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00:02The ancient city of Rome sits halfway along the Italian peninsula, on the banks of the river Tiber.
00:13From humble beginnings two and a half thousand years ago, it became one of the world's most powerful city-states,
00:22and the heart of a mighty empire.
00:25At its peak, in the second century AD, the Roman Empire spanned three continents.
00:35Today, it's the capital of Italy, and one of the world's most visited historical cities.
00:45Rome is a city of many wonders.
00:50Engineering marvels, from the time of the Roman Empire, dot the modern streets.
00:57From towering constructions like the Colosseum, built to house 50,000 weighing spectators.
01:05To the Pantheon, the temple of all the gods.
01:12It's also a masterpiece of Baroque and Renaissance architecture.
01:18Grand piazzas and ornate fountains date back to the 16th century and beyond, as the city was reborn as the
01:27home of the Popes.
01:31It's a bustling European capital.
01:36Where today's Romans live their lives surrounded by history.
01:49From above, the river Tiber appears to slice the eternal city in two.
01:55But this scar is tied with stitches.
02:01Many bridges knit the banks of the river together.
02:05Built across a time frame that stretches back over 2,000 years.
02:12Zooming in,
02:16reveals a pontoon in the heart of these historic crossings
02:20that's home to an extraordinary group of people.
02:28This is the Royal Tiber Remo Rowing Club.
02:34An organization founded in 1872.
02:39It allows its members access to one of the world's most famous stretches of water.
02:47Its members have included royalty, admirals and mayors.
02:54Today, members of the club are taking an early morning row.
03:01Among them is Pier Giorgio della Porta Rodiani.
03:06Having access to the Tiber from this point of view is really amazing.
03:12You feel a privilege.
03:17One of the first bridges of their journey is also one of Rome's oldest.
03:24The Ponte Sant'Angelo
03:28is a Roman bridge completed in 134 AD
03:33under the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
03:38Hadrian constructed the bridge to connect the city to his newly built mausoleum.
03:43Now known as the Castel Sant'Angelo.
03:48This cylindrical building was later repurposed as a military fortress by the Popes.
03:55And topped with a statue of the Archangel Michael.
04:03The next crossing is the Vittorio Emanuele II bridge.
04:09Named after the first king of a unified Italy.
04:13Until the 19th century, Italy was split into multiple monarchies, city-states and republics.
04:21Unification freed Italy from outside interference
04:24and placed Rome as the capital of the new country.
04:32In summer,
04:34when the water is low,
04:37the remains of a much older structure emerges from the river here.
04:42This was Nero's bridge.
04:44Built around the first century AD.
04:48It once linked the heart of ancient Rome
04:50to the land the Vatican sits on today.
05:01As the crew lean into their oars,
05:06Tiber Island, shaped like a boat, comes into view.
05:11Known locally as Tiberina,
05:14its central Rome's only river island,
05:17and measures around 270 meters long.
05:45The island is renowned as a center for healing.
05:48The island is renowned as a center for healing.
05:50The church of San Bartolomeo stands here alongside a 16th century hospital.
05:58Which is still in operation today.
06:04An aerial view also reveals a historical secret tucked behind the island.
06:11This is Rome's first stone bridge.
06:15The Pons Amelius.
06:18It was first built over 2,200 years ago.
06:22In 179 BC.
06:26It was rebuilt over the centuries.
06:29But one arch is all that remains today.
06:34Their journey done.
06:36The crews head back to the rowing club jetty.
06:41The rowers connection with the history of Rome is really strong.
06:47I'm very proud to be a rower.
06:50I'm very proud to row in the center of Rome on the Tiber.
07:00A stone's throw from the unblinking eye of the pantheon
07:04sits one of Rome's most important cathedrals.
07:08The Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.
07:14Its plain renaissance style exterior
07:17hides a lavish gothic interior
07:19of arched vaults painted blue and adorned with gilded stars.
07:26For historian Alexander Mariotti
07:28there's something on the outside of the building
07:31that's even richer.
07:33And it has a curious connection to the Tiber.
07:37People pass these signs, they don't think much of them.
07:39But they talk of Rome's greatest enemy.
07:41And I'm not referring to Spartacus or Hannibal or Attila.
07:44I'm referring to the Tiber River.
07:46The very river that not only brought life to Rome
07:49but brought in equal measure destruction.
07:52The Tiber was vital to the development of Rome.
