Dream of Italy

There is simply no other place in the world like Venice. Host Kathy McCabe takes a gondola rowing lesson from an 8th-generation gondolier. She learns how Venice is fighting rising water levels with a special ecology tour. Kathy meets an impiraressa, a bead stringer, who is bringing Venice's ancient art into modern times. Chef Riccardo takes Kathy to Venice's 1000-year old Rialto Market.

Bologna is one of Italy's lesser-known big cities but is one of its more charming. Known for its cuisine and home to the oldest university in the western world. It's also the center of Italy's "motor valley" and host Kathy McCabe gets a test drive in a Lamborghini. Not only does she learn how to make Bologna's famous tortellini but she attends Gelato University, yes it is real!

Florence is known for its Renaissance art and architecture. But the city isn't stuck in the past, it is always evolving. Host Kathy McCabe gets to see the restoration of the Duomo from a unique perspective. She visits the only Last Supper painted by a woman, a Renaissance nun nonetheless. Also home to modern street artist Clet Abraham, Kathy joins him for an artistic caper of sorts.

Just two hours from Rome, but a world away, the region of Abruzzo is filled with mountains, national parks and beautiful beaches. Host Kathy McCabe takes viewers from coast to countryside. She catches her lunch in nets before listening to traditional music with a modern twist. In Sulmona, Kathy sees how the famous confetti candies are made and heads to a farm for some donkey therapy.

Deep in the south of Italy, the region of Basilicata is timeless and otherworldly. It is home to one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, Matera, a city of caves. Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola introduces host Kathy McCabe to his ancestral hometown of Bernalda and talks about how he rediscovered his Italian roots and opened a hotel here.

Ten percent of Americans have some Italian blood and many of them could qualify for Italian citizenship by birth. Host Kathy McCabe travels to the ancestral village of her maternal great-grandfather-Castelvetere sul Calore in the region of Campania-to trace her roots and see if she can qualify for citizenship by blood line.