Rick Steves: Italy through the Back Door Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Rick Steves: Italy through the Back Door Blu-ray Movie Review

One of the most popular travel shows on Public Broadcasting makes its Blu-ray debut.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 29, 2010

Is Oregon the center of the television universe? We Oregonians might be a little biased, but just consider these facts for a moment. Cable’s popular Leverage has filmed in Portland for two years. Reality television has seen a glut of Oregonians in a variety of activities either place highly or outright win a number of competitions, from Project Runway to Top Shot. A slew of popular actors either comes from or now chooses to live in Oregon, including Modern Family’s Ty Burrell. (It should be noted that Oregon is also home to a number of major film stars, both past and present, including William Hurt and Kim Novak). And in the rarified world of educational television, the relatively small Oregon Public Broadcasting has contributed some world class programs which have become staples across the nation on PBS, including History Detectives and Rick Steves’ Europe. While Steves himself makes his home a bit north of Oregon in Edmonds, Washington (well, nobody’s perfect), OPB has been his broadcast home for years, and his low key, affable hosting style has made his travel program one of the most popular shows of its ilk. Steves also leads guided tours and has a burgeoning multimedia empire which is now branching out into the Blu-ray universe with several new volumes of compilations from Steves’ long running program. Grouped into geographically related episodes, these new volumes highlight Steves’ intimate knowledge of the back roads and alleyways, as well as the glistening metropolises and historical wonderments, that the European continent has to offer. Volume 1 of this new series is devoted to Italy, and finds Steves exploring a number of “touristy” locales as well as some spots which will be new to a lot of viewers.

The Bay of Naples is just one of many gorgeous vistas which await in this great compilation of Rick Steves television programs.

These new Blu-rays don’t scrimp on content, with six full episodes being presented on Italy Through the Back Door. They include:

Naples and Pompeii. Steves describes Naples as “Italy in extreme,” and then details the history of the location about three hours south of Rome. He provides some interesting background on Naples’ past as a Greek city, which has morphed into Italy’s third largest metropolis. As Europe’s most densely populated city, Naples has built up, and Steves provides some fun footage of people making good use of their balconies. He does warn visitors to be wary of criminals. The second portion of this episode travels to Pompeii, where Steves examines the ruins left by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

Italy’s Amalfi Coast. The Amalfi Coast may be one of the lesser known areas in Italy to the bulk of westerners, but this region south of Naples is incredibly picturesque, with a vertigo-inducing cliffside road which Steves traverses with a private taxi he hires for the occasion. Watching huge tour buses attempt to navigate the narrow and extremely winding boulevard quickly shows that Steves’ choice is the right one. This episode features some of the most amazing towns imaginable, little centers of population which seem to cling to the cliffs in colorful arrays. A fascinating side trip to the island of Capri’s Blue Grotto, a hidden cave where refracted light bathes the interior cavern in a translucent blue color, is also featured.

Milan and Lake Como. Northern Italy is featured in this episode, with most of the time spent in Milano (Milan), a city which defines “today’s Italy” in the words of Steves, as opposed to the historical country which tends to attract a lot of tourists. This bustling metropolis is the industrial center of Italy, and features a stunning gothic cathedral (Duomo) as one of its chief historical attractions. Milan was also the home to Leonardo da Vinci for some of his most important artistic and scientific achievements, not the least of which is The Last Supper. Steves is granted a private audience with the painting, and he reveals that all visitors must pass through a dehumidifying chamber before they are allowed to view the masterpiece. The second location in this episode is the awesome lake region where Italy meets the Alps. Steves visits his favorite water spot, Lake Como.

Tuscany’s Dolce Vita. Tuscany has become a touristy hot spot of late, but Steves got there long before anyone had ever heard of Under the Tuscan Sun. Here he visits both historic Etruscan cities as well as enjoying the more laid back rural life, staying at several farmhouses which also serve as hostels. An unusual artichoke festival is visited, as well as the Renaissance wonderment of the village of Peinza.

