Tobi Checker in Italy
Tobi discovers Italy: In his 80-minute adventure film, the checker travels from South Tyrol to Rome. He meets unusual people who are as exciting as the country itself. Together with mountain guide Simon, he climbs the highest of the "Three Peaks" in the Dolomites - a pretty tough test for climbing beginners. Because without ropes and safety hooks, nothing works on this steep face. Tobi already has a lot of questions on the way there: Why does breathing become more and more strenuous at altitude? Why does everyone in South Tyrol speak two languages, Italian and German, when South Tyrol belongs to Italy? What do you actually do when you have to go to the loo in the middle of a steep face? From the summit at 3,000 metres, you go straight down to sea level: to Venice.
In the lagoon city, Tobi finds out how a city without roads works: Does the rubbish collection come on foot or by boat? And why do you only see children cycling in Venice and never adults? Tobi explores the historic city together with Elisa, a student from Venice.
The two of them travel along the Grand Canal on a boat bus, the "vaporetto". They visit the famous "Pietro Longhi" atelier and try on splendid carnival costumes. Tobi learns from architect Clemens how houses are built in a city on the water and how the Venetians try to protect them from flooding. Tobi even gets to take a look at the MOSE construction site: This is a gigantic dam in the lagoon, far out towards the Adriatic Sea.
The underwater dam system is designed to protect the city and its marvellous art treasures from flooding. Of course, there's one thing you can't miss when visiting Venice: a gondola ride. Tobi really wants to steer the gondola himself: standing up and with just one oar, as the rudder is called. Will that work? Tobi's last stop is the eternal city: Rome. The past is omnipresent there: ancient ruins and remnants of the ancient city can be found everywhere.
Rome has been around for 2700 years, a period of time that is hard to imagine. Tobi sets off with archaeologist Fabio in search of traces of the ancient Romans. They were already very advanced: seven-storey apartment blocks, running water and roads - all of this already existed back then. Fabio and Tobi dress up in Roman garb and check whether Roman children went to school and what the slaves were all about in a Roman apartment block that is over 1800 years old.
Rome was a huge empire that stretched as far as modern-day Germany. The Roman army gradually conquered half of Europe. Tobi checks out what it was like to be a Roman legionnaire with archaeologist Tanja. On the outskirts of Rome, the "gruppo storico romano" group has recreated a real Roman camp, complete with a guard fence and grim-faced legionaries. Tobi slips into one of their heavy suits of armour and trains combat formations with the legionaries, for example the "tortoise". I wonder what's behind it?
Broadcasting on 09th of May 2024 at 11.05am on KiKa
Music: POPVIRUS Library