The Alps and Arrangiarsi Two Greedy Italians

Take it. Take it.

'I am Antonio Carluccio.'

Mmmm. They are wonderful.

I grew up in the sophisticated North of Italy.

'I left 50 years ago.'

Ooooh!

'But I still love it dearly.'

Italia!

Italia.

'Now I am returning with my old friend.'

Fantastico.

Wow!

-This is almost a religious act.

-Oh, yeah.

'I am Gennaro Contaldo.'

I just can't believe it!

I am from the sun and the sea of the South.

-Home sweet home.

-Unbelievable.

'Our love of food has brought us together...'

Yes or no?

-Yes. Yes.

-Ahhhh!

Got it, got it, got it.

'..and has kept us together - just!'

-Gennaro, will you stop it?

-Yeah, OK.

I am really fed up.

'When we grew up here after the war,

'Italy was poor and we had to rely on our wits to survive.'

Are you going to give me some milk? No you can't.

Wait. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

'We call it arte d'arrangiarsi -

'the art of getting by.'

Ah!

Only Gennaro can do things like this.

'We want to find if we can still get by using the art

'of arrangiarsi in the Italy of today.'

Mmmm, Antonio!

What cheese is this?

A natural Viagra that one.

'We are on a journey of survival.'

Argh! I missed it.

I didn't....

'But don't worry, it will be fantastic -

'just as long as there is plenty to eat.'

BOTH: Mmm.

MUSIC: "O Mio Babbino Caro" by Giacomo Puccini

'We are near the Swiss border in the Rhaetian Alps,

'where the mountains climb to 13,000 feet

'and they are covered in snow for most of the year.

'Gennaro has persuaded me to see if we can

'fend for ourselves living by our wits.

'I think it's a terrible idea!'

If we have to forage here...

Yeah.

..and find something edible, that's like grass,

herbs and so on and mushrooms, where do you find them?

Not at the moment. I agree with you Antonio. It is a lot of snow.

You can make me an ice cream.

Oh, yeah.

This is the region of Lombardy.

We are north of Lake Como

in the Splugen Pass which connects Italy to Switzerland.

'It is an unforgiving place'

'and home to the most hardy mountain men and women of Italy.'

Gennaro, are you sure that we can camp here?

Yeah. Why not?

I'm sure there's going to be a nice place.

I'm sure we'll find something to cook.

Well I hope so. Ooooh!

What a wonderful lake.

-Do you think there will be some fish inside?

-Most probably.

I would LOVE to go fishing.

If you look with the binoculars in the high mountains,

you can see some er, animals.

Oh, fantastic. I will love to do some hunting.

'We are determined to get by on what we find,

'living the life of arrangiarsi.'

What a view!

'It won't be easy, but at least there's one thing

'we know how to make the most of.'

-It's lovely porcini.

-Oh that's wonderful.

-Yeah, I've got, got another one.

-Nebularis.

-Yeah, nebulari. Look what I find, Antonio.

-Oh yes.

-Suillus - family of porcini.

-Good smell.

My God, that smells good! I bet you I find some more.

If you go over that...

Maybe here.

There! There is one.

-Where?

-There. Go there.

-Go there, what do you mean, "Go there?"

-There is a mushroom there.

Antonio, where?

There! To the left.

Antonio, where on the left?

A little bit more left.

Antonio, there is nothing on the left.

Well, I am sorry, I thought it was a mushroom!

Bah-bah.

You send me far away,

just to remove me from you.

That is exactly what I want, you silly boy!

Yeah, thank you very much. You're supposed to be my friend. You know what?

Valchiavenna is famous for its wild food.

Mushroom picking is a national pastime.

Last year in Italy 40,000 people were poisoned by them.

I think Antonio can't make it up here.

He would love to be here.

Luckily, we are experts on mushrooms.

Oh, yes!

Honey fungus.

I can really cook with those.

They call them honey fungus because it's got sucklers in colour of honey.

Also in Italian we call them chiodino.

Chiodini means "little nails". You can see why. Bless them.

'There is no need to scrabble around the mountains.

'There's plenty to eat in the open ground.'

You have to take the younger one that's white.

You can see the inside is white. It's wonderful.

This is called the shaggy ink cap,

because it's a sort of...

the surface is all shaggy.

Yes! Some more.

Ah!

Honey fungus.

I love mushrooms

more than anything...almost!

But I would like some bresaola to go with them.

Bresaola is the air-dried beef of the region.

Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno.

-Come va?

-Non c'e male.

You see, Gennaro, this is the place.

Ciao.

You can learn something.

Stefano here is a wonderful man.

He can do the real bresaola.

-Can you show it to him?

-Sure.

In the old days meat was scarce

and preserving it was a matter of survival.

-It's very simple. What we need is salt.

-OK.

Then we need some garlic.

-Do you want to cut the garlic?

-Yeah, I cut the garlic. Yeah.