Italy’s Great Hill Towns. Somewhat related visually to the Amalfi episode is this fascinating look at the many medieval fortresses which have burgeoned into small, but vibrant, centers of population throughout the higher altitudes in Italy. When Rome fell and Italy devolved into a state of anarchy, as Steves points out, the high ground is what the smart people sought, and these fascinating remnants from that era remain intriguing time capsules which can literally be entered. For many of these cities, the visitor must park “down below,” and travel up to them by funiculars. One of the most glorious duomos presented on this Blu-ray is featured in this episode, a gorgeous 1330 structure in Orvieto, painted brightly and covered with some lovely mosaics.

Cinque Terre: Italy’s Hidden Riviera. The one episode on this Blu-ray which dates from the pre-HDTV days, and thus is presented in 1.33:1, is perhaps a little less jaw droppingly gorgeous from a visual perspective, but it’s still filled with Steves’ nicely understated tours of a specifically “non-touristy” location. These “five lands” are linked by a historic walkway and none offer access by car, so there is no traffic, other than the visiting trains and pedestrians walking through the villages themselves. Like the hill towns and the cliffside dwellings featured in the Amalfi episode, Cinque Terre offers some stunning views of vertical building at its most awesome. Steves gets to do some night fishing for anchovies, witness some daring cliff diving, and watch pesto being made. The second part of this episode travels to Carrara, the famous marble quarry where Michaelangelo himself chose the stone for some of his most famous statues.

Rick Steves: Italy through the Back Door Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Italy Through the Back Door is presented on Blu-ray with a mostly excellent looking AVC encoded 1080i image. Five of the episodes are in 1.78:1, with the oldest, 2002's Cinque Terre: Italy's Hidden Riviera presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Cinque Terre is easily the softest looking episode of the bunch, with a certain fuzziness and lack of detail that makes it compare unfavorably with the five other episodes included on this compilation. The first five episodes, though, often present jaw dropping sharpness and clarity, with some lovely detail and amazingly well saturated colors. Italy isn't shy about its use of color in its towns and villages (despite a burg like Riomoaggiore evidently having its own version of an "HOA," with a Commissioner of Good Taste who must approve all paint colors). That kaleidoscope of color is beautifully presented on this Blu-ray. Since so much of this Blu-ray features outdoor locales, there's ample opportunity for some great depth of field, as we can see for miles over sylvan countryside, or out to sea for what seems like forever. If you put aside the lackluster Cinque Terre, this opening parlay for Steves in Blu-ray is quite exemplary.

Rick Steves: Italy through the Back Door Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's no lossless audio here, but those of us who have flocked to the early releases on Blu-ray of documentaries and travel shows have learned to live with that. Instead we have a serviceable, if largely unremarkable, standard Dolby Digital 2.0 mix. There really isn't much opportunity for a surround mix in any case, as these Steves outings tend to be our host talking, interrupted every so often with a local expert. There's very little, if any, ambient detail mixed into the soundtrack. A pleasant and unobtrusive score accompanies most of these episodes. This is a pretty generic sounding soundtrack, with Steves' narration clear and crisp, but little "wow" factor.

Rick Steves: Italy through the Back Door Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on the Blu-ray. An insert touts some of the other travel related services Steves' mini-empire can provide.

Rick Steves: Italy through the Back Door Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Viewers have come to love Rick Steves' deliberately low key style and his intimate knowledge of Europe. That's all on display in this excellent new compendium of his travels to Italy. Though this release has one lackluster video presentation, the bulk of the Blu-ray looks fantastic. While audiophiles will no doubt complain about the lack of lossless audio, it's a minor quibble at best, considering this series' penchant for a lot of talk and very little environmental effects. Italy Through the Back Door augurs very well for Steves' oeuvre to wend its way onto Blu-ray, and it comes highly recommended.