Saints and Miracles Two Greedy Italians

'I am Antonio Carluccio.'

Wonderful!

'Food is my religion.'

'I am Gennaro Contaldo.

'I think food is a gift from God.'

Give us a kiss! Give us a kiss!

'We are an old pair of friends.

'Gennaro is a typical southerner.

'He is very religious.'

I'm a fanatic, maybe, OK.

'But one thing I know, I do believe in Him.

'I've never seen Antonio inside a church.'

'It's not just me. They say nowadays only a third of Italians go to Mass.

'So, here we are, one Doubting Thomas and one true believer,

'trying to find out if Italians today are more like me...'

Delightful.

'..or like him.'

'And if religious food is still as good.'

'We are going on a pilgrimage to meet Gennaro's special saint,

'a man who could fly and had holes in his hands.'

It is just unbelievable!

'And we'll see what Italians eat on the Day of the Dead...'

'..when all the guests are ghosts and ghouls.'

All the souls rise from death at 7:00.

'We are looking for the real Italy, the Italy of today.

'And along the way, we'll be cooking!

'And eating! Yes!'

'For me, the most interesting thing about religion is

'and always will be the food, of course.

'In Italy, every town still has its own saint.

'And even today, every saint day festival has

'its own special cake.' Signora.

'Wow. Two communion wafers filled with almonds, cinnamon and honey.'

They look fantastic, Gennaro.

If this would be a host given to me at the Communion,

I would be every day in the church!

-All the calendar!

-'We have come to

'one of the most religious regions in Italy.

'This landscape is about stories of saints and miracles.

'And since ancient times, pilgrims have come to visit its holy shrines.

'We are in Puglia in the south-east -

'far, far away from the industrial north.

'I'm taking Antonio on a pilgrimage

'to try the food at the holy places, along an ancient path.'

'The Via Francigena.'

'And Gennaro's ensuring his place in Heaven by insisting

'we go some of the way on foot.'

Here, go, Antonio, little bit more.

If we were proper pilgrims, we'd walk thousands of kilometres

'and find our food as we went along.'

-What? What is it?

-Prickly pear, I don't know!

-Wow!

-Oh, prickly pear!

-Wow!

-That one is mine!

-No, that is mine!

Just brush it to remove all the little thorns.

There you are.

On top here, cos remember, they still have little thorns.

That's wonderful. Look at this. Ah!

If we were really pilgrims, you actually will forage for this fruit.

-Because it's almost all year round you can find one of these.

-Gratis.

Unless you find a farmer that runs after you!

-Antonio!

-Yes?

Oh, that's wonderful, Gennaro!

I got a big one!

So you won't starve anymore!

I can guarantee you!

'Pilgrims did take some food on their long journeys,

'all preserved, dried and easy to carry.'

Ooh! Capocollo!

Capocollo, but this is a salami.

-You know what it is.

-Ooh, yeah!

-This is called caciocavallo.

-Let's pretend you...

Cavallo is the horse, the cacio, the cheese, was on the horse.

So, me as a horse and you as a donkey!

What you got? Have you got anything you brought?

Oh, yes. Chocolate.

There was no chocolate in those days!

So you can't really be the real pilgrim.

-Ah, Gennaro!

-And do you know what, Antonio?

At least I can share, yeah?

Don't be greedy!

I'm not greedy! Who's greedy?!

'You'd soon run out of food with Antonio!'

'When pilgrims really had nothing to eat,

'they'd head for the nearest monastery.'

'They are famous in Italy for producing

'delicious home-grown meat and vegetables.'

'Actually, they were the earliest restaurants.

'Since medieval times, hungry pilgrims could pop in for a meal.

'And the greedy ones!'

'This is the Santuario di San Matteo.

'It's been feeding pilgrims since the tenth century.'

'I imagine in the summer this field is buzzing with bees,

'fruit, chicken, everything.'

'It looks like the Franciscan friars are

'still feeding passing waifs and strays.'

'Antonio can't wait to get his paws on that food.

'I hope he will behave himself in this holy place.'

Buona sera. Antonio.

