,
where age-old traditions
(car engine revving)
...rub shoulders
with modern engineering marvels,
to create a landscape
like no other in the world.
In this series, we'll take
an aerial tour across Europe,
seeing its sights
from a brand-new perspective.
Filmed from above,
over the course of a single year,
as the landscape transforms
through the changing seasons,
we will uncover the culture,
history, and engineering
that built the great European nations
we see today.
Italy,
a 1,000-kilometer peninsula
that reaches into the Mediterranean sea.
The country has a population
of more than 60 million,
but through the year,
visitors double that number.
In summer, tourists flock
to the beaches of the south,
and in winter,
the ski resorts of the north.
But as the snow melts...
the coming of spring
heralds a rush of tourists
to Italy's most famous historic cities.
Florence, with its world-renowned Duomo,
Milan's iconic medieval cathedral,
and Pisa's leaning tower.
But the most visited city of them all
is the nation's capital, Rome.
For over 400 years,
this city ruled the world
as the home of the Roman Empire,
and the buildings left behind
attract dizzying numbers of sightseers.
Over nine million people come here
each year to marvel at the Colosseum,
the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon.
This influx can be a problem
for the people who live and work here,
including the 800 residents
of the Vatican City,
the world's smallest country.
This is the headquarters
of the Roman Catholic Church
and the home of the Pope.
Thierry Roch is a member
of the Pope's elite security force,
the Swiss Guard.
THIERRY ROCH (in Italian translated
to English): I've been part
of the Swiss Guard for over two years.
It's a service
we do for the church and for the Pope.
NARRATOR: Thierry is also
a long distance runner
for the Vatican City athletics team.
A club with big ambitions,
because they hope to one day compete
for their nation in the Olympic Games.
The Vatican sits at the very heart
of Rome's bustling tourist zone.
Every day, the streets are packed
with thousands of visitors,
which can make running a challenge
for Thierry.
To avoid the crowds,
he and two of his teammates
start their training at 5:00 a.m.
His five-kilometer training run takes him
through the gates of the Vatican...
and headlong into
one of Rome's finest baroque piazzas,
past one of the world's most famous
temples,
Rome's oldest standing structures,
and finally,
the most famous attraction of them all,
the Colosseum.
A route packed with history.
Thierry and his teammates
first cross the Tiber,
the river that brought wheat, olive oil,
and wine from the empire, into Rome.
Seen from above,
the capital's famous bridges
appear almost unrecognizable
without traffic and tourists.
As Thierry reaches the Piazza Navona,
he treads
in the footsteps of sporting history.
Almost 1,000 years ago, a 15,000 capacity
athletics arena stood here.
A bird's eye view reveals that the piazza
bears the shape of this stadium,
to this day.
It was Rome's first
permanent sport's venue.
It held track and field competitions,
as well as horse races.
The athletes approach their next landmark,
a Roman building
that's normally surrounded by sightseers.
This is the 2,000-year-old Pantheon.
From above, we can marvel at a sight
impossible to see from the ground.
The vast dome
that sits above this ancient church
looks just like an eyeball.
Roman engineers crafted it from concrete,
a material so tough,
it appears almost new,
despite it having stood for millennia.
The oculus at its center
lightens the load of this roof.
A structural trick that helped make this
the largest free-standing dome
in the world, for over 1,000 years.
The Vatican athletes reach the Roman Forum
just as the sun creeps over the horizon.
The Forum was an open public square,
surrounded by
the empire's most spectacular structures,
but this land was just a swamp...
until the Romans engineered
a complex canal system
to drain it straight into the Tiber.
Amazingly, this ancient system
still functions today.
With the sun now up,
the team don't have long
before tourists make their run impossible,
but the finish line is in sight.
The Colosseum...
this vast stadium is over 1,900 years old.
It has an underground level and could hold
crowds of 50,000 at its peak.
Inside,
gladiators would fight to the death,
or battle wild animals that were released
from 36 trapdoors.
ROCH (in Italian translated
to English): My favorite monument,
I think, is the Colosseum,
because it looks like football stadiums
of today.
NARRATOR:
Thierry finishes just in time.
It's another perfectly planned run,
and one step closer to his dream
of winning a medal at the Olympic games.
Rome is Italy's most popular
tourist destination...
but running at a close second
is one of the world's most unusual cities.
From high above the clouds,
Italy's northern Adriatic coastline
appears fractured,
with dozens of tiny low-lying islands.
A closer look at the largest
reveals something extraordinary,
houses and waterways
and hundreds of boats.
This is Venice, a city built on water.
From above, we can wonder
at the labyrinth of winding waterways.
Centered on the opulent Piazza San Marco,
with its huge bell tower
and gilded basilica.
With no cars or roads,
everyone travels by boat,
including the 20 million people
who visit the city each year.
But the luxuriant wonders of Venice
are only accessible
because one team of people
is prepared to get their hands dirty.
It rests on the shoulders of engineer,
Lorenzo Bottazzo,
to keep the traffic flowing.
From above,
the scale of the task becomes clear.
150 canals
that require constant maintenance.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English): To work in Venice
is very fascinating.
Being surrounded
by so much history and art
is a strong motivation to do this job.
NARRATOR:
Lorenzo's biggest enemy is silt.
It washes in from the surrounding lagoon
and gets trapped
in Venice's narrow canals.
Left alone, silt would build up
and make it impossible
for boats to get through the waterways.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English): It is necessary
to dredge the canals
to ensure clear access to
the fire brigade, ambulance, and police.
NARRATOR: Silt could gridlock
these historic canals.
To combat the problem, Lorenzo's team
use this floating mega machine.
This unique craft
has a 4-meter mechanical crane,
a hydraulic shovel, and it can shift
95 tons of silt every day.
Today, Lorenzo must clear
this section of the Santa Maria Canal.
As the morning rush hour
boat traffic subsides,
his team block off the canal
so they can work undisturbed.
