To Italians, bread is life. With 250 varieties across the country, it’s eaten with almost every meal. Its importance speaks to national values of community, tradition, quality and - above all - religion.

Australian-Japanese food writer Emiko Davies takes a tasty journey into the spiritual significance of bread in Italy, her adopted home. In the west of Sicily, residents honour Saint Joseph by constructing intricate sculptural breads, adorning altars with baked symbols, and staging a ritualised feast attended by the entire community. On the coast of Puglia, locals queue to receive blessed loaves in celebration of Saint Anthony. Finally, with food historian Fabrizia Lanza, she reflects on the origins of religious superstitions surrounding bread, and what the nation's diverse culinary traditions tell us about faith in Italy today.

Presenter: Emiko Davies Producer: Jude Shapiro Executive Producer: Jack Howson Production Coordinator: Ieva Sabaliauskaite

A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC World Service

On the outskirts of Hamburg, Dr Gerald Koch is surrounded by wooden objects - chairs, board games, paint brushes - ready for inspection. His team of scientists at the Thünen Institute of Wood Research are known as the timber detectives. They spend their days putting wood samples under the microscope to find out where they've come from, and if they’re suspect.

Berlin based environmental journalist Becca Warner explores the ongoing problem of illegal deforestation.

Why is it proving so hard to tackle, despite tightening EU regulations? What are the consequences for those living in Papua New Guinea where much of this timber originates? And what makes this group of German scientists so important in the battle to protect the world’s forests?

Presenter: Becca Warner Producer: Tom Pooley

A 4 kicks production for the BBC World Service.

Image: Gerald Koch and Becca Warner inspect timber samples (Credit: Tom Pooley)

Europe’s largest herd of wild horses, in north-west Spain, is under threat. Numbers have halved in the last fifty years. Now around ten thousand wild horses roam freely in the hills and mountains of Galicia. But they are facing a number of challenges, not least the loss of their habitat and the threat from their main predator, wolves. There are also legal demands imposed by the regional government which have placed added financial burdens on the local people who, in effect, “own” these horses. And yet Galicia’s wild horses have been an integral part of the local culture for centuries, particularly during annual festivals known as “rapas das bestas,” the shearing of the beasts. The horses are also known as engineers of the landscape, credited with boosting the local flora and fauna and with helping to control forest fires.

John Murphy travels to Galicia to hear what is happening to these extraordinary animals and why they are so important.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.