07:56But it was also prone to terrible flooding.
08:00The waters would sweep in,
08:03turning the center of town into a lake.
08:06And it was a problem that plagued Rome
08:09right through to the 19th century.
08:12These lines are to commemorate how high the floods were.
08:16And this one's the most important.
08:17December 1870.
08:19When this flood happened, Rome is in a transition period.
08:22It's becoming the capital of a new country, Italy.
08:27The great flood of 1870 spurred the authorities to do something.
08:32So they constructed the Mura Leone.
08:36The great flood defenses that flanked the river today.
08:40And they brought stability to the city for the first time since its birth.
08:45Those big walls of the embankment of the Tiber changed the landscape from a very fertile green area where they
08:51had market spaces and so on into what we see today.
08:54These big high walls stopping the city from further destruction.
09:08Ancient Rome was famously built on seven hills.
09:12They include the Palatine Hill.
09:15Where Romulus was said to have founded the original city in 753 BC.
09:24Today, the city has grown.
09:27And many more than seven hills now sit within its boundaries.
09:31There's one hill to the southwest of the ancient city center.
09:38That's home to one of Rome's most surprising daily rituals.
09:45This is the Janiculum Hill.
09:47Known locally as the Balcony of Rome.
09:52Thanks to its panoramic vista of the city.
09:56It's best known today for a statue of General Garibaldi.
10:00That dominates its peak.
10:03He was a driving figure in Italy's push for unification in the 19th century.
10:09And is revered as Italy's greatest national hero.
10:13And an icon of independence.
10:17Tucked out of sight beneath his statue.
10:19The statue.
10:20Sits a curious brick platform.
10:23With a surprising secret.
10:32Each day at precisely noon.
10:35The army fire a field gun from this position at the top of the hill.
10:41In a tradition that dates back over 170 years.
10:47Team leader Claudio Di Maio is in charge of today's salute.
11:08The gun that's used is a genuine Italian army field gun.
11:15Team leader Di Maio carries a single explosive charge.
11:21Which he loads into the gun.
11:26When fired, this charge will make a bang loud enough to be heard right across the city.
11:32The team then wait patiently for the clock to tick to exactly 12pm.
11:40And they're not alone.
11:43Also waiting are a crowd of sightseers.
11:47Who've gathered to witness the full force of the blast.
11:50From as close as they dare.
11:54The tradition of the midday gun was started in 1847.
11:59By Pope Pius IX.
12:02To set a standard time for the bells of the city's churches to ring to.
12:09The gun was originally fired from the roof of the Castel Sant'Angelo.
12:14And the time was measured with an official sundial on the roof of a nearby Jesuit seminary.
12:23The gun placement moved to the Janiculum Hill in 1904.
12:28A Roman landmark already famous as a place to make a lot of noise from.
12:35The hill sits directly above the geometric cell blocks of Regina Chen.
12:41Rome's oldest prison.
12:45And it's said that the relatives of prisoners would stand next to the lighthouse to shout messages to their loved
12:51ones.
12:52Languishing in the cells below.
13:02As the time approaches midday.
13:05The team leader raises his arm.
13:10It's the signal for a soldier called a cannoneer to grasp the lanyard that fires the gun.
13:20And when the time is right, the cannoneer pulls the lanyard.
13:33And the blast rings out across the Eternal City.
13:42The tradition of the midday gun took a 20-year hiatus after the outbreak of World War II.
13:49When it was replaced with a siren.
13:54But the gun made a welcome return in 1959.
13:59And it's been used here every day since.
14:03And for Claudio, it's a tradition he's proud to be associated with.
14:10It's a Roman tradition.
14:12It's really exciting to see the eyes of the people who look at you while you're shooting the gun.
14:31Long before the invention of the car, the Romans built roads so straight and sturdy that parts of them still
14:39remain today.
14:41Perhaps the most famous is the Appian Way.
14:45Also known as the Queen of Roads.
14:49Work on the Appian Way began in 312 BC, connecting Rome to the town of Capua.
14:58It was then extended to reach modern-day Brindisi.
15:02Stretching around 580 kilometers long.
15:07To us, it may seem like just a simple road. What's the big deal? There's millions of them around the
15:11world.
15:11But when this one was built, they weren't. And that's the thing. It isn't just a road. It's a highway.
15:17It's a connection to get from one spot to another.
