Stories, landscapes, and creativity.
That's the formula for beauty here at Italian Beauty.
Pompeii: the prosperous Roman colony
destroyed by the implacable eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
A dramatic event that yielded the conservation
of arts and architecture for millennia.
Then, Herculaneum: interior details and sites that are fascinating.
At the foot of the Euganean Hills,
on the old road leading to the Este,
there's an ancient Benedictine monastery
founded between the 11th and 12th centuries.
In 1951, monks at the Praglia Abbey
created a lab to restore books.
"Beds are the cradle of life."
This is what a young Rosario Messina used to say.
He revolutionized the culture of sleep in the 1970s
and made his entrepreneuring dreams come true in "Made in Italy."
First, Italian Beauty will take you to Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Let's look at monuments, walk through villages or shops.
In other words, let's see what life was like 2,000 years ago.
"SUCH POIGNANT BEAUTY" BY PAOLO BONETTI
We're in Herculaneum,
such a splendid place where Classicism came from.
This is where Ancient times began.
In 1738, Charles of Bourbon initiated the excavations.
It had been discovered 20 years before.
THE ANCIENT PAINTINGS OF HERCULANEUM
Just like rewinding a movie...
Herculaneum, 1709. The owner of lands
at the foot of the Vesuvius,
a man by the name of Nocerino, known as Enzechetta,
started digging a well and came upon some ancient finds.
News of the findings reached Emanuele Maurizio di Lorena,
who decided to buy the land.
Excavations started in 1711.
The excavations were later resumed by Charles III of Bourbon.
We are at the "House of Wooden Partition."
It's a magnificent house, where you can see particular differences
with Pompeii.
The partition we see here
is a screen used by the masters to have some privacy.
He, the master, gave orders
from this room, known as "tablinum."
As we can see, the room is raised.
This is where he used to meet his clients.
This is where, every day, he received the honored morning salutations
known as "obsequium."
Look at this beautiful table,
where the family used to display their silverware:
plates, cups, and all the luxury
that was a symbol of ostentation.
In Ancient Roman times, being gaudy was a requirement.
Others should talk about your house.
The house, paintings, ornaments were displayed for others to see.
It was some sort of advertisement for others to talk about you.
They were meant for degustation.
These cups and plates made of silver
served the food and beverages prepared by the family.
We're at the "House of Neptune and Amphitrite,"
one of the most beautiful domus in Herculaneum.
POMPEII TOUR GUIDE
This mosaic attest to such beauty.
The house is named after this mosaic:
"Neptune and Amphitrite."
God Neptune is holding his trident.
The most interesting thing about these tiles
is that the edges are made of pure gold.
Next to him, we see a beautiful Nereid Amphitrite.
This is where the family would gather during warmer weather,
spending spring and summer with friends.
On the left, they displayed some theater masks
made of marble, such as the copies seen here.
The originals are in storage.
The theater was part of family life in Ancient Rome,
as well as in Herculaneum and Pompeii.
In Herculaneum, there's yet another important sight to see:
MAV, the Virtual Archaeological Museum.
To learn more about its activities, let's talk to Ciro Cacciolla,
Museum Director.
MAV opened eight years ago.
MAV DIRECTOR IN HERCULANEUM
It is dedicated to Vesuvian archaeology and virtual reconstruction in 3D.
It's a state-of-the-art museum,
whose target audience is young people,
mostly students from different schools and universities.
They usually come to MAV before or after visiting the excavation site.
Here they have an opportunity to put Vesuvian archaeology into context.
Obviously, they can understand it better and acquire more knowledge
about what Roman cities looked like prior to the eruption of the Vesuvius.
We have different ways
MAV DIRECTOR IN HERCULANEUM
to interact with current and future visitors.
ANCIENT THEATER
Using the social platforms that are currently available,
many museums can promote themselves, and rightly so.
We have several programs targeted at schools.
CENTRAL THERMAL BATHS
Schools are still one of our main target audiences.
As an educational museum,
our purpose is to foster
and promote knowledge about Vesuvian archaeology.
Schools are an important point of reference for us.
Throughout the entire year,
we have many programs dedicated to schools,
young students and educators,
so they can interact with such an important reality.
In order to address the demands of our guests,
GENERAL DIRECTOR POMPEII SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE
our duty is to make this world heritage site available.
We're restoring the most important homes in Pompeii.
It includes paintings, mosaics, and furniture
found and preserved inside these homes.
In the 1700s, Scipione Maffei had interpreted these discoveries well.
He said, "Wonderful! We didn't find a single monument, but an entire city!"
He predicted people from all over Europe would come to Naples to see this wonder.
Pompeii became a mandatory stop for the Grand Tour.
