The Cairo museum is one of the most extraordinary places in the history of humanity: it houses the treasures of the Pharaohs. Thousands of objects recovered from the tombs: jewels, statues, works of art, sarcophagi. A priceless heritage that tells the story of almost three thousand years of Egyptian civilization. It is at the Cairo museum that Alberto Angela will be found to guide us on this journey into ancient Egypt: not only discovering the most precious objects of the Pharaohs (and their own mummies), but taking us to the most impressive places discovered by archaeologists. Thanks to special permits, Ulysses' crew was able to enter the tomb of Queen Nefertari, forbidden to cameras, to film the almost intact frescoes of this queen, Ramesses II's beloved wife. At night, the crew also entered the Pyramid of Cheops, showing the charm of these places.

Episode 1

Ulisse tells the story of life on Earth. An exciting story, which scientists are slowly reconstructing. Alberto Angela will be in the famous Natural History Museum in New York, where millions of exhibits on evolution are collected: from meteorites to the first living forms, to mammals, passing naturally to dinosaurs. He will show the immense dinosaur skeletons displayed in the museum and the work of researchers both in the laboratories and in the field, particularly in Mongolia. The "Ulisse" team will also visit the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, where extremely rare finds and accurate reconstructions are preserved. Many films will allow you to retrace over 4 billion years of evolution: from the formation of the Earth to the appearance of Homo Sapiens sapiens.

Episode 2

Ulisse dedicates this event to the highest peak in the world: Everest. A RAI crew went to the Himalayas, in the Everest region, to show the extraordinary landscapes of this "roof of the world", flying with a helicopter to the base camp, at almost 6 thousand metres, and going to the Sherpa villages , who are still the great protagonists of climbing today, helping mountaineers in their very risky undertakings. One fact is enough to understand the difficulties of climbing Everest: for every 6 climbers who try, one dies. The difficulty is caused above all by the disturbances caused by the high altitude: above 8 thousand meters you enter the so-called "death zone". Oxygen is reduced to a third, the mind becomes clouded, the body is subjected to superhuman efforts, strokes and pulmonary edema are constantly lurking. Not to mention bad weather, wind, frostbite and the inherent risks of climbing.

Episode 3

Fire has been a protagonist of human history; from the first prehistoric fireplaces, born about 400 thousand years ago, to the flames of space rockets, it has always accompanied man in his daily life and in his undertakings. The episode also illustrates, above all, the risks that fire entails: fires, burns, explosions. And he will explain what are the best ways to fight it. In the house, in the car, wherever the flames develop. Alberto Angela travels to various places where fire is the protagonist, also following the special fire departments in their interventions and demonstrations. We will see spectacular images of fires and men intent on putting them out. We will talk about the chemistry of fire, the mistakes to avoid, and how to behave in an emergency. Many people, for example, have died trapped in the car due to failure to provide assistance: the fear that the tank will explode keeps many people from providing help when the car catches fire.

Episode 4

Ulisse offers his spectators a very particular journey: a journey through time, to closely observe the life of a group of Neanderthal men. Thanks to careful studies, a group of scientists and filmmakers have reconstructed the appearance and way of life of these prehistoric men who inhabited Europe for a very long period, between approximately 100 thousand and 30 thousand years ago. We will therefore have the opportunity to follow the group life, the hunting, the affections, the daily problems of a small tribe of Neanderthals, played by actors whose faces have been reconstructed following the most recent research. A day 35 thousand years ago, recalled in all its details, from food, to homes, to births, to diseases, up to the dramatic encounter with Homo Sapiens sapiens, who migrated to Europe from Africa in that period.

Episode 5

This episode of Ulisse is dedicated to the most extraordinary jewels in history, and everything behind them: technique, art, nature. The episode takes its cue from the largest diamond exhibition ever held: in fact, some of the most famous jewels from museums and private collections have been brought together at the Natural History Museum in Paris. Necklaces, brooches, solitaires, tiaras, worn by queens and kings of the past, when even men adorned themselves with jewels. The particular venue of the exhibition, a Natural History Museum, will allow us to talk about the origin of diamonds, which are formed beyond the 120 kilometers of the Earth's depth, at pressures of over 10 thousand atmospheres. We will see how diamonds are also formed in space: a meteorite studded with microscopic diamonds is on display at the exhibition. Ulysses will then show how diamonds are cut, going to one of the most prestigious laboratories, and how they are extracted from the earth today.

Episode 6

The earth floats on a sea of fire: the thin layer of the earth's crust, in fact, rests on an incandescent magma which every now and then finds chimneys to shoot out its fiery splashes: volcanoes. The entire planet is crossed by large fractures, along which volcanoes nestle. Ulisse, through a series of films and documents, will show the most extraordinary images of eruptions all over the world: from South America to Japan, from Africa to Canada, and of course Europe. Alberto Angela went, among other things, to Iceland, a large island that emerged from the sea, millions of years ago, following a gigantic eruption, and which is still today one of the most active volcanic areas: a third of all the lava material erupted in the last 500 years in the world is found in Iceland. A land where hot water springs now power the heating of homes and even greenhouses, where bananas are grown (and we are at the Polar Circle).

Episode 7

Would you like to live in Roman times? Ulisse gives you the opportunity, following hour by hour the typical day of the inhabitants of a Roman city: family life, work, business, love, entertainment, even elections. In fact, Ulysses reconstructs, with a "countdown", the last 30 hours of Pompeii and Herculaneum: while Vesuvius was charging for its catastrophic explosion, the people, unaware even of the fact that Vesuvius was a volcano, paid attention to the little things of every day. The program reconstructs this story with the help of accurate graphic processing and thanks to sequences played by actors, up to the explosion of Vesuvius and the violent death of the two cities, under millions of tons of lava material. Alberto Angela, who hosts the evening from Pompeii, recounts these 30 hours, also showing the "petrified" bodies of the inhabitants imprisoned in the lava while they were fleeing.

Episode 8

Alberto Angela

Alberto Angela leads the dissemination program dedicated to history, art and culture. A historical, archaeological, informative story, with the presence of some protagonists of the Italian cultural or artistic scene.

Italy

Piero Angela

Ulisse - The Pleasure of Discovery

Rai 1

Rai 3

Odysseus' journey, told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.

The Odyssey

Sandokan is a Malaysian pirate who, along with his friend Yanez and their crew, attacks the British forces from his island of Mompracem. During his adventures, he falls in love with Lady Marianna Guillonk, an English-Italian aristocrat.

Sandokan

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One of the most enthralling crime series among Italian viewers: airing on Rai Tre from March 3, 2000, "La Squadra" offers a realistic overview of the world of crime through the cases investigated by the Sant'Andrea Police Station in Naples.

The Squad

When Doctor Andrea Fanti loses 12 years of memories from a brain injury, he finds himself adjusting to a world full of strangers.

Explores WWII from Germany's invasion of Poland through the atomic age, examining pivotal battles, wartime leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and the human cost of total war.

World War II with Tom Hanks

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Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

The Count of Monte Cristo

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Dramatizes the Birth, Life, Ministry, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, largely according to the Holy Bible's New Testament Gospels.

Jesus of Nazareth

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A fresh look at the life and legacy of the iconic artist Leonardo da Vinci, positing that he was a gay outsider who used his work as a way of hiding his true self. Each episode will examine one of da Vinci’s artworks for hidden clues about a tortured artist struggling for perfection.

Leonardo

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In a steampunk London, the great detective Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson routinely crack the most challenging cases — perpetrated more often than not by their nemesis, the proud, bumbling genius Professor Moriarty.

Sherlock Hound

The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a war of conquest, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. It impacted millions from Vermont’s Green Mountains to the swamps of South Carolina, from Indian Country to the Iberian Peninsula. In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside-down. Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic Coast united in rebellion, won their independence, and established a republic that still endures. The American Revolution will present the story of the men and women of the Revolutionary generation, their humanity in victory and defeat, and the crisis that they lived through.

The American Revolution

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Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as their journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men from paratrooper training in Georgia through the end of the war. As an elite rifle company parachuting into Normandy early on D-Day morning, participants in the Battle of the Bulge, and witness to the horrors of war, the men of Easy knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear - and became the stuff of legend. Based on Stephen E. Ambrose's acclaimed book of the same name.

Band of Brothers

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Following an outrageous bet, Fogg and his valet, Passepartout, take on the legendary journey of circumnavigating the globe in just 80 days, swiftly joined by aspiring journalist Abigail Fix, who seizes the chance to report on this extraordinary story.