-Just slice the garlic?

-Then we need some pepper.

-You are very fast.

-I am indeed.

You can go. Go, go, go. Yes, yes.

Some bay leaves.

Just like that?

-Yeah. Gennaro, bring the salt.

-How much?

-Er, go, go. Now we have to massage...

-OK.

..like a beautiful girl.

-I am... I am a specialist on that.

-OK, OK!

-Beautiful girls.

-OK.

-That is no trouble at all.

You know, Stefano, I don't know anything where he is not specialist.

-Perfect. We put the meat...

-Inside here?

Yeah, go, go.

So the salt is for preserving?

Yeah, yeah. yeah. It's the ancient way of preserving the meat.

-But also extract water probably, as well.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

After a week in this box,

the salt go inside the meat and the water come outside.

We dry it and then we put it in a room with some smoke

and er, fire,

just to heat it up

-to 24 degrees, 25 degrees...

-Not very hot.

..for a couple of days, so the meat

lose the rest of the free water

and then we age er, up to three, four months.

-But look inside there. Look.

-Yes, inside.

Inside there, look how many are inside there.

They are already aged.

-This is a typical grotto. Grotto is a natural cave.

-Yeah.

We have about 2,000 here in this area.

-Every family own...

-Has one.

..has one.

-This is very, very old.

-Very old?

-This is a shoulder.

-Shoulder.

Yeah. Er, a small violin.

# Nah, nah, nah, nah Nah, nah, nah, nah. #

Yeah, thank you. This is a mould. It's a funghi

-which grows on top.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's... every cave has different fungus

and every cave gives a different er...

-Flavour.

-..Flavour. Yeah this is 90 days.

This is very, very old.

This is very hard, which is very good, yeah.

-D'you know what? I done some work for you, yes?

-OK, OK.

-Do you think I could have one of these?

-Oh, sure.

-You know, after...

-Have them both.

-..try to arrangiarmi.

-Oh sure, sure.

-I know somebody in love a little bit.

-Can I?

-OK.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

In his grotto,

Stefano cures more meat than he can possibly eat by himself,

and in other caves, there's lots of cheeses

maturing too.

Mamma mia! Che pietanza!

HE INHALES DEEPLY

My God, it's so good.

So he's combined homemade produce

with ingredients he finds in the forest,

and turned them into a Michelin star.

Now that's making the most of what you have got.

-Stefano!

-Oh, buonasera.

-Buonasera.

-Good evening!

-So we have a grilled porcini mushroom...

-Mmm.

..served with a pine shoot cream.

-Mmm, interesting.

-Everything wild.

Second dish, we have mountain potato cream

with some pumpkin and chips

of the same potato

-and some flowers that we picked up last summer.

-Mmm hmm.

And last is, we call it black tagliolini.

-We don't use the squid ink.

-Yeah.

-We use the black er... blueberries.

-Oh, yes.

-Wow!

We mix the flour with blueberries, nettle sauce

and grana.

Wild porcini. You collected wild mushrooms.

Yeah, this summer.

And then look what you cook. Fantastic dish he's making, Antonio.

Er, it is incredible.

It is really arrangiarsi. My goodness.

I love it.

Yum yum.

Yeah. Stefano inherited the skill of arrangiarsi from his grandfather,

a freedom fighter in the Second World War.

What kind of man was your grandfather Stefano?

Er, my grandfather was one er, captain of er, the partisans

that er, stopped the German column in which he was hidden.

The partisans wanted to have Mussolini and assured

the Germans that they bring them to the border

if they give Mussolini to the partisans.

But he wasn't responsible for killing er...

No! Then they bring Mussolini to...

-To Milan.

-To Milan, yes.

So all came out from your grandfather, told you this story?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-It is incredible Antonio because it is...

There's history, there's history.

The mountain men who defeated fascists here survived on wild food.

Some of the most delicious salad leaves are herbs that

look like weeds.

Perfect for a salad fit for a partisan.

Gennaro, I have a contribution to your salad.

Let's have a look. What have you got?

A wild contribution. Look at this.

Oh, what is it?

-A bit of dandelion.

-Yeah?

And a bit of er, wild sorrel. Little bit.

Taste it, it's very good.

-Mmm!

-And a bit of chickweed.

-Mmm.

It's all wonderful for this...look at this. This is a natural contribution.

You're great. You need somebody like me...

Oh yes, naturally.

..to make the best bresaola salad.

OK, then start.

OK, first things first...bread.

What actually we'll do, we'll give a nice crispiness to the salad.

OK, first I cut them in a small...

-Cubes?

-Crostoni di pane.

-Yes.

That's good. Nice olive oil.

Thank you. You got it?

Thank you.

Here I've got this nice, little bit of wild rocket

but you can use any nice crispy salads which is good.

-The sorrel is beautiful.

-Don't forget the sorrel. This one.

Yeah, yeah. I have these fantastic radishes.

