Venice (Venezia) and its Six Districts (Sestieri)

Venice (Venezia) lies in the "Venetian Lagoon" and is connected to the Italian mainland by the Ponte della Liberta. Trains cross the bridge to reach the Venezia Santa Lucia station.  The airport in Venice is Marco Polo airport.

Venice is surrounded by islands like the San Michele Island and San Giorgio Island, and Giudecca to the South. These lagoon communities became the foundation for a maritime republic.

The Six Districts of Venice are:

• Cannaregio - the most populous district. The Jewish ghetto was the area where Jews were confined.
• Castello- the largest Sestieri.
• Dorsoduro - built on less swampy land.
• San Marco - the most famous, due to its Piazza.
• San Polo - linked to San Marco by the Rialto bridge.
• Santa Croce - only sestiere where car circulation is partly allowed.

The city's main mode of public transport is the vaporetto.

The Decameron (14th Century)

The Decameron (also known as Decamerone in Italian) is a collection of tales of seven women and three men sheltering in a villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death. It is written in the Florentine dialect.

What is a frittata?

A frittata is an egg-based dish resembling an omelette with the consistency of quiche. Additional ingredients like meat, cheese and vegetables can be added. Kuku is a Persian form of frittata.

Hidden Figures (2016)

This movies is based on the real-life story of female African-American mathematicians at NASA, described in Margot Lee Shetterly's book of the same name. Taraji Henson (whose first name means "hope" in Swahili) of Empire-fame plays Katherine Johnson. Lynwood, California-born Kevin Costner stars as the head to the Space Research Program. Mahershala Ali (Remy in House of Cards) plays Katherine's husband.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)

Vin Diesel is back in the xXx series - started in 2002 and back for its third episode in 2017.

The film also features Ong Bak star Tony Jaa as Talon, Donny Yen as Xiang and Deepika Padukone as Serena.

Other roles include Samuel L Jackson plays Agent Gibbons, Ice Cube makes an appearance as "Darius Stone" and Hermione Corfield plays Ainsley. Barcelona forward Neymar also features.

Settings for the film include Detroit, London and the Dominican Republic.  As well as actually being filmed in the Dominican Republic, Hamilton and Toronto, Canada. were also used as backdrops.

Outside of acting, Vin Diesel's (real name Mark Sinclair) interests include One Race Films (ORF), a video production company established by him in Los Angeles in 1995. The budget for the film was $85m with box office of $152m.

Norwalk, Connecticut-born D.J. Caruso directs.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Rogue One is the ship which goes on a mission to retrieve the plans for the Death Star.

Quotes from the film include -

"Be careful not to choke on your aspirations" - Darth Vader
"It's a chance for you to make a fresh start" - Mon Mothma
"What's your call sign - ", "Rogue, Rogue One"

Live by Night (2016)

Live by Night is co-written, stars and directed by Ben Affleck. It is based on a book by Boston-born novelist, Dennis Lehane.