Around the World in 80 Days

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Season 1

Ulisse recounts the "Splendor of Rome", when the empire reached its maximum power and territorial extension in the second century. The land borders ran for over 10 thousand km from Scotland to the borders of Iran, from the Sahara to the North Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. The driving force of everything was Rome, located exactly at the center of the Empire, with almost 1.5 million inhabitants. It was the most populous city in all of Antiquity. It had 423 neighborhoods, 1400 fountains, 11 colossal baths, 40 triumphal arches, 100 temples, more than 4000 large statues, 28 libraries.

Ulisse's journey to the Roman Empire continues to discover its military strength, that is, the violent and implacable arm of its legions. Thanks to the best reconstructions of the experts, we will follow the armies on the march, we will understand how they fought, we will discover who his soldiers were and how far they went. We will see how Rome imposed itself through the skill of its generals and engineers, but also through its ability to export a model of civilization. In this regard, we will try to understand why the Romans managed to extend over such a large surface area and above all why their culture, so advanced and so successful, was adopted by all the populations of Europe and the Mediterranean.

Ulisse will dedicate his third appointment to the underground world, making a journey beneath the earth's crust. In fact, a small invisible and often fantastic universe exists beneath our feet. In these "twenty thousand leagues underground" Ulisse will explore the world of caves, observing speleologists in their explorations and visiting surprising sites such as the Wieliczka rock salt mine in Poland. Alberto Angela visited the depths of this mine which has been exploited for millennia and which today presents incredible settings: enormous caves, statues carved in salt, a church and even a concert hall with immense chandeliers all made with salt.

The protagonist of this episode is the air. You cannot see it, it has no smell or taste, but it is the most abundant element on the earth's surface and is crucial for our survival. In fact, air, by penetrating our lungs, provides our body with oxygen that allows us to move, speak and even think and profoundly influences plant and animal life. Alberto Angela will take us on a long journey inside the air, making us discover the most surprising aspects of this substance. On board a vintage sailing ship, Alberto Angela will explain to us how the use of wind has changed the history of humanity, from the great geographical discoveries to the latest technological evolutions of racing catamarans. We will discover the extreme limits of life without air: the possibility of remaining without breathing underwater for up to half an hour, as Umberto Pellizzari, the freediving record holder, will explain to us.

Alberto Angela went to the Kremlin and the palaces of St. Petersburg to tell us the story of the tsars who governed Russia between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. It is an opportunity to visit the splendid Hermitage Palace, where works of art, jewels, thrones, crowns, weapons and sumptuous carriages are kept. We will admire one of the summer residences of Tzarskoje Selo, an immense palace located in a vast park with large trees, ponds, imposing statues, little bridges, where Tsarina Elizabeth loved to spend much of her time. This palace also hid another wonder, now lost: a room whose walls were entirely decorated with panels made of various types of amber and which suddenly disappeared during the last war. Through the documents, the places, the objects collected in the collections, Ulisse makes us discover the life of the last tsars from Peter the Great to Nicholas II: the loves, the pomp, the conquests, but also the plots, the killings and the brutal repression.

Work on this episode resumed after the attack and kidnapping suffered by Alberto Angela and the Ulisse crew by a group of armed men in the Niger desert. Only part of the footage was saved and the episode will begin from these images, that is, from the Sahara, the largest desert in the world. We will also see some shots of the last camp before the kidnapping. The program will take us to the most extraordinary deserts in the world: from Libya to Peru, from Namibia to the Egyptian desert. These lunar landscapes, devoid of life, actually hide many precious things: diamonds, finds from ancient civilizations, mummies, cave paintings, prehistoric tools. And also life forms that manage to survive in extreme conditions: in some cases even lions and elephants. Alberto Angela will visit the highest dunes and incredible rock formations of the Sahara, inhabited millennia ago by ancient populations, when instead of the desert there were rivers and lakes.

The protagonists of this episode of Ulisse are men who have changed the boundaries of nations, continents, and the known world, who have been able to broaden the mental and cultural horizons of their era. They are merchants, scientists, adventurers, conquerors and heroes. Alberto Angela from the headquarters of the most prestigious geographical institutes in the world - the Royal Geographical Society of London and the Geographical Society of Villa Celimontana in Rome - will tell us about the exploits of those who dared to challenge the seas and oceans to discover new worlds: from the Vikings to Christopher Columbus, from Amerigo Vespucci, to Captain Cook killed by natives during his 3rd round the world trip. We will also see how an entire people, the Polynesians, managed to colonize the largest ocean, the Pacific, without compasses or maps.

Ulisse offers his listeners a journey through time to tell the story of prehistoric man who populated Europe in a period ranging from approximately thirty-five thousand to twenty-five thousand years ago, from the Neanderthals to the glaciations. In the first episode, the program retraced the group life, hunting, affections, daily problems of a small tribe of Neanderthals up to the dramatic encounter with Homo Sapiens Sapiens, who migrated to Europe from Africa in that period. A fatal encounter for the Neanderthal, who became extinct within a short time, leaving his territories to this new living species: the species from which we all descend, and which was then to give rise to the great cultures of our history. The story tells a small group of men who lived in a period following the Neanderthals, about ten thousand years later, in the ice age.

Ulisse proposes a journey to the Middle Ages. Alberto Angela traveled to medieval villages, abbeys and castles to discover the daily life of a thousand years ago: work, battles, faith, sieges, masterpieces of art, torture, the terrible scourge of diseases... ."The Black Death". Through filmed reconstructions, created with the collaboration of a cultural association from Bevagna, we will discover life in the villages and artisan workshops, we will see the homes of the poor, the work of the farmers, the taverns, the love potions, the entertainment of the rich , magic and also the many medieval inventions: from textile machines to glasses, from the compass to underpants. Alberto Angela also shows how the weapons of the time worked, what remains of the Crusader castles today and how people lived inside a princely residence. And again, we will talk about Maritime Republics and a fabulous and distant empire.

Episode 9

With Alberto Angela we will retrace the long history of our species, which starting from very primitive beings led to modern man. It will be a story created not only with finds and exploration of the sites, but also with accurate reconstructions of the hominids who followed one another over the course of five million years: Austrolopithecines, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, Cro-magnons, etc. For the first time the entire gallery of our most distant ancestors will be visualized thanks to fiction and computer processing. The scenes with actors were filmed in the African savannahs, in the same places where human evolution took place: under the guidance of experts, in particular Prof. Yves Coppens of Paris, one of the most authoritative researchers in human paleontology, they the appearance of these primitive hominids and also scenes of their life have been reconstructed, just as it is possible today to reconstruct them based on all the studies done.

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Season 2

The protagonist of this episode is water: through a story that will take us from the origins of life on Earth to biology, from engineering to molecules and art. With the help of graphics we will be able to simulate a journey inside a drop of water to discover its composition and microorganisms. We will then follow the long paths taken by water, through extraordinary images of glaciers, caves, oceans, atolls, icebergs, discovering how rivers are born, how raindrops are formed. We will also discover the effects that water produces in our body and how much we need for our survival. Alberto Angela will go to Villa d'Este in Tivoli to show us the works of artists and architects who over the past centuries have created an immense complex of water features and fountains on an entire hill; and again at Niagara Falls, where we will be able to admire one of the most magnificent spectacles that exist in nature.

In this episode, Ulisse will make an exciting journey among the very first civilizations that appeared in Central America, long before the arrival of Columbus, the Olmecs, the Maya, the Aztecs. The famous heads carved in rock have come down to us from the Olmec people and what amazes and still remains an unsolved mystery is how the Olmecs managed to create these amazing sculptures and, above all, to transport the colossal blocks of rock that they used; we will follow the experiment of an English team that attempted to transport a boulder weighing between 10 and 20 tons and create, using only archaic techniques, a copy of a gigantic head.

In this episode we will explore one of the most important but also one of the most enigmatic chapters of history: the fall of the Roman Empire. Why did Roman civilization in Europe become extinct after a thousand years of splendor, giving way to the Middle Ages? Was it just because of the barbarians or were there other reasons? It all happened within a very few generations and yet it influenced centuries of European history, up to the present day.

In this episode, Ulisse will explore places of extraordinary beauty, where absolute masterpieces created by the greatest artists of the past are kept: the Vatican Museums. With Alberto Angela we will have the opportunity to admire works of inestimable value collected by the Popes or directly commissioned by them; we will visit the splendid environments where popes, cardinals and ambassadors have followed one another for centuries and where we could have met artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci. It will also be an opportunity to talk about the lives of these artists and the historical events linked to the creation of their works.