-The radishes give it the lovely, little bit of pungence.

-Yes.

You cut it. Just roughly cut.

Here. Yeah, in quarter's is fine.

Look at that. Then it goes in. The lovely colour.

-Eggs.

-Let's see... It's too soft.

It's not too soft! Er, you quarter it or half it.

Oh yes, yes.

-Lumps goes on top.

-So, and now?

-The parmesan cheese.

-Yes?

But then shave it. Shave it.

Oh, it's not finished yet. Get some nice olives.

Look at these olives. Fantastic.

It's good.

And for the dressing, you need fresh garlic and good olive oil.

Three tablespoons of olive oil,

and one tablespoon, a nice white wine vinegar.

If you don't have white wine, use red wine.

It works as well. Then, little bit of salt.

Well done.

Oh, yes.

It works. Gennaro, it works. Look at this.

It works, of course it's working.

-OK.

-The croutons, they are ready already.

-And this is the bresaola.

-Fantastic.

-Gonna put this two, two little slices.

-Yes, good.

-Abundant.

-Abundant.

Now on top. Put it all in, Gennaro.

No, now listen, let me just make you something nice for you!

Mamma mia, you never give me a chance.

I'm gonna make it look pretty.

Gennaro, I'm hungry.

Give me the croutons.

Oh yes, yes, yes. I love the croutons.

-Oh yes, yes.

-Ah! Something crispy and nice.

Going to put just a little extra one of parmesan on top.

Let me see, come on. Come on.

Mmmm. Mmmm.

Mmm-Mmm!

Gennaro, I must admit, for a change, that's very good.

We are entering the Valtellina, an Alpine Shangri-La of wine and food.

The red wines here are superb.

But the wines only thrive on the sunny south-facing slopes.

This area here reminds me so much of my home, where I grew up,

in the Aosta Valley.

It's all like this,

including the little villages in the bottom of the valley.

Every fertile inch is exploited by the locals.

There they were, some grapes there.

-Whey!

-Stop. Stop.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-That's wonderful.

I stop, I stop, I stop. I stop, I stop.

And here is water as well, look at this.

-Yes.

-Make it quick.

-Yeah.

This grape will be turned into wine, costing £40 a bottle.

But right now we are starving.

Oh, that's wonderful. But it's full of sulphur.

Yes, it's all right.

I know it's all right, you can eat it like this, I have to wash it!

-There's some water, why you don't wash it with water.

-Where?

-Here, there, see it?

-Oh!

You should turn the thing, a jet of water.

Jesus! Antonio, why?

-I try.

-HE LAUGHS

Uh-oh... Oh!

Gennaro, you are wonderful.

Only Gennaro can do things like this.

ANTONIO LAUGHS

Look, my trousers!

-Yes, I know.

-No, no, no. You look!

-My trousers!

-Well, maybe because you're silly.

Yeah, I know, thank you. That's for you.

-Mmmm.

-Arrangiarsi.

-It's sweet.

-Yeah, I want to go from here.

It's so sweet, it's wonderful.

'The valley floor was once a lush mountain pasture.

'Now it's a hive of commercial activity.'

Gennaro, look at this.

My goodness, one little factory after the other.

And mostly all doing bresaola.

Do you know that 90% of the bresaola consumed in the world

comes from here?

'In the Valtellina they are still preserving beef

'but these days not to survive the winter,

'but to sell as an expensive delicacy all year round.'

-Ciao, molto piacere.

-Come stai?

-Benissimo.

-Guarda, c'e anche Antonio.

-Ah, Antonio.

Bresaola-making here is big business.

Wow! Look at this.

If we are gonna get some of this, we have to work very hard.

For the bresaola you have to clean the fat, take off the fat.

That's interesting.

-Can I borrow your knife, please?

-Er, no, no, no.

Your, your knife is much better.

Gennaro, I feel for the middle age.

Yeah, you do look...

Thousands of tons of beef are flown in from the other side of the world.

It's modern Italian arrangiarsi.

I prefer my food local but er, we beggars can't be choosers.

OK, let's do another one because this is, was broke.

Come on. Come on.

There's lots of rejects.

The boss wanted 250 of these in the next hour!

At £40 per kilo, that is £10,000 worth.

Oh, grazie.

-Grazie.

-Arrivederci.

Arrivederci. Grazie.

-Arrivederci. Grazie.

-Ciao, ciao.

-Gennaro would you like to taste a little bit of your reward?

-Mmm. I love it.

You really like it, eh?

Let me see, let me cut a little bit more.

'At least an honest days' work tastes good.'

'We are heading for Sondrio at the top of the valley to see Nella,

'a friend of ours.'

-Come stai, Nella?

-Bene, bene.

Arrangiarsi has always been a way of life here,

but there was a time when it was a matter of life and death.

Buongiorno!

Buongiorno.

We have come to meet two war veterans who put our efforts at survival into perspective.