Starting in the 1700s-1800s, everyone came to visit
these ruins being unearthed since the times of Charles of Bourbon,
whose work was later carried on by his successors.
Our duty is to systematically open up Pompeii to the world.
The crucial discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii,
DIRECTOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN NAPLES
was the spark that spread throughout Europe
the dream of making Neoclassic discoveries.
Since then, many scholars came to the Campana region,
including travelers like Goethe, among many others.
They spread a taste for Neoclassic style throughout Europe,
which influenced the arts, literature, and paintings.
This love and passion for Ancient times
goes through Pompeii,
reaches scholars like Winckelmann,
and spreads throughout all main European kingdoms.
Everyone spoke a common language inspired by Ancient times.
Everyone recognized themselves in the values of the Roman Empire
and Ancient Greece.
Working at a museum
means to accept a challenge
and share it with our entire staff.
We're creating a very important team
of very competent people
who believe in a revival project to update the museum's image
and increase the collections on display.
Above all, we're proud to emphasize that
southern cities like Naples
don't represent a problem for Italy.
They're the future of Italy's tourism and economy.
Investing in museums on Southern Italy is a victory for Italian culture.
We're in Oplontis, at the Villa of Poppaea Sabina,
Nero's second wife,
"The Beauty with Auburn Hair."
It has only been partially explored.
It is yet to be fully unearthed.
Most of the rooms uncovered are magnificent.
Especially this mural we have here,
a second-style painting.
It's from the 1st century before Christ, dating back to 40 and 50 BC.
Therefore, it's probably a rendering
of what she wanted to show her friends.
POMPEII TOUR GUIDE
"Look, this is my past, what belonged to my ancestors."
It's a beautiful mural, a beautiful rendering
of a colonnade.
At the center, there's an opening with a Delphic tripod.
It's the upper part of a deeper arch,
that is, it extends to the walls below.
This was a triclinium, a formal dining room.
This is a magnificent place.
This is a majestic pool. That's how magnificent this villa is.
This pool is 17 meters wide
and 61 meters long, Olympic size.
Here's the green area, the garden of this villa,
where a U.S. scholar Wilhelmina Jashemski
used remains of pollen, seeds, and wood
to recreate part of the green atmosphere.
Here's an example: this is the mold of a plane tree.
We're at Villa San Marco,
in its ancient stabiae.
The excavation process was started by Charles of Bourbon
in early 1749.
In 1950, a local from the Stabia area,
some sort of Indiana Jones of his time,
by the name of Libero D'Orsi,
figured out where this villa could have been located.
Soon it was completely unearthed.
We're at the monumental atrium of this villa.
Here you can see the majestic pillars.
The "impluvium" and the "compluvium."
Rain water used to be collected here.
There was a cistern here.
Around the atrium, you can see the "cubicula," or bedrooms.
We can also see the monumental "lararium,"
and the supporting foundation for a safe,
a symbol of wealth,
and the status of the family living here.
Among the beautiful decorations, we can see a beautiful centaur.
It seems to pop out, as if it were in 3D.
It's rampant.
This was the entrance to such majestic villa.
Let's now see a very important part of this villa:
the private thermal baths.
Let's visit the "frigidarium," the "tepidarium,"
the hot pool.
Lord Hamilton visited this area
in the late 1700s,
and took a boiler
into one of his ships, which ultimately sunk.
Lord Hamilton was the famous British Ambassador to Naples,
but he was also a famous antiquarian.
I've just come out of a hole opened by the Bourbon excavation.
Here you can see a beautiful "peristilium."
Some panels are missing from these walls,
since the Spaniards used to
remove the panels that are now exhibited at the National Museum of Naples.
This "peristilium"
marks the perimeter of a beautiful pool.
It was a "natacia," a large pool.
You can see how it is so majestic and big.
It's similar to that of Villa of the Papyri,
or that of Herculaneum,
or even that of Villa Poppaea.
It's majestic. It's enormous.
Along the sides, on the right and on the left,
we can see seven beautiful exedra stucco.
There were also scenes depicting
Europe being abducted by a bull,
as well as Phrixus and Helle.
"Life is fleeting, remaining but an hour.
"Things present and past create war inside of me,
"and so does the future.
"Memories and expectation afflict me.
"Now and then, the truth is,
"had I not taken pity on myself,
"I would be rid of these thoughts.
"Come back to me, for the sweetness would never sadden my heart.
"On the other hand,
"I see the windstorms rattling my sails.
"I see good fortune at the port, but I am weary now.
"Rest my mast and sail,
"for those fair lights that once guided me, now fail me.
"Death be blamed,
"or rather praised for binding us and setting us free,
"for sometimes closing us off, and other times opening us up
"and, after bringing us to tears, it knows how to make us happy."
"Pray and work", that was the motto of Benedict of Nursia.