But they must work quickly.
Obstructing vital waterways in a city
this size could cause traffic mayhem.
Lorenzo has just seven hours
to clear the Santa Maria Canal
before it needs to reopen
for the 5:00 p.m. rush hour.
Here, the silt has built up
to a meter and a half
below the surface of the water.
The dredger's hydraulic shovel can
remove just 12 kilos of silt at a time.
So, Lorenzo and his team
have their work cut out for them,
but the elements are on their side today.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English):Today, the weather is good
and the work is going to plan.
NARRATOR: As the day draws to a close,
the dredger releases
the final scoop of silt into the boat.
The Santa Maria Canal
can now be reopened to traffic.
But Lorenzo's work
is never completely finished.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English):The project includes
the excavation of 21 canals.
It will take 410 days,
and every ten years,
all the canals in the historic center
need to be excavated.
NARRATOR: Thanks to Lorenzo and his team,
Venice will remain a bustling,
vibrant destination for another season.
In Italy, busy, densely populated cities
like this are a northern phenomenon.
In contrast,
the rural south is sparsely occupied.
It's where quiet towns cling to cliffs
and empty ruins look out to sea.
And yet, when spring turns to summer,
a transformation occurs...
as high temperatures send people
flocking to the southern coastline.
But humans
aren't the only living creatures
that migrate here when summer arrives.
Ocean fish swim to the shallow waters
of the south to mate,
where they are chased by some
of the world's weirdest looking boats.
From high above the clouds, mainland Italy
and its southern neighbor, Sicily,
appear to be joined,
but looking closer
reveals a narrow passage of water
separating the two,
just three kilometers wide.
This is the Strait of Messina.
Francesco Billé has fished these waters
in the Strait of Messina
for nearly 30 years.
He uses a boat with a long protruding bow,
that bears a strange resemblance
to his prey...
the swordfish.
FRANCESCO BILLÉ (in Italian translated
to English): Swordfish is special
for its taste, it's great to eat
and catching it is special too.
NARRATOR: Today is the start
of the new fishing season.
Francesco takes to the sea
in his unusual looking vessel.
It's called a felucca.
From the top of the 25-meter mast,
his team scan the waters for swordfish.
Being so high allows them to see
as much of the Strait as possible.
Francesco's job is to harpoon
the swordfish from the end of the gangway.
From here, Francesco can sneak up
on his prey
without the noise of the engine
scaring them off.
Sicilian marine engineers have to use
ingenious technology
to stop these boats from capsizing
during a high-speed chase.
They fit over 900 meters of steel cable
between the gangway and the mast.
The cable helps support the boat
in choppy seas...
and below the water line,
they position dozens of 30-kg weights
to act as a counterbalance and stop
the boat capsizing on tight turns.
At the top of the high mast,
three fishermen monitor the water,
tirelessly scanning for
the distinctive shape of the swordfish.
BILLÉ (in Italian translated
to English): It's very difficult
because swordfish are camouflaged
in the water.
NARRATOR: Suddenly,
they spot a swordfish dead ahead.
Francesco stalks up the gangway
and prepares to strike.
BILLÉ (in Italian translated to English):
Its head and tail move all the time,
you've got one second and one shot,
you can't afford any mistakes,
because if you miss that second,
the fish is gone.
NARRATOR: He picks up the harpoon,
launches it at the shadow in the water,
and hits.
BILLÉ (in Italian):
Did you see? I got it.
Come down, Tino.
NARRATOR: The swordfish
is now attached to a long rope.
Surprisingly,
Francesco then lets out the line
so the fish can swim.
This will tire the fearsome swordfish out
and should make it safer for the team
to bring it aboard.
With the animal exhausted,
Francesco easily reels it to the boat,
and with the help of his team,
drags it on board.
They swiftly dispatch the giant fish
and then mark its right cheek
with a double cross,
a tradition to show their respect
to a valued adversary.
Success means
they must get their catch to dry land.
The Mediterranean has been over fished
in recent decades,
but Francesco's historic harpoon hunting
is regarded as the most sustainable way
to live off these waters.
People have been hunting swordfish here
for over 2,000 years.
It's just one of the ways of life
that ties modern Italy to its unique past.
The rich, fertile lands of the south
provide food in abundance
and civilizations have thrived here
for thousands of years.
Ancient Greeks settled 2,700 years ago,
long before the rise of the Roman Empire.
But all these civilizations
have lived in the shadow of monsters...
and they still do.
Vast, cone-shaped mountains
loom over southern Italy.
This is volcano country.
In 79 AD, the volcano, Vesuvius, erupted,
destroying the Roman city, Pompeii.
Could a similar tragedy strike again?
Italy is home to over a dozen volcanoes,
and three remain active to this day.
This is the only mainland country
in Europe
that lives in fear of these monsters.
Towering above Sicily lies Etna,
the most active volcano of them all.
Etna is so tall that snow covers its peak,
but it can turn into
a fire-breathing monster in an instant.
In December, 2018,
Etna erupted violently,
spraying lava into the sky for days.
The volcano threatens the lives
of the hundreds of thousands of people
who live around it.
But nobody was killed, thanks to the work
of scientists like Marco Neri.
It's his job to monitor the volcano.
Spotting unusual activity early,
buys precious time
for the area to be evacuated.
He climbs to the site
of the recent eruption
to take the volcano's temperature
and survey the atmosphere.
With this information,
he can predict when it will blow again.
MARCO NERI (in Italian translated
to English): We have the obligation
and the duty to monitor it,
so that we can forewarn
of potentially dangerous eruptions.
NARRATOR: Over a million people
live within Etna's blast radius,
and Marco knows it's not a matter of "if"
but "when" the next eruption will blow.
NERI (in Italian translated to English):
Etna is one of the most
active volcanoes in the world.
You can sometimes feel
the ground vibrating,
thanks to the small explosions
that take place inside.
