Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage — Season 1, Episode 1: Arrivederci Venezia
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 12 episodes
Episode synopsis
Before he leaves his home in Venice, however, there is research to do for the voyage and new skills to acquire - not least gaining the respect of the crew of the White Swan, with whom he will spend the next few months in cramped quarters and sometimes dangerous situations as he visits the greatest treasures of the Mediterranean. Francesco also visits the Doge's Palace for reminders of the greatest age of Venice, when the city's empire stretched across the Mediterranean, and he marks the Festival of the Redentore, a fantastic night of Venetian celebrations and fireworks.
About Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage
Venetian architect and historian Francesco da Mosto sets out from Venice to cross the Mediterranean - following in the wake of his ancestor, the explorer Alvise da Mosto - to discover the cities and islands where Western civilization was born. Sailing in a late nineteenth-century yawl, his journey starts in Venice and finishes in Istanbul. Along the way he takes in spectacular ruins, like the Acropolis in Athens and the Lycian Tombs in Turkey; sacred sites like the monasteries of Mount Athos and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul; and beautiful Dubrovnik (destroyed and rebuilt in the last decade). Ancient history and bygone legends intertwine as Francesco visits these wonderful ancient sites, bringing the past vividly to life, and taking viewers on a thrilling cultural odyssey.