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Italy. I just love this country.
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The people, the places,
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a history that reaches back over 2,500 years.
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From the birth of the Roman Empire,
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through the glories of the Middle Ages,
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to the flowering of the Renaissance,
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its achievements are just breathtaking.
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But behind its glorious facades,
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so much of that invention and creativity still remains invisible.
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Look at that.
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I'm exploring three of my favourite Italian cities
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to discover how their hidden treasures
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played their part in the making of Italy,
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and of Western civilisation.
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Using the latest 3-D scanning technology,
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we'll reveal the secrets of how these cities
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made Italy a powerhouse of the Western world.
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The last stop on our tour is Florence,
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the most romantic of Italian cities.
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Ah, it's just me. It's just me and them.
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I'll be discovering how this city on the banks of the River Arno
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burst out of the Dark Ages
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to become the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance,
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an age unparalleled for art,
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creativity, invention
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and innovation.
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Helping me discover how high art
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was nurtured by low intrigue
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is my expert guide,
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Dr Michael Scott.
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Oh, that was a kick to the face.
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We'll meet the powerful families behind it all, the Medici.
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Godfathers of the Renaissance,
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they ruled from hidden corridors of power.
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This is not somewhere the public can go.
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No, no, this is really secret.
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Our scanning team will build the world's most extensive 3-D model
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of the Medici's city
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to reveal how this world of intrigue
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was the foundation of Florence's Renaissance glory.
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This is Italy as you have never seen it before.
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Welcome to Italy's Invisible Cities.
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A nice place for a country drive.
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Ah! But what a country drive!
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I mean, this particular country.
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Look, here we are in Tuscany.
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You can just see why people, for generations,
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have loved coming to Tuscany.
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These glorious views -
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you've got vineyards, you've got olive groves,
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you've got the chimes of church bells from distant campanile.
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You've got ruins like they've just stepped out
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of a Renaissance old master painting.
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Once again, I'm hitching a lift with Dr Michael Scott.
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He's taking me to one of his favourite cities,
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home to thousands of the world's art treasures.
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We're going to discover what makes this city tick
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and what made it such an incredible engine
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of the Renaissance.
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Today, Florence is a magnet for tourists,
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drawn by its art and architecture...
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..not to mention some of Italy's finest ice cream.
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Who could resist?
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Ciao, come va?
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Xander, go for it. What would you like?
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Please may I have...
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'But none of the wonders we can enjoy in Florence today
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'would have been possible
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'were it not for just one family - the Medici.'
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Now, I have to warn you here,
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it was drilled into me when I was little, by my grandfather,
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not Me-deechy...MED-itchy.
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So, my little affectation,
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which comes from no authority of my own at all,
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is to say MED-itchy. We're just going to have to...
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Tom-ah-to, tom-ay-to.
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- There you are.
- Pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to.
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- MED-itchy!
- We're not going to fall out over that.
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No, we're not, we're not.
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And you can see them everywhere we look.
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Right there in the corner, up there, above the church there.
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The balls in the shield.
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I've been seeing these Medici balls.
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- You will see Medici balls.
- That's a Medici shield?
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The banking symbol.
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The six balls. Three balls for a pawnbroker, six balls for a Medici.
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- There we are.
- You can never have too many balls.
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The Medici first came to Florence at the beginning of the 13th century
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when Bad King John was signing the Magna Carta in England.
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The family started out as humble merchants,
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but went on to make millions.
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Known as "God's bankers",
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they fought a ruthless power battle for control of the city.
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They were also patrons to some of the greatest artists in the world -
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Leonardo da Vinci,
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Michelangelo,
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Botticelli.
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The first stirring of Florence's golden age began here.
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This great monster of a Duomo,
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dominating the landscape
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for miles and miles around
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and just imprinting the unmistakable identity of Florence
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on these parts.
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Every little street you walk down,
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every tiny little back alley...
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..gives some sort of view of this.
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I don't want to take away from its exquisiteness,
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but I always look at it
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and imagine it's waiting for the...
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most enormous half of lemon to be squeezed on top of it.
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BELLS TOLL
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The dome was completed in 1436,
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over 250 years before St Paul's in London.
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Extraordinary.
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But what's truly remarkable
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is that, to this day,
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no-one knows how its dome was built.
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Our scanning team is already at work,
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creating our 3-D model of the city.
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I hope their scanning technology
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will also help us reveal the dome's secrets.
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As they get to work,
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Michael is going to show me
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why the dome is still a mystery of engineering.
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I mean, my word, that is...
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That is truly magnificent.
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It's been called a vault of heaven.
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And it is extraordinary how impressively different
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the octagonal structure is.
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And just the plain hugeness of it.
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The dome spans 45 metres.
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It makes you look up to heaven
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but keeps your mind firmly on hell.
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I could spend all day down here
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and I really mean that,
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because I'm not brilliant with heights,
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and I know Michael has a little challenge for me.
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MICHAEL CHUCKLES
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- Keep a hand on the wall!
- Mm-hmm.
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- How are you feeling?
- Fine.
- Fine?
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I'm extremely relaxed about being very high up.
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- It's fine.
- Just don't look over the edge.
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- Yeah. And don't look...
- There's a sort of...
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There's a, sort of, swirling chasm of hell down there.
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I mean, that is...
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That's cruel, isn't it?
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Florence's cathedral,
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with its great dome,
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was dreamt up in the 13th century
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to show off the city's growing power...
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..but the knowledge of how to build an unsupported dome
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had been lost with the Romans.
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So, for 140 years, this balcony was as high as you could climb.
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Quite high enough for me, thanks.
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The end of the cathedral stood open to the elements.
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Finally, a committee of the great and the good -
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including the Medicis, of course -
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held a competition to find someone to solve the problem.
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The guy who came forward
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was a man called Filippo Brunelleschi,
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and he is the only one who comes up with a solution
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that meets all the criteria -
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no external buttresses,
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doesn't need massive scaffolding inside,
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can be the octagon,
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and can encompass this massive reach.
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But presumably a massive gamble
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- because, if he'd never built anything before...
- No-one! No-one!
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..they had only his word for it...
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- No-one had built anything like this before.
- Entirely.
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So, he presents his plans and they say... HE SCOFFS
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It's even more pie in the sky than that.
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The way he gained their trust is with...
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the humble egg.
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And he said, "OK...
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"you need to have faith in me that I can do things others can't.
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"Here's an egg,
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"ask the other competitors
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"to make this egg stand up
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"on a marble plate."
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They fail, obviously,
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as all good apocryphal stories go.
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Of course, I'm longing to know what happens.
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- So, what does he do?
- Well...
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- System of matchsticks?
- No!
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Can't have external buttressing on this egg.
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Of course, of course, of course. I'm so sorry.
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It needs to stand of its own accord.
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He simply, he takes the egg...
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That's it, is it?
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- I mean...
- And then all his competitors say,
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"Well, if we'd known that was what you were going to do,
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"WE could have done that.
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And he goes, "Exactly.
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"If you knew my plans, you, too, could do it."
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So, Brunelleschi, who'd probably never even put up a tent before,
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got to build his dome...
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..but, very unhelpfully, he kept his plans secret
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and destroyed the blueprints,
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and no-one could work out how he did it.
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Until now, perhaps.
