Alex Polizzi's Secret Italy

Alex Polizzi arrives in Sardinia to explore her family roots and discover the rich and diverse culture of this ever-popular destination. She’ll be sampling the Cagliari cuisine, venturing inland to experience the rugged beauty of the Supramonte region and meeting a woman who claims to be the last woman in the world to weave the precious sea silk. She’ll also be meeting a team of scientists who are studying the genes of the locals, as she learns that Sardinia has more centenarians than anywhere else in the world.

Alex Polizzi explores Italy’s smaller islands, from Capri and Ischia in the Bay of Naples, to the remote Aeolian Islands further south. She’ll be experiencing Capri’s glamourous fashion and scaling the rocky heights of the Aragonese Castle in Ischia, meeting a team of women who restore historic relics of international importance. From there, Alex will sample the island of Salina’s famous Malvasia wine, before making a rare sighting of dolphins in the waters off Filicudi.

Alex Polizzi reaches Sicily, where she tours the north. She discovers overwhelming opulence at a palace in Palermo, samples world famous street food on the city’s gritty streets and learns how the mafia have influenced Sicilian life for decades, by meeting a team of locals determined to bring about change. Alex will also venture inland where she uncovers some of Sicily’s oldest traditions, including a trip aboard the famous, intricately decorated Sicilian donkey cart.

Alex concludes her journey in Southern Sicily, where she discovers the diverse beauty of Italy’s biggest island. From the serenity of the baroque town of Ragusa, to the breath taking Turkish Steps cascading down to the sea. Alex will also visit one of only two subterranean cathedrals in the world, found hundreds of metres below sea and carved from salt. The mysterious island of Pantelleria is somewhere Alex has always wanted to visit, and here she’ll be dropping in on a family friend, before returning to Sicily for a fiesta at the little known picture-perfect fishing village of San Vito.