15:19Mobility of the ancient world was extremely difficult. Think about trying to get somewhere. You have to cross through forests,
15:24through mountain paths.
15:25The Romans decided to change it all with a highway.
15:30The reason this historic road is still in use today is thanks to the super-tough material it was made
15:37from.
15:38A rock called Basalt.
15:42This is where Rome intrigues us. It is a city that's eternal because of the eternal secrets it holds.
15:48This is a great one. You're looking at a 2,000-year-old wheel mark. Roman wheels were wooden with
15:52a thin strip of beaten metal and they cut these lines.
16:00In the late 16th century, city planners copied the Romans and paved around famous sites with the same tough basalt.
16:09Sites like the Vatican, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain are all paved with black basalt.
16:19But with much smaller stones than the Romans used.
16:23This is the ancient and this is the Renaissance. This is the medieval period.
16:28What's happened here is that the Romans had technology.
16:30They could move vast blocks very easily, but that technology got lost.
16:33And so the only way they could do it is splitting these very blocks into smaller pieces like this.
16:43The seam of dark black basalt, the supplied stone for the Appian Way, is no longer mine.
16:50But there's a source of basalt to the north that the Romans also used.
16:56A closer look near to the town of Bagnoreggio reveals a pale grey quarry filled with giant machines.
17:14This is the Basaltina quarry in Bagnoreggio, one of Italy's most historic quarries.
17:23Today, it covers an area of 300,000 square meters and is equipped with eight excavators and five loaders.
17:34The Techi family have been mining the pale grey basalt found here since the early 20th century.
17:42Valentina Techi is the latest to represent her family's name in the company.
17:48The Basaltina society is a society founded in 1925.
17:54I am very proud of bringing this family tradition forward for almost 100 years.
18:07Basalt is formed from a flow of volcanic lava that cools rapidly.
18:11It's the most common volcanic rock on Earth.
18:15But not all basalts are the same.
18:18The one mine here is renowned for its incredible durability.
18:22And thanks to its pale grey colour, it's prized globally for use in high-end architectural projects.
18:30But being tough means it's also difficult to extract.
18:37First, the team force drills into the rock to create deep fractures.
18:42Then they loop lengths of wire coated in diamond inside the cracks.
18:48This wire is hooked to a machine which drives it like a belt, making clean cuts in the rock.
18:56Then they bring in giant excavators to carefully prise the rock away from its foundations.
19:07The rock is still too big to move.
19:10So Valentina watches on as they split it into manageable chunks with a second diamond wire cutter.
19:17Our stone is very appreciated for its green color and the look minimal.
19:25It's a stone that is specified by architects, project designers and designers around the world.
19:35Once the block is small enough to move, it's crammed onto a low loader.
19:42And haul to the quarry's processing yard.
19:48Here, the blocks are squared off.
19:51And cut into slices by high precision machines called monoblades.
19:58Water lubricates the cutting process as well as suppressing dust and preventing the cutting blades from overheating.
20:07Some slabs are taken to the workshop, where they're given different levels of finish depending on how they're to be
20:14used.
20:16The finished slabs are finally hauled onto lorries, ready for delivery.
20:24The basaltina produced here has such a long and important history that the nation has granted it a trademark of
20:32national interest.
20:35A special designation for products that champion Italian craftsmanship around the world.
20:48It's the end of a long day.
20:52And the team celebrates another successful delivery from Rome's historic basalt quarry.
21:11When ancient Rome fell in the 5th century, the city's buildings were left to ruin.
21:17It wasn't until the end of the Middle Ages that it was rebuilt as the home of the popes in
21:22a period called the Renaissance.
21:26But this rebirth owed a great deal to the materials the Romans left behind.
21:32Building blocks and marble from the Colosseum was stolen to build St. Peter's Basilica.
21:40And they even incorporated everyday Roman goods into their fountains.
21:45Like this bath tom, stolen from the nearby ruins of a Roman bath house.
21:51It's really indicative of the beginning of the Renaissance.
21:55This idea of taking ancient Roman materials and reusing them to build these magnificent palazzos and monuments.
22:01So things like this, this bath here which is made out of granite.
22:05What the Renaissance really is, is us picking up from the Romans.
22:10As well as fountains and grand architecture, Rome's Renaissance triggered the building of formal gardens.
22:18Powerful families commissioned elaborate landscaping as a symbol of their wealth.
22:24There's one Renaissance garden here that has evolved significantly through the years.