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We're using our 21st-century technology
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to help solve this 15th-century mystery.
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Michael's off to see how the scanning team is getting on.
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It's quite amazing, really. We're scanning down on ground level here,
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but we're seeing right the way up into the dome
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and then we're going to creep around
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into all those hidden away intricate spaces.
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We're going to be able to position ourselves digitally
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somewhere where we just can't go physically.
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And Brunelleschi was doing all of this
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without any scan, any engineering,
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any technology, really, whatsoever.
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What do you think he would have made of scanning?
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I mean, I think if Brunelleschi had scanning, he would have used it.
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Whether he told people he used it,
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I'm not so sure about.
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But he was a massive fan of accuracy
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and of technology as well,
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and tying together creativity
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with the best technology that was available at that time
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to help him do amazing new things.
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While we wait for the scans
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that might just reveal the secrets of the dome,
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I want to find out why people like the Medici
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were determined to pursue such an impossible dream.
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To find out, Michael's taking me on a 50-mile drive
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across the Tuscan countryside.
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He's going to show me a renaissance version
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of keeping up with the Joneses,
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which drove the people of Florence to ever greater heights of ambition.
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We're off to Florence's neighbour...
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and rival.
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It's just so impressive, isn't it?
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I mean, obviously it's one of the most famous structures
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in our civilisation, but it's so beautiful
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and to see it up close is quite something.
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Well, it's become so representative of Italy, hasn't it, as a monument?
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But actually, when it was built
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in the 12th century and 13th centuries,
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this was Pisa's attempt
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to put the city on the map.
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This was Pisa saying,
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"We are one of the great maritime republics of Italy
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"and we are as good as, you know, Florence or any of the others."
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This was monument wars, if you like.
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You know, "My tower is bigger and better than yours."
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It's very beautiful.
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I mean, quite aside from its comical leaning.
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I mean, it really does lean. Look at it this close up.
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In 1173, a century before Florence hatched its own plans,
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Pisa set about building this spectacular new cathedral complex,
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with a very special bell tower.
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Some of our scanning team have got here before us.
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They've already started work
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with an odd looking bit of technological wizardry.
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Matt, and Luca, look at this.
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- How you doing?
- Hi.
- I've been longing to ask you about this new kit.
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- Luca, what have you got here? This is a...
- Backpack.
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00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,080
A backpack with... I mean, it looks like a sort of Hoover,
261
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:06,800
I should be plugging a nozzle in here
262
00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:08,960
and we could get this place tidy in no time.
263
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,160
But we've got... What are all these lenses here?
264
00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:12,680
So, we've got five cameras,
265
00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:16,160
so we're taking panoramic images in every direction,
266
00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:17,440
and a couple of scanners.
267
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,560
So, this is like one of our normal scanners,
268
00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:23,120
but it's actually scanning 16 positions at a time.
269
00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,080
Spinning round, spinning round, taking a section of the space.
270
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:27,920
Then we have another scanner on the top.
271
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:29,920
So two scanners, five cameras.
272
00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,360
And this, presumably, is a much more efficient way of doing it.
273
00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,680
- It is, yeah, yes.
- Luca can do it at walking pace.
274
00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,120
Yeah.
275
00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,480
- Really slow.
- Andante.
276
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,320
Plenty of time to, kind of, take in the surroundings.
277
00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:42,840
- Coffee in one hand.
- Exactly...
278
00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,200
Coffee in one hand, guidebook in the other.
279
00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:46,840
- Thank you.
- Very well done. Carry on.
280
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:48,720
- See you.
- Off you go, Luca.
281
00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:50,400
I'm way out of my depth here.
282
00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,680
And now Michael's throwing me even more off-kilter.
283
00:13:58,520 --> 00:13:59,800
So, prepare yourself...
284
00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:01,440
I'm already... Look at it.
285
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:03,760
It's like stepping onto a pitching ship, isn't it?
286
00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:05,200
Isn't it amazing?
287
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:07,880
Very disorientating.
288
00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,560
And going in a circle at the same time as leaning,
289
00:14:11,560 --> 00:14:13,440
AND the same time as ascending,
290
00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,520
it's kind of an assault on the senses.
291
00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:17,640
It's very unsettling, actually, isn't it?
292
00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,400
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... Absolutely.
293
00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,160
It's not entirely pleasant.
294
00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:23,040
MICHAEL LAUGHS
295
00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:25,520
The tower is eight storeys high,
296
00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,960
with its famous lean just under four degrees off-centre.
297
00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,680
Our 3-D scans reveal a skeleton image of the tower.
298
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,400
It can help us see how the medieval builders tried to correct the lean.
299
00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,080
Things started to go wrong
300
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:49,800
almost from the word go.
301
00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:53,680
After just three storeys had been completed,
302
00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,160
it became clear the tower was leaning.
303
00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:58,080
Soft clay and sandy soil
304
00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:00,000
had destabilised the foundations.
305
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,320
Work stopped for almost 100 years,
306
00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,280
but then they tried a novel solution.
307
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,360
They made storeys four, five, six and seven
308
00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:13,960
shorter on one side
309
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:15,600
to try and straighten it up.
310
00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:19,760
It didn't help, of course.
311
00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:25,960
Finally completed in 1372,
312
00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:29,200
almost 200 years after they'd started building.
313
00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:33,480
Look at that, they must have been so thrilled
314
00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:35,680
to have FINALLY put the lid on this!
315
00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:39,800
The Pisans never gave up trying.
316
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,040
In one last attempt,
317
00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:46,080
the top itself was added at a jaunty angle to the rest.
318
00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,040
I love that they persevered with it.
319
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:55,440
And at the time when you want to appear all-powerful and all-knowing,
320
00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,520
to acknowledge your fallibility and celebrate it...
321
00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:00,520
I'm sure they didn't see it that way,
322
00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:02,280
but you can't help but look at it
323
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:03,840
and feel just a warmth in your heart.
324
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:05,560
A warmth for human endeavour.
325
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,960
- I mean, this is the...
- BELLS TOLL LOUDLY
326
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,960
'I'm now feeling that warmth in my ears.
327
00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,360
'Caught out enthusing about a bell tower,
328
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:18,960
'we'd lost all track of time.'
329
00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:26,520
Our scans of Pisa are finished.
330
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,480
This is the most detailed 3-D model, of the cathedral ever made.
331
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,440
I can really see how, 650 years ago,
332
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,320
it must have impressed -
333
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,400
even with its leaning bell tower.
334
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:43,120
But at least the Pisans
335
00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:44,800
finished their cathedral.
336
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,480
It must have irritated the Medici, no end,
337
00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,040
that, by the time the Pisa tower was completed,
338
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,440
Florence's cathedral had been domeless for 76 years.
339
00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,280
This would never do.
340
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:07,960
By now, the Medici were one of the wealthiest families in Europe -
341
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,440
Florence, the banking capital of Italy...
342
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,920
..and they wanted a cathedral to match.
343
00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,720
I'm excited to be back in Florence,
344
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,320
to find out how Brunelleschi pulled it off.
345
00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:25,680
Our 3-D scans of the dome are in.
346
00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:32,360
For the first time,
347
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:35,280
I can begin to see how Brunelleschi did it,
348
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,080
and what a spectacular structure it is.