Unbelievable. Real partisan. Buongiorno.

-Allora, Lei Irma ha novant'anni, Lei?

-Si.

Caspita!

-Ed e stata partigiana?

-Partigiana.

Come mio marito.

Irma is 90 years old and she was partisan, a real partisan.

Very hard.

How do you survive?

Come ha fatto sopravvivere?

'During the war, around 45,000 Italian partisans

'were killed, by the fascists.

'It's a high price to pay for our freedom today.'

-Ai partiginai!

-Ai partigiani!

To the partisans all over the world.

Salute!

ALL TOAST EACH OTHER

ALL SING: # Questa mattina mi son svegliata

# O bella ciao, ciao, ciao... #

LAUGHTER

Peasant!

Life during wartime was hard for everybody,

yet those mountain people got by on few ingredients

and still produced a dish that is world famous today.

So, do you know what I am going to cook, Gennaro?

-Yes.

-Pizzoccheri.

It's the only valley where they do this

and this is because they couldn't grow wheat,

but they could grow buckwheat.

The buckwheat pasta is this one here

and it's a sort of form of Tagliatelle.

-Is any egg inside?

-No, no egg.

No egg. So just water, that's good.

For the local grown Swiss chard.

-I love cabbage.

-And potatoes.

All right.

-You can cut it in small cubes.

-OK.

I show you how to do this.

We put away the stalk and take away just the greens,

which is from the family of the spinach, you know that?

Mmm. Yeah, I knew that.

The beauty of this is that we cook everything together.

A bit of salt in the water, then we put the Swiss chard.

-Yeah. Cabbage?

-Yes.

Tell me when.

So, we put now this as well.

Yeah, one more leaves.

-And the potatoes as well, Gennaro.

-Yeah.

And everything together. This is a fantastic dish.

You don't need to work a lot.

And now the cavolo nero which is black cabbage, so it's fantastic.

Thank you. And we put the pasta to cook together with that.

Then you just boil the ingredients together for 40 minutes.

Gennaro, now you can cut me the cheese - toma - which is fantastic.

It has an aroma that is really... oh, this is a good old toma.

D'you know what it remind me, this?

Fresh hay just been harvest and put away in the stable.

You are poetical.

Well, this is actually what the smell... this lovely country.

Now, let's see. Yes, it comes all together. Lovely.

Let's see, potatoes, yeah, they seem to be cooked.

Taste.

Tell me if it's all right.

Perfect.

Cos we need to bake.

Yes, I know, but before baking, needs to be cooked.

-This is just right.

-Is it cooked?

-It's al dente.

-Ah!

Don't interfere.

No, I don't interfere.

Now we put everything cooked all together here.

-What a lovely colour.

-It's wonderful.

The smell is very good.

-Can you cut me this garlic in slices?

-OK.

Give me the butter, that I can...

How much?

Half of that, yes.

This is alpine butter, it's very good.

What shall I do with the garlic?

It comes here.

-There it goes.

-Yes.

Gennaro, look at this, what happens now.

Now 300 grams of cheese, put it in.

Yes.

Mmmm.

Firstly, you can pass me the parmesan.

Another layer. It's so simple.

OK.

-Happy?

-Yeah.

-Good.

-I'm happy.

-More parmesan.

Yeah.

Now, Gennaro, you can put it in the oven.

Thank you very much.

What a great job you give me to do.

MUSIC: "O Mio Babbino Caro" by Giacomo Puccini

Now, leave it in the oven for 20 minutes.

Argh! Antonio.

-Gennaro.

-Ergh!

This is exciting. Wow!

Look at that. That's a fantastic thing.

Look at the cheese, it just melts.

Oh...WOW!

Wonderful.

The combination of cabbage and potatoes and cheese is mind-blowing.

-Oh!

-Simply is delicious.

Wonderful.

Not bad wine for arrangiarsi, you know, it's good.

Did you arrangiarsi it? Did you borrow it?

Er, yes, I did.

What a view!

That's wonderful.

We need a place to stay tonight.

We can bunk up in the camper van.

'When I was a boy, making do like this was not a matter of choice.'

We were very hungry and after the war, there wasn't very much to eat.

We were, as children, just happy to go into the fields

and borrow things.

Somebody was stealing a cabbage from a field.

Somebody was bringing a bowl.

Somebody else was bringing a bit of bread.

Vinegar and oil and a bit of salt.

Somebody perhaps could have some anchovies in it,

and fresh bread, cutting the cabbage very, very thin

and you can imagine to make your tea with that.

That was for us, just fantastic food, caviar.

That was really arrangiarsi.

Gennaro!

You found mushrooms.

Look what I find, is that?

Wonderful. This is the nebularis.

Oh! This is very good.

-Blewit.

-They're wood blewit. They're fantastic.

Look at the colour.

Ah! The smell.

-Mmm.

-Is it good?

Better than any toast at home.

Get the smell of the wonderful pine here. You like it?