22:36The high aerial view of Rome reveals a patch of green on the west bank of the Tiber.
22:42Just a short distance from the Vatican and the hustle and bustle of Piazza Navona.
22:48A closer look.
22:52Reveals none of the formal landscaping you'd expect from a garden of its time.
23:02This is Rome's botanical gardens.
23:06Originally the Renaissance gardens of the 15th century Riario family.
23:13It's now a centre for academic botanical research.
23:16Run by the Sapienza University of Rome.
23:22It stretches across an area as large as 17 football pitches.
23:26Making it one of Italy's biggest gardens.
23:30When it opened in 1883, the university's existing plant collections were transferred here.
23:37And they built new structures to house them.
23:42Like this one, the monumental greenhouse.
23:46But they also inherited this 18th century fountain.
23:51And this amazing cascading staircase.
23:54Built by the Florentine architect, Ferdinando Fuga.
24:00Known as the staircase of the 11 fountains.
24:03It's set over three flights of stairs.
24:08With five overlapping basins.
24:11For water to cascade down.
24:14And a summit basin with water gushing from the mouth of a dolphin.
24:25Unfortunately, this magnificent staircase is starting to show its age.
24:31So specialist conservator, Michele Arrigoni, is leading a team who are patiently rebuilding it to pristine condition.
24:53The team are a group of highly skilled specialists.
24:56They include in turn Bella Collins.
25:01Who's travelled all the way from Toronto in Canada.
25:04To gain first-hand experience of this kind of highly specialised restoration work.
25:09It's very hard work, especially in the heat.
25:13You have to be very patient.
25:15It takes time.
25:16It's a slow process.
25:18But at the end of the day, it's worth it.
25:22The fountain is made from travertine.
25:24A pale limestone, which was used extensively in the Renaissance.
25:30The stone is susceptible to biological damage.
25:33So the team must first use brushes to clean it of any mosses or algae.
25:39Then they carefully fill in any areas of damage.
25:43With a traditional lime mortar, mixed with a volcanic ash called pozzolan.
25:49A recipe that dates back to Roman times.
26:00The stairway of the eleven fountains connects two levels of the botanical gardens, which is terraced, as it sits on
26:08the side of a hill.
26:10Its many and varied settings provide a quiet haven from the bustle of central Rome, just a stone's throw away.
26:21The gardens take you on a botanical journey around the world.
26:28Featuring more than 3,000 species of exotic plants.
26:32Towers.
26:36Towering bamboo from Asia.
26:41Cycats from Africa.
26:45And cacti from Central America.
26:48There's even a climate-controlled marquee called Butterfly Eden, filled with butterfly and moth species.
27:00200,000 visitors flock here each year for relaxation and study, and perhaps to catch sight of the park's famous
27:09uninvited guests.
27:12Invasive parakeets like these have thrived in Rome's green spaces since the 1970s.
27:25At the staircase of the eleven fountains,
27:30the team is ready to finish work for the day.
27:36I am satisfied with the work that I have done today, as I am often satisfied with my work,
27:40because we have the fortune of putting hands on important and beautiful things,
27:44and I consider it a privilege.
27:46And not that this work, fortunately, I, as many of my collaborators,
27:51do it especially for passion.
27:56In the 17th century Baroque period, Rome became a center for artistic expression.
28:04The popes financed flamboyant architecture and lavish fountains to proclaim the power of the church.
28:12There's one fountain in Rome's famous Piazza Navona that hides a surprising secret.
28:18Look how beautiful that fountain is, and made by one of the greatest sculptors of all time,
28:24Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was a great artist but had an appalling personality.
28:31And people come here, they don't realize that the fountain actually is a massive hissy fit,
28:36because originally he was going to do the whole piazza,
28:38and then he was informed that actually this site, the wonderful church,
28:43is going to be built by his arch-rival, a man called Borromini.
28:48At the center of the fountain stands a Roman obelisk from the first century AD.
28:54Around the obelisk, Bernini added statues representing four major rivers.
29:00The Nile, the Danube, the Ganges, and the Rio de la Plata.
29:09It's said that Bernini was so angry that the design of the piazza was to be given to Borromini,
29:16he posed the statues to insult his rival's church of Sant'Agnese.
29:23You can see this guy over here, he's got a blanket over his face, he doesn't even want to see
29:28it,
29:28he wants to make sure he doesn't even catch a glimpse of it.