Ulisse will dedicate this episode to Venice and in particular to a period of history in which the city was the first economic and military power in Europe, capable of reigning over the Mediterranean, of dominating maritime trade, especially with the East, and even to fight against the expansion of the powerful Ottoman Empire. Venice has its roots in the Middle Ages, in fact it was between 1200 and 1300 that it experienced its first great development, thanks also to the spirit of initiative of merchants, bankers, navigators and men of ingenuity. We will go to the Arsenale, that is, the place where the strength of Venice originated and where ships were designed and built; through exceptional graphic effects and filmed reconstructions we will discover the manufacturing techniques of the galleys, the activity of the workers inside the Arsenal, life on board.

Season 3

Ulisse will make a long journey through the extraordinary scenery of Peru, to discover one of the most important civilizations of the past: the Incas. Alberto Angela will travel to the heart of the Andes, to let us discover some of the most beautiful archaeological sites on the planet and to tell us about the habits, customs and rites of the Incas. We will get to know Machu Pichu and, through graphic reconstructions, we will see how it must have looked 5 centuries ago. It was a city full of life with temples, palaces, sanctuaries, homes. We will talk about deities and human sacrifices, healing methods, writing systems and, thanks also to filmed reconstructions, we will discover some aspects of daily life. Alberto Angela will also travel to Cuzco, where the most important temple of the Incas stood and where the Spanish built the church and convent of Santo Domingo.

Ulisse will retrace some of the most extraordinary moments in the history of Homo Sapiens. We will discover how he was able to survive in extremely difficult conditions and how, despite adversity, he was able to give birth to what was perhaps the greatest revolution in human history: agriculture. Alberto Angela will show us objects and finds that have marked the long odyssey of Homo Sapiens and, through these, he will tell us how he hunted, how he tanned skins and how he sewed them. We will discover which animals populated the planet, such as the saber-toothed tiger and the flat-headed bear. We will follow the evolution that occurred in human history with the birth of agriculture and animal breeding.

Piazza di Spagna, Trinità dei Monti steps. Without a doubt this is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, millions of visitors come every year from all over the world to admire this but also many other masterpieces scattered throughout the eternal city, masterpieces of art, architecture and sacred art. But how were Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, the mouth of truth born? What stories are behind it? We will try to find out in this episode, in fact we will take a journey to discover the wonders and secrets of Renaissance and Baroque Rome, when the eternal city for a few centuries was the capital of man's genius and creativity, but we will do it in a special way . We will return to those centuries, back in time, and follow some very particular travellers.

Ulisse will dedicate this episode to the First World War, making us relive one of the greatest tragedies of all time which cost the lives of millions of men. It was a different war from those that had preceded it. Together with conventional weapons and traditional warfare techniques, new technologies took to the field, increasingly powerful and increasingly ruthless: the machine gun, the first tanks, submarines up to perhaps the most frightening weapon of all, gases and chemical warfare. Alberto Angela will go to the trenches of the Carso and to the tunnels of Monte Sabotino where thousands of soldiers died between 1915 and 1918 and, directly from the places where the fighting was fought, he will tell us the motivations and the most salient episodes of this war; where the soldiers came from and how they were recruited, their life in the trenches, their anxieties, survival strategies, the weapons used and fighting techniques.

Why do people get mummified? In general, behind all mummies there is a long history. It is man's challenge at the time, the attempt to preserve the body at all costs, even after death. A challenge that has no age and that starts from very distant times. We will take a journey into this challenge. We will talk about mummies, of course, about civilizations from different eras, but not only that: we will try to discover everything that man has implemented over the millennia to save his image, even today. In short, we will take a journey in what can be called the search for immortality.

Ulisse will dedicate this episode to an event that changed our history: the Normandy landing, reconstructing that memorable day of 6 June 1944, which represented the great turning point of the Second World War. Alberto Angela will travel to the same places where the landing took place, the French coast of Normandy, to give us the opportunity to relive that extraordinary day and to tell us how the operation was born and the enormous effort made to put it into practice feet that colossal war machine. We will see what happened through images of the time, shot by war operators, through the testimonies of soldiers who participated in the landing and also thanks to a film that the BBC made specifically to mark the 60th anniversary of the landing.

In this episode we go to one of the most remote places on the planet, near the Svalbard Islands, where the pack ice begins that leads directly to the North Pole. On our planet there are many inhospitable regions where man has always preferred to avoid because they are hostile, but on these frozen expanses, even for thousands and thousands of years, no human being has ever dared to venture because they are decidedly unlivable.

This evening we will talk about a beautiful city that the world envies us: Florence. It is precisely in its streets and buildings that in the 1400s that extraordinary phenomenon took shape, destined to bring about an essential turning point in art and culture: the Renaissance. And it is a story intertwined in an almost intimate way with that of a large family: the Medici. In particular with Cosimo and Lorenzo known as the Magnificent. It was they who transformed Florence, who gave it this economic miracle and this explosion of creativity.

Season 4

This episode will be dedicated to the evolution of weapons from prehistory to the present day. From the stick to the bow, from the arrow to the rocket, from the sword to the rifle, from the Greek shield to smart rockets, weapons tell the story of the art of attack and defense. Alberto Angela will present spectacular pieces preserved at the Stibbert Museum in Florence and at the Historical Museum of the Artillery in Turin. Thanks to the collaboration of the Carabinieri, we will relive the sensations of a galloping cavalry charge.

This episode is very particular, very different from all the others. We will try to explore the world in its incredible diversity and observe what women and men scattered in the most disparate corners of the planet have done during their day.

Alberto Angela will go to the Louvre Museum, where we will have the opportunity to admire the most important pieces of the collections, paintings, statues and archaeological finds of ancient civilisations. We will tell the extraordinary story of this palace which from an ancient fortress became, over the centuries, the symbol of the power of the kings of France. The episode of Ulisse will open with the brand new arrangement in the Grand Gallery of the best-known painting in the world: the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.

Rome at the time of Nerone, before and after the famous fire. In this episode we will explore Rome before the fire, following two firefighters of the time: through their patrols, their personal stories and their interventions, we will reveal the environments and atmospheres of the life of the Romans of the time.

Rome at the time of Nerone, before and after the famous fire. In this episode we will talk about the fire, trying to understand why it broke out, the exact point from which it started and why it spread so quickly.

In the first episode we will try to understand how the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima was reached, retracing the steps from 1943, the year in which the best minds in physics, such as Oppenheimer and Fermi, gathered at Los Alamos to test the first bomb. The experiment was successful and, during a summit meeting between Truman, Churchill and Stalin, the idea of using this new bomb against Japan began to spread. We will follow with Alberto Angela all the phases of the complex operation, from the preparation to the transport of the atomic bomb to the Tinian base, from where the mission to Hiroshima departed; at the same time we will also follow the advance of the Americans in the Pacific which was the scene of ferocious fighting between sea and sky.

The story will continue in the second episode with the events immediately following the explosion. In that mushroom that rises there are the bodies of at least thirty thousand people. Within a radius of 2.5 km another fifty thousand will die in the space of a few seconds. Those who were even further away will be hit by a wave of heat that does not kill, but burns savagely. In the following days, months and years, thousands and thousands more people will die as a result of radiation. We will also find out what happened on the plane, which was hit head-on by the shock wave caused by the explosion. Through archive images we will follow the reactions of Japan and the whole world to the spread of the news and President Truman's speech to the nation on what happened and his motivations. Meanwhile, at the Tinian base, preparations continue for the new mission which will lead to the dropping of another bomb on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945.

In this episode of Ulisse we will literally travel through time. In fact, the entire course of our life is regulated by an infinite number of clocks, not only those that tell us what time it is, but also those that mark our entire working day, appointments, train departures and more. In fact, we live immersed in an ocean of other types of clocks, often invisible, but which follow us continuously: they are those clocks that regulate what exists within us and around us, from our cells to the cosmos.

Season 5

The first episode of Ulisse will take a great journey through the civilizations of the past and their enigmas, exploring one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites located in the heart of the Pacific Ocean: Easter Island. We will tell the story of this civilization, trying to find out where the first inhabitants arrived from, considering that the island is located almost 4000 km from any coast or inhabited island.

Ulisse will deal with another important theme: that of gravity. Above all, we will try to understand what are the consequences and effects of the force of gravity on the earth and how we are continually forced to challenge its laws and fight them. In the episode many curiosities that will show us the various ways to face and overcome the effects of the force of gravity in the various sports disciplines, in the construction of skyscrapers, in space. Alberto Angela will explain all this to us and will also climb the Tower of Pisa to retrace the experiment carried out by Galileo Galilei to study the phenomena of gravity.