NARRATOR: From above,
we can see the deep fissures
that the 2018 eruption
tore into Etna's flank.
Today, Marco must take the temperature
of this isolated region
on the southeast of the mountain.
Just a few months ago,
this whole area was molten lava.
He uses an infrared camera
to check for high temperatures.
If the temperature has risen
over 20 degrees since his last visit,
it could be the first signal
that an eruption is imminent.
NERI (in Italian): Every thermal image
is studied and analyzed by computer
to understand exactly
the temperature of the surface.
NARRATOR: Right now,
the temperatures are in the safe zone,
but Marco needs to be sure
that Etna poses no threat today,
so he takes a crucial second reading.
If pressure is building
beneath the surface of the volcano,
the first thing that comes out
is not lava but radon gas.
Marco monitors the levels of radon here,
to forecast if dangerous forces
are being concentrated within the volcano.
NERI (in Italian translated to English):
This is our main objective,
to monitor Etna, because it represents
the greatest danger for us.
NARRATOR: Today, the temperatures
and radon levels tell Marco,
Etna is at rest.
The people of Sicily can sleep easy,
for now.
As the Italian summer
slowly turns to autumn,
much of the country
burns into red and brown.
But there's one part
of the Italian landscape that's evergreen.
Reaching into the Adriatic Sea
is the region of Puglia,
the sun-bleached stiletto in Italy's heel.
Almost 20% of the land in Puglia
is studded with a strange green stubble,
but what is this mysterious
recurring pattern?
Looking closer reveals that
they are Puglia's evergreen, olive groves.
Almost half of Italy's supply of olive oil
comes from this region.
It's a crucial ingredient
in almost all Italian cuisine...
but production relies
on the successful autumn harvest.
It's November and smallholder,
Giovanni Principe,
has spotted the sign that his olives
must be picked now.
PRINCIPE (in Italian translated
to English): We look for olives
which are half black, and half green,
so we have a good
final product, a good harvest.
If it's black and too mature,
the olive is not good.
This is the right color.
NARRATOR: Giovanni owns a small share
in this vast olive grove.
In autumn, he and his neighbors
descend on the groves
to bring in the harvest.
Olives ripen quickly and these
will soon change color and turn bitter,
making them unusable for good olive oil.
So Giovanni and the other pickers
have to work fast.
Anything less than 50 trees,
fully picked today,
would be a disaster
for their busy schedule.
Puglia's olive-growing farmers,
must harvest almost one million acres
of farmland each autumn.
To speed up the process,
they use special forks
to shake the olives down from the trees.
The forks have vibrating prongs,
powered by compressed air,
that help force the olives
off the branches.
These rakes comb through the leaves
without damaging the fruit or trees.
They're making good progress,
but to make the best oil,
they have to get the olives to the press
before the sun sets.
For Giovanni, the clock is ticking.
It's nearly evening,
but Giovanni has made it to the end
of today's all important target,
tree number 50.
Hundreds of thousands of olives
now carpet the ground.
Giovanni must now rush
to heave the olives to the next farm.
Here, his neighbor,
Antonella Bisceglia, takes over.
She owns the olive press
that will turn the fruit into oil.
BISCEGLIA:
When we do the harvest,
we have to produce the olive oil
in 24 hours,
because it is the right time
to have the best quality of olive oil.
NARRATOR: Today's harvest
has yielded over a ton of olives.
Olives begin to sour
if they are not pressed
on the same day they are picked.
So, the race is on for Antonella
to turn it into good oil,
known here as green gold.
(speaking in Italian)
For Giovanni, the sweet smell
tells him it's mission accomplished.
It's the first 200 liters
of oil for the season,
and they alone
are worth thousands of Euro.
For the olive farmers of Puglia,
the stakes are high,
but the rewards are rich.
Autumn is the culmination of a year's work
for the farmers of southern Italy,
but to the north of the country,
this season brings heavy rains
and danger to a way of life
that has existed for thousands of years.
Northern Italy
is filled with high mountain ranges,
and in Tuscany, geology and industry
have transformed the rocky landscape.
From above, the hills surrounding Carrara
appear pure white,
but this isn't snow.
These are marble quarries.
Carrara's quarries have been active
since the time of the Romans.
Fantiscritti
is one of the region's largest.
Generations of miners have extracted
the white rock from these cliffs
to make everything from luxury
bathrooms to fine statues.
Today, quarry manager, Alessandro Figaia,
has a big order to fulfill.
FIGAIA: The marble
that we excavate this morning
will go in a big commercial project
in the United States.
When somebody buys marble from Carrara,
he buys tradition, he buys skills,
he buys something that will last forever.
NARRATOR: But Alessandro has a problem.
Torrential autumn rains
have weakened the surrounding rocks.
Tiny fractures could have loosened marble
on the quarry's man-made cliff face.
This poses a life-threatening risk
to the quarry workers below.
So, Alessandro closes the site down
and calls on a gang of specialists
to hunt down and remove dangerous rocks.
These men are called techioli,
and they patrol
the quarry's crumbling cliff face.
FIGAIA: The techioli, they're our angels,
they take care of us, they protect us.
They make sure all of the quarry's safe.
NARRATOR: The techioli
work on the cliff face of the quarry,
suspended on long ropes.
FIGAIA: They have to do their work
by themselves and they take care of it
and they don't need too many people
at the same time.
It's just teams of two, three people.
They come pretty often
and they take care of everything.
NARRATOR: From the air,
the job of the techioli
is revealed like never before.
They sweep across the rock face
looking out for cracks,
then lower themselves a few meters
and sweep back again.
When they find a crack,
they tap the rock around it
with an over-sized chisel,
known as a poletto.
They listen out for a hollow sound
which could mean
the rock is ready to fall.
Alessandro needs to complete
his big order,
but he can do nothing until the techioli
have given him the all clear.
As the techioli
inch their way down the marble quarry...
they find a rock that sounds dangerous.