29:30And he's rather more preoccupied with fiddling with the inside of the fountain than looking at the church.
29:36But my favorite of all has to be the Rio, and here you can see the Rio has seen the
29:41church,
29:41and is coiling in horror this monstrosity, look at it.
29:48When Borromini finally finished his construction, he obviously knew about the story, but he wasn't convinced it was true.
29:55When he stood on the top and looked down, he realized that Bernini had really insulted his work.
30:01And so they say he removed all the statues, bar one, which is the church's saint, St. Agnes.
30:05And what she's doing is she's standing there brushing the nonsense off because she doesn't care if it's true.
30:12It's hilarious to think that people walk here, but don't realize they're actually standing in front of a huge hissy
30:17fit,
30:18a tantrum made by one of the greatest sculptors and artists of all time.
30:25Rome grew rich during the Baroque period, as pilgrims and visitors flooded the city to marvel at its extraordinary art.
30:36Hundreds of years later, a town close to Rome is using the same trick, not only to attract visitors, but
30:44also to survive.
30:56Modern Rome stays connected with a network of regional railways.
31:03Settlements close to these lines thrive as commuter towns, but more remote villages can struggle as people move out to
31:11find work.
31:14And some places risk dying out altogether.
31:19Among them was a small hamlet called Sant'Angelo di Roccovecce, in Viterbo province.
31:31Until an unlikely savior was found in the shape of art.
31:38Once a vibrant and thriving town, Sant'Angelo's population had recently dwindled to just a hundred people, most of them
31:47elderly.
31:51Sensing his ancestral home was on the verge of collapse,
31:56Alessandro Chiovelli launched an extraordinary project to bring life and youth back to Sant'Angelo,
32:02by filling the town with colourful murals of children's stories.
32:07Sant'Angelo brought with him the death, that is, nothing.
32:14Allora, prima non si vedevano bambini, adesso è pieno di bambini, anche dentro la settimana.
32:20Dentro la settimana abbiamo avuto, non so, forse 500 bambini.
32:27Alessandro enlisted an all-female team to carry out the work,
32:33including local artist Stefania Capati.
32:37Sono un'artista, ho divinto tre murales qui a Sant'Angelo, proprio all'inizio quando è partito il progetto.
32:45Most of the two to three hundred year old buildings here now portray artwork.
32:51Giving Sant'Angelo di Roccovece its new nickname.
32:56The Village of Fairy Tales.
33:00And it draws families from near and far to experience the spectacle.
33:05Bringing income and life to the once empty streets.
33:15Today, Alessandro and Stefania are taking an early morning tour of the town.
33:21To check each mural for wear.
33:25Alcuni murales hanno dei danni, anche non enormi, però sono sempre da ritoccare.
33:32Oll'intonaco, con l'umidità , con le intemperie, purtroppo si rovinano in passare al tempo.
33:39They begin their inspection with the surreal landscapes of Alice in Wonderland.
33:48And Pinocchio.
33:53They move on to the dark drama of Little Red Riding Hood.
34:01They examine literary legends.
34:04Don Quixote of La Mancha.
34:09And Androcles and the Lion.
34:14And they conclude their journey with the fairytale world of Cinderella.
34:22And the classic Italian story, Puss in Boots.
34:28Alessandro funded the project through the residents of the town who made donations.
34:34And organized fundraising events.
34:37And since it started in 2017, Sant'Angelo has seen an astonishing transformation.
34:45With new businesses opening to cater for visitors.
35:02While she's here, Stefania makes some quick fixes to one of her own murals.
35:22In the face of dwindling populations, shifting demographics and economic difficulties.
35:31Perhaps fairytales do come true.
35:44To be continued...
35:46To be continued...
35:52Flying high over Rome reveals that the historic center is surrounded by an ancient megastructure.
36:00The mighty Aurelian Walls.
36:07When they were built, the walls stretched an incredible 19 kilometers long.
36:13With watchtowers, battlements and 18 gates.
36:19The emperor Aurelian commissioned them in the twilight of the Roman Empire.
36:24As the city braced itself against a deadly threat from the north.
36:29These walls did not exist for most of Rome's history.
36:32Why would they? Who would dare cross the empire of Rome?
36:36An empire that stretched from the north of Africa to the north of England.
36:39But what we know about these walls is that this is a different Rome we're talking about.