Ulisse will discover one of the most spectacular and grandiose scenarios on our planet: the Andes mountain range. This imposing mountain system winds along the entire west coast of South America, from the Caribbean coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, to the ice of Tierra del Fuego, at the extreme southern tip of Chile. We will explore this outsized landscape to discover what hides. It will be a journey between glaciers, naturalistic paradises, deserts, volcanoes, buried deposits and even lost civilizations, which have left us ghost cities, mummies and extraordinary treasures. Together with Alberto Angela we will visit the Quelat National Park, a true naturalistic oasis, with forests, lakes and waterfalls and the Atacama Salar, one of the driest and most arid places on the planet which contains many types of salts and minerals. We will again see the Chuquicamata copper mine in Chile, which is extremely important from an economic point of view.

Alberto Angela will tell us again the story of Charles Darwin, the famous English naturalist, who with his observations developed the theory of evolution, which is the basis of modern scientific knowledge. We will visit the house where he lived and, above all, we will follow him on his extraordinary journey aboard the brig Beagle: a journey that lasted 5 years in the intact environments of the South American continent among volcanoes, glaciers, wild islands and tropical forests, which led him to reflect on the reasons and on the origin of the thousands of plant and animal species.

This episode retraces the dramatic shipwreck of the largest and most elegant of our transatlantic liners, the Andrea Doria. A story that sixty years later still arouses great emotion throughout Italy. The Andrea Doria was a jewel of our navy, a very luxury ship, considered unsinkable due to the technical innovations with which she had been built. And in these days an exhibition is also inaugurated at the Galata Museo del Mare in Genoa which tells the story of this beautiful and unfortunate ship.

Namibia: over seven thousand kilometers from Italy, towards the southernmost tip of Africa. This episode will certainly take us very far from home but also very far into the past. In fact this episode will be dedicated to the fight for the survival of man and therefore we will go in search of primitive groups and populations trying to discover their strategies, their survival techniques, in very different environments, sometimes truly impossible environments.

Another stage of the journey will concern the symbol par excellence of the Middle Ages: the Castle. How was it possible to conquer a castle and all the territory it controlled and its populations? In this regard, Ulysses will tell the true story of an assault on a castle that took place in France during the famous Hundred Years' War.

Ulisse will go to explore the sea, that immensity of water that allowed life to be born and evolve on our planet. An event that will not simply be dedicated to the sea, but above all to the relationship between man and the sea, which began at the beginning of the adventure of Homo Sapiens, and has never been interrupted. So Alberto Angela will be in Genoa, the maritime city par excellence, between the Galata Museum of the Sea, the very rich Aquarium and much more, to retrace the stages of this very long and fascinating human adventure, in its historical and scientific implications. A journey that will develop in two directions: horizontally, exploring the surface of the sea, to learn about the forces that animate it within, the titanic energies capable of moving immense masses of water. And then vertically, into the blue vastness of the sea to get to know the infinite variety of species that populate the oceans, going further and further down, until reaching the bottom of the abyss.

Season 6

Rome. A capital of two, three million inhabitants with all its palaces, its churches, its monuments, but what is underneath all this? What can you discover by going under churches, palaces but also under very famous places such as Piazza Navona, Piazza di Spagna or even the Trevi fountain? Well, there lies a forgotten world made up of archaeological sites, ancient tombs, surprising sites. It will be a real journey to discover the secrets of Rome.

Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States. Exactly 70 years ago an event occurred that was destined to profoundly affect public opinion around the world for generations. It was seven in the evening on May 6, 1937 and photographers, operators, journalists, even onlookers, were waiting for the arrival of the largest flying machine ever built by man, an immense airship, as long as an ocean liner. It came from Europe, had flown over the entire Atlantic Ocean and was about to land.

Krakatoa, Indonesia 1883 and Mount Saint Helens, United States 1980. Two of the scariest eruptions in history, gigantic, destructive. Both caused by volcanoes that had remained inactive and silent for a long time and then suddenly exploded as if they were immense deposits of dynamite. And this is what happened with Vesuvius, when it erupted in 79 AD, devastating Pompeii and Herculaneum.

In this episode our journey will explore a world that is never spoken of and which in reality constitutes the border between life and death. For it, man has created extraordinary works, such as very precious tombs, but also gigantic monuments such as the pyramids or the beautiful Taj Mahal, in India. Or he buried some priceless treasures. It is something that spans millennia and that ultimately unites very different cultures and civilisations, something that often leaves subsequent generations with true masterpieces of human genius, in memory of the greatness of an era, of a man, or of an entire civilisation. : they are the large tombs.

Cape Canaveral, Florida. Right here on July 16, 1969, at 9:32 in the morning, the Saturn 5 rocket took off, bringing men to the Moon for the first time.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a chapter in the history of pre-unification Italy in many ways surprising and little known. In fact, among all the Italian Kingdoms, that of the Two Sicilies was by far the largest, richest and most populated. Almost 10 million people, that is to say one in three inhabitants of our peninsula, lived under the aegis of the House of Bourbon. And Naples was the heart of this kingdom: it was one of the largest cities in Europe, second only to Paris, the fifth in the world, a destination for scholars and travelers of the time. In this episode we will discover why the Bourbon kings, as loved and respected sovereigns, were then fiercely fought by their people and why their kingdom, rich in economic records, technological achievements and cultural treasures, has gone down in history as a closed and retrograde world , responsible for the evils that still afflict our south.

The Bank of Italy. One of the most prestigious, important and serious institutions in our nation. This institution, so fundamental to the functioning of our country, has within it one of the most protected and inaccessible places. A place that truly holds something that represents the wealth of Italy: our gold reserve.

Season 7

Dr. Christiaan Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon famous for performing the first successful human heart transplant in 1967. This pioneering medical procedure revolutionized cardiac surgery and made him a prominent figure in medical history.

Alberto Angela visits the Egyptian Museum in Turin and talks to us about the ancient Egyptian civilization through the precious finds contained in the museum. Exploring the rooms you go through the entire history of ancient Egypt and you can see great treasures, mummies and ancient statues. The Egyptian Museum of Turin, after that of Cairo, is the most important museum in the world dedicated to this civilization.

The protagonist of the episode is a 324 meter giant that has dominated the panorama of Paris since 1889 and has now become the symbol of an entire nation: France.

The journey we will take in this episode will make us discover one of the most fascinating and farthest lands from Italy: Patagonia. We will cross half the American continent, practically all of Argentina, from the Tropic of Capricorn to the famous Tierra del Fuego, literally the end of the world.

The journey of this episode will take us through millennia of history to discover the greatest civilizations of the past and above all the masterpieces they have left us. We will do this by exploring one of the largest archeology museums in the world: the British Museum in London.

The episode will be very special: it will take us into the world of the invisible. In fact, what our eyes can see is only part of the world around us. Just think for example of the infinitely small, where among other things surprising, sometimes monstrous beings live, even on our skin. Or just think of the infinitely large: at night the stars appear to us only as small bright dots, yet up there in the universe there are fantastic, extraordinary landscapes that our generation is able to admire for the first time.

An unusual journey into the human body reveals an intricate world of organs, tissues, and cells. Through microscopic examination and an understanding of biological processes, we discover how the human body functions, with its intricate systems that sustain life.

Alberto Angela takes us on a journey to the borders of the Roman Empire to narrate the moment in which the latter reached the peak of power and expansion with the conquest of Dacia. An exciting story, which has changed the destiny of millions of people over the centuries, pointing the compass towards a specific era: that of Emperor Traiano, of whom this year marks the anniversary of his death which occurred 1900 years ago.

Season 8

In this episode the lost capital of Pharaoh Ramesses II. The incredible story of the Siamese brothers who lived in the 19th century and were joined together: they had 21 children. Human cloning: will it be possible to stop it? Tricks to seduce men with beauty through the ages. The 43 wonders of Italy. But to start we will tell you about a man who sacrificed everything, putting not only his life at stake but also that of his collaborators, his wife and even his children, to try to stop a bloodthirsty ferocity, one of the worst dictators who ever existed. This man was a senior German officer and the operation was called Operation Valkyrie.

Journey into history: the island of Santorini in Greece. The surprising story of the tulip crash. What did Leonardo know about wine? And what are the origins of the drink dear to gods and men? To the rediscovery of the most sensual statues of the Italian artistic heritage. A treasure more precious than that of the English crown is preserved in Naples. How much care and maintenance is needed to maintain Rome's immense artistic heritage?