349
00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,360
The scans reveal Brunelleschi's first trick -
350
00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:46,400
the Dome isn't just one dome, but two.
351
00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:48,400
An outer shell and an inner shell.
352
00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:52,120
Xander, hello.
353
00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:53,440
How do you do?
354
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,800
'I'm hoping historian and writer Ross King can tell me more.'
355
00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:00,200
But first, there's another climb.
356
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,680
A mere 463 steps this time.
357
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,480
Well, here we are,
358
00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:12,120
between the two domes,
359
00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:15,800
with the inner dome on our right,
360
00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,320
the thick inner dome, about four-feet thick at this point,
361
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,240
arching up, as you can see.
362
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:24,480
And we have this magnificent little space to stand between
363
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,280
and peer up and, in some places, peer down.
364
00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:29,920
It's quite exhilarating, isn't it? Just such power.
365
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,160
As we move between the two shells,
366
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,240
but look at the pattern of brickwork here.
367
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:38,600
It's extraordinary, isn't it?
368
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,440
Yes, it's...
369
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:43,280
There are four million bricks used in the dome
370
00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,520
and, because brickmakers had never made a brick that shape before,
371
00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:48,480
Brunelleschi had to cut...
372
00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:50,400
Apparently, he used root vegetables.
373
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,440
He would whittle them to try to show them...
374
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:55,320
- ALEXANDER LAUGHS
- ..the sort of shape that he needed.
375
00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:57,600
Cos the angle... The bricks going down at that angle...
376
00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,240
- That's right.
- ..and it's cut on this plane here, on this plane...
377
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,200
There are three different slightly...
378
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,200
Boom! Your brain slightly explodes.
379
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,080
But that brick could only go there.
380
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,480
- That's right.
- It couldn't go there, it couldn't go there,
381
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,800
it couldn't go there, it couldn't go... That is the brick.
382
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,640
Absolutely.
383
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:17,080
My respect for Brunelleschi is growing with every brick.
384
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,920
Even the floor we're walking on had a structural role.
385
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:22,480
It's a sandstone ring
386
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:24,200
that wraps around the dome,
387
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:25,720
like the hoops on a barrel.
388
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,600
So, is it all beginning to make sense?
389
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:31,480
Well, do you know, Ross...?
390
00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:33,760
If I'm discovering anything,
391
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:35,800
it's that my tiny brain
392
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:37,240
is just incapable of...
393
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,480
..holding all of that.
394
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,040
- I mean, it is...
- Well, I think you're not alone.
395
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,600
I mean, it's... It's an amazing feat.
396
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,200
I mean, it's multiple feats carried out by,
397
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,760
I think, one of history's great geniuses
398
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,320
who did not want us to know how he did it.
399
00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,520
But what Brunelleschi didn't count on was our scanners.
400
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,200
'Now it's time to get a proper look at them,
401
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:04,800
'the closest we'll ever get
402
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,000
'to the blueprints Brunelleschi took such trouble to destroy.'
403
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,400
Whoa! And up, we go. Flying up.
404
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,120
This is what we could only imagine when we were there.
405
00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:16,960
HE EXHALES AND LAUGHS
406
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,720
For me, this is the moment, though, when you just pop in here...
407
00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:24,960
..to suddenly have it laid clear to me that
408
00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:26,800
there's not much between us and
409
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,160
this interior fresco, and that cavernous fall.
410
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:30,240
Yeah, yeah.
411
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:34,480
Look at that.
412
00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:35,920
Look at that.
413
00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,040
It's solid and it's there, as you say,
414
00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:39,480
that all the business is being done.
415
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,640
You can see the angles of the bricks there.
416
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:44,880
What I'm longing to see
417
00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,240
were the rings...
418
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:48,920
that Ross pointed out,
419
00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,160
the sandstone bound rings.
420
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:53,680
That cross-section, there.
421
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:55,920
You can see the stone rings, though, can't you?
422
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:57,480
Yeah, so...
423
00:20:57,480 --> 00:20:58,960
from the bottom...
424
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:00,480
Number one, two,
425
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:01,920
three and four.
426
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:03,880
Right the way up.
427
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:07,720
This was Florence bursting out.
428
00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,680
I mean, I look at St Paul's now and just think, "Really?
429
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,440
"Really, Christopher? Really?"
430
00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:15,120
"Come on.
431
00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:16,920
"Better next time, please."
432
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:18,800
"Come on."
433
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:21,600
To see it through this technology
434
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:23,000
is just to see...
435
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,520
..everything that we couldn't quite see on the day.
436
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,840
To fly up between the skins,
437
00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,680
just to enjoy the sheer power and the...
438
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,880
..mad magic trick
439
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:36,440
that Brunelleschi's pulled off.
440
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:50,760
In 1436, 140 years after it was first dreamt up,
441
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,520
Florence's dome was finally completed.
442
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,640
It's bigger than St Peter's in Rome, and St Paul's in London.
443
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:06,000
And to this day, it's the biggest brick dome in the world.
444
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,560
Brunelleschi's dome kick-started a surge of creativity and innovation.
445
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,440
The Medici's ambition and power was growing.
446
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,400
Now they had plans for the rest of the city.
447
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,640
Our emerging 3-D model of Florence
448
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,440
will reveal just how much of it
449
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,480
became the Medici's backyard.
450
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:39,240
So this, if you can believe it,
451
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,480
is the Medici's private home.
452
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:42,720
Wow.
453
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,840
I mean, look at it.
454
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:47,600
It's just comical, isn't it,
455
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:52,520
how no attempt is made to uniformity in these huge great...?
456
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:54,880
They look like they're sort of built out of the cliff.
457
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,240
- I mean, it's a fortress.
- It is, completely.
458
00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,800
- I've seen a Victorian prisons that look less impregnable.
- Yeah.
459
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,280
I mean, look at it. It must be a rock climber's dream.
460
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,840
People must long to climb, hand over hand,
461
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,000
up to the stone cornice up there.
462
00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:13,800
This was the Medici's castle
463
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,280
but, unlike Europe's medieval kings,
464
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,480
their wealth and power came without the security of royal birth,
465
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,760
so they kept themselves hidden away from the mob outside.
466
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:27,440
Well, out of strong
467
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,080
shall come forth sweetness.
468
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,760
Look at this, we've come from the fortress outside to this.
469
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:37,080
Various different iterations of the Medici coat of arms.
470
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:38,920
It's an interestingly...
471
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:40,720
balled coat of arms that, isn't it?
472
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,080
They're like sort of the balls of a simnel cake, aren't they?
473
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:44,440
Just...duh, duh, duh!
474
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,040
It pulls no punches. Cosimo, the guy who built this place,
475
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,360
is the first to be born into real super wealth of the Medici family,
476
00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:54,800
and the first to really start using it for civic patronage and power.
477
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,200
And the Medicis are riding the waves
478
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,040
of Florentine power brilliantly at this point.
479
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,440
Are they council members? Are they...?
480
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,800
They're not in any official position of power. They don't need to be.
481
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,520
Everyone that IS is in their pocket...
482
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,120
- Oh, that's clever.
- ..or owes them money, or is banking with them,
483
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:13,640
or is a great personal friend.
484
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:16,720
This great fortress
485
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,320
was the Medici HQ.