Mmmm.

Antonio says he likes to live off the land.

Good night.

But I think he just likes to live off me.

HE HOWLS

SOMETHING HOWLS IN THE DISTANCE

What is that?

Antonio, I come inside with you.

No, Gennaro.

COW BELLS RING

A beautiful morning in the Valtellina.

Ah, look, breakfast.

HE SINGS: # The hills are alive with the sound of music.

# The cows going to give me lots of milk! #

Gennaro, you look like Maria.

-Yeah. OK.

-Perfectly.

I just was going to make you happy.

Yeah and you do. I mean I'm laughing. I am very happy.

Yeah. Which one is for, which one of you going to give me nice milk?

You going to give me some milk? No, you can't.

No, she can't.

Well, can you tell your friends to give me some milk?

Can you? Can we do that?

Can I help you?

You know what?

-Si.

-Antonio...

-Are you trading again?

-Did you hear what he said?

-Yes.

-First you work.

-Yes.

-Then you get the milk.

-Yeah, obvious.

-Esatto.

-I will do. I'm ready.

-What do you think - we have it for nothing?

I'm ready.

We have come to the right place.

Brothers Luca and Giuliano produce their own fresh milk,

cheese and butter.

This is heavy.

What is that, Gennaro?

-It is all the top off of the milk.

-Yes.

The cream, which now I will put it inside here.

Piano, che preziosa, eh.

Wonderful.

Si, si.

In the old days, they would churn the cream

for hours by hand.

These days it takes 20 minutes.

For the butter, you have

-the liquid part called the latticello.

-Yeah.

What do you do with the latticello?

Normally we use latticello to have ricotta.

-Lovely.

-The ricotta, which is the word Antonio,

-re-cooked the milk.

-Cooked again.

Cooked again, yeah that's good.

I'm very excited, Gennaro.

-Yes!

-Also I am very hungry.

Esatto, bravo.

This is good work.

You are very clever.

Your majesty!

So let's see. I want to just put a finger in it.

Hey!

That's wonderful.

OK, I don't think there is any more. Look.

But if there is little bits...

The freshest butter ever.

Yeah, I'm on it.

Yes.

Very slowly.

-OK.

-Wonderful, Gennaro.

Oh, that's perfect.

-APPLAUSE

-Well done!

-Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

-Gennaro, now we can have breakfast.

-OK.

'An alpine breakfast wouldn't be complete

'without a little fruit.'

-Oh, Gennaro.

-Yeah?

COW BELLS RING

-Apples.

-Arrangiarti, Gennaro.

Yeah, be careful that the owner doesn't come.

-Why don't you come down and collect some?

-No, I prefer to do it from here, Gennaro.

-Some apple, Antonio?

-Yeah.

Look at it!

With the milk as well I got for you.

Mmm. Shall I tell you one thing? I never had a better breakfast.

-To Luca and Giuliano.

-Oh, yeah.

-Well done.

-Mmmmm.

-That's fantastic.

Mmm!

Up here the food is simple

and life is uncomplicated.

This is my sort of arrangiarsi.

'It's too high in the Alps to grow wheat or corn.'

Gennaro, it is too steep for me here.

'So, since the Middle Ages, the locals got by

'on flour milled from chestnuts.'

I'll find it.

-Yes?

-They are very good.

Fantastic.

You know what? I'm going to make some gnocchi for you.

We need the eggs.

Don't worry. We find the eggs.

Where do you want me to find the eggs?

Look on the tree if I can find a nest?

GOAT BLEATS

GENNARO BLEATS IN REPLY

Antonio wants something to eat. Yeah!

For the gnocchi, I borrowed a goose egg.

Now I just need some flour.

There used to be hundreds of water mill in this valley.

WHEELS GRIND

'This is one of the few left

'that's still milling chestnuts.'

Can I help you?

To make the chestnut flour,

first you have got to break off the shells.

This water mill may look simple,

but the technology was devised by a genius -

Leonardo Da Vinci.

OK?

I got a few chestnuts, I have to do so much work.

'Now I'm going to shake off the husk,

'just leaving the chestnuts.'

-Grazie.

-Prego.

-Gennaro.

-What?

-What took you so long?

'Now, Gennaro must ask the local miller to crush his nuts.'

-Finally, finally we have the chestnuts, Gennaro.

-Thank you.

Have you seen this machine here?

No, never saw this machine, Antonio.

The chestnuts are coming there.

They are coming out from here. This is a 200-year-old mill.

Can you imagine in the old days, this is what they used to do

-all the time.

-In the old days, because the only thing

that fantastic flour to make bread,

to make pasta, to make all sorts of things.

How many families these chestnuts feeded, and it's incredible.

Pasta was based on these chestnuts.

Well, it's marvellous to see something like that. Just love it.

This chestnut flour is rich,

sweet and full of flavour.

Antonio, look.

That's lovely flour. This is the real flour, yes.