Si. Si. Si.

I quite need it! I should be free from all the bad things!

'But what I really want to know about is the food.'

I hear that you produce things?

You produce it here?

Yes, the recipe.

And you produce it here?

Not here. Other convents, other cloisters.

And tell me something. Olive oil -

you produce our own olive oil?

No, no, no.

'A-ha! Honey!'

You have bees as well?

Yes, miele.

Yes, but you produce miele?

-Oh, Antonio, look at all these herbs.

-They are wonderful.

-For blood pressure.

-Cholesterol.

-Cholesterol, depression.

-Choose one.

I'm going to choose one for you.

-This one for you.

-Oh, you need it too, as well.

-No, no. Do you know what it is?

-Yes.

Dimagra.

-Losing weight.

-That will be very good for you. I'll buy it for you.

Did you hear what he said?

I am beautiful like this! Bah!

Invitation is to go to the kitchen!

'Even if they don't sell their own produce,

'they will grow and cook wonderful things.'

Bellissimo!

What do you cook, usually?

-No.

-'They don't grow anything. What is going on?'

So, this was the allotment which used to grow all the vegetables?

'You'd think they would have time to grow a few vegetables!

'Suddenly it's clear why there's no time for gardening.

'Every day, herds of religious tourists turn up

'to touch a famous holy relic,

'the 2,000-year-old tooth of St Matthew, the Apostle.

'When the tour groups arrive, the friars have to drop everything.'

'Except the tooth, of course.'

They used to have all the produce of the earth,

and it's not done any more. So there, I am really very disappointed.

'Five friars looking after international coach tours.

'It feels like the Last Supper for monastery food.'

'I'm keen to get back to dinner in the hotel,

'but Gennaro wants to spend a night.

'We came here for food, and frankly he's going a little off course.'

I told him I've been waiting for 45 years to sleep...

-45 years?

-..to sleep in a convent.

-Get in!

-OK.

-Bye-bye!

Sleep well!

Buona notte. Ciao.

Funny chap!

Grazie, thank you very much.

Grazie.

Sleep well, sleep well.

Thank you. Oh, bless them!

'I always wanted to sleep in a convent.

'Make me feel more in touch.

'When I was a little boy,

'I wished I was a friar.'

To share the community, to believe in one thing

and not to have so much of everything.

WINE SPLASHES

Good sound!

Delightful.

Poor Gennaro.

'After his night in the cell, Gennaro is acting like we are

'Mary and Joseph on the road to Bethlehem.

'He is going completely over the top.'

I can't get through this one, can I?

Call him Gennaro and then we will see!

It looks like your relation!

Come on, Gennaro, come on!

Oh, my God!

'The friars told me any serious pilgrim carries a heavy rod,

'representing the burden of his sins.

'A little extra weight will do Gennaro no harm at all.'

You know, we should take a stone, signifying our sins.

The more sins you have, the bigger the stone.

So, how many sins do you think you have done?

-Why you want me to...?

-That... Just believe me.

Well, it's quite a weight.

Ah.

-This is mine.

-Call him a cheat!

-Ah, no, it's not a cheat!

-It is a cheat.

-I don't sin like you.

Gennaro, if you would be a proper, proper pilgrim,

you would have to carry this for all the rest of your journey.

What are my sins?

-Shall I count them all?

-Yeah.

-You are greedy, first of all.

-Yeah?

Secondly, you are storyteller.

-Thirdly, you are just existing.

-Yes.

And I think, OK, anything goes!

You are forgetful, as well. This is another thing.

'Tonight, we are in a cosy pilgrim's inn.

'Gennaro's going to make the sort of hearty stew

'pilgrims used to eat in the monastery.'

I'm going to cook lamb with peas. It's so delicious.

Slowly, slowly cook. Antonio is looking at me with a face,

to say, "When are you going to make it?"

I'm hungry.

He's always hungry.

But this is... I guarantee, it is so nice. It's so holy as well.

It isn't a traditional dish. We make it at Easter.

It's traditional Easter, but you can have them every day.

So, I'm going to start cutting some meat.