486
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,040
It helped conceal their covert operations and plots,
487
00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,640
and reveals a lot about how they saw their own power and status
488
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:28,920
as they rose to domination.
489
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:44,480
HE GASPS
490
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:45,920
That's extraordinary.
491
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,800
Welcome to the Medici's private chapel.
492
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,560
Technically, this is a Bible story,
493
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,480
- this is the procession of the Magi...
- Right.
- ..in Bethlehem.
494
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,280
Everything is, effectively, the Medici family.
495
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:03,960
It starts with Lorenzo,
496
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:05,880
the chap on the white horse.
497
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:10,480
But my favourite by far is the chap next to him, on the donkey.
498
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,280
That's Cosimo.
499
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,240
The kind of, the humble donkey but then, you know,
500
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,040
who else do we know entered town on a humble donkey?
501
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:18,280
Well, indeed.
502
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,760
- Looks a bit shifty, doesn't he?
- That eye...
503
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:24,320
"I've got my eye on you," kind of, in a beautiful, Medici type of way.
504
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,480
- You know, "I'm ready for anything that can happen."
- Yes.
505
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:29,120
There's the Medici...
506
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:31,040
- Absolutely. They're everywhere.
- The balls.
507
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,480
Every horse's harness, whether it's a Magi
508
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,000
or whether it's one of the horses,
509
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:36,920
every part of this picture
510
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,600
has got something that screams "Medici" at you.
511
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:46,320
These beautiful frescoes are by the Florentine artist Gozzoli.
512
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,400
It's pretty audacious,
513
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:51,600
placing yourself in a biblical setting
514
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,400
and even aligning yourself with the son of God by riding on a donkey.
515
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,400
But there's a twist to this Medici vanity.
516
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:04,760
Here we have the journey to Bethlehem.
517
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,400
Medicis have put themselves
518
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:08,920
on the road, you know,
519
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:10,920
they're putting the hard yards in here.
520
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,400
They're pilgrims, they're still some way from Bethlehem.
521
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,240
The message is unmistakable, really,
522
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,400
"You have to keep striving,
523
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,400
"you haven't arrived at the hallowed city yet."
524
00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:27,640
Our scans show how this gem of a room
525
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,560
is buried deep within the walls of the Palazzo.
526
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,160
It's absolutely private and secure.
527
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,760
The Medicis knew that to be public
528
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,280
was to be a target
529
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,840
and they had good reason to crave security.
530
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,000
Soon after this was built
531
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,640
and they were living here,
532
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,440
towards the end of the 15th century,
533
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,680
two of the young sons were attacked
534
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,160
as they went to Mass in the Duomo.
535
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,400
One of them was stabbed 19 times, dead,
536
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,240
the other managed to flee and escape back here
537
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:02,800
to the safety of these walls.
538
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,440
So, why the...? What was the beef?
539
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,600
Well, it was just because the Medici were,
540
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:09,960
as a powerful family, holding the strings of power.
541
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,920
Obviously, they had enemies, the other powerful families in Florence.
542
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,000
So, in this case, it was a family called the Pazzi family.
543
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,640
- Just another family vying for...
- Another rival.
544
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,800
And so the Medici begin their plan of attack for revenge,
545
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:24,600
which the Medicis took very seriously.
546
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:26,800
I was going to say, you didn't want to upset the Medicis.
547
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,520
As a result of that conspiracy, 80 people...
548
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,720
were murdered, were sentenced to death effectively,
549
00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,440
as a result of their attempt on the Medici's life.
550
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,800
And in Florence, they didn't just bring down the guillotine.
551
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,760
Instead, they literally chucked them out the top windows,
552
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,840
with nooses round their necks,
553
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:46,520
and let them dangle.
554
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:48,960
So, when you saw the town hall of Florence,
555
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,240
you saw the enemies of Florence, the enemies of the Medici,
556
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,960
decaying and swaying in the wind.
557
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,440
Decaying bodies and murder plots.
558
00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,480
This is the dark underbelly
559
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:06,080
beneath the beauty of Renaissance Florence.
560
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,120
It's that secret side of the city
561
00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:12,240
that our scanners are seeking to map.
562
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:18,480
I want to know if any of the rival dynasties,
563
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:20,040
like the Pazzi family,
564
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,000
survived the Medici's vengeance.
565
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:24,600
While I go on the hunt,
566
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,720
Michael's heading for the square of the Holy Cross Church, Santa Croce.
567
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:32,040
But he's not going to Mass.
568
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:33,760
ROUDY CHANTING
569
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,320
He's going to Calcio Storico.
570
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,560
That's medieval football to you and me.
571
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:40,040
ROUDY CHANTING
572
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,120
Years ago, when I lived in Florence,
573
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:46,160
I came to this historic Florentine event.
574
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,920
Take football, add rugby and boxing,
575
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:50,840
add some ultimate wrestling,
576
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,680
put 54 people in a sandpit,
577
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,880
and that's basically Calcio Storico.
578
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,200
WHISTLE BLOWS
579
00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,480
It translates as "football"
580
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,640
but it's about as close to football as, frankly, nuclear war.
581
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:06,600
This is the semifinal
582
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,320
between the blues, Santa Croce,
583
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,480
and the reds, Santa Maria Novella -
584
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,160
two districts of the city.
585
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:17,120
And as you can see, they take the rivalry very seriously.
586
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:18,600
Oh, here we go.
587
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:20,280
The blues are on!
588
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,320
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
589
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:28,720
Oh! Oh!
590
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:30,880
Oh, that was a kick to the face.
591
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,920
That should definitely be an expulsion.
592
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,040
It can be difficult to square this reality
593
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,160
with the beauty we think of when we think, "Renaissance Florence" -
594
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:42,960
the sculptures, the architecture,
595
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:44,800
the art...
596
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:46,720
but, actually, the two are linked.
597
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,640
It's out of the fury and the energy that is created,
598
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,000
and the passion with which Florentines live their lives,
599
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,720
that the Renaissance art, architecture
600
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,960
was fuelled to reach new heights of achievement.
601
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,200
Calcia azzurra!
602
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,000
THEY CHANT
603
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,360
There was clearly as much treachery on the football pitches of Florence
604
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,480
as there was behind the walls of the palazzos,
605
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,160
but I've managed to get south of the river unmolested.
606
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,560
The Medici line died out in the 18th century,
607
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,560
but some of their archrivals survived.
608
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,000
I'm fortunate enough to have been asked by the Frescobaldis
609
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:35,320
to go and visit them in their Palazzo Frescobaldi,
610
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,200
where they have been living for who knows how long.
611
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,360
Today, the family's best known for its wine business,
612
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,080
but I'm told there's a secret place in their palazzo
613
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:53,880
that's linked to their turbulent past.
614
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,640
BELL RINGS
615
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,240
- Hi.
- Hello.
- Alexander, how are you?
616
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,320
I'm very well. How do you do?
617
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,560
- Very nice to meet you.
- Very well. Thank you.
618
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:08,000
- Welcome.
- Thank you.
619
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,720
- I show you something special.
- Wonderful.
620
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,680
- So, this is all of Frescobaldi palazzo here?
- Yep.
621
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,080
Three palazzos and then completely redone
622
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:23,320
and rebuilt in the 17th century by Matteo Frescobaldi.
623
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:28,760
And then they made this secret passage to enter.