-Arrivederci. Grazie.

-Ciao.

-Not bad. Not bad.

-Not bad? I've done well, I think.

Antonio done very well. Be careful, the steps, yeah?

I know you.

Not bad.

Another night with Antonio

and I've got everything I need

to make lovely gnocchi with chestnut flour.

Let me show you what I'm doing.

I'm going to have this potato which I'm just boiling now,

and here we go.

Squash them right through. Argh!

-Oh, I love the spaghetti coming out there.

-Ah yeah, it's not finished.

I know you - don't eat all the potato!

I can't taste the potato?

Can I have er, the chestnut flour is right behind you?

-Just put it inside and let me mix.

-Yeah, now.

You see it mills nicely.

Yes.

-Just a little bit, not too much. OK?

-Yeah.

And, can I have that ordinary flour, Antonio,

because chestnut flour is nice,

but you need a bit of body with ordinary flour.

This is double zero.

Just a little touch, yeah.

A little touch, yeah.

-A little touch. When it's done like that...

-Yeah.

The egg is too, far too big.

You use only the...

I use just the yellow one.

Look, my goodness. What kind of an egg is that?

Ostrich?

-It is a goose egg.

-Goose egg.

Just use half.

-Yes.

-I mix it.

I mix it well.

-Just a little bit more.

-A little bit more.

Enough.

That's it. That is good.

Now you mix it.

-Oh, yeah.

-Oh, yeah.

And I've got some dry mushrooms.

SIZZLING

-Oh yeah!

-Wonderful.

'For the sauce, I sopped porcini in the water,

'sweated garlic and added tomato.'

Oh, it's wonderful. All day I'm waiting for something to eat.

OK, OK. You complained all day.

-The sauce is burning.

-Oh, don't worry. The sauce is not burning.

I am cooking. I am in charge. You eat it!

OK? And look what I'm doing. All this for you.

Now it's ready.

The water is boiling.

Bless it. Bless those gnocchi,

they're all coming up.

-Why do you bless all the time?

-Because I do bless them, because I like it.

'Cook the gnocchi for a couple of minutes,

'mix with the sauce and hallelujah.'

Can I have a fork for me?

It's there.

-Thank you very much, Antonio.

-I have only one.

And now look at me, no, just look at me.

Actually the gnocchi, I must admit,

Gennaro it's er, incredible.

But I can taste the chestnuts.

Here they are fantastic, but I would add

just a little bit more salt.

So what I'm doing, look.

Arrangiarsi!

Ah!

Finally!

That's fantastic now.

-Shall I say...?

-I help you.

BOTH: I am good at cooking!

Yes!

The chestnut is good. Let's finish off.

-Antonio.

-Yeah?

-Do you know we're going to sleep here tonight? Did you see the weather?

-No. No way.

What do you mean?

'I mean I've got a better idea.

'There was a little B&B back there.'

Oh, Antonio! Sugar!

This is really my kind of arrangiarsi.

I should think so. This is a castle.

Leave the bloody camper there.

I can't understand how people they can live in a camper

when you have something like this.

-Do you know what Antonio? I agree with you.

-There is a room.

-Come on. Let's go.

-Sleep well

-Think about (INAUDIBLE).

-Yes, you too. Thank you.

-OK.

-Kiss, kiss.

-No. no.

Ah! Wonderful.

Ah! Arrangiarsi. No, I'm sorry. Not to night.

Oh, bless Antonio.

Another day in the Alps

and Gennaro says we have got to sing for our supper, or rather breakfast.

There's food, food. I can see food on the table.

We have been invited to join a hunting party.

It would be rude not to try the food.

Tartufo! Truffles.

It is truffles inside here.

In mascarpone.

In the mascarpone. It's incredible.

It's got such a lovely, intense flavour, Antonio.

-They are local truffles, yes.

-Yeah, well this is what they are.

-Cheeses, that one.

-We are here next to Switzerland

and here at the border

they do quite a lot of wonderful cheeses.

-Antonio, what cheese, it's so sweet?

-This is formagella.

Formagella. What, what kind of cheese?

It's a sort of soft and nice and a mild cheese. Let me taste it, then I tell you.

Yeah, all right, yeah. What about the other one?

Then we have the casera which is local here. Very old aged casera.

-Oh, this cheese...

-This cheese is wonderful.

-It is incredible.

-Gracious me.

I don't have to go round and collect the wild food for you.

They're all here, now.

-Which cheese is this?

-Taste that one. A wonderful cheese.

Il burro e anche locale.

Mmmm! Antonio! What cheese is this?

-Viagra naturale.

-LAUGHTER

Gennaro, he tells me that's a natural Viagra, that one.

LAUGHTER

-I know that you need it.

-I think you need it more, yeah.

'In the old days, these hunters would live off the land to support their family,

'but now they do it for pleasure.'

The only wish now that you can have here is to have a good hunt.