But closer inspection reveals
that it's holding firm, so they move on.
The techioli finish sweeping the cliff
and haul themselves up
to the top of the rock face.
They haven't found
a single dangerous rock.
It's taken four hours to sweep
the cliff face, but it's time well spent.
Now, workers can return to site
and begin to excavate the pristine marble
from the cliff face.
And cut the rock
into 30-ton chunks for export.
Alessandro's business is back on track.
His team can complete the day's big order
and it's all thanks to the incredible work
of the techioli.
FIGAIA: You have to be crazy
to work in the quarries, a little bit.
You get addicted to it, in a way.
When you start working in the quarry,
any other work is...
is not so interesting anymore.
NARRATOR: The Italian passion for luxury
has kept this quarry of fine marble
active for thousands of years.
It's one of the many ways of life that
cut across centuries of Italian history.
The vast mountains of Carrara
have been turned white by humans,
but to the north, lie even mightier ranges
that change color with the seasons.
Huge chains of mountains
frame Italy's northern border.
The Alps are the highest in Europe,
over 1,000 kilometers long
and reaching almost 5,000 meters high,
but tucked away to the east
lies a second, smaller mountain range.
Here, the Dolomites rise,
forming jagged peaks, 3,000 meters tall.
The sharp verdant ridges of this range
stand in contrast to the Alps.
As autumn fades,
temperatures plummet across the Dolomites.
Green turns to white,
as snow blankets the mountains
and winter arrives.
World champion ice climber,
Angelika Rainer,
is a native of the Dolomites.
Today, she travels the globe
as a professional climber,
but when it comes to ice climbing,
the Dolomites
have a special place in her heart.
RAINER: This year, I decided
to find myself a project here at home,
in the Dolomites because,
yes, it's such a beautiful place.
There is nowhere like home.
NARRATOR: Frozen waterfalls
are found across the Dolomites in winter.
Angelika's special project
is to spend the coldest weeks of the year
climbing as many of them as she can.
And today, she has a monster on her hands.
A waterfall called Luyanta.
It is a 100-meter high wall of sheer ice.
It would take most skilled climbers
three hours to reach the top.
Angelika, a three times world champion,
will be disappointed
if she doesn't make it in under two.
It's clear Angelika has taken on
a formidable challenge.
Unlike rock, ice is constantly changing.
It can go from solid
to soft and fragile in hours,
which could have
catastrophic consequences.
RAINER: It's not good for the ice
if temperatures change a lot.
If it's very cold and then it becomes
warm, this makes it very fragile.
NARRATOR: Angelika must constantly check
the ice is strong enough to hold her.
RAINER: The whole waterfall can fall down.
If you fall to the ground, you could die.
NARRATOR: From here, it's a long way
to fall, if she misjudges the ice.
After a backbreaking climb,
Angelika reaches the summit
in well under two hours.
For most climbers, this ascent
would smash their personal best,
but for Angelika, the time is irrelevant.
RAINER: Hey, guys!
NARRATOR: It's just another step
towards her personal goal
to conquer the mighty Dolomites,
one waterfall at a time.
RAINER: When I reach the top
I feel that I made it,
I was good enough to make it to the top.
So, it's not about taking down a mountain
but getting better on myself
and being able to do it, yes.
NARRATOR: In winter,
the exclusive ski resorts of the Alps
fill with wealthy tourists,
but not all come here for the skiing.
Each year, one small area
of Italy's alpine landscape
becomes a mecca for daredevil drivers.
Modena, in Italy's industrial north,
is home to many of the world's
most renowned supercar manufacturers.
This is the spiritual home
of the supercar.
Combined, four major companies
produce over 15,000 each year.
And just over 300 kilometers
north of Modena, in Livigno,
there's a racing track that pushes
many of these cars to their limit.
Livigno is home to
one of the world's strangest racetracks,
made entirely from ice.
This custom-made rink
is a kilometer of twists and turns,
nearly 2,000 meters up in the mountains.
Drivers like Milos Pavlovic love it
because the super slippery track
provides the ultimate test
of their cornering skills.
PAVLOVIC: This ice track is special
because it's a very compact track,
you go up and down
and you need to be very skillful
to actually make the tight turns.
NARRATOR: The landowners create this track
each year by flooding a field in autumn,
then letting it freeze over.
And Livigno's geography makes it ideal
for ice driving,
because the surrounding mountains keep it
in shade for long periods of the day,
making it one of Italy's coldest towns.
Italy's top car manufacturers
hire the ice track
to give their most valued clients
the experience of a lifetime.
(car engine revving)
Today, it's the turn of Lamborghini.
The chasing pack of sliding supercars
creates a winter spectacle
that is like nothing else on Earth
and it can only be fully appreciated
from the air.
PAVLOVIC: If you come here, you will see
why it's special, it's extraordinary.
It's something that you don't do
in everyday life.
NARRATOR: The drivers tread a fine line
trying to keep these supercars on the ice.
Brake too hard and the wheels will lock,
spinning the car off the track,
but if you enter the corner too fast,
the car could skid out of control.
PAVLOVIC: You need to be gentle with
the throttle when you're driving on ice,
it's all about balance
between the steering wheel
and the throttle and the brake.
When you do it right,
you slide from left to right all the time.
NARRATOR: Navigating the tight arcs
of this ice track is a triumph
not just of engineering but driving skill.
As the day draws to a close, the display
of raw engineering power winds down,
but Milos knows that driving on the ice
is more than just an adrenalin rush.
These skills will make
Italy's mountain roads a safer place.
PAVLOVIC: This definitely makes
drivers better drivers,
safer drivers, in every way.
NARRATOR: Italy is a country
that's proud of its past.
It keeps traditions and lifestyles
alive across centuries,
yet innovates to create new ones too.
Here, the ancient and the modern combine
to create the great European nation
we see today.
With a unique aerial view,
we reveal the heart of the ancient world.