624
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,080
Oh, I see. So, here you are.
625
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:37,800
- Here we are.
- Sit at your private altar, here, and hear Mass.
626
00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:39,400
You're part of the church
627
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:40,680
but hidden away.
628
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:42,360
We're part of the church and...
629
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:46,120
really, it's part of our house.
630
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,640
- You can say, "Amen."
- Amen.
631
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,280
- And still be part of the service.
- Amen, yeah.
632
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,000
But what was the purpose of this secret passage?
633
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,200
Why was it so important not to be seen?
634
00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,560
Not to be seen, because they were, you know...
635
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,160
At that time,
636
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,440
they want to stay very close. Not too far...
637
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:03,920
Safe.
638
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:05,760
- Safe, very safe.
- I see.
639
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,600
Because many families, many important families
640
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,480
from the opposite side of the River Arno,
641
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:12,800
they fight.
642
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,000
You know, Frescobaldi and Medici fight.
643
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,280
Yeah, I bet.
644
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,360
It's because there was a Medici killed at Mass,
645
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,160
- wasn't there?
- Mm-hmm.
646
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:23,960
Congiura dei Pazzi.
647
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,520
I don't know if a Frescobaldi was involved with this.
648
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:28,960
- I don't think so.
- Oh, I doubt it very much.
649
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:30,280
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
650
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:32,720
Sometimes I come here, also, with my glass of wine...
651
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:33,960
Oh, I bet you do.
652
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,720
..because I think it's a lot better to stay here.
653
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,560
In the fresh, you know, and to have this mystic atmosphere.
654
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,840
Quite right. Turn a glass of wine into a sacrament.
655
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:45,200
Yeah.
656
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:46,720
Yeah, why not?
657
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,200
Just like the Palazzo Medici,
658
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,640
these walls conceal far more than meets the eye.
659
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,120
The Frescobaldi were equally paranoid about their safety.
660
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,160
Today, four branches of the family still live here.
661
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:10,080
The Marchesa Rosaria is introducing me to her husband and sister-in-law.
662
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:12,320
And, of course, it would be rude to leave
663
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,720
without sampling some of the family wine.
664
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,440
The Frescobaldis and these various other families,
665
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:20,760
from time to time,
666
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:22,480
have been tremendous rivals.
667
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,040
How are relations nowadays
668
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,680
with your leading Florentine families?
669
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:30,560
Definitely very good.
670
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,960
- Very much better?
- Very much.
671
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:38,320
Maybe there have been, yes, some period where we were against,
672
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:44,040
but normally we have been also very friendly.
673
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,560
Definitely, I suppose,
674
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:48,720
in the last two or three centuries.
675
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:51,320
Definitely, very friendly.
676
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:54,280
Please tell me that you now go to Mass through the normal door.
677
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,480
You don't feel you have to go through the secret chapel.
678
00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,160
No, no.
679
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,120
We go... I go to Mass
680
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,120
through the normal door.
681
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,320
Quite right. That's very reassuring.
682
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,600
I, too, am going to risk a visit to the church through the main door
683
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:11,960
in broad daylight.
684
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:18,760
I would never have guessed that these plain walls
685
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:20,960
concealed one of the finest examples
686
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:22,760
of Renaissance architecture.
687
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:29,560
And so here, right next to the Frescobaldi Palazzo
688
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:31,440
is the church of Santo Spirito,
689
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,600
designed by our old friend, Brunelleschi.
690
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:35,960
You can bet that,
691
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:40,000
as news of this building passed across the Medici desk,
692
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,480
it would have been greeted by a heavy sigh.
693
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,080
"Come on, lads, we need to do something bigger, better."
694
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,200
And so, when the Medici needed a new mausoleum,
695
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,280
they turned to the genius Michelangelo.
696
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,760
Creator of Renaissance masterpieces,
697
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:01,800
like the Sistine Chapel in Rome
698
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:03,640
and the sculpture of David.
699
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,560
Cosimo Medici had died in 1464,
700
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:12,760
and it was his grandson, Lorenzo,
701
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:15,240
who first spotted Michelangelo's talent.
702
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:20,760
He took in the 14-year-old artist
703
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,080
to be educated with his own sons
704
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:24,840
in the Palazzo Medici.
705
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:30,000
Michelangelo became one of the family.
706
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,880
Who better, then, to create a lasting monument to the dynasty,
707
00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,960
just a few hundred yards from their fortress home,
708
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,000
than their old family friend?
709
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,160
So, this is the Medici's local church.
710
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:52,320
It was a local parish church pre-existing,
711
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:56,160
but what we're really interested in is actually that dome there,
712
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:58,680
because THAT is the work of Michelangelo.
713
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:00,320
Oh, for heaven's sake.
714
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:04,040
I guess in exchange for the digs that they've been providing.
715
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,000
All the milk that had his name on it in the fridge.
716
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:08,160
Hi.
717
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:10,040
- Monica, ciao.
- How are you?
718
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:11,760
- Ciao.
- Ciao.
719
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,160
- Alexander.
- Ciao.
- How do you do?
- Fine, thank you.
720
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:17,640
- Welcome to Michelangelo's!
- Please, look.
721
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:21,160
Monica Bietti is the director of Michelangelo's Chapel
722
00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:22,840
at San Lorenzo.
723
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,640
Her enthusiasm for the place is infectious.
724
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:29,640
It might be smaller than the Duomo,
725
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,800
but it's perfectly formed.
726
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,160
This is all by Michelangelo,
727
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,000
the drawing of the architecture
728
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,880
and also the sculpture that you can see.
729
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:44,520
Both the Medicis and Michelangelo
730
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,280
have something that lasts for eternity.
731
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,880
The art is at the top of the life.
732
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:54,560
And they are to remain.
733
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,760
The life finish, but the art remain.
734
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:01,760
Unlike the marble sculptures,
735
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,800
the relationship between the Medici and Michelangelo
736
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:07,160
didn't stand the test of time.
737
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:13,560
In 1527, the people of Florence rose up against the Medici
738
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,440
and they were forced into exile.
739
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,400
Michelangelo refused to go with them.
740
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,040
The great artist stayed in Florence and joined the rebels.
741
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:25,640
Right.
742
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:29,240
So Michelangelo, who'd grown up with the Medici...
743
00:37:29,240 --> 00:37:31,560
- Yeah.
- ..then betrays them.
744
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,360
- The Medici eventually come back.
- Of course.
745
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,160
They come back and they will be the rulers of Florence
746
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:41,960
in the 16th century, so Michelangelo picked the wrong side.
747
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:46,520
And so Michelangelo was really afraid and go away,
748
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,520
and stayed in a secret place.
749
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:50,920
Within Florence?
750
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:52,440
Here in Florence,
751
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,320
but here - very, very near here.
752
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:57,720
We can see the secret room.
753
00:37:57,720 --> 00:37:59,640
I think we need to see this, don't you?
754
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,520
- I need to see this.
- Monica, lead the way!
755
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:08,600
I'd had no idea that Michelangelo had turned his back on the Medici.
756
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,400
And after just three years in exile,
757
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,560
they were suddenly back.
758
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,320
I can see why Michelangelo needed to disappear.
759
00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:22,080
- Was he in here?
- Yes.
760
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,280
You must open this door.
761
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:25,800
Oh, I see.
