Season 19

Alberto Angela accompanies viewers to discover the adventurous events of a place fundamental to history, art and Christianity. A living place, not just a splendid museum. Starting from the heart of the Vatican, and then moving to Florence and London, Alberto Angela will recall characters, stories, ideas of a historical period that has so far had no equal: the Renaissance. A true journey through history, to discover the lives of the protagonists who have linked their names to the Sistine Chapel: artists such as Michelangelo, Raffaello, Botticelli, Perugino and popes such as Sisto IV, Giulio II and Leone X. Together with Alberto Angela Gigi Proietti, who will give voice to the great protagonists of the past by recounting the work and genius of those who contributed to the birth of one of the most spectacular places in the world.

This second episode of the series will be dedicated to one of the most famous and fascinating female figures in history: Queen Cleopatra. Alberto Angela will guide viewers on a real journey through time to discover the world at the time of Cleopatra, describing the fundamental stages of her existence and those events that changed the destiny of history forever, contributing to the birth of the great Roman Empire . No woman of the ancient world exercised such a strong seduction on her contemporaries, as well as on posterity, as Cleopatra: the last ruler of the powerful Egyptian dominion. Starting from the Colosseum, symbol of Roman civilisation, crossing ancient Egypt and ancient Rome and stopping at the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Alberto Angela will reconstruct the life and history of the last queen of Egypt, a woman whose existence has marked the fundamental transition between the end of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Empire.

The episode of Ulisse: il piacere della scoperta, by Alberto Angela, is dedicated to the story of one of the most shameful events in the history of our country: the roundup of the Jews in the Rome ghetto which took place on 16 October 1943. It all began with the laws racial groups, which from one day to the next had deprived thousands of Italian citizens of many rights and freedoms simply because they were Jews. And it ended with the extermination camps from which very few had escaped after experiencing all sorts of horrors. Alberto Angela will tell the story of the events in the same places where the tragic events took place. The strong point will above all be the direct testimony of those who escaped death in the concentration camps, certain that listening to their voice will be a renewed opportunity for reflection, analysis and knowledge for viewers. Among the testimonies is that of Senator Liliana Segre.

Alberto Angela presents a new episode of "Ulisse, il piacere della scoperta", the program dedicated to history, art and culture. This fourth episode of the series will be dedicated to Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as "Princess Sissi" thanks to her films played by the unforgettable Romy Schneider. Retracing the life of this fascinating and controversial historical figure, Alberto Angela will guide viewers on a journey through the sumptuous court palaces of the Habsburg dynasty. From her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna until her dramatic death in 1898 in Geneva at the hands of an Italian anarchist, Sissi was for many a symbol of female independence in a century of great social transformations. Her rebellious nature, in contrast with the rigid conventions of the court, foreshadowed the end of the old world decades in advance.

Ben Hur, the blockbuster film of 1959, winner of 11 Oscars. Alberto Angela makes us relive the story of the famous charioteer and the city of Rome in the first century AD, accompanying spectators to the places that saw the events told by the film, starting from the central place of the chariot competitions: the Circus Maximus, a structure immense, of which today only the large esplanade is visible. Ben Hur is a fictional character, the result of the creativity of an American novelist. Alberto Angela, however, tells of an equally famous character who actually existed: the charioteer Scorpo, a much loved arena star, the greatest champion of the Flavian era, remembered several times by the poet Marziale.