-Salute.

-Salute. In bocca al lupo, eh?

-Crepi!

I wanted to know if I can still hunt for food.

-Di sotto.

-Dove?

Dov'e?

Niente...I can't find anything.

'As Gennaro has a gun in his hand, I am sitting tight with Marco.'

Marco, is a figure here that's very popular.

And he's the most wonderful poacher of the area.

Around 40 years ago, they started to come here

because they wanted to be in a paradise of hunters.

So for 40 years they are coming here to poach, to shoot.

In my opinion, they're coming here just to escape their wives in this wonderful...

When I was growing up in the South of Italy, my father taught me how to hunt.

The dog's on a pheasant. Pheasant.

I missed it! I missed the pheasant.

Luckily, another hunter is not as rusty as I am.

This reminds me, when I used to be a little boy with my father,

when we used to go hunting.

Bless him.

We used to hunt not just for the satisfaction,

but also that was food for us.

My father never shot what was more than just enough,

and we had to share with other friends.

Sometimes they like to say, "You take it. You've got a big family."

Used to bring it home. My mother used to clean, cook it.

Perhaps by the evening. Oh, my God, what a memory!

I'm going to earn a free lunch cooking for the hunters. Easy.

Food you have grown, caught or shot yourself always tastes the best.

I put the pheasant, which we shot at it, I cut it in pieces

then I put some salt.

Then I will put some pepper.

You know, just mix everything.

Then I will put some flour.

The reason I would put flour inside because, just a little bit,

because I wanted it to create

that kind of a crust on the pheasant.

Three ingredients, maximum flavour.

Got garlic which I crushed it.

I've got one chilli and rosemary. Then olive oil.

Make sure it is very hot, the pheasant.

Seal it one side and the other.

Get a few more pieces.

You can do this one with a chicken as well, with a rabbit as well.

You know, all kind of game and poultry.

I got nice pancetta.

If you don't have pancetta, use a bit of bacon just to give it that extra flavour.

Yeah! Just put them on top.

I'm going to put some garlic in this, which I crushed.

Bit of chilli. This is not very hot.

Dried chilli, fresh chilli. Look at this rosemary.

Lovely, fresh. Just picked it up.

Cover and cook slowly for 35,40 minutes.

Get about a glass of wine or two and then - hallelujah!

Yeah, it's done. Few ingredients, maximum flavour.

Inside, the hunters are cooking the local staple - polenta.

But it's not like any polenta I have ever seen.

They don't have corn here,

but they still make do with what they call black polenta.

-Bravo!

-Bravo!

So this is buckwheat polenta with just water and a bit of butter. Nothing else.

Mmm!

First time that I eat this polenta. Very good.

-Gennaro.

-Ready?

Wonderful. Oh!

Mmmm!

-Mmmm! Yes or no?

-Yes.

You can hear him! He said "yes"!

BOTH: Yes!

Buon appetito!

-Did you shoot that bird?

-No, I didn't shoot the bird.

-You didn't?

-They shot it.

-And what did you do with the bird?

-I cooked the bird.

They are coming up all together.

They make this polenta which takes some time,

so it is fantastically...

But they are a very nice bunch of people.

'After the war, getting by up here near the Swiss border

'involved something else.'

-Ah!

-That's very, very clever.

He means the smuggling!

When two countries they have different systems

where the economics is slightly different,

the arrangiarsi is to go to one side,

bring things that are cheaper to the other.

-Questa?

-Ecco, questa andava in Svizzera portava sacchi di caffe.

Quello li e caffe.

There was smuggling of coffee with mules. It's very interesting.

They were all goods that were much cheaper in Switzerland.

Cheaper. Antonio, guarda questo.

-Cigarette!

-That's lovely. The smuggling of cigarettes.

Unbelievable.

Also women. Anche le donne. Perche? Quanto?

Quelle li, le nascostevano sotto i vestiti, no?

So in this picture here, this shown how the ladies,

they were taking the cigarettes, see, out of their pants.

The women concealed contraband under their skirts, and were mules too.

Have a look at this one, Antonio. Look where she put the cigarette.

Have a look! I can't believe it.

GENNARO LAUGHS

In places where you can't tell.

Here in the Alps feels such a long way from my place near Naples.

Like me, pizza comes from the South.

But if I adapt the ingredients, like they do in the North,

we will get by - arrangiarsi.

-Did you collect all this, old man?

-What are you doing?

-Lovely pizza.

You know I wanted to remember a little bit my home town, make a pizza.

But here they actually make nice pizza. They call, pizza valtellinese.

So, what do you do now?

OK. Then inside here I put 500 grams of strong flour.

You need a strong flour to make pizza.

Then I put roughly about ten grams of salt. Yeah?

Yeah.

Mix in properly, the salt and the flour,

-and, when I went to get...

-Where did you get that one?

-Yeast. Then you mix it.

-Yeah.

Tell you, I've made this so many times. Then you add water.