This is the shoulder of lamb, you can see.

I even left a little bit of the fat on it, because fat dissolved

slowly, slowly, will give a lovely flavour.

And, you know, here I'm just going to do big chunk of lamb,

-which I cut this way.

-I have a plate here.

I'm going to put everything inside the plate here,

and season a little bit.

Then inside, and then I mix with my hands.

While Antonio holds it... Bravo, Antonio.

Again, I'm going to have onions,

so, roughly chop.

Cos it's going to cook for a long time.

So if you cut them too thin, they will mostly dissolve.

Cut the carrots, quite big pieces.

I'm going to put some olive oil in a pan.

Abundant olive oil.

Abundant, like you like it.

-Onion goes straight in.

-ONIONS SIZZLE

You can hear the lovely music.

Then I'm going to have celery, so roughly chopped like that.

-Very big bits.

-Don't forget they're going to cook for a long time.

Then you get the garlic and just crush it.

Crush it, crush it, crush it.

My goodness, you are strong!

Have them inside.

Then you get the chilli.

-With the seeds?

-With the seeds.

OK, this is a little bit slow.

You know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to put it right underneath,

because I want them to have a little bit more high power.

Now I'm going to put some anchovies.

It's about five fillets of anchovies.

-ONIONS SIZZLE

-This is the music I love to hear.

-It tells me that I can put the meat inside.

-There you are!

Lamb inside.

If you cook at home, yes, it will be on high flame.

Because I need to seal the meat.

I need to get that flavour out,

and get the fat which is round the lamb, to dissolve it.

Yeah, move on! What do you put on it now?

A little bunch of thyme.

I will put a little bit of wine inside.

-White, yes?

-White wine, yeah.

Could be red as well.

Well, do you know what, Antonio?

I prefer white. Also, I will add a little bit of vinegar.

Vinegar and lemon as well?

They have this property to really lift up the flavour.

Now we're going to leave it for about 20 minutes.

Give it a stir, give it a stir.

Yeah, I will, OK, I'll give them a stir.

And I will move them up.

Yeah.

Again, I'm going to put inside the rest of the ingredients.

You see, 20 minutes go by now.

I'll put a few more logs of wood underneath.

Now, the fire has started to get too hot.

So I have to put it down a little bit.

And I got a quartered potato.

But I don't want to do them too thin.

If they're thin, they'll dissolve. You have them inside.

Then we will put 200 grams of cherry tomatoes.

You know that I like to squash the tomatoes like that.

OK. To make you happy, Antonio.

Do you know why he wanted me to do that?

Let me show you why he wants to make me like that.

Because if I do like that, look.

Are you happy?

I am not happy because you should have squashed it in the other way,

not direct in my face!

Now, 250 grams frozen peas.

Make sure you defrost them inside the bag. Just leave them out.

Of all the frozen food,

the only one that I really accept they are the peas,

and perhaps the broad beans,

because it's the only one that, really, they are collected fresh,

and they are very tender.

Now, at this stage, stir them a little bit.

Hold on, Antonio.

I am going to put them on top of my chopping board.

So, you add a little bit of water,

but don't put any stock or anything.

-OK?

-Yum, yum!

And now, get some nice aluminium foil, just like that.

And cook for about,

on very low gas,

for about 40 to 45 minutes.

45 minutes? I am hungry now, actually.

Shall I go and have a walk or something, or what?

No, we play nice game of cards.

Wow, look at this!

Yeah, no, I know. Don't look at my cards!

I just was saying... I'm not looking at your cards!

And seven of these.

Yeah? Seven.

-Nine.

-Listen, do you want to win all the time?

-I won!

-Come on!

-Yeah! I won! Cheating?!

-You are cheating!

-Why don't you accept?

I don't play with you anymore.

Give me something to eat, actually, I am hungry.

All the flavour.

-Lovely.

-You can think about this.

-Give it to me, Gennaro, that one.

-This is yours.

-No, no, this is my plate here.

-OK, have it.

-That's yours.

Why are you having a big one, I having a small one?

I don't care! Give me a fork.