The 48 Benedictine monks at Praglia Abbey
followed it to a T.
Besides praying, they work the farm, make natural medicine,
and are dedicated to the art of book restoration.
Mud and books came by the truckloads from Florence.
These books had mud all over them.
FOUNDER OF THE BOOK RESTORATION LAB
There was no mud inside,
but we needed to protect them,
so that the mud wouldn't get inside.
Such culture and knowledge destroyed, being handled offhandedly.
What an unspeakable tragedy!
I believe anyone who cherishes our civilization
feels a duty to do anything in their power.
"FLORENCE AFTER THE FLOOD OF 1966" BY FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI
No matter the nationality, this is about civilization.
We were happy to help save this material.
It was such precious material!
Not only were the books old,
but they had been written by the likes of
Galileo Galilei, Manzoni, etc.
There were so many books.
For us, it was about recovering
our past traditions,
bringing it back to light.
"PRAGLIA ABBEY AND THE ART OF RESTORATION" BY MONICA GHEZZI
I arrived at Praglia Abbey on October 17, 1940.
I was impressed by how big
and beautiful this monastery is.
It's perhaps the most beautiful monastery, in architecture,
that I have ever seen.
Praglia was founded
FATHER NORBERTO VILLA, PRAGLIA ABBOT
between the late 11th century and the early 12th century.
It was financed by the Lords of Montebello.
The monastery is located
where a watchtower once stood.
It was then granted to the monastery,
including the surrounding land.
It's 13,000 m² of built area.
An enormous abbey.
We are at the elevated cloister of Praglia Abby,
at the center of the monastery, where there used to be
Medieval monastery facilities.
From a symbolic perspective, as far as its use,
this was a crucial area
because the cloister has the sky as its ceiling.
Standing at the cloister, you face your Creator,
reconnect with your heart,
understand communion,
and perceive the layers of our culture.
In the Middle Ages,
the Benedictines were among the few who could read and write.
We gathered books in Greek and Latin,
FOUNDER OF THE BOOK RESTORATION LAB
as well as the ancient culture.
It was all collected and passed on to us.
When we were given the opportunity
to work with book restoration,
we saw it as something convenient,
aligned with our Benedictine tradition and culture.
The most delicate step
RESTORATION ARTIST
is restoring the design itself.
That's when restoration artists must understand
how far they can go,
and how they must preserve the book structure and the materials,
so that their work is indeed of preservation
and nothing is lost from the nature and structure of the original.
At the moment, I'm sewing a record from the 1500s.
I'm using two new supports,
which are made of leather and very similar to the original ones,
with a cut in the middle.
I'm sewing it with a very strong thread,
which is very similar to the one that was originally used.
This will prevent wear and tear,
which will facilitate book handling
after so many centuries.
Sewing, in this case,
consists of following the original markings.
We work with two third-party restoration artists,
as well as two monks
who have vast experience.
I'm here to learn the technique.
It's about technique and patience.
FATHER LUCA DE OLIVEIRA, RESTORATION ARTIST
You must have a light touch, because there are small details.
If you press too hard, it's all ruined.
It's delicate work that requires patience.
I'm the newest one and I've been here for three and a half years.
It's a passion of mine since an early age.
The project that touched me the most
RESTORATION ARTIST
was a military ID.
It belonged to a soldier who went missing in WWI.
Being able to give an identity to such a young person,
who was an 18-year-old Hungarian.
That experience was truly...
...phenomenal.
It was a thrilling experience to restore Manuscript 338:
RESTORATION ARTIST
the most ancient version of the Canticle of the Sun.
This kind of work becomes a world-renowned restoration.
HEIL SCHRIFT BIBLE
I believe restoring books is akin to restoring life.
Oftentimes, the pages of our lives are a little...
dirty because of things we did or didn't do.
I often think we must stop and change their colors
or the overall look...
Or sometimes turn a page and start again from scratch.
That's how I see my work.
I not only work on these books, but I work on my life as well.
Ora et labora.
Pray and work. That is it.
Work and pray.
DON DANIELE CORSO, HERBALIST
It's our main tenet at the monastery.
It's an enclosed religious order of men.
SHOPKEEPER AT PRAGLIA ABBEY
I'm wearing regular clothes under my tunic.
I could take it off and go outside.
Despite the bars and grilles you see on the windows,
I am free here.
Every two centuries, monastic life should be updated...
PRAGLIA ABBOT
and aligned to contemporary to the historical context.
This must be done with regular monastery activities.
Besides the book restoration lab,
we also have the apiculture lab, the herbalist shop,
the cosmetics lab, the wine cellar...
We show appreciation for the land,
with the landscape, the cloisters,
and the different cultures that characterize this small,
but significant corner when we look at it from the loggia.
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be