762
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:27,800
This is a real trap door, here.
763
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:29,800
Oh! DOOR CREAKS
764
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,000
Good.
765
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,240
This is not somewhere the public can go.
766
00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:36,280
No, no. This is really secret.
767
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,240
It remain open.
768
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:39,720
We won't get trapped.
769
00:38:39,720 --> 00:38:42,000
- Yes.
- But we have to be careful, Xander.
770
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,400
Yes, pay attention.
771
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:50,440
Michelangelo wrote that he hid for six weeks in a tiny cell,
772
00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:53,120
entombed like the dead Medici above.
773
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,080
Though hiding from a live one.
774
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,040
"To forget my fears,
775
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,120
"I fill the walls with drawings".
776
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:01,400
Oh, I see.
777
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:05,640
'For over four centuries, nobody was able to find this tiny cell.
778
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:10,160
'Then, during some building work in 1975,
779
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:14,200
'this little room with discovered.'
780
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,080
- It's incredible.
- Xander, look at these.
781
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,880
- Are these charcoal sketches? Are they charcoal?
- Yes.
782
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,200
The authenticity of the drawings has been debated,
783
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,040
but many, including Monica,
784
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,280
are convinced they're the work of Michelangelo.
785
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:31,920
- Here's a man terrified for his life.
- Yes.
786
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:34,200
- He's hiding down here.
- Yes.
787
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:36,360
If he goes outside, he's going to be killed,
788
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:40,600
and then he starts sketching on the walls out of...
789
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:42,120
boredom? Out of...?
790
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:45,240
I suppose it's what he does, you know.
791
00:39:45,240 --> 00:39:47,480
It's the natural thing for him to do.
792
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:52,760
Yes, I think that he is thinking about his life,
793
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:56,520
and draws everything that he has...
794
00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:57,920
..in his mind.
795
00:39:57,920 --> 00:39:59,960
Do you recognise this one?
796
00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:02,760
What's this?
797
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,560
- A foot.
- Oh, foot! It's a foot, I see.
798
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:07,200
A very big foot.
799
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,120
- It's his David.
- That's it.
800
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:12,160
- It's Michelangelo's David.
- Good. It is.
801
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:13,800
It is Michelangelo's David.
802
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:16,480
Huh?
803
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:20,640
So, many of these are figures that he has already painted...
804
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:22,960
- Yes.
- ..in the Sistine Chapel and elsewhere.
805
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:25,920
I guess you could say these are, kind of, his greatest hits.
806
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:27,800
He's revisiting some of his...
807
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:29,400
Yes, he's revisiting.
808
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,080
Yes. Like an autobiography...
809
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:33,680
- MONICA LAUGHS
- ..in art.
810
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:36,720
Exactly, the highlights, the highlights of my oeuvre.
811
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,120
We're just a stone's throw from Palazzo Medici -
812
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:44,040
talk about hiding in plain sight.
813
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,440
Our scans show just how close Michelangelo's cell was
814
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:51,920
to the home of the Medicis,
815
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:53,640
as they tried to hunt him down.
816
00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:57,760
This had its advantages.
817
00:40:57,760 --> 00:40:59,960
Michelangelo could spy on their movements
818
00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:02,200
and, finally, make his escape.
819
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:06,760
How did he get out? Where did he go?
820
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,920
From the stairs, from the church,
821
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:12,000
and from the palace
822
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:14,160
that we can see together.
823
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,840
We can follow the escape route of Michelangelo.
824
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,720
- Does it involve going down there?
- No, no.
825
00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:25,000
You've done too many programmes with us!
826
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,000
- Let's go.
- On you go.
827
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:29,520
It's just extraordinary.
828
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:40,520
Michelangelo had a friend who provided a safe house nearby.
829
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,120
After years of working at the church,
830
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:48,160
he knew all the secret passageways to avoid detection.
831
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:55,800
It's tempting to linger and admire the church,
832
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:57,120
but, with the Medici after him,
833
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,560
I don't think Michelangelo would have hung around.
834
00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:02,080
This is the way.
835
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,560
Are we still within the San Lorenzo complex?
836
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:09,520
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
837
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:16,000
So, this is where Michelangelo would have crept out?
838
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,320
- Yes.
- Knowing that one false move
839
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,560
and he might have been captured by the Medicis.
840
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:28,480
Is this...?
841
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:31,520
Is this now the house of his friend?
842
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:34,840
Yes, we are entering the house.
843
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,360
'The secret passage takes us through a doorway
844
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:42,680
'that leads directly into the friend's courtyard.'
845
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:44,800
And he's reached safety now?
846
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:46,520
Yes.
847
00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:48,520
Oh, we're safe!
848
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,440
- We're home.
- Yes, we are safe.
- We've made it.
849
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,920
An incredibly confusing route, though, isn't it?
850
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:56,880
We've come from an underground hole...
851
00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:58,760
BELL TOLLS
852
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,520
We've run through a church.
853
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:03,480
We've been through a cloister,
854
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:05,360
we've been out into a street,
855
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:07,360
round a corner, to the house.
856
00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:11,720
I've no idea, though, where the church is, in relation to here,
857
00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:14,080
- or which direction...
- This is like a labirinto.
858
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:16,560
We're not in Florence any more, you know that, don't you?
859
00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:18,920
- THEY LAUGH
- We've made it to Rome already.
- Yeah.
860
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,720
Our 3-D model of invisible Florence is taking shape.
861
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,720
It's fantastic to see how we can move from San Lorenzo
862
00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:39,000
and the cell where Michelangelo hid,
863
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:40,840
onto the Palazzo Medici
864
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:42,720
and all the way back to the Duomo.
865
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:52,040
The House of Medici had built so much of Florence...
866
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:56,000
..but the best was yet to come.
867
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,400
The Medici returned in 1530.
868
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:16,120
They used armed force to retake the city,
869
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,440
and they'd do whatever it took to keep it.
870
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:22,840
First, they dealt with the rebels.
871
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,280
With Michelangelo, they struck a deal.
872
00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:29,520
The artist agreed to finish their chapel,
873
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:31,080
and all was forgiven.
874
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,120
Michael has brought me to the new Medici HQ -
875
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:39,800
Palazzo Vecchio in Florence's main square.
876
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:43,560
We shouldn't get any ideas that the Medicis,
877
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:45,760
when they returned to power in Florence,
878
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:49,680
- are nicey-nicey with everyone...
- Yeah.
- ..in their approach.
879
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:51,920
They come back in full force.
880
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:56,200
They're not pulling strings of power, they ARE power,
881
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:59,320
and there's no better symbol of that than the town hall of Florence -
882
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:02,480
that's been standing here since the 13th century -
883
00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:06,440
is taken over by the Medicis as their seat of government.
884
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,760
The gloves are off, they're in charge.
885
00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:10,120
They are Florence.
886
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:12,960
They take over this as their seat of government and then they decide,
887
00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:16,040
"Do you know what? We need administrative offices
888
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:18,680
"to be able rule appropriately."
889
00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:20,360
And they're right behind.
890
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:21,400
It's the Uffizi.
891
00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:25,200
The Uffizi is no longer the city's offices,
892
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:27,200
but a world-class art gallery.
893
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:29,720
- Well, I'll see you later.
- See you in a bit.