I am hungry. I waited all the time for this.

Yeah, me too, but why are you going to have a big one?

-Mind you, I can talk!

-Oh, the smell is wonderful, Gennaro.

Delicious.

Ah! Yeah! I done it again!

I am very glad to have a big plate.

The friars at San Mateo believe Italians are turning away from the spiritual life.

But one pilgrim centre attracts more visitors than anywhere in the whole of Italy,

the town of San Giovanni Rotondo.

Gennaro is extremely excited.

This is where my saint lived

until he died in 1968,

Padre Pio was a friar who received the stigmata from God,

the wounds of Christ.

He cured the sick and still helps people today.

I love him.

When I was six, I was ill, and my mother brought me to see Padre Pio

and I walked beside him.

And a voice come to me and said, "There's nothing wrong with you,

"go to your mum, tell her you're all right."

Since then nothing, nothing happened again.

If you don't call this miracle,

I don't know what you have to call miracle.

Padre Pio...

..is like Christ for me.

He's a person that I can put my head on his shoulder.

Even I have heard of Padre Pio.

He was made a saint in 2002.

Devotees believe he worked miracles.

Some say he floated above the town to stop bombers in the war.

Across all of Italy, he is worshipped.

I'm a fanatic, maybe, OK. You can call me anything you like.

But one thing I know, I do believe in him.

When I came here,

there was just a little church with nothing around at all.

There was none of all this. This is...everything is new.

It's extra modern.

Now, eight million people a year come to San Giovanni Rotondo.

But I'm a bit nervous about bringing Antonio Carluccio.

If this is not business, I don't know what it is.

Every possible thing is turned into money here.

Even tiles for the roofs.

It's just unbelievable.

It is extraordinary.

An industry has grown up around the story of one little man.

There's no sign of people turning away from religion here.

There's even a Padre Pio TV station.

We broadcast in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America,

-Canada.

-Wow.

And we are planning on broadcasting in Latin America, too.

-We don't know when, though.

-So how many sort of listeners do you think you reach?

Oh, millions, millions.

The station goes all over the world, Antonio.

We also have a programme in English.

Yes. Hello from San Giovanni Rotondo.

It's interesting to know.

We try to do our best.

Gennaro is a good client.

Yeah, well...

They use every possible means of spreading the word.

And now Padre Pio apps for smart phones.

All the devotees are able to watch our channel on the application.

-How many people do you think you can reach? Is it calculable?

-Virtually billions.

Billions.

Gennaro, you are in big company.

Unbelievable! A brilliantly marketed holy celebrity.

-You know what, Antonio? I'm going inside the church.

-Yeah.

You want to come with me inside the church?

Do you think they give coffee there?

-No, I don't think so, Antonio.

-Well, then look, I do a proposal.

You go to the church, and I'm gong to the pub.

-Then I meet you there.

-Yes.

-OK, we do that.

I want to see how pilgrims eat here.

It's pretty obvious that the 21st century has taken place here.

The feeding of the eight million.

This is where they've laid Padre Pio's body.

All these people.

Maybe, like me, they are looking for simple answers in a confusing world.

Business must go very well here.

The owner has a Cartier watch and a wonderful one as well.

I know it cost a lot of money.

The food that I had here, I improved with a bit of olive oil, a bit of salt, a bit of cheese.

In those places, serving so many people,

they have everything ready made and so on, but it's not as good.

People are getting rich with...

In my opinion,

this is a mass marketed belief,

served with mass produced food.

Both have somewhat lost touch with their roots.

I hope Gennaro is having a more inspiring time.

This pilgrim, he walked all the way from Spain.

Lourdes, Fatima, Rome,

Santiago de Compostela, everywhere he goes,

and they give him a stamp.

Come on.

Come on.

If this is not a believer, I don't know what a believer is.

He brings some salami with him.

And a mortadella.

He says, yeah, that little fat inside, they give us energy.

This believer is doing something extraordinary.

Religion can be fantastic, whatever Antonio thinks.

Take this massive hospital.

Here is, Antonio, this is an hospital built by Padre Pio

when he was still alive.