A land of excitement and wonder,
where age-old traditions
(car engine revving)
...rub shoulders
with modern engineering marvels,
to create a landscape
like no other in the world.
In this series, we'll take
an aerial tour across Europe,
seeing its sights
from a brand-new perspective.
Filmed from above,
over the course of a single year,
as the landscape transforms
through the changing seasons,
we will uncover the culture,
history, and engineering
that built the great European nations
we see today.
Italy,
a 1,000-kilometer peninsula
that reaches into the Mediterranean sea.
The country has a population
of more than 60 million,
but through the year,
visitors double that number.
In summer, tourists flock
to the beaches of the south,
and in winter,
the ski resorts of the north.
But as the snow melts...
the coming of spring
heralds a rush of tourists
to Italy's most famous historic cities.
Florence, with its world-renowned Duomo,
Milan's iconic medieval cathedral,
and Pisa's leaning tower.
But the most visited city of them all
is the nation's capital, Rome.
For over 400 years,
this city ruled the world
as the home of the Roman Empire,
and the buildings left behind
attract dizzying numbers of sightseers.
Over nine million people come here
each year to marvel at the Colosseum,
the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon.
This influx can be a problem
for the people who live and work here,
including the 800 residents
of the Vatican City,
the world's smallest country.
This is the headquarters
of the Roman Catholic Church
and the home of the Pope.
Thierry Roch is a member
of the Pope's elite security force,
the Swiss Guard.
THIERRY ROCH (in Italian translated
to English): I've been part
of the Swiss Guard for over two years.
It's a service
we do for the church and for the Pope.
NARRATOR: Thierry is also
a long distance runner
for the Vatican City athletics team.
A club with big ambitions,
because they hope to one day compete
for their nation in the Olympic Games.
The Vatican sits at the very heart
of Rome's bustling tourist zone.
Every day, the streets are packed
with thousands of visitors,
which can make running a challenge
for Thierry.
To avoid the crowds,
he and two of his teammates
start their training at 5:00 a.m.
His five-kilometer training run takes him
through the gates of the Vatican...
and headlong into
one of Rome's finest baroque piazzas,
past one of the world's most famous
temples,
Rome's oldest standing structures,
and finally,
the most famous attraction of them all,
the Colosseum.
A route packed with history.
Thierry and his teammates
first cross the Tiber,
the river that brought wheat, olive oil,
and wine from the empire, into Rome.
Seen from above,
the capital's famous bridges
appear almost unrecognizable
without traffic and tourists.
As Thierry reaches the Piazza Navona,
he treads
in the footsteps of sporting history.
Almost 1,000 years ago, a 15,000 capacity
athletics arena stood here.
A bird's eye view reveals that the piazza
bears the shape of this stadium,
to this day.
It was Rome's first
permanent sport's venue.
It held track and field competitions,
as well as horse races.
The athletes approach their next landmark,
a Roman building
that's normally surrounded by sightseers.
This is the 2,000-year-old Pantheon.
From above, we can marvel at a sight
impossible to see from the ground.
The vast dome
that sits above this ancient church
looks just like an eyeball.
Roman engineers crafted it from concrete,
a material so tough,
it appears almost new,
despite it having stood for millennia.
The oculus at its center
lightens the load of this roof.
A structural trick that helped make this
the largest free-standing dome
in the world, for over 1,000 years.
The Vatican athletes reach the Roman Forum
just as the sun creeps over the horizon.
The Forum was an open public square,
surrounded by
the empire's most spectacular structures,
but this land was just a swamp...
until the Romans engineered
a complex canal system
to drain it straight into the Tiber.
Amazingly, this ancient system
still functions today.
With the sun now up,
the team don't have long
before tourists make their run impossible,
but the finish line is in sight.
The Colosseum...
this vast stadium is over 1,900 years old.
It has an underground level and could hold
crowds of 50,000 at its peak.
Inside,
gladiators would fight to the death,
or battle wild animals that were released
from 36 trapdoors.
ROCH (in Italian translated
to English): My favorite monument,
I think, is the Colosseum,
because it looks like football stadiums
of today.
NARRATOR:
Thierry finishes just in time.
It's another perfectly planned run,
and one step closer to his dream
of winning a medal at the Olympic games.
Rome is Italy's most popular
tourist destination...
but running at a close second
is one of the world's most unusual cities.
From high above the clouds,
Italy's northern Adriatic coastline
appears fractured,
with dozens of tiny low-lying islands.
A closer look at the largest
reveals something extraordinary,
houses and waterways
and hundreds of boats.
This is Venice, a city built on water.
From above, we can wonder
at the labyrinth of winding waterways.
Centered on the opulent Piazza San Marco,
with its huge bell tower
and gilded basilica.
With no cars or roads,
everyone travels by boat,
including the 20 million people
who visit the city each year.
But the luxuriant wonders of Venice
are only accessible
because one team of people
is prepared to get their hands dirty.
It rests on the shoulders of engineer,
Lorenzo Bottazzo,
to keep the traffic flowing.
From above,
the scale of the task becomes clear.
150 canals
that require constant maintenance.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English): To work in Venice
is very fascinating.
Being surrounded
by so much history and art
is a strong motivation to do this job.
NARRATOR:
Lorenzo's biggest enemy is silt.
It washes in from the surrounding lagoon
and gets trapped
in Venice's narrow canals.
Left alone, silt would build up
and make it impossible
for boats to get through the waterways.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English): It is necessary
to dredge the canals
to ensure clear access to
the fire brigade, ambulance, and police.
NARRATOR: Silt could gridlock
these historic canals.
To combat the problem, Lorenzo's team
use this floating mega machine.
This unique craft
has a 4-meter mechanical crane,
a hydraulic shovel, and it can shift
95 tons of silt every day.
Today, Lorenzo must clear
this section of the Santa Maria Canal.
As the morning rush hour
boat traffic subsides,
his team block off the canal
so they can work undisturbed.