The reconstruction of the Battle of the Bulge. Journey among the spectacular anatomical waxes of the Specola museum. Where did the Berlin Wall go? How many remember it? We will see where the bricks of the Bastille prison ended up. In Paris we will show behind the scenes of the Gréven museum. We will follow the route of the Rome-Naples: a journey through time and history. Appointment with Leonardo and his anatomical drawings.

A very original and surprising film: rain of eggs, bathtubs full of beans, immense expanses of milk bottles and cups of coffee. Why all this? Journey into the immensity of the universe in search of planets outside the solar system. The point about the SETI project and the radio signals arriving from space. Behind the scenes of Valentina Tereskova's flight. In the depths of the sea, we will meet the aliens who populate our planet. In Peru we will discover a necropolis with hundreds of mummies still intact. Journey to the four corners of the planet to discover the most spectacular UNESCO sites.

The sinking of the Gustloff, a German ship loaded with civilians fleeing the advance of the Soviet army. In Palermo we will discover the secrets of the tomb of Emperor Frederick II. Close encounter with the oldest hominid. Leonardo, his creativity and indistinguishable thirst for knowledge. We will go in search of Herod's lost tomb. In the sea of Anzio the discovery of an American plane shot down during the Second World War. Journey to the four corners of the planet, to discover the most spectacular UNESCO sites.

A journey into the Middle Ages, we tell the story of the construction of Gothic cathedrals. The last voyage of the Rex. The genius of Leonardo and the world of entertainment. Italian emigration, the terrible journey towards a better world. The Island of Hope, visit to the Ellis Island museum.

A story we will never see: the story of our planet if mankind disappeared. Journey into the prehistory of Rome: what would we have seen at the Olympic stadium a million years ago? A defeat worth a thousand victories: the arrival of Dorando Pietri at the London Olympics. First, second, thirty-seventh: in races the important thing is to participate. April 11, 1961: that day the Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space. Leonardo Da Vinci and his insatiable thirst for knowledge: we will see what the pale flame of a candle suggested to the master. The story of a man, of a dreamer, who managed to realize his grandiose project: connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

The terrible story of suicide pilots in World War II. Journey into the world of lightning: a natural phenomenon that can be very dangerous. Appointment with Leonardo and the realism of caricatures. The First Flight from New York to Paris: Charles Lindberg's Great Adventure. A witness to Ulisse, Lou DuFresne, who was 7 years old at the time, tells of his triumphal arrival in Paris on the night of May 21, 1927.

We will investigate a massacre that occurred more than a thousand years ago: at the crime scene we will find clues that explain the end of the ancient Mayan civilization. 18 July 64 AD: that day, in imperial Rome, hell broke loose. Why did Rome burn? Who are the real culprits? Was Nerone, the most famous emperor in history, really a bloodthirsty madman? Appointment with the genius of Leonardo the painter: the curious arm of the Madonna of the Annunciation. Is it a proportion error? Journey into the world of water: we will follow the little big story of a drop of water. we will go to the province of Ravenna where a group of volunteers has brought to light dozens of planes from the Second World War.

The story of the discovery of Herculaneum occurred by chance in 1700. Are there still populations that have never had contact with Western civilization? The real event of the wolf-child growing up in the woods of southern France dates back to the end of the eighteenth century. The story of the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army hiding in the jungle so as not to surrender to the Americans. We will go to Peru in search of a disappeared civilization: the people of the pyramids. What is returning illiteracy?

Encounter with one of the most devastating forces of nature: the gigantic tsunami waves: what are they caused? And can they be predicted? The last days of Leonardo Da Vinci in France: ill, he rearranges his papers under the eyes of his masters. The recovery of the carcass of a B-29, the deadly American bomber. Germany 1945: the dramatic destruction of the city of Dresden. The testimony of survivors of the bombing of San Lorenzo in Rome during the Second World War. Who will be the next man on the moon? India and China seem to be on the home stretch.

What is your furthest memory? In this episode you can watch the film of your first year of life, from your first breath to your first step.

Today's episode will take us back over 65 years, to Italy during the Second World War. Through historical reconstructions, witnesses and films from the time, we start from what is considered one of the most important and discussed clashes of the Second World War: the battle of Cassino.

Episode 13

This episode will have a very particular theme: we will set out to discover the giants. Giants in nature, in prehistory, gigantic structures built by man, today as in antiquity.

Episode 14

The journey of this episode will take us back in time two thousand years: we will in fact discover the Roman Empire. We will discover very different cities, people and places. It will be a journey that will take us along its borders, the famous limes, where we will even meet Rome's enemies.

Episode 15

The journey of this episode will take us to discover truly surprising places, stories and people, all united in a single common denominator: the search for freedom, or rather, often the escape towards freedom.

Episode 16

The story of an extraordinary atom, indispensable for life and continuously involved in chemical reactions and yet indestructible, widespread everywhere, especially in the atmosphere. it is the oxygen atom.

Episode 17

In this episode we take a very special journey: we travel to new worlds. Part explorer, part tourist, we look at the world upside down.

Episode 18

In this episode we will tell you a very little-known story but which will serve as a starting point to talk about what is still the most powerful man in the world today: the president of the United States.

Episode 19

Our body has a constant temperature of 37 degrees celsius, but what happens if we cool it down? And why does the cold preserve bodies? And exactly what is cold? This episode will try to answer these and other questions and there will be no shortage of surprises.

Episode 20

With this episode we will get to know closely events that proved crucial for humanity: the great battles. With their eisto they gave history its definitive course and decided the fate of a people or a nation, but above all of many families.

Episode 21

During the episode, with the help of a computer we will try to understand what happens in the brain, heart and other organs when we are in love. We will also explain what the so-called "love at first sight" is and what jealousy consists of, distinguishing between female jealousy and male jealousy.

Episode 22

Season 9

The journey we invite you to take this evening is perhaps the most beautiful one. Let's go in search of our most ancient origins. The starting point for our journey is the discovery of a new important hominid that has been added to our family tree. If we had been in Ethiopia about four and a half million years ago, perhaps we might have come across an Ardipithecus ramidus. He is the most ancient ancestor of man; scientists have called him Ardi. She was probably a female and lived in the same region of East Africa where over a million years later another very famous creature of antiquity, Lucy, would roam. Until Ardi's arrival, Lucy's remains were considered the oldest hominid skeleton in our possession. Alberto Angela tells the long history of our species, which starting from very primitive beings led to modern man.

A story created not only with finds and exploration of the sites, but also with accurate reconstructions of the hominids who followed one another over the course of five million years: Austrolopithecines, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthal, Cro-magnon, etc. The entire gallery of our distant ancestors is visualized thanks to fiction and computer processing. The scenes with actors were filmed in the African savannahs, in the same places where human evolution took place: under the guidance of experts, in particular prof. Yves Coppens of Paris, one of the most authoritative researchers in human paleontology, the appearance of these primitive hominids and also scenes of their life were reconstructed, just as it is possible today to reconstruct them based on all the studies done. For the Austrolopithecines, a complex technique was used, superimposing computer graphics on the basic movements performed by actors.

For the opening episode of the ten years of Ulisse we chose to visit a place rich in history in Rome. A Palace that all Italians know, but no one has ever really been able to visit: the Quirinale. It is an extraordinary palace. Its structure, its architecture, even its splendid gardens, faithfully reflect the history of Italy. Every era has left its mark on it. Ulisse obtained special permits from the Presidency of the Republic with the collaboration of Rai Quirinale. He had the invaluable advice of the staff of scholars, directed by Prof. Louis Godart, advisor to the President for the conservation of the artistic heritage and the collaboration of all the staff of the great institutional machine which is today the seat of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. Alberto Angela takes us on a journey to discover the various aspects of the Quirinale.

This episode is dedicated to the world of twins. We will investigate the unique relationship between them. We will discover that each twin is a person with their own distinct personality. We will show you a sensational film on twin pregnancies, from the first ultrasounds to the birth. We will listen to a series of real-life testimonies from pairs of twins of all ages and from all over the world. Alberto Angela tells us the extraordinary story of the Dionne twins, Canadian quintuplets born prematurely in 1934 in a small village in Ontario. They were identical and so small that each of them could be held in the palm of the hand. Until that day, around thirty cases of quintuplets had been recorded in America but no newborn had ever managed to survive beyond the fifth day. Even in Italy we have witnessed multiple births like that of the famous Giannini twins in the 1980s.