-Yeah.

-And all the money was charity money.

It's one of the best hospitals in the world.

-And it has over 1,000 beds.

-Gennaro, that's impressive.

This is one hospital with fantastic food.

Comes fresh every day from Padre Pio's farm.

-Wow.

-Look at that, look at that.

-Buongiorno!

Bella, bella. What kind of place is this, this wonderful place here?

Well, this is a farm donated to Padre Pio in 1956.

We cultivated the olive trees.

-We have 70 hectares of olive trees.

-70 hectares?

We have cows, we produce mozzarella cheese and all the soft cheese.

-All for the hospital?

-That's all for the hospital.

Gennaro, I think that if the food is delivered from here,

it must be very good food in the hospital.

-Of course it is, indeed.

-Better than in Britain.

So this is the paste with the hot water, really hot.

Wonderful! They are making a caciocavallo cheese,

the pilgrim's favourite. It starts like mozzarella

and it's stretched and shaped in very hot water.

-So it's about 80...

-82 degrees.

-82 degrees?

And he has his hands in it. For me, burns.

So he have to shape it in a certain way and the layers, they're inside.

Ah! This is what it's all about.

Simple ingredients and serious men with pride in the food they make.

-There is so much work, Antonio.

-It's wonderful.

Then it's put on strings to age,

just like the ones pilgrims use in their portable picnics.

OK, here we are.

This is the place where the cheese matures.

-Oh-ho!

-Caciocavallo.

-Wonderful!

Now, this is what I call a place of worship.

Pecorino, piccorone. You have also the stracciatella.

Stracciatella is something unbelievable.

Look at this! Ah!

How do you make this, tell me?

-We have to just ring all the mozzarella.

-Yeah.

And then dip it in the double cream.

Gennaro, you felt yourself in heaven today, yes, but with Padre Pio.

-That's my Padre Pio.

-OK.

-Go away.

-Yeah.

It's so delicious!

Oh, mama mia!

Puglia has always specialised in simple food.

Wheat, grapes and the most incredible oil.

This is olive country.

I can hear them sing.

It's incredible!

What a lovely song, Antonio.

# Che bella cose naina de sole. #

OLIVE PICKERS SING LOUDER

GENNARO HUMS JAUNTY TUNE

Buongiorno!

Anyone speak English here?

-Wonderful.

-Nice to meet you. Maria.

Nice to meet you, Maria. Is this your family here?

Yeah, this is my mother-in-law's land.

We've come with all the cousins to pick the olives.

And tell me something. Are these olives you pick,

the oil you produce is for your own use, or are you going to sell it?

No, no, for our own use.

Tell me, I am very curious. What is the age of this young girl here?

If you have just the oil and bread, you can survive

and this is the most important thing.

You know what, Antonio? If you think olive oil is the first thing, when you've been baptised,

the priest puts oil.

And then the last thing when you die, is oil.

So beginning and ending. And in between, olive oil.

And between, olive oil always through with salad, with cooking,

we make bread and stuff. It's unbelievable.

Gennaro, I would like to see you going on a tree

and pick the famous olives.

OK, can you help me? Push me from underneath.

Hey, push! Hey, hey!

Are you there? Well done, Gennaro.

OK, now where's the olives?

Where's the olives? I want olives!

Give me the olives!

Give me the olives!

Gennaro, they already collected.

Perhaps it was the wrong tree.

It's lunchtime. Would you like to come?

Yeah, yeah! Yeah! A mangiare!

Antonio, what about the food on this table?

It's wonderful, wonderful.

Peppers, potato, tomato, garlic and a lovely oil which is inside here.

Incredible.

I am not a religious man but this is my idea of heavenly lunch.

This bread, now Antonio, look at the bread.

-Gennaro?

-Yes.

Rarely I've seen a coppa like this.

You make this one, yeah?

Maria, her family grew and made all the food on this table.

It is fantastic.

I think it makes them closer to God.

Growing food helps this family through the hard times.

It is not surprising they revere it and celebrate the cycles of life.

THEY SING IN ITALIAN

Puglia is known as the bread basket of Italy.