But they must work quickly.
Obstructing vital waterways in a city
this size could cause traffic mayhem.
Lorenzo has just seven hours
to clear the Santa Maria Canal
before it needs to reopen
for the 5:00 p.m. rush hour.
Here, the silt has built up
to a meter and a half
below the surface of the water.
The dredger's hydraulic shovel can
remove just 12 kilos of silt at a time.
So, Lorenzo and his team
have their work cut out for them,
but the elements are on their side today.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English):Today, the weather is good
and the work is going to plan.
NARRATOR: As the day draws to a close,
the dredger releases
the final scoop of silt into the boat.
The Santa Maria Canal
can now be reopened to traffic.
But Lorenzo's work
is never completely finished.
BOTTAZZO (in Italian translated
to English):The project includes
the excavation of 21 canals.
It will take 410 days,
and every ten years,
all the canals in the historic center
need to be excavated.
NARRATOR: Thanks to Lorenzo and his team,
Venice will remain a bustling,
vibrant destination for another season.
In Italy, busy, densely populated cities
like this are a northern phenomenon.
In contrast,
the rural south is sparsely occupied.
It's where quiet towns cling to cliffs
and empty ruins look out to sea.
And yet, when spring turns to summer,
a transformation occurs...
as high temperatures send people
flocking to the southern coastline.
But humans
aren't the only living creatures
that migrate here when summer arrives.
Ocean fish swim to the shallow waters
of the south to mate,
where they are chased by some
of the world's weirdest looking boats.
From high above the clouds, mainland Italy
and its southern neighbor, Sicily,
appear to be joined,
but looking closer
reveals a narrow passage of water
separating the two,
just three kilometers wide.
This is the Strait of Messina.
Francesco Billé has fished these waters
in the Strait of Messina
for nearly 30 years.
He uses a boat with a long protruding bow,
that bears a strange resemblance
to his prey...
the swordfish.
FRANCESCO BILLÉ (in Italian translated
to English): Swordfish is special
for its taste, it's great to eat
and catching it is special too.
NARRATOR: Today is the start
of the new fishing season.
Francesco takes to the sea
in his unusual looking vessel.
It's called a felucca.
From the top of the 25-meter mast,
his team scan the waters for swordfish.
Being so high allows them to see
as much of the Strait as possible.
Francesco's job is to harpoon
the swordfish from the end of the gangway.
From here, Francesco can sneak up
on his prey
without the noise of the engine
scaring them off.
Sicilian marine engineers have to use
ingenious technology
to stop these boats from capsizing
during a high-speed chase.
They fit over 900 meters of steel cable
between the gangway and the mast.
The cable helps support the boat
in choppy seas...
and below the water line,
they position dozens of 30-kg weights
to act as a counterbalance and stop
the boat capsizing on tight turns.
At the top of the high mast,
three fishermen monitor the water,
tirelessly scanning for
the distinctive shape of the swordfish.
BILLÉ (in Italian translated
to English): It's very difficult
because swordfish are camouflaged
in the water.
NARRATOR: Suddenly,
they spot a swordfish dead ahead.
Francesco stalks up the gangway
and prepares to strike.
BILLÉ (in Italian translated to English):
Its head and tail move all the time,
you've got one second and one shot,
you can't afford any mistakes,
because if you miss that second,
the fish is gone.
NARRATOR: He picks up the harpoon,
launches it at the shadow in the water,
and hits.
BILLÉ (in Italian):
Did you see? I got it.
Come down, Tino.
NARRATOR: The swordfish
is now attached to a long rope.
Surprisingly,
Francesco then lets out the line
so the fish can swim.
This will tire the fearsome swordfish out
and should make it safer for the team
to bring it aboard.
With the animal exhausted,
Francesco easily reels it to the boat,
and with the help of his team,
drags it on board.
They swiftly dispatch the giant fish
and then mark its right cheek
with a double cross,
a tradition to show their respect
to a valued adversary.
Success means
they must get their catch to dry land.
The Mediterranean has been over fished
in recent decades,
but Francesco's historic harpoon hunting
is regarded as the most sustainable way
to live off these waters.
People have been hunting swordfish here
for over 2,000 years.
It's just one of the ways of life
that ties modern Italy to its unique past.
The rich, fertile lands of the south
provide food in abundance
and civilizations have thrived here
for thousands of years.
Ancient Greeks settled 2,700 years ago,
long before the rise of the Roman Empire.
But all these civilizations
have lived in the shadow of monsters...
and they still do.
Vast, cone-shaped mountains
loom over southern Italy.
This is volcano country.
In 79 AD, the volcano, Vesuvius, erupted,
destroying the Roman city, Pompeii.
Could a similar tragedy strike again?
Italy is home to over a dozen volcanoes,
and three remain active to this day.
This is the only mainland country
in Europe
that lives in fear of these monsters.
Towering above Sicily lies Etna,
the most active volcano of them all.
Etna is so tall that snow covers its peak,
but it can turn into
a fire-breathing monster in an instant.
In December, 2018,
Etna erupted violently,
spraying lava into the sky for days.
The volcano threatens the lives
of the hundreds of thousands of people
who live around it.
But nobody was killed, thanks to the work
of scientists like Marco Neri.
It's his job to monitor the volcano.
Spotting unusual activity early,
buys precious time
for the area to be evacuated.
He climbs to the site
of the recent eruption
to take the volcano's temperature
and survey the atmosphere.
With this information,
he can predict when it will blow again.
MARCO NERI (in Italian translated
to English): We have the obligation
and the duty to monitor it,
so that we can forewarn
of potentially dangerous eruptions.
NARRATOR: Over a million people
live within Etna's blast radius,
and Marco knows it's not a matter of "if"
but "when" the next eruption will blow.
NERI (in Italian translated to English):
Etna is one of the most
active volcanoes in the world.