This episode takes us into a particular dimension of the world in which we live, that of large concentrations of life and living beings: animals, men, and even cells. Let's see when and why they aggregate, act, but, above all, move en masse. With spectacular images from the BBC we enter the formidable world of small insects, birds, fish up to the large mammals of the savannah. In nature, the winning strategy for escaping predators seems to be that of the group. And this was exactly the secret of the Roman legions. The barbarians were used to fighting individually, even though they moved en masse. In front, however, there were soldiers fighting in groups, well aligned, with the various units of the legions moving as if in a game of chess. We will explain to you the secrets of the Roman war machine. We follow the flocks of birds in their periodic migrations.

Ulysses dedicates this episode to diaries and memory. We follow the moving notes of the young Jewish Anne Frank's diary. These are the pages written by the girl while she was hiding with her family and acquaintances in Amsterdam. Published after her death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, it has been translated into more than 55 languages, making it famous throughout the world. There will be no shortage of memories of ordinary people in this episode. Let's go and discover, in a small town in Tuscany, a museum dedicated to the collection of private diaries, full of memories and testimonies of real life. We will meet a gentleman who has summarized every day of his life in a diary since his sixteenth birthday. And now that he is over eighty years old, his collection of diaries is truly impressive, and one of a kind.

In this episode we tell you stories of men who put their lives at risk to save other people. Let's talk about the civil courage to carry out risky actions to save people in danger. Out of generosity. Because you feel the duty to intervene, even taking risks, because in that moment it is not possible to remain indifferent or turn the other way. We will see very different cases of this type of courage: some famous, others unknown. We tell you the story of Giorgio Perlasca. The incredible rescue of 5 thousand Jews during the Second World War, reconstructed by the protagonist in an unpublished interview and with the testimonies of the survivors. The courage of the four rescuers who died in an avalanche while trying to save two tourists. A recent case that has caused a lot of discussion. The reconstruction of the facts carried out by Ulisse.

In this episode we take a journey into the medieval world of Richard the Lionheart and his attempts to reconquer Jerusalem. We tell stories of valiant and ruthless knights, powerful orders of chivalry. Brave heroes who act in the name of great ideals of faith, honor and loyalty. But what were the real motivations that pushed them to those distant lands? Why did thousands of men, not just knights, cross the Mediterranean for two centuries to reach the Holy Land? The adventures of the crusaders against the infidels are intertwined with other previous myths and span the centuries: Parsifal, Merlin, Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Orlando Furioso, Robin Hood, up to Walter Scott with his Saxon noble Ivanhoe disinherited by his father who left with Richard for the third crusade. Discovering who the ferocious Saldino, sultan of Egypt and supreme commander of the Muslim forces, really was.

This episode is dedicated to our four-legged best friends: dogs and cats. We will see how their destiny intersected with the history of man starting from prehistory. Let's discover how and why the dog has transformed over the centuries and how its extraordinary qualities have made it the animal most faithful to man. We show you the work of guide dog trainers for the blind. Alberto Angela tells us the odyssey of Laika, the cosmonaut dog, the first living being to reach space. From archaeological findings in Egypt, it has been discovered that the cat was considered a deity and mummified after death as was done for nobles and Pharaohs. Superstitions and ancient beliefs have spared neither dogs nor cats. In fact, cats, especially black ones, have often been considered evil creatures in the West, and therefore persecuted. And they weren't the only ones: owls, owls and other nocturnal birds suffered the same fate.

Who built the first house? We will never know. One of the oldest known houses dates back 380 thousand years. It was a hut, built by homo erectus not far from the sea, in the area in the South of France now called the "Côte d'Azur". The history of humanity is also the history of the shells that man has built for himself to live better: from huts to imperial palaces, from igloos to skyscrapers. A story full of surprises and curiosities; from the first huts to today's megacities. Let's take a brief history of the habitations of our planet. We then follow the construction of one of the most beautiful castles in the world, that of Versailles in France, commissioned by Louis XIV, the Sun King. We will see how we lived in our homes until a few decades ago. Alberto Angela takes us 'behind the scenes' of one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world.

This episode is dedicated to the sea and its stories. We will present the largest and most majestic ships ever built. We will tell the adventures of men and sailors who challenged the unknown on the water. From the ships of the first Polynesian migrants to the fast Phoenician boats. We will reveal who pirates, corsairs and freebooters were, legendary protagonists of the oceans for almost three centuries. Alberto Angela tells us the little-known story of the Graffspee, a powerful German battleship in the South Seas of the world. Man overboard! One of the most common and dangerous accidents that can happen to sailors. How can we save ourselves? The emotional story of a survivor. We also analyze the causes of the most famous sea tragedy in history: the sinking of the Titanic. Thanks to the collaboration of the Italian Navy we participated in the rescue exercises of a submarine in difficulty.

In this episode we take a journey around the Sun. With the help of spectacular images we will discover the secrets of this star of ours; how it influences life and our existence, how the Solar System was formed. There would be no life on Earth without the Sun: we understand why.  We see how tiny variations in the Earth's motion affect how the Sun warms us, causing drastic changes in the climate. We need light, also to maintain a good mood. We go to a small Austrian village willing to do anything to have a little sunshine. There are many Moons in the Solar System: let's see how ours was born, and what tricks we should adopt to live on it. Human beings have always been intrigued by the Sun. To the point of transforming it into a deity and worshiping it in Sun cults. Alberto Angela takes us to Peru to visit one of the most spectacular archaeological sites in the world which is part of the heritage. of humanity: Machu Picchu.

Most of the things that surround you, or that you use every day, have a history of inventors behind them. It is thanks to the creativity and intelligence of these men that today the telephone, the ballpoint pen, the electric light bulb, but also paper, steel, plastic, and of course the television exist. It is to these men that this episode is dedicated, many are known and some celebrated, such as Edison, Watt, Meucci and Marconi. We don't even know the names of others. In these two thousand years an endless number of inventions, small and large, have gradually changed the life of humanity, building the world we know today.

In this episode we are going to explore a very small area of the planet, no bigger than a square, but which has had a fundamental importance in the history of Man: the Forum of Rome. It was the heart of the most important civilization of antiquity, the one from which our culture derives, our way of speaking, thinking, writing and applying the laws. Never in prime time has an entire program been dedicated to the Roman Forum. This is what we are trying to do now, with the help, among other things, of spectacular virtual reconstructions that show us what the Roman Forum looked like at the moment of its maximum splendor. We reconstruct the events that are linked to the Forum and that have marked our history, from Cicero's speeches to the assassination of Caesar. In fact, emperors, senators and the greats of the past walked on those marbles, but we will discover that the Forum was also a place much loved and frequented by common people.

Season 10

Alberto Angela takes us on a grandiose journey into one of the most crucial periods in the history of Rome: the birth of the Empire. Through the images of the film "Il Destino di Roma", we get to know the protagonists of those years more closely. From Bruto and Cassio to Antonio and Cleopatra. It is a historical reconstruction, if you want a film, with real actors, but with places reconstructed on the computer.

An extraordinary journey through the places, colors and sounds of India's wonders. Together with Alberto Angela, we visit mausoleums, temples and princely residences of Mughals and Maharajahs. We cross an immense country, with more than a billion inhabitants and at least 25 languages. India is the country of the most ancient religions, of strong smells, of penetrating glances, and of fabulous riches but also of poverty. A country with an ancient history that has left us sites, temples and monuments that are among the most spectacular on our planet. In Agra we visit the Taj Mahal, the funeral monument built by the Great Mogul for his beloved bride who died young. We discover that the construction of the symbol of India coincided with a period of extraordinary wealth and tolerance which saw the flourishing of arts and culture, an era comparable, in a certain sense, to our Renaissance. We move to Rajahastan, the land of the maharajas, where we visit the fabulous colorful cities.

What pressures act behind the choice of a person to marry? What are the chances of keeping the promise of loyalty? Or to cheat? And what allows the union to last? Starting from a wedding reception, the episode of Ulisse will observe the particular relationship that is established between two people. And it will also explore the way in which sexuality is experienced at various ages, from childhood to older age, also following the small stories of the guests.

In this episode Ulisse takes a journey back in time to tell the story of a continent, America. Let's start from New York, the great metropolis of today, and discover its curious origins. We follow the paths of the pioneers to conquer the West and the crazy gold rush. We meet the first settlers, the famous pilgrim fathers who settled on the east coast in the 1600s. We go back through the centuries to the time of the Spanish conquistadors and Christopher Columbus' first encounter with the native Taino people. Let's discover the civilizations and peoples who populated the New World before 1492. Great, well-known cultures such as the Inca in Peru and, in Mexico and Central America, the Maya and Aztec. But we also discover that the cities of the Anasazi and those of the peoples of Mississippi had reached a notable level of development, with clay palaces of hundreds of rooms.

