The first leg of Alex's journey sees her travelling across the north of Italy to uncover some of the secrets it conceals. Venice is a city that Alex has visited many times, but this is a trip like never before as she visits a prison with a difference and has a brush with some memories of her grandmother. After leaving Venice, Alex spends time in a hidden gem nestled among the Lombard Alps, before rounding up her northern adventure in achingly cool Milan, Italy's fashion capital, where she gets up close and personal with many of Maria Callas's fabulous stage costumes.
In Central Italy, Alex heads to the relatively undiscovered Le Marche region, sampling local seafood delicacies and meeting the designer of one of Italy's leading shoe brands. She then heads to Rome, taking the opportunity to meet up with an ex-boyfriend and visiting a family home.
Alex begins this weeks journey in Naples, Italy's third largest city, with a population of 960,000. The city is a historic heritage site and is also close to Mount Vesuvius, which Alex explores wondering why people chose to live so close to the volcano. Alex then heads to the Amalfi coast, where she remembers her honeymoon. She samples a menu cooked by chef Mamma Agata.
The final leg of Alex’s journey reaches a fitting crescendo in the secret south, a region that Alex knows little about. In Puglia, Alex marvels at the truli and samples some of the unique wine their. She then heads to Mone Pollino national park before concluding her adventure in Matera, a place with atmospheric cave dwellings and some of the oldest settlements in Europe. She also heads to the local festival - Festa della Madonna Bruna, a week-long carnival which ends with a pagan-style rite of destruction and a firework display.
Alex Polizzi arrives in Sardinia to explore her family roots and discover the rich and diverse culture of this ever-popular destination. She’ll be sampling the Cagliari cuisine, venturing inland to experience the rugged beauty of the Supramonte region and meeting a woman who claims to be the last woman in the world to weave the precious sea silk. She’ll also be meeting a team of scientists who are studying the genes of the locals, as she learns that Sardinia has more centenarians than anywhere else in the world.
Alex Polizzi explores Italy’s smaller islands, from Capri and Ischia in the Bay of Naples, to the remote Aeolian Islands further south. She’ll be experiencing Capri’s glamourous fashion and scaling the rocky heights of the Aragonese Castle in Ischia, meeting a team of women who restore historic relics of international importance. From there, Alex will sample the island of Salina’s famous Malvasia wine, before making a rare sighting of dolphins in the waters off Filicudi.
Alex Polizzi reaches Sicily, where she tours the north. She discovers overwhelming opulence at a palace in Palermo, samples world famous street food on the city’s gritty streets and learns how the mafia have influenced Sicilian life for decades, by meeting a team of locals determined to bring about change. Alex will also venture inland where she uncovers some of Sicily’s oldest traditions, including a trip aboard the famous, intricately decorated Sicilian donkey cart.
Alex concludes her journey in Southern Sicily, where she discovers the diverse beauty of Italy’s biggest island. From the serenity of the baroque town of Ragusa, to the breath taking Turkish Steps cascading down to the sea. Alex will also visit one of only two subterranean cathedrals in the world, found hundreds of metres below sea and carved from salt. The mysterious island of Pantelleria is somewhere Alex has always wanted to visit, and here she’ll be dropping in on a family friend, before returning to Sicily for a fiesta at the little known picture-perfect fishing village of San Vito.