894
00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:34,280
While Michael investigates the invisible side of Palazzo Vecchio,
895
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:36,200
I'm going to take in some high art.
896
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:47,360
HE GASPS
897
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:50,120
I'll tell you what this is like.
898
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,240
It's like, if you can imagine going to party
899
00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:54,120
and just coming face-to-face
900
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:58,760
with some the greatest figures from world history.
901
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,080
There they are. Look at the company I'm keeping here.
902
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:03,040
I've just walked into the Botticelli Room,
903
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,240
here is The Birth of Venus,
904
00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:08,120
probably one of the most famous paintings ever!
905
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:13,000
Over there is La Primavera,
906
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:16,080
the three Graces surrounded by spring.
907
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:17,680
HE SIGHS
908
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:20,360
It's just me. It's just me and them.
909
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,800
These were both commissioned by members of the Medici family...
910
00:46:25,240 --> 00:46:27,840
..but you get a sense of, of...
911
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:32,120
..having come to the birthplace of great art.
912
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:36,280
It sort of shouts down from the walls of this wonderful museum.
913
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:55,200
The Uffizi was built by the latest Cosimo Medici,
914
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,760
Duke Cosimo I of Florence,
915
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:00,040
and if you couldn't find him in his offices,
916
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,400
he may have been at the Palazzo Vecchio next door.
917
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:08,280
I wonder if Michael's found a way in yet.
918
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:17,880
Around the back of the Palazzo Vecchio
919
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:20,040
is a secret side door entrance,
920
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,320
called the Duke of Athens' Door,
921
00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:23,760
and here it is.
922
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:27,000
Named after a ruler who was thrust upon the people of Florence
923
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:28,400
in the mid 14th century.
924
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:31,560
So unpopular that he decided to build himself an escape route,
925
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:33,520
and, indeed, so unpopular, it's said,
926
00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:37,040
that he was chucked out of Florence before he had a chance to finish it.
927
00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:38,720
Now, in the 16th century,
928
00:47:38,720 --> 00:47:41,800
when the Medicis were ruling Florence from this palace,
929
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,680
I'm sure they would have loved an entrance and exit like this.
930
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:54,560
By now, the Medici were the public face of Florence,
931
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:56,800
but old habits die hard.
932
00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:01,040
Hidden away inside are rooms showing that the Medici's love of secrecy
933
00:48:01,040 --> 00:48:02,560
was stronger than ever.
934
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:10,880
This secret, hidden, little bank vault-like room
935
00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:13,640
was Cosimo's personal man cave.
936
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:19,000
Only he had a key to this strange place,
937
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:23,080
and it's where he kept his personal documents
938
00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:26,440
and treasured possessions, in these cupboards.
939
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:30,200
This room was totally forgotten about from the 18th century onwards
940
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:34,440
and only rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century.
941
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,400
I hope it doesn't take me that long to get out of here.
942
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,120
Even with the help of our scans,
943
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:45,680
it's hard to find a route through this place.
944
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,280
At its centre is the great Hall of Five Hundred,
945
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:53,040
Florence's own Houses of Parliament.
946
00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:59,680
Behind it lies a labyrinth of rooms, corridors and staircases.
947
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:11,320
All these rooms and passageways,
948
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:14,680
they reek of secrecy, intrigue
949
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:19,280
and of a family who preferred to rule from the shadows.
950
00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:21,920
But the Medicis weren't able just to scurry around
951
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:24,280
in particular buildings in secrecy -
952
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,120
they could get across the whole city that way.
953
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:30,280
I'm off to join Xander, to see if we can pick up the trail.
954
00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:37,480
Michael's got to mix with the masses to get to me.
955
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:43,240
But the Medicis made sure they never had to mingle with the hoi polloi.
956
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:48,880
We're going to explore exactly how they controlled the city
957
00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:51,640
without ever needing to put a foot outside.
958
00:49:58,120 --> 00:49:59,920
Ah, Michael, how are you?
959
00:49:59,920 --> 00:50:02,240
Of all the corners of this wonderful museum!
960
00:50:02,240 --> 00:50:05,680
I've been hanging with Julius Caesar and Hercules, waiting for you.
961
00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:07,120
- How are you?
- How fabulous.
962
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:09,040
Now, why have you brought me to this corner?
963
00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:12,120
Well, I hope you've been enjoying something of the wonderful art here,
964
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,440
but, frankly, we're not interested in art right now.
965
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:18,880
We're interested in one of the secrets of the Uffizi
966
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:22,680
and that's a corridor, the ultimate corridors of power
967
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:26,400
that links to the Palazzo Vecchio, the heart of government,
968
00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,920
through the Uffizi, once the administrative offices,
969
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:34,080
and on to the Medici's private villa and palace, in fact,
970
00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:35,680
on the south side of the river.
971
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:42,080
All the way to the south side of the river, that's a long corridor.
972
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:45,600
What godlike power to move right through this city
973
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,960
and to see, but not be seen.
974
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:54,160
It's known as the Vasari Corridor, after the man who designed it.
975
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:58,720
From the outside, you would never know it was here,
976
00:50:58,720 --> 00:51:02,000
as it winds its way above the crowded streets of Florence.
977
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:08,680
Luca's walking its length with his backpack scanner
978
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:12,000
to give us a perspective that even the all-seeing Medici
979
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:13,160
could only dream of.
980
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:18,560
What's the point of this? Why was it so urgently required?
981
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:23,200
Well, the official reason was that Cosimo's son, Francesco,
982
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:27,800
was getting married and they needed a secure and quick passageway
983
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:30,160
- for the bride and groom on the wedding day...
- That's nice.
984
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:32,760
..to avoid getting the wedding dress mucky on the streets.
985
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:35,760
- Quite right.
- But that's the official line.
986
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:40,440
- Yes.
- I mean, behind that is a much bigger story.
987
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:43,960
Don't forget, their own family had been riddled with intrigues.
988
00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:47,720
Alessandro de' Medici is killed in his bed, by his cousin,
989
00:51:47,720 --> 00:51:50,000
having been discovered in bed with the cousin's wife.
990
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:51,680
That's a great story right there!
991
00:51:51,680 --> 00:51:53,240
- Yeah.
- Killed by his own cousin...
992
00:51:53,240 --> 00:51:55,560
- Yeah.
- ..for sleeping with his cousin's wife.
- Absolutely.
993
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:57,240
But this is, kind of, part and parcel
994
00:51:57,240 --> 00:51:59,960
of the dynastic, despotic families of the period.
995
00:51:59,960 --> 00:52:01,920
- Right.
- Now, Cosimo, as any ruler,
996
00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:05,440
with such power and with such history behind him,
997
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:09,480
you can imagine he is constantly looking over his shoulder.
998
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:11,560
The very fact that they decide
999
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:15,600
that a permanent, secure corridor is needed...
1000
00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:17,400
Tells you everything you need to know.
1001
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:19,200
..tells you everything you need to know
1002
00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:22,760
about how the Medicis understood their position in Florence.
1003
00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:27,520
This secret passageway
1004
00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:31,200
even passes over Florence's oldest bridge
1005
00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:33,200
and you would never know.
1006
00:52:33,200 --> 00:52:38,200
Well, this is a wonderfully elevated and rarefied view of Florence.
1007
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:39,640
Here we are on the Ponte Vecchio.
