Visconti towered over his contemporaries, not just because of his extraordinary skill as a director, but because of his powerful personality, and his equally revolutionary impact on Italian theatre and the previously moribund world of opera. The film explores how a young man from one of Italy's oldest and wealthiest aristocratic families transformed himself into an artist of international stature, adapted some of the finest works of European literature for the screen, turned a young soprano called Maria Callas into opera's greatest diva, and became a committed member of the Italian Communist Party.

As well as clips from Visconti's films, the documentary includes interviews with Franco Zeffirelli, Francesco Rosi, Claudia Cardinale, Charlotte Rampling and other friends, relatives and collaborators.

Previous documentaries on BBC Four