36:43It's not the Rome of the movies that we're used to seeing, the grand empire.
36:46This is an empire in crisis. A city that is restricting.
36:52The walls tell the story of an empire on the brink of collapse.
36:58Warrior tribes from Germany had been gaining territory on the edges of the empire.
37:03And they were pushing south.
37:06By the third century, the Rome that was the dream had already been lost.
37:11Emperors like Marcus Aurelius' son Commodus had mismanaged the funds of the empire.
37:15The empire had completely started the erosion of the Roman Empire and these walls are proof of it.
37:21A closer look at the walls reveals that they were made in a hurry.
37:28Utilizing any old materials the Romans could get their hands on.
37:31Everything from travertine to very ornate marble to bits of volcanic ash to even Roman brick just mashed together to
37:39try and build these defenses desperately and protect Rome from the very barbarians that for years they've managed to keep
37:44out of the city.
37:47Ultimately, the walls didn't work.
37:50In 410 AD, the German barbarians breached them.
37:56They looted the city and took control.
38:00Some Romans stayed, whilst others fled to a life of farming.
38:06A lifestyle that still carried on to this day.
38:13Half a million years ago, central Italy was dominated by huge volcanoes that spewed volcanic ash across the region.
38:24This mineral-rich layer helped to create fertile, well-drained farmland.
38:31A closer look at the northernmost volcano...
38:36...reveals neat rows of shrubs that stand out.
38:40And it's a crop that the Romans would have known well.
38:54This tiny striped field is home to rows of lavender.
38:59These hardy shrubs were highly prized by the Romans, who used them for a myriad of purposes.
39:09They took lavender water into the battlefield to sterilize wounds.
39:14They used lavender oil as a perfume for their clothing, hair, and even the walls of their houses.
39:21And they used it in their bathhouses to wash with.
39:26The name lavender actually comes from the Latin, lavare, to wash.
39:33Lavender flowers ripen in July here in Lazio.
39:38It's a time that farmer Lucia Gubbiotti has been waiting for all year.
39:59Today, Lucia and her team are selecting two rows of lavender from their crop to distill into an essential oil.
40:09To get the biggest yield, it's vital that they only select the plants that are at their oil heaping.
40:16On this small organic farm, it's a decision that's not made with machines, but with eyes and noses.
40:36These plants are just right.
40:39So Lucia calls in her team to start the harvest.
40:44The two rows that they've selected should be just enough to fill her distillation machine,
40:49which will turn the flowers into an essential oil.
40:54The machine uses sharp blades to slice away the flower stems, almost to the base.
41:01Lavender plants are perennial shrubs,
41:03and cutting them back this vigorously will encourage healthy growth and strong flowers for next year's harvest.
41:13It also fills the air with an incredible smell.
41:19Lucia and her husband work ahead of the machine, cutting any drooping stems that it might miss.
41:38The rolling landscape of Lazio that surrounds Lucia's farm is soaked in history.
41:46The nearest town, Tuscania, dates back to the fourth century BC, when it was a thriving Etruscan settlement.
41:57After the rise of Rome, it formed a hub for farmers growing produce for the big city.
42:04Much of Tuscania today is medieval, although it was rebuilt in the 1970s after a devastating earthquake.
42:17At the farm, Lucia finishes the harvest for the day, and the workers prepare the flowers for processing.
42:28First, they pack them into a drum to make a compact plug that's the perfect size for the steam distillation
42:34machine.
42:38The workers then hoist the fragrant plug into the machine, and carefully seal the cylinder, ready for the steam to
42:46do its work.
42:48Vapore passa attraverso i fasci di lavanda che abbiamo messo dentro al distillatore, apri pori del fiorellino di un'ampollina
42:57che è contenuto sotto il fiore, così da sprigionare l'olio essenziale contenuto.
43:04The essential oil mixes with the steam, and the machine then condenses this mixture into a fragrant-smelling water.
43:13This water can then be further processed to extract the pure essential oil.
43:19It's a good end to the day, and the team will repeat the process again tomorrow until the field is
43:26empty.
43:28Until then, it's time to celebrate the harvest with a meal, and a toast to the historic and famously fertile
43:37Roman landscape.
43:50One of Rome's most curious buildings appears embedded into the city's perimeter wall.
43:58The structure is so well preserved, it looks almost brand new, but it's over 2,000 years old.
44:06And it was built here by a Roman.