In this episode Ulisse takes viewers on an unusual journey around the earth. This exceptional journey starts from the sky and shows our planet from a unique perspective. We get on board the means of transport that is currently traveling faster than anyone else: think almost 28 thousand kilometers per hour: it is the International Space Station which takes only ninety minutes to orbit the earth. Every six months, a new crew leaves the earth for this sort of orbiting home; a scientific laboratory floating 350 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Let's see how the daily life of astronauts forced to live together in confined spaces for months unfolds. Alberto Angela shows us what the earth looks like seen from space: it looks like an uninhabited planet, without man. With the naked eye you can see the sea, you can see the land... But you cannot perceive the cities, the buildings, the buildings.

Ulisse guides us to discover the history of Greek civilization, the first great European civilization told at the time of its maximum splendor and which, expanding into the Mediterranean basin, gave rise in Italy to what we know today as Magna Graecia. The Greek cities, scattered across the Mediterranean, numbered almost 700. And of these, almost a third are located in Italy. In fact, and we will see it during the episode, Italy is a bit like a second Greece. Alberto Angela guides us on a spectacular visit to some of the most important archaeological sites in our territory: Paestum, Syracuse, Agrigento. Temples, theaters and palaces that still today tell us a lot about the Greeks and also about ourselves. We show you aspects of their daily life, the female figure and love relationships, social and political organization, sporting competitions, wars.

This episode is dedicated to a very particular theme. With Alberto Angela we take a truly unusual journey around our kitchen: we explore objects that we all have at home, but that ultimately we know very little about. Things that upon closer inspection show us the main stages of the evolution and history of the human species, sometimes the result of very ancient technologies, other times born from modern science. No place in our homes reveals something about our human being more than the kitchen. This anthropological expedition takes us to every corner of the world, and to every period of history. Human beings' need to eat has led to an incredible circulation of animal and plant species across the globe. Exchanges, commerce and migrations of the different populations were accompanied by the spread of their foods. Following the traces of these ancient food imports is very difficult.

Alberto Angela guides us on a fascinating journey into our brain: one hundred billion cells that determine the birth of our thoughts, and also of our passions, pain and joy, as well as naturally governing every movement of the body. We go to the Modena Polyclinic to follow the 'first steps' of a human brain, starting with those signals that infants exchange with their mothers and which are a real dialogue made up of facial expressions, like a smile that recalls another . Let's then try to understand what also happens in the brain of a bonobo, given that our DNA is almost identical to that of monkeys. We show you the curious experiments done with a baby bonobo and a 2-year-old child to discover the similarities. Let's try to understand what creativity is and what it means to be brilliant. What happens in the brain of a creative person?

In this episode we retrace the history of human flight with Alberto Angela. We tell the story of the daredevils who were the first to dare to challenge fate and take flight towards the sky, initially embarked on truly unlikely flying machines, and then on board increasingly daring vehicles, engaged in extremely dangerous undertakings. Through a documentary we will reconstruct the lives of the young pilots of the First World War, in particular the English fighting against the legendary Red Baron. We will understand who the first pioneers of flight were and what it meant to take off when every flight was a gamble with life at stake. As we will see, it took extraordinary courage, and then ambition, the desire for glory, and sometimes even the need to win money. All in the glittering atmosphere of the Belle Epoque.

In this episode we retrace the history of human flight with Alberto Angela. We tell the story of the daredevils who were the first to dare to challenge fate and take flight towards the sky, initially embarked on truly unlikely flying machines, and then on board increasingly daring vehicles, engaged in extremely dangerous undertakings.  We would say without a shadow of a doubt, perhaps the best program we have seen on television recently. This evening there will be a great journey into the past to tell how Civilization was born. We will then tell how we went from mammoth hunters to pharaohs. And then again the history of the populations who lived twelve thousand years ago, at the end of prehistory, thanks to which agriculture was invented. Precisely in that period man made another great invention, that of the bow, a very useful weapon for hunting small prey: additional food for those first farmers and another source of energy.

Ten years ago, on September 11, 2001, two airliners hijacked by terrorists crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, causing them to collapse to the ground and causing the death of 2,749 people. At 8.46 that morning the first plane hit the North Tower. 102 minutes later only rubble remains of the World Trade Center. Alberto Angela tells what happened inside the towers in those 102 minutes. There were many people working in the various offices, there were also tourists who, like every day, reached the observation point on the 110th floor. What were the reactions of those inside? Let's listen to some testimonies of those who were saved. Many managed to save themselves, others understood that they were trapped and that there was no way out. The dramatic images of that day, broadcast by television all over the world, have remained forever imprinted in our memories. Among the many images there is a shocking one, which has almost become the symbol of that tragedy.

In this episode Alberto Angela invites you on a small but fascinating journey: the four kilometers of the Grand Canal to discover the many extraordinary buildings that overlook this waterway and make Venice a unique city in the world. Behind every door, under every dome, many stories are hidden. The journey begins from Piazza San Marco: on one side the Basilica, on the other the Doge's Palace, almost symbolizing the balance between religious and political power on which the greatness of the city was based. Another pillar is economic power: Venice has been at the center of maritime trade for centuries. This resulted in wealth, luxury but also the continuous risk of epidemics. By visiting some of the most illustrious palaces, we see how the patrician families lived, how they dressed, why they wore wigs, why they used fans and what meanings the moles that women and men glued to their faces had.

Season 11

For many centuries, Rome has been a destination for millions of tourists every year. What attracts them are the archaeological remains of the empire, the artistic wonders that have overlapped over the centuries, but also (and above all) its being the center of Christianity. During the episode, Alberto Angela takes a journey to the many places, monuments and buildings that have made the history of Christianity. The journey touches the main Basilicas but also more secluded, hidden corners of the city, where there are important testimonies of the history of the Church.

The history of Man can be seen as a succession of conquests: we never think about the history of colors and yet it has changed our lives. "The conquest of colours" is a journey to discover how our world has been enriched with millions of shades over the centuries, thanks to the appearance of increasingly bright hues and colours. We will start from the Paleolithic, when humanity could essentially only have three colours: black, ocher and white. And we will continue to discover how the deep Egyptian blue, the first synthetic color in history, and the elegant purple of the Phoenicians and Romans were then added. We will see how the great glass masters learned to flood the cathedrals with colored lights, and how the greatest artists of the past obtained their colors using precious stones, such as lapis lazuli from which the blue used for example by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel was obtained.

A few steps from Rome is the largest archaeological site on the planet (150 hectares) yet little known to the general public: Ostia antica with its ancient port. Tourists who, upon arriving in Rome, give up visiting the remains of the ancient town do not know that in Ostia it is possible to see how society was organized and how daily life took place in the times of the empire.

It was April 14, 1912, when the Titanic, the largest passenger ship ever built by man, collided with an iceberg and sank, during its maiden voyage, on the route between Southampton and New York, causing the death of over fifteen hundred people including passengers and crew members. Alberto and Piero Angela dedicate a special episode of Ulisse, il piacere della scoperta, to the centenary of the greatest naval tragedy that has ever occurred. Through sophisticated virtual reconstruction techniques, videos, interviews and archive documents, father and son will delve inside the ocean liner, to try to find the possible clues that caused this catastrophe, beyond the collision with the iceberg, since from its construction in the Belfast shipyards, the materials used, the risky choices for navigation, such as that of equipping the ship with a lower number of lifeboats than there are passengers.

The journey we will take this evening will allow us to discover one of the most fascinating and distant lands: Patagonia. But it will be just one of the stages of a scientific, anthropological, prehistoric journey, which will take us across half the South American continent from the Tropic of Capricorn up to the famous Tierra del Fuego, literally the end of the world. We will take you to an extraordinary place but to find it you have to leave the main road and enter Patagonia for more than 100 km. Here you discover a small wonder: it is an ancient Canyon, dug by the sinuous course of a river. You really have the feeling of entering another era, a prehistoric scenario. Indeed, this long canyon was inhabited by ancient civilizations that disappeared thousands of years ago. And they had sacred places, a group of caves and on their walls these populations left an incredible trace of their presence: hundreds of colorful handprints.