1008
00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:40,960
I wonder how many people,
1009
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:43,360
of the millions who must cross this every year,
1010
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:46,040
I wonder how many look up and have any idea
1011
00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:49,600
of what happens upstairs at the Ponte Vecchio.
1012
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:51,520
This was in everyday use.
1013
00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:54,200
I mean, it wasn't just kept for dire emergencies.
1014
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:56,560
No, no, no, no. Roll out of bed in the morning and get...
1015
00:52:56,560 --> 00:52:58,720
Not walk this, get into your little carriage.
1016
00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:00,440
It's built wide enough for a carriage
1017
00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:03,320
to, sort of, take you down to your office for a day's work
1018
00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:05,880
- and then back home again.
- I'm worried about two things.
1019
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:07,680
The exercise he's not getting
1020
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:09,480
and the vitamin D he's not getting.
1021
00:53:09,480 --> 00:53:10,920
He's going to get rickets.
1022
00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:13,000
I think he was also more worried, probably,
1023
00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:15,360
about getting stabbed in the back or something like that.
1024
00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:16,600
OK. OK!
1025
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:22,960
I'm beginning to think of it as an invisibility cloak,
1026
00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:25,080
but one made out of bricks and mortar.
1027
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:30,760
So, Cosimo merely needed a pair of roller-skates, at this point,
1028
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,760
so he could just be pushed down into his residence.
1029
00:53:33,760 --> 00:53:36,760
It was an easy ride back at the end of the day towards the residence,
1030
00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:38,480
and that's where we're heading now.
1031
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:41,280
We're heading towards the Pitti Palace.
1032
00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:43,520
After a kilometre of corridor,
1033
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:45,440
the secret passage emerges
1034
00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:50,400
into the gardens of the glorious Palazzo Pitti...
1035
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:52,320
And this will give you a good view.
1036
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:57,360
..the place the Medici now called home.
1037
00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:00,440
It's just massive. That's a fortress, isn't it?
1038
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:03,920
I mean, there's no mistaking that. That's just impregnable.
1039
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:07,560
From the top of the gardens,
1040
00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:09,520
Cosimo could look down on the city
1041
00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:11,600
his family had done so much to shape.
1042
00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:16,240
The Vasari Corridor has brought us
1043
00:54:16,240 --> 00:54:20,000
from the heart of Florence to the edge of the city.
1044
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:21,440
When you're on the inside,
1045
00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:24,560
you can't see how it all relates to the world outside,
1046
00:54:24,560 --> 00:54:27,760
but virtual reality is going to change all that.
1047
00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:33,280
- In we go.
- Wow!
1048
00:54:33,280 --> 00:54:36,840
Here begins the Vasari Corridor.
1049
00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:38,440
Diddly, diddly...
1050
00:54:38,440 --> 00:54:40,400
All the way down here,
1051
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:42,680
sharp turn here.
1052
00:54:42,680 --> 00:54:44,440
- Beautiful!
- Over the eye.
1053
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:46,320
Beautiful!
1054
00:54:46,320 --> 00:54:48,240
To see it like this,
1055
00:54:48,240 --> 00:54:51,000
where you can actually start to put it all together,
1056
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:53,320
how, particularly south of the Arno,
1057
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:56,840
it finds its way circuitously around all those properties.
1058
00:54:58,560 --> 00:55:02,240
And actually, one of the lovely things about operating at this scale
1059
00:55:02,240 --> 00:55:05,280
is that I can just take a, kind of, casual walk over here,
1060
00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:09,280
just disappear out through that window and levitate.
1061
00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:12,640
Join me outside over here. It's quite a scary feeling,
1062
00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:14,840
just taking that step out of the corridor.
1063
00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:16,520
- Come on, Xander. Join me out here.
- Argh!
1064
00:55:16,520 --> 00:55:18,560
Whoa! Look at that.
1065
00:55:18,560 --> 00:55:20,840
Floating above the Ponte Vecchio.
1066
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:22,640
Ooh, ice creams over there. Mmm!
1067
00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:27,800
But the funny thing is, having been in the Uffizi,
1068
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:29,960
having been along the Vasari Corridor,
1069
00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:32,000
you never get this...
1070
00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:36,520
..sense of where it is, you know, how it all connects.
1071
00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:38,440
It does, sort of, give you an illusion
1072
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:40,520
of Medici, kind of, power, doesn't it?
1073
00:55:40,520 --> 00:55:43,440
Looking over, having Florence as your plaything, like this.
1074
00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:51,960
'I feel I've really got to know the Medici.
1075
00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:55,360
'I've walked in their footsteps, drunk wine with their rivals
1076
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:58,240
'and been awed by their churches.'
1077
00:55:58,240 --> 00:56:01,520
I mean, my word!
1078
00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:03,880
'So I suppose my last question is...'
1079
00:56:03,880 --> 00:56:06,080
What became of the Medici?
1080
00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:08,880
Well, they continued to have power until the 18th century,
1081
00:56:08,880 --> 00:56:10,760
but then their line ended.
1082
00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:12,880
There were no Medici heirs.
1083
00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:16,240
So this family that had had so many enemies,
1084
00:56:16,240 --> 00:56:18,160
trying to bring them down over the centuries,
1085
00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:20,720
finally is just brought down...
1086
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:22,880
completely by nature.
1087
00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:28,200
But the last Medici donated the entire Medici art collection,
1088
00:56:28,200 --> 00:56:31,280
all their personal possessions to the city of Florence.
1089
00:56:31,280 --> 00:56:34,120
With the proviso that, in her words,
1090
00:56:34,120 --> 00:56:37,600
that it should remain in the city for the benefit of its citizens
1091
00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:40,720
and for the inducement of visitors.
1092
00:56:40,720 --> 00:56:43,560
That's wonderful. I mean, that is a bequest beyond...
1093
00:56:43,560 --> 00:56:45,200
beyond measurable value.
1094
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:49,520
And now, I feel privileged
1095
00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:52,600
to see something that even the Medici could never see.
1096
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:56,960
Our scans have come together
1097
00:56:56,960 --> 00:56:59,560
to form the most extensive 3-D model
1098
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:01,800
of Medici Florence ever made.
1099
00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:06,480
And for me, the scans really show that Florence
1100
00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:09,000
is one big sleight of hand.
1101
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:11,600
It looks so light, so ethereal -
1102
00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:15,960
but just below it is all that intrigue, all that rivalry.
1103
00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:20,360
From the hidden passageways and secret routes
1104
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:23,200
through some of Florence's famous buildings...
1105
00:57:24,680 --> 00:57:27,200
..to the labyrinth of structures and supports
1106
00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:29,960
that hold up Brunelleschi's magical dome.
1107
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:47,840
Now, when I look at Florence, I see violent competition,
1108
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:52,720
secret corridors of power and creative brilliance.
1109
00:57:52,720 --> 00:57:55,360
All of this put Florence on the map
1110
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:58,160
and made it the engine room of the Renaissance
1111
00:57:58,160 --> 00:58:00,320
that shapes our world to this day.
1112
00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:15,200
If you'd like to explore Florence in 3-D yourself,
1113
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:19,160
go to BBC.co.uk/InvisibleItaly
1114
00:58:19,160 --> 00:58:20,680
and follow the link.
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