44:09About 20 years before this was built, a monumental event happened in Roman history.
44:15The Emperor Augustus defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium.
44:20And suddenly Rome went a little Egyptian crazy.
44:24It became very fashionable to dress like an Egyptian, or to do things that the Egyptians did.
44:28For example, the Egyptians had a very different philosophy when it came to their dead.
44:33The Romans were used to cremating, the Egyptians famously were mummifying their dead.
44:37So the Romans decided, why not?
44:39If you had the money, you could have anything in Rome.
44:41And that included immortality.
44:44A wealthy Roman magistrate called Caius Cestius wrote in his will that a pyramid was to be built upon his
44:52death, for him and his family to be buried inside.
44:57But surprisingly, despite his pyramid being built according to his instructions, it was never used.
45:05History does not always go according to plan.
45:08Caius Cestius, unfortunately, by legend, did not pay his workers.
45:12And as a result, the workers refused to bury him in the pyramid, so it ended up being empty.
45:17It became useful afterwards, because being a nice big structure, it was incorporated into the walls.
45:25The pyramid was built from brick and concrete, and covered with a facade of white marble.
45:32It measures nearly 30 square metres at the base, and rises 37 metres high, as tall as a ten-storey
45:39building.
45:41Its slender form is most similar to the pyramids of Nubia, south of Egypt, which Rome attacked in 23 BC.
45:50And it's likely that Cestius served in this campaign, and was inspired by his travels.
46:03The pyramid isn't the only structure that appears out of place in Rome.
46:07An eccentric in the Renaissance created a garden that offers perhaps the region's strangest sights.
46:19On the outskirts of Rome, surrounded by ancient woodland, sits the town of Bormazzo.
46:26A closer look on the edge of town reveals a narrow hilltop settlement, and a patch of woodland that's home
46:36to one of the world's most remarkable collections of sculptures.
46:44In the early morning light, strange beasts appear to come to life through the trees of Bormazzo.
46:53A war elephant, a monstrous fish head, a monumental reclining giant, and an enormous head.
47:06With an inscription, all reason departs.
47:13This is the Parco di Monstri, or Park of Monsters.
47:18A collection of weird and wonderful sculptures, built over 400 years ago.
47:26But why is it here?
47:30For local historian, Salvatore Fosci.
47:34The early hours before opening provide him with the ideal time to study the structures in solitude.
47:53A clue to the origin of the park lies high above.
47:58This is the home of the troubled nobleman, Pierre Francesco Orsini.
48:03Who was Duke of Bormazzo in the 16th century.
48:08Orsini was a general in the Pope's army, and was imprisoned by the Germans after battle.
48:14He was eventually released, but his wife died shortly after his return.
48:21Ragged with grief, he surrounded himself with artists, and set about building his garden of monsters.
48:29Perhaps as a way to explore his own demons.
48:34He wanted to embrace the mystery of nature, and stimulate emotion with weird and wonderful forms.
48:44This house is intentionally set at an angle of 23 degrees, the same as the tilt of the earth.
48:51Its crooked aspect is said to induce a sense of instability and dizziness in the observer.
49:00After Orsini died, the park was left to nature.
49:05But interest sparked again in the 1940s, when Salvador Dali made a film here,
49:11and used imagery from the park in his own works.
49:16Orsini, with his park, already anticipated the time,
49:19because he had already a more futuristic vision.
49:23But his vision, in some way, was then darkened in time.
49:27This park inspired many artists, but they had to pass 500 years,
49:32because the park takes knowledge back, because it was abandoned,
49:36and just completely erased.
49:42And he had to pass 500 years later.
49:43On the plinth of one statue, this visionary duke carved a message.
49:48Its question as valid to today's visitors, as it was 500 years ago.
50:05It's nearly time for the park to open.
50:09Sir Salvatore sets up his camera for one last image.
50:14In contrast to the rest of the park, this temple has no quirks or twists.
50:20It's dedicated to the memory of the duke's wife.
50:24This temple represents the life of Orsini.
50:28It represents the death of the wife.
50:32This temple is a temple of memories, a temple of memories.
50:36It's a temple, let's say, to respect.
50:50Rome is an ancient capital, and a cultural beacon that has shaped the world.
50:57But beyond the ruins and grand facades, it's a living, breathing city.
51:03It's people work to protect its monuments and its traditions.
51:10Keeping the spirit of Rome alive for generations to come.
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