Pharaoh Ramesses II, who lived 3200 years ago, is the greatest of the Egyptian pharaohs, considered a bit like the Sun King of the time, who like Louis XIV reigned for a very long period, over 67 years. The era of Ramesses is that of Egypt's greatest splendor. Throughout the Nile Valley his face is carved everywhere in stone. Among the many temples, colossal statues and obelisks that bear his name, the most grandiose work is the temple of Abu Simbel, the protagonist of an unprecedented operation in the 1960s: that of being sawed into many pieces and moved more high to prevent the waters of the Nile, following the construction of a dam, from submerging it. With Alberto Angela we will follow the events of this undertaking considered almost impossible at the time. We will also see Ramesses' tomb. Each pharaoh was concerned with building the home where he would live forever, surrounded by the objects dearest to him, gold, gems and furnishings.

The episode of Ulisse will take us to high altitude scenarios, among snow-capped peaks, glaciers, green valleys; discovering the Alps. The Alps are the natural border of our country and the highest mountain range on the European continent. With the three out of class, the Bianco, the Cervino and the Monte Rosa. In this episode, thanks to spectacular films, we will travel through places that we seem to know quite well and instead we will discover that they are a world full of curiosities and surprises. In fact, every step, peak and valley has a story to tell. In the 1930s all the highest peaks of the Alps had been conquered by heroic climbers; some routes that seemed impossible remained unclimbed: they were the North Faces, they are still the most dangerous today, because they present an extraordinary concentration of technical difficulties. The most famous of all is the North Face of the Eiger. We will tell the extraordinary and unfortunate story of the 1936 climb attempt.

This episode of Ulysses will set off on a journey in search of disappeared cities, capitals of ancient civilizations which after a grandiose development were abandoned and forgotten for centuries. We will see how history, but also nature, have continuously erased and rebuilt places that seemed eternal. And will the cities in which we live today still exist, as they are, in a thousand, ten thousand years? We will see how a city can disappear, suddenly, in the space of a few hours, when the forces of nature are unleashed. Alberto Angela in Santorini will tell how one of the most flourishing centers of antiquity was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. During the episode we will also discover hidden cities, secret cities, invisible cities, cities under cities. We will visit secret US Cold War bases and London's complex underground shelter system.

Invisible but very powerful, microorganisms have always been our life companions. Alberto Angela proposes a journey to discover infinitely small creatures, showing how our life, but sometimes also our death, depends on them. The journey of "Ulisse" begins in Benin, a very poor country which like many other places on the planet represents the "front line" of the fight against microbes and viruses. And international organizations operate here which have saved many children through vaccinations. But how and when did humanity begin to use vaccines? In "Ulysses", a documentary brings to life a "revolutionary" moment: the one in which Luis Pasteur tries the impossible to save the life of a child bitten by a dog suffering from rabies. An episode that will forever change not only the lives of the people involved but also our relationship with diseases. And, today, how can we protect ourselves from infections? What precautions to use?

A journey to discover our immense and beautiful satellite, to discover what lies behind that face, that smile; why the Moon is up there and how it was born; what are her influences on our planet; what is hidden behind, on the side that no one sees from Earth. The Moon has been essentially unknown for millennia and in some respects continues to be misunderstood today, but it has always fascinated us. During the episode we will discover the latest scientific research that will dispel some myths and enchant us with breathtaking images. Man has always dreamed of going to the Moon. Then finally the great dream came true on 20 July 1969. Together with Alberto Angela we will retrace that extraordinary adventure of the conquest of the Moon, reliving the exciting phases that led the first man to step on the lunar soil and the enormous technological and intellectual effort that made the feat possible.

In this episode Alberto Angela offers us a fascinating journey into the minds of animals. How many times, looking at your dog or your cat, have you asked yourself: who knows what he thinks, and what he would say if he could speak like us. Well, many researchers have asked themselves the same question, in particular neuroscientists and animal behavior specialists; and not only for dogs and cats but for many species. Today we know that the minds of animals are similar to ours in many respects, and behaviors that once seemed mysterious to us, or that we misinterpreted, finally have an explanation.

Paris, its secrets and its wonders. The Bridges of Paris and the Seine have been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. Alberto Angela, aboard a vintage boat, travels along the Seine, using the river as a journey through time. He explores Paris in various stages: from the top of the Arc de Triomphe, to the Eiffel Tower, to the towers of the spectacular Nôtre Dame Cathedral. The appointment with the Eiffel Tower is unmissable, as told by Alberto Angela in all its details, and the surprising transformations of Paris at the end of the nineteenth century: from the birth of the department stores to the many attractions of Montmartre, to the cafés of the Latin Quarter. And then the changes that occurred in the twentieth century: from Beaubourg to Défense.

A journey into the daily life of ancient Rome, between love, death, intrigue and betrayal.

In this episode we will talk about "The birth of Athens", the clash between the Persian Empire and Greece which took place 2500 years ago, a very distant clash which constituted a fundamental moment in the history of the West. Facing each other in this battle were on one side the empire that extended from Egypt to India and on the other the small city-states of Greece perpetually in conflict with each other. A clash in which two opposing visions of the State, two civilizations, two completely different lifestyles faced each other. And how this war ended is at the basis of how we have become, of our political and cultural ideas and of how to live together. Compelling historical events told by Alberto Angela like pages of a novel, with an original and spectacular solution through sophisticated computer reconstructions.

We will discover one of the most incredible places, a unique place in the world: the Rift Valley. The rift that extends for about 6000 kilometers in the north-south direction of the Earth, from northern Syria (southwest Asia) to central Mozambique (eastern Africa). With a width varying from 30 to 100 kilometers and a depth of several hundred to many thousands of metres, it was created by the separation of the African and Arabian tectonic plates, which began 35 million years ago and by the separation of East Africa from the rest of 'Africa, started 15 million years ago. In this immense place you can breathe the scent of the origins of the world like nowhere else; in fact, the great adventure of the human species began from this valley, whose name was given by the explorer John Walter Gregory: in the Rift Valley the fossil remains of an ancient primitive hominid, who was given the name Lucy, were found.

This new appointment with "Ulisse" will talk about the extraordinary machine that is the human body. but seen from a particular point of view, the point of view of those who push their bodies beyond the limits: athletes, men and women, who represent, physically speaking, the excellence of the human species. We will be transported behind the scenes of sport, to get to know its secrets up close and try to answer the questions: Why does one athlete run faster than another? What is the maximum height we can ever reach with a jump? What happens in our brain when we hit a ball? We will try to answer these and many other questions during the episode, thanks to the help of scientists, athletes, exceptional guests and together with champions such as Michael Phelps, Asafa Powell, Valentina Vezzali, Deborah Compagnoni and many others, telling many stories and revealing many curiosities.

The theme of the episode will in fact revolve around a simple question: is it possible to use the scientific police techniques that we read in the newspapers or that we see in successful crime series such as C.S.I. to investigate past crimes, with laboratory analyzes on skeletons found in archaeological sites? Like true detectives, we will try to shed light on some enigmas that occurred many centuries ago, showing how the profession of the investigator and that of the archaeologist are not as different as one might think. The brutal murder of a Roman nobleman and the ensuing trial will be told, in an investigation conducted by the greatest lawyer of antiquity: Cicero, who left the detailed account of this dramatic case which took place in Rome in 81 BC. Alberto Angela will also investigate the exceptional discovery of 54 decapitated skeletons and, nearby, 51 skulls dating back to the era of Viking raids in Great Britain. Who were they?

Season 12

An extraordinary journey by Alberto Angela to the continent furthest from us and perhaps the least known: Australia. Why was it discovered just 250 years ago? Why are there animals very different from other continents? What is Ayers Rock, the enormous rock block located in the center of the continent, and why is it considered a sacred place by Aboriginal people? Is it true that Giuseppe Garibaldi was in Australia? These are some of the many curiosities that the episode answers. Just two and a half centuries ago, until James Cook's expedition, Australia was not even suspected of existence; and even today its interior - the so-called outback - behind the large coastal cities remains almost completely uninhabited and largely unexplored. There are many wonders and surprises that Ulysses reserves for us on this journey to discover the lesser-known aspects of Australia.

Alberto Angela tells us the story of the mountains of fire, venerated, loved, hated, and always feared. In this episode of "Ulisse", a spectacular journey takes us to one of the most fascinating places on the planet: the Hawaiian Islands, in turn the symbol of the incredible creative force of the mountains of fire. We go to the point where the lava of Kilauea, one of the most famous and powerful volcanoes on the planet, we enter the sea and go underwater to understand what happens in the embrace between ocean and red-hot lava.