-Yeah.

-Slowly, slowly, slowly.

Uh-huh? Shall I hold the thing here?

Yeah, hold the... Oh, you know, you're good.

And then you mix all together. There is nothing to mixing it. Doesn't take very long.

-Oh yeah.

-Oh yeah.

-Oh yeah.

Now at this stage,

cover and leave it for about half hour.

After half hour, you get the dough.

You work it and you make it to a little ball.

When you make a little ball like that,

you let it rest for about nearly two hours.

The pizza dough is ready so,

-That's why it's called fast food, eh?

-Yeah. Not really.

Put a bit of flour on the dough.

Press it.

Look at this dough.

Gennaro, for certain, the pizza has quite some mystery behind it.

There's lots of mystery, why up here.

Pinched from the Arabs. by the Italians.

Yeah, pitta bread at the beginning, you know.

-Now we need to put something on top.

-Yes, what?

-Creme fraiche?

-Creme fraiche, that's not working for me.

It's gruyere.

Lovely. I like gruyere.

I just love it. It's such a good cheese.

Mozzarella comes from the south, so I'm making do with some Gruyere.

Olive oil.

Lovely colour, look at this.

Spread.

-it's done.

-And that's all?

-No.

Very fine. Can you see the lovely onions that give it that lovely flavour?

Yeah. What, what is this. Ah!

Just need a few slices of salami. Just on top.

But I would put it flat because otherwise it burns there on the top.

-OK.

-Yeah, like this one. Better.

Better? Little trace of olive oil.

-Again?

-Oh, yeah.

You got nice, fresh oregano.

-Now it's ready to go.

-OK, put it in.

Shall I? Put him in. Like you say, one, two, three. Look at that. Oh, yes.

-Perfect.

-Perfect pizza.

That looks wonderful. Lovely.

It's still bubbling. Look! Oh!

Wow! This is a proper pizza!

-Yeah!

-It looks good.

Last, bit of fresh oregano. Going to give it nice...

-Oh, yes.

-Let's see.

-Let's see.

-Yes or no?

-Yes, Gennaro!

Oh! I got it, got it, got it!

We have learned how people used to survive here -

smuggling, fighting and scraping a living from the land.

And we have met people who have adapted these strategies

to get by in today's world.

I'm going to enjoy the landscape here.

It's wonderful.

And now, I have just one last wish.

Fishing.

I would like to eat the trout.

Oh well, I've got an old fishing rod out the back.

Gennaro has proved himself the ultimate boy scout. Born survivor.

I've got a small one.

Come on! Come on, I need to feed Antonio.

Didn't go very far.

You know when somebody is in a situation and said

"Oh, I don't know what to do,"

and somebody said, "Well, arrangiati - just get on with it."

And Gennaro can.

That didn't go very far. What's happened?

Because he has been brought up on the road,

he was swimming instead of going to school,

and he grew up in the most natural of the ways.

So he goes picking anything,

he does really wonderful things, actually.

Come, there's a bit of cheese at the end. Come on.

Ya! Jesus. I'm cheesed-off.

I don't think they like very much this cheese.

There's plenty fish, and I can't get any.

-Gennaro?

-Yeah?

I am, I am hungry.

Yes. Yeah. Here.

No fish, no matter! There is always mushrooms.

Thank you!

Gennaro, can you put also a bit of salt?

Wonderful.

They shouldn't be cooked, just a bit sort of scalded.

-They are fine.

-With two clove of garlic.

-Yeah. One there.

Yeah, I'm going to get another one. So simple, this dish. I can't wait to taste it.

Garlic, little bit of chilli. How much you like chilli?

-Oh, quite, quite a lot.

-Quite a lot.

Yes. It's sizzling, you see.

Sizzling, nice. Add the honey fungus.

-Can I have a fork, Antonio?

-Yes, here.

Oh, don't break them. They are lovely whole.

-Because mushrooms, they reduce to nothing.

-Yeah.

You know they are about 95% water.

Gennaro, that view and the smell makes me really very happy.

Just the pasta now.

-Oh, yes.

-That's wonderful!

Oh, that... Italy is the country where

with just very, very few ingredients you can prepare a speciality.

Look at this! Yes. Yes. Fantastic.

Mmmm. Yum.

'I know as long as I am with Gennaro, we will always get by.'

-Delightful.

-Ohhh, I love it!

I really didn't believe that would be

-a wonderful plate of pasta like this...

-Mmm.

..for the two greedy Italians.

-Can we toast it, Antonio?

-We can.

-To this beautiful day.

Your friend!

Come on, boy!

'Next time, we're off to the eternal city -

'Roma!'

What a friend you are!

'To see what it means to be a man in Italy today.'

Gennaro, you lose, there.

'We will find out if Italy

'is still a man's world.'

He has five, five wives.

With this!

And we will be eating lots of delicious food.

-Perfect.

-Oh!

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