You can sometimes feel
the ground vibrating,
thanks to the small explosions
that take place inside.
NARRATOR: From above,
we can see the deep fissures
that the 2018 eruption
tore into Etna's flank.
Today, Marco must take the temperature
of this isolated region
on the southeast of the mountain.
Just a few months ago,
this whole area was molten lava.
He uses an infrared camera
to check for high temperatures.
If the temperature has risen
over 20 degrees since his last visit,
it could be the first signal
that an eruption is imminent.
NERI (in Italian): Every thermal image
is studied and analyzed by computer
to understand exactly
the temperature of the surface.
NARRATOR: Right now,
the temperatures are in the safe zone,
but Marco needs to be sure
that Etna poses no threat today,
so he takes a crucial second reading.
If pressure is building
beneath the surface of the volcano,
the first thing that comes out
is not lava but radon gas.
Marco monitors the levels of radon here,
to forecast if dangerous forces
are being concentrated within the volcano.
NERI (in Italian translated to English):
This is our main objective,
to monitor Etna, because it represents
the greatest danger for us.
NARRATOR: Today, the temperatures
and radon levels tell Marco,
Etna is at rest.
The people of Sicily can sleep easy,
for now.
As the Italian summer
slowly turns to autumn,
much of the country
burns into red and brown.
But there's one part
of the Italian landscape that's evergreen.
Reaching into the Adriatic Sea
is the region of Puglia,
the sun-bleached stiletto in Italy's heel.
Almost 20% of the land in Puglia
is studded with a strange green stubble,
but what is this mysterious
recurring pattern?
Looking closer reveals that
they are Puglia's evergreen, olive groves.
Almost half of Italy's supply of olive oil
comes from this region.
It's a crucial ingredient
in almost all Italian cuisine...
but production relies
on the successful autumn harvest.
It's November and smallholder,
Giovanni Principe,
has spotted the sign that his olives
must be picked now.
PRINCIPE (in Italian translated
to English): We look for olives
which are half black, and half green,
so we have a good
final product, a good harvest.
If it's black and too mature,
the olive is not good.
This is the right color.
NARRATOR: Giovanni owns a small share
in this vast olive grove.
In autumn, he and his neighbors
descend on the groves
to bring in the harvest.
Olives ripen quickly and these
will soon change color and turn bitter,
making them unusable for good olive oil.
So Giovanni and the other pickers
have to work fast.
Anything less than 50 trees,
fully picked today,
would be a disaster
for their busy schedule.
Puglia's olive-growing farmers,
must harvest almost one million acres
of farmland each autumn.
To speed up the process,
they use special forks
to shake the olives down from the trees.
The forks have vibrating prongs,
powered by compressed air,
that help force the olives
off the branches.
These rakes comb through the leaves
without damaging the fruit or trees.
They're making good progress,
but to make the best oil,
they have to get the olives to the press
before the sun sets.
For Giovanni, the clock is ticking.
It's nearly evening,
but Giovanni has made it to the end
of today's all important target,
tree number 50.
Hundreds of thousands of olives
now carpet the ground.
Giovanni must now rush
to heave the olives to the next farm.
Here, his neighbor,
Antonella Bisceglia, takes over.
She owns the olive press
that will turn the fruit into oil.
BISCEGLIA:
When we do the harvest,
we have to produce the olive oil
in 24 hours,
because it is the right time
to have the best quality of olive oil.
NARRATOR: Today's harvest
has yielded over a ton of olives.
Olives begin to sour
if they are not pressed
on the same day they are picked.
So, the race is on for Antonella
to turn it into good oil,
known here as green gold.
(speaking in Italian)
For Giovanni, the sweet smell
tells him it's mission accomplished.
It's the first 200 liters
of oil for the season,
and they alone
are worth thousands of Euro.
For the olive farmers of Puglia,
the stakes are high,
but the rewards are rich.
Autumn is the culmination of a year's work
for the farmers of southern Italy,
but to the north of the country,
this season brings heavy rains
and danger to a way of life
that has existed for thousands of years.
Northern Italy
is filled with high mountain ranges,
and in Tuscany, geology and industry
have transformed the rocky landscape.
From above, the hills surrounding Carrara
appear pure white,
but this isn't snow.
These are marble quarries.
Carrara's quarries have been active
since the time of the Romans.
Fantiscritti
is one of the region's largest.
Generations of miners have extracted
the white rock from these cliffs
to make everything from luxury
bathrooms to fine statues.
Today, quarry manager, Alessandro Figaia,
has a big order to fulfill.
FIGAIA: The marble
that we excavate this morning
will go in a big commercial project
in the United States.
When somebody buys marble from Carrara,
he buys tradition, he buys skills,
he buys something that will last forever.
NARRATOR: But Alessandro has a problem.
Torrential autumn rains
have weakened the surrounding rocks.
Tiny fractures could have loosened marble
on the quarry's man-made cliff face.
This poses a life-threatening risk
to the quarry workers below.
So, Alessandro closes the site down
and calls on a gang of specialists
to hunt down and remove dangerous rocks.
These men are called techioli,
and they patrol
the quarry's crumbling cliff face.
FIGAIA: The techioli, they're our angels,
they take care of us, they protect us.
They make sure all of the quarry's safe.
NARRATOR: The techioli
work on the cliff face of the quarry,
suspended on long ropes.
FIGAIA: They have to do their work
by themselves and they take care of it
and they don't need too many people
at the same time.
It's just teams of two, three people.
They come pretty often
and they take care of everything.
NARRATOR: From the air,
the job of the techioli
is revealed like never before.
They sweep across the rock face
looking out for cracks,
then lower themselves a few meters
and sweep back again.
When they find a crack,
they tap the rock around it
with an over-sized chisel,
known as a poletto.
They listen out for a hollow sound
which could mean
the rock is ready to fall.
Alessandro needs to complete
his big order,
but he can do nothing until the techioli
have given him the all clear.
