Italy: The Land And The People (1977)

e [Music] we would like to welcome you to our country Italia Italy come with us and see the land that was once the center of the Roman Empire to understand Italy it helps to know that we have three principal and distinctive regions there is Northern Italy including the po valley and surrounding Alps here you see the Western coastal region and here mountainous Central and South southern Italy including Sicily one of our islands and Sardinia the other in the central region are the appenines a mountain range which we sometimes call the backbone of Italy let's begin our tour of Italy in the appenine mountains in the appenines there is very little summer rainfall it's rugged land some areas are so steep in Rocky that even in this age of mechanizing a farmer must use animals for power farming is difficult in these hot dry lands of the mountain is South a farmer needs all the help he can get so a large family is almost a necessity the manusos here make their own spaghetti and bread from the wheat they raise many Farm families in the South use most of what they grow each region has its own special recipes but spaghetti is popular everywhere in Italy tomatoes are also grown and used in many ways the white grapes they eat but from their red grapes Mountain families can make wine which is a common Meal Time drink for Italians olives are eaten and also made into olive oil for us in salads but mostly for cooking the mar Usos eat and work together family life is very important to us the appenine mountains run north and south the full length of our Peninsula they end in the south at the tip of the boot and then a short distance offshore is the mountainous island of Sicily across the straight of mesina on Sicily especially along the northern and Eastern coasts there are fertile Plains here here we have Orchards of orange and lemon trees growing on irrigated land where many people work all year round high above the coastal plains of Sicily is Mount Etna Etna is an active volcano when it erops it gives off sulfur as well as other chemicals Italians have mined sulfur from around Mount ethna for several hundred years sulfur was once Sicily's only important mineral resource but today oil wells have brought new money to the island from Sicily let's go to our other large island Sardinia almost 400 kilm away the people who live on Sardinia use much of the land for grazing their sheep and goats there is no not much industry here although there is a source of power this Dam provides Sardinia with electricity which has helped some industry develop but even so here and in the central and southern mountain regions of Italy most people are involved in agriculture many of the products of the islands and of southern Italy go to the Port City Napoli in English you say Naples here in our Western coastal region the farmlands are very productive although we get little rain here we can irrigate because the land is generally flat many of the crops we raise here will be sold at outdoor markets in Naples Naples is the regional center for this area you can see that we grow many kinds kind of fruits and vegetables some of the produce like these Tomatoes will be shipped for processing at local plants this particular shipment will be made into tomato paste Our tomato paste is packaged for use here and for export all over the world because Italy is a member of the Common Market much will be sent to other member nations like England or France Naples is one of our busiest ports South across the Bay of Naples you can see Mount Vesuvius this is the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe where there has been volcanic action in Italy the soil is very rich north of Vesuvius pipes are sunk deep into the Earth to bring up volcanic steam this geothermal energy is used to generate electricity another way we produce electricity is by using nuclear energy at this Generating Station there is a nuclear reactor that has been providing us with electric power for many years in the area along our western coast there are many large cities besides Naples in Italian we call them Roma lorno and [Music] Fen this highway is called the new appan way it links many important cities as highways usually do for much of its length it runs beside the ancient aan way this Old Road was built more than 2,000 years ago it was one of many that joined together various parts of the Roman Empire of course the capital of that ancient empire was Rome the capital of modern Italy Rome is the largest city in Italy it is built on low Hills the Tyber River Winds through them not only is Rome the center of our government but it's also the center of Commerce and transportation business is important to us of course this jet airport outside side Rome is one sign of that but the name of the airport tells you something else about Italy we named it for Leonardo DaVinci a world famous Italian artist DaVinci was a genius of the Italian Renaissance a great period in the history of art this is his self-portrait made near the end of his life art has an important place in our lives partly because of DaVinci he worked in many areas he was an architect a brilliant military engineer and designer but most of all Leonardo was an artist a painter all of his work will be remembered but especially this portrait DaVinci's Mona Lisa is one of the world's best known paintings another Italian Renaissance genius who helped make art so important to us is Michelangelo this is his self-portrait and this is one of his many paintings the Holy Family [Music] Michelangelo was also a sculptor his great knowledge of anatomy guided him as he carved his 15t Masterpiece David in David we can see the Perfection of human form that Michelangelo [Music] s Michelangelo like Leonardo da Vinci was also an architect he designed the Dome of this building St Peter's Basilica which still stands in Vatican City in Rome today the Vatican is still the center of the Roman Catholic Church as it was in Michelangelo's day Rome has changed the lot since then the suburbs have grown far beyond the old city but north of Rome Across the Western coastal region in central Italy is the City of Florence which looks much as it did when Michelangelo lived there 500 years ago Florence is on the Arno river which flows through the productive Arno Valley the valley is famous for its Vineyards we often take the wine and other products of this region to the port city of leorn there is another important Valley region north of here let's look at our map again and move to the po valley now we are in the industrial and agricultural heart of Italy here in the north are the major cities of Milano Torino and genua the Long Valley of the Po River is sheltered from cold North winds by the Alps this is why the climate is so mild here the po valley which we is sometimes called the Lombardi Plains is our most productive farming region wheat is the most important seral crop of Italy and of this region too Farmers from miles around bring their wheat to Central collection points for threshing we also grow rice here but it needs irrigation wheat can be dry farmed Orchards of mulberry trees are also very in Northern Italy mulberry leaves are fed to silk worms from their cocoons comes fiber for Italian silk silk has competition now synthetics natural and synthetic fabrics are manufactured in the textile mills of Northern Italy some of the cloth manufactured here is made into clothing designed by Italian fashion designers we also manufacture Fabrics from cotton and bu Milan is the center of our textile industry it is the largest city of our industrial North Milan has a much more modern look than Florence each region in Italy has its own architectural flavor each its own customs and traditions Milan Turin and Genoa make up what is often called the industrial triangle of Northern Italy our Industries run on electric power much of it comes from the Alps where dams across Mountain Streams help us generate hydroelectric power we have another source of energy in the North there is natural gas in the po valley so we have energy for manufacturing goods and the fine system of Roads too like this one between Milan and Turin which is a center of heavy industry steel and other metals are produced in tourin we import our raw materials this is a test track for an automobile Factory in tan in the plant they make cars that are sold in our own country and also exported all over the world the industries of the north have attracted many workers to our Northern cities they come to places like tourin to find work in factories and offices population has grown very much in these cities so we've built many apartment units like these in [Music] Turin some of the products manufactured in the industrial cities of the north will be shipped by train to other countries that belong to the European economic Community as Italy does this is the common market we mentioned earlier Italy was a founding member of this organization for shipments overseas products can go to Italy's busiest port Genoa while today Genoa is the major port city of Italy several hundred years ago Venice on the East Coast held that position Venice venea as we call it with its canals gandas beautiful buildings and art is one of Italy's most popular tourist centers the canals of Venice reflect the Italy of the past the Italy of today has a new look ours is a country rich in Regional traditions but still firmly involved in the future perhaps someday you will come see for yourself [Music]