Vernacular architecture is architecture characterised by the use of local materials and knowledge without the supervision of professional architects. Vernacular architecture represents the majority of buildings and settlements created in pre-industrial societies and includes a wide range of buildings, building traditions, methods of construction. Vernacular buildings are simple and practical, whether residential houses or built for other purposes. Although it encompasses 95% of the world's built environment, vernacular architecture tends to be overlooked in traditional histories of design, it is not one specific style, so it cannot be distilled into a series of easy-to-digest patterns, materials, or elements. Because of the usage of traditional building methods and local builders, vernacular buildings are considered part of a regional culture. Vernacular architecture can be contrasted against elite or polite architecture, characterized by stylistic elements of design intentionally incorporated for aesthetic purposes which go beyond a building's functional requirements.

This article covers the term traditional architecture, which exists somewhere between the two extremes yet still is based upon authentic themes. The term vernacular means "domestic, indigenous"; the word derives from an older Etruscan word. The term is borrowed from linguistics, where vernacular refers to language use particular to a time, place or group. Vernacular architecture is described as a built environment, based upon local needs. Traditionally, the study of vernacular architecture did not examine formally schooled architects, but instead that of the design skills and tradition of local builders, who were given any attribution for the work. More vernacular architecture has been examined by designers and the building industry in an effort to be more energy conscious with contemporary design and construction—part of a broader interest in sustainable design; the terms vernacular, traditional, common and popular architecture are sometimes used interchangeably. However, Allen Noble wrote a lengthy discussion of these terms in Traditional Buildings: A Global Survey of Structural Forms and Cultural Functions where he presents scholarly opinions that folk building or folk architecture is built by "persons not professionally trained in building arts".

Traditional architecture is architecture is passed down from person to person, generation to generation orally, but at any level of society, not just by common people. Noble discourages use of the term primitive architecture as having a negative connotation; the term popular architecture is used more in eastern Europe and is synonymous with folk or vernacular architecture. Although vernacular architecture might be designed by people who do have some training in design, Ronald Brunskill has nonetheless defined vernacular architecture as:...a building designed by an amateur without any training in design. The function of the building would be the dominant factor, aesthetic considerations, though present to some small degree, being quite minimal. Local materials would be used as a matter of course, other materials being chosen and imported quite exceptionally. Vernacular architecture is not to be confused with so-called "traditional" architecture, though there are links between the two. Traditional architecture includes buildings which bear elements of polite design: temples and palaces, for example, which would not be included under the rubric of "vernacular."

In architectural terms,'the vernacular' can be contrasted with'the polite', characterised by stylistic elements of design intentionally incorporated by a professional architect for aesthetic purposes which go beyond a building's functional requirements. Between the extremes of the wholly vernacular and the polite, examples occur which have some vernacular and some polite content making the differences between the vernacular and the polite a matter of degree; the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World defines vernacular architecture as:...comprising the dwellings and all other buildings of the people. Related to their environmental contexts and available resources they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values and ways of life of the cultures that produce them. Vernacular architecture is a broad, grassroots concept which encompasses fields of architectural study including aboriginal, ancestral and ethnic architecture and is contrasted with the more intellectual architecture called polite, formal, or academic architecture just as folk art is contrasted with fine art.

William, after Brunskill, regards the'Vernacular Zone' as being a range of buildings between two thresholds: the Vernacular and the Polite. These were below the Polite Threshold, but had to be above the Vernacular Threshold. Buildings cruder than this did not survive, so were not recorded; this was due to both their unimportance and the lack of attention paid to them to the insubstantial nature of their poor materials. A survey in the 1940s by Sir Cyril Fox and Lord Raglan examined 450'old'

Luigi De Filippo was an Italian actor, stage director and playwright. Born in Naples, the son of actors Peppino De Filippo and Adele Carloni, he studied literature at the university, leaving the studies on the threshold of graduation to pursue a career in journalism. Shorty De Filippo debuted on stage next to his father, from he started a long acting career, notably running for years a Neapolitan dialect company, he celebrated the fortieth anniversary of his stage activities with the reception of a special Premio Personalità Europea prize in Capitol Hill. De Filippo appeared in many film roles if in character roles, he was active on television in television adaptations of his stage works. Since 2011 he has been the artistic director of the Parioli Theatre in Rome. De Filippo died in Rome on 31 March 2018 at the age of 87. Official website Luigi De Filippo on IMDb

The second season of Top Gear began airing on History from July 24, 2011 until April 3, 2012. Adam Ferrera, Tanner Foust, Rutledge Wood and The Stig returned as hosts, with the season consisting of sixteen episodes, which aired on a weekly basis; this was the final season to include car reviews and the Power laps and Big Star, Small Car segment, as they were discarded from the programme before the third season. Commenting on the second season renewal, UK show host Jeremy Clarkson noted, "Top Gear is our baby so you can understand why Hammond, May and I were anxious about passing it on to the presenters of the US show. We needn’t have worried because Top Gear is in safe hands if they do insist on speaking in those stupid accents. Watching an episode from series 1 with Richard and James, we found ourselves in a genuinely heated debate about which of the presenters’ cars was best. We were just three ordinary chaps watching a car show and loving it, what Top Gear should be. Bring on series 2." The second season was the first to include sixteen episodes, as the previous season aired ten.

The season was aired from July 2011 until April 3, 2012 on History, airing on a weekly basis. In the United Kingdom, the season was aired on BBC Three under the name Top Gear USA from January 13, 2012. However, the season halted airing on January 27, before continuing its run on June 29, 2012; the season 2 DVD was released on February 19, 2013. Season 2 at the Internet Movie Database