As the techioli
inch their way down the marble quarry...
they find a rock that sounds dangerous.
But closer inspection reveals
that it's holding firm, so they move on.
The techioli finish sweeping the cliff
and haul themselves up
to the top of the rock face.
They haven't found
a single dangerous rock.
It's taken four hours to sweep
the cliff face, but it's time well spent.
Now, workers can return to site
and begin to excavate the pristine marble
from the cliff face.
And cut the rock
into 30-ton chunks for export.
Alessandro's business is back on track.
His team can complete the day's big order
and it's all thanks to the incredible work
of the techioli.
FIGAIA: You have to be crazy
to work in the quarries, a little bit.
You get addicted to it, in a way.
When you start working in the quarry,
any other work is...
is not so interesting anymore.
NARRATOR: The Italian passion for luxury
has kept this quarry of fine marble
active for thousands of years.
It's one of the many ways of life that
cut across centuries of Italian history.
The vast mountains of Carrara
have been turned white by humans,
but to the north, lie even mightier ranges
that change color with the seasons.
Huge chains of mountains
frame Italy's northern border.
The Alps are the highest in Europe,
over 1,000 kilometers long
and reaching almost 5,000 meters high,
but tucked away to the east
lies a second, smaller mountain range.
Here, the Dolomites rise,
forming jagged peaks, 3,000 meters tall.
The sharp verdant ridges of this range
stand in contrast to the Alps.
As autumn fades,
temperatures plummet across the Dolomites.
Green turns to white,
as snow blankets the mountains
and winter arrives.
World champion ice climber,
Angelika Rainer,
is a native of the Dolomites.
Today, she travels the globe
as a professional climber,
but when it comes to ice climbing,
the Dolomites
have a special place in her heart.
RAINER: This year, I decided
to find myself a project here at home,
in the Dolomites because,
yes, it's such a beautiful place.
There is nowhere like home.
NARRATOR: Frozen waterfalls
are found across the Dolomites in winter.
Angelika's special project
is to spend the coldest weeks of the year
climbing as many of them as she can.
And today, she has a monster on her hands.
A waterfall called Luyanta.
It is a 100-meter high wall of sheer ice.
It would take most skilled climbers
three hours to reach the top.
Angelika, a three times world champion,
will be disappointed
if she doesn't make it in under two.
It's clear Angelika has taken on
a formidable challenge.
Unlike rock, ice is constantly changing.
It can go from solid
to soft and fragile in hours,
which could have
catastrophic consequences.
RAINER: It's not good for the ice
if temperatures change a lot.
If it's very cold and then it becomes
warm, this makes it very fragile.
NARRATOR: Angelika must constantly check
the ice is strong enough to hold her.
RAINER: The whole waterfall can fall down.
If you fall to the ground, you could die.
NARRATOR: From here, it's a long way
to fall, if she misjudges the ice.
After a backbreaking climb,
Angelika reaches the summit
in well under two hours.
For most climbers, this ascent
would smash their personal best,
but for Angelika, the time is irrelevant.
RAINER: Hey, guys!
NARRATOR: It's just another step
towards her personal goal
to conquer the mighty Dolomites,
one waterfall at a time.
RAINER: When I reach the top
I feel that I made it,
I was good enough to make it to the top.
So, it's not about taking down a mountain
but getting better on myself
and being able to do it, yes.
NARRATOR: In winter,
the exclusive ski resorts of the Alps
fill with wealthy tourists,
but not all come here for the skiing.
Each year, one small area
of Italy's alpine landscape
becomes a mecca for daredevil drivers.
Modena, in Italy's industrial north,
is home to many of the world's
most renowned supercar manufacturers.
This is the spiritual home
of the supercar.
Combined, four major companies
produce over 15,000 each year.
And just over 300 kilometers
north of Modena, in Livigno,
there's a racing track that pushes
many of these cars to their limit.
Livigno is home to
one of the world's strangest racetracks,
made entirely from ice.
This custom-made rink
is a kilometer of twists and turns,
nearly 2,000 meters up in the mountains.
Drivers like Milos Pavlovic love it
because the super slippery track
provides the ultimate test
of their cornering skills.
PAVLOVIC: This ice track is special
because it's a very compact track,
you go up and down
and you need to be very skillful
to actually make the tight turns.
NARRATOR: The landowners create this track
each year by flooding a field in autumn,
then letting it freeze over.
And Livigno's geography makes it ideal
for ice driving,
because the surrounding mountains keep it
in shade for long periods of the day,
making it one of Italy's coldest towns.
Italy's top car manufacturers
hire the ice track
to give their most valued clients
the experience of a lifetime.
(car engine revving)
Today, it's the turn of Lamborghini.
The chasing pack of sliding supercars
creates a winter spectacle
that is like nothing else on Earth
and it can only be fully appreciated
from the air.
PAVLOVIC: If you come here, you will see
why it's special, it's extraordinary.
It's something that you don't do
in everyday life.
NARRATOR: The drivers tread a fine line
trying to keep these supercars on the ice.
Brake too hard and the wheels will lock,
spinning the car off the track,
but if you enter the corner too fast,
the car could skid out of control.
PAVLOVIC: You need to be gentle with
the throttle when you're driving on ice,
it's all about balance
between the steering wheel
and the throttle and the brake.
When you do it right,
you slide from left to right all the time.
NARRATOR: Navigating the tight arcs
of this ice track is a triumph
not just of engineering but driving skill.
As the day draws to a close, the display
of raw engineering power winds down,
but Milos knows that driving on the ice
is more than just an adrenalin rush.
These skills will make
Italy's mountain roads a safer place.
PAVLOVIC: This definitely makes
drivers better drivers,
safer drivers, in every way.
NARRATOR: Italy is a country
that's proud of its past.
It keeps traditions and lifestyles
alive across centuries,
yet innovates to create new ones too.
Here, the ancient and the modern combine
to create the great European nation
we see today.