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A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF NORTHERN ITALY
By Gail S. Tagashira
Los Angeles Times

March 13 2002

Imagine climbing on board a helicopter in Tuscany and being told you're about 
to tour Northern Italy for the next hour.

On your itinerary: the entire geographic area starting from Florence to the 
Alpine foothills. Along the way, you find yourself zigzagging from west to 
east and back again, from expansive farmlands to gnarled vineyards to 
sun-washed beaches lined with row after row of sunbathers and yachts floating 
in turquoise harbors.

"Visions of Italy: Northern Style"... takes the viewer on a dizzying 
bird's-eye view of a magnificent landscape over historic cities and lush 
fields without pausing very long at any particular destination. In Verona, 
for example, one catches a glimpse of an elegant, crumpled Roman arena as 
narrator Franca Barciesi offers pithy, often commentary ("One can almost hear 
the clashing swords of Montagues and 
Capulets ... ") before it's off to elegant, cool Treviso.

Perhaps realizing the limitations of a helicopter-mounted camera, producer 
and writer Sam Toperoff makes a concerted effort to include not only rooftops 
and scenic areas but also images of people. Cross-country skiers in Livigno, 
staffers at Benetton and a frantically waving family in a field at Rocca 
Maggiore provide welcome human faces.

Divided into three segments, the program is accompanied by recognizable 
Italian music selections.

The journey ends at the pristine, glacier-fed waters of Lake Como, followed 
by a series of postcard snapshots of the trip's highlights. Like most 
postcards, they only capture faint memories of a region. As narrator Barciesi 
says, "To capture the soul of Italy would take a lifetime."