Pozzuoli, Pompei and Baia....

Norwich, United...
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Pozzuoli, Pompei and Baia....
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One of our favourite TV programmes here is "Line blu" - a RAI series which combines nature, tourism, the local culture and economy of Italy's gorgeous coastal areas, with all types of sea-related items!

And their Saturday July 2nd edition concentrated on this area - with a look at some of the ways its volcanic history has impacted on life here.

The RAI website has a cut-down version (still 82 minutes) that's available to watch... which, hopefully, is here:

http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-6bb373c8-714c-40e5-9058-3c5c8ef60739.html#p=0

Obviously it's all in Italian, but you might skip past the wordier bits, and just enjoy watching the pictures?

It opens at Pompei, with the story of the two Plinys and the eruption at Vesuvius - and how that's affected the area - particularly the Campei Flegrei.

They go on to Baia and the Solfatara volcano just outside Pozzuli, with a look at Baia Sommersa - the underwater archaeological area, where divers and those on the glass bottom boat can see parts of the Roman town presevered below the sea.

Then, at about 11 minutes in, it's back to Pompei, the second busiest site in all Italy, for a walk round the fabulous Villa dei Pittori with one of the archaeologists.... They've replanted the garden with the plants of the day, and restored the paintings (*). Watch that and tell me that how Ostia Antica compares!

(*) For more on those, see...

http://www.pompeiviva.it/pv/en/casadeipittorirestauroaffreschi.htm

Then they're off to Pozzuoli, with a piece on the Coast Guard service that has some great aerial footage of the area, and - at 17'30" in - they visit the city's fish market, for a long item on the various fish and other creatures in the morning's catch - and the effects on the men of the large fishing fleet of the local Marine Protected Areas and other challenges they're facing...

Picking up again at 28', there's a piece set in Rome on the health benefits of eating fish with recipes etc... partly set in Piazza Barberini - appropriately enough set in part next to Bernini's fountain of the sea god, Triton (Tritone), which then continues with more cookery and healthy eating advice...

All very tempting, but you may prefer to skip on to the 38' mark, for a look at the work under way up at Pozzuoli's Rione Terra - the acropolis above the city, where the underground Roman streets and temple will soon be visitable once more... although they're careful not to predict quite when the funds to complete the work will be available! Nonetheless, fascinating to see their progress, and the things unearthed since we were there. The idea is to repopulate the area, with shops, restaurants etc.

At around 42' there's an touching series of interviews with people from some of the families who were forced out of the city in the 60s/70s, after the bizarre yo-yo of bradyseisism made it unsafe to occupy the area - particularly interesting for us as it was meeting one of those "refugees" in London that first brought the city to our attention.

Those are probably the bits othat will appeal the most, and much of the remainder of the programme may be mainly of only local interest - but...

- at 44 minutes in there's an item on school kids being taught about various sea creatures, and how good they are to eat! Only in Italy, don't they say?

- at 52', some spectacular underwater diving footage, in an piece about the local seabed and its coral banks.

- they then cut away for a look at Santa Maria di Leuca, at the southern tip of Lecce province, in Puglia and the Salento generally

- at around 1 hr 3' there's a package of sea-related news

- and, at 1 hr 12', they're back in the harbour in Naples for the blessing of the coastguard, and then off on the historic tug 'Anacapri' for a look at work being done along the coast to recover dangerous trash dumped in the sea - car batteries etc - and it ends with the festa for Santa Maria di Portosalvo, revered by the city's sailors and navigators, and a report on a local anti-Camorra project.

Hope you'll find something you enjoy - and my apologies in advance for any and all the mistakes or misunderstandings I've made in the above...

Peter

Norwich, United...
Level Contributor
17,794 posts
5 reviews
12 helpful votes
1. Re: Pozzuoli, Pompei and Baia....
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PS ... at least in the early morning here, the server will support viewing in full-screen mode, with which the timebar can be found at the bottom of the screen.

P

2. Re: Pozzuoli, Pompei and Baia....

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