In the summer these plains are covered in wheat

and they produce the most wonderful bread.

Bread, the most sacred food of all, the body of Christ.

We are heading for an old straw-fired bread oven.

One of the best ovens ever, because it cooks with indirect heat, amazing.

Oh, look. This is the big hole.

So he calls the big hole "inferno", which means hell.

And if you are not careful, the bread goes down there and that's it.

It is a lost soul.

Perhaps even worse than that, Gennaro. I don't know what you're worried about.

I'm not worried about, Antonio.

If I have to go, Antonio, do you know what?

If you ask me what person I have to have with me,

you know, would be nice to have you.

Because I can actually do anything I like inside there.

And also to cuddle you.

Gennaro, you are wonderful. You're wonderful. Give us a kiss, give us a kiss.

Mwah. Mwah!

Ah, bless you.

You see? You've started changing now.

Angelo's reverence for bread reminds me of my mother.

Nothing changes here.

Ah. Ah!

Ooh, la pizza.

That's wonderful. Look at this.

The fresh tomatoes on top.

Bread balls.

So with a bit of cheese and a little bit of parsley, a little garlic. Wow.

Mmm.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Antonio, this is bread which you removed all inside the bread.

And the same stuff you removed, you cook with all the vegetables,

olive oil.

-That's fantastic.

-Then you put it back.

Purer, the taste couldn't be.

Nature as itself.

Ah! The final part of the holy trinity - the wine.

The big one for you.

And the small one for me.

Listen, he knows the social orders.

Yes, I know, I know.

-That's...

-Salute! Make sure Jesus, I can see you.

It's empty. Have some more.

Shall we see if we see the Madonna now?

Can we see?

Yeah!

And again.

OK, let's do again.

Make sure Antonio - happy?

I think I'm stuck!

OK! One, two, three, all in the one time.

OK, one, two.

I think I had enough.

I didn't see Jesus

but I do believe stale bread is the most wonderful ingredient.

-Antonio?

-Yes?

Look at the view - it is incredible!

It is fantastic.

It's called the Tavolieri di Puglia, so the Table of Puglia.

I'm going to make a bread salad. What do you think?

That's fantastic. I like bread.

Here is the bread. A double cooked bread.

Almost like a biscuit.

Easy. Just pour some water on top.

In it, for the bread in it to drink.

That's wonderful in summer.

People, they take this bread, squash it, ripe tomato,

a little bit of olive oil, and you have a taste.

-Say now.

-Puglia.

So I start first when I cut the carrot in small strip.

That should be enough for now.

And of course celery.

-But remember celery, I need to keep...

-The leaves.

Make sure you only use the tender part, because they're sweet.

If you use the very green ones, they are bitter. They're not very good.

So again, cut it in little strips.

Then the water is boiling. I need to blanch a little bit.

Then I start with red pepper, OK?

So you cut it.

I'm salivating.

Then you make into little strip again.

Got the red and the yellow peppers.

Then I go to the shallot, cut it.

Onions. Then garlic.

And I'm going to strain it because it's almost done.

Oh-ho-ho-ho!

Now I'm going to finish off, zucchini.

Chop, chop, chop.

Aubergines.

Just a little bit, with the hard skin.

Oh, Antonio, the cats. I can hear the cats.

I love it.

This oil, Gennaro, it is the vierette pressing of the olive,

just brought in.

It's just the fruit, you drink.

I know, I know, it's drink.

If you put a little teat on top and you give it to Antonio, he will enjoy.

-I would, I would.

-Let's put it inside here.

I'm going to start with anchovies,

I'm going to put two fillets of anchovies.

You see, they melted away.

And then I will add some garlic and shallot and a few olives, OK?

Then I go with yellow, red peppers.

Bit of courgette.

Stirring, stirring, stirring.

Now I'll add inside the aubergines, the carrots and the celery.

Bit of salt.

Not too much.

Not too much, you're right, because there is the anchovies.

Little thyme, strip it.

And then I will start to put one tablespoon of sugar.

And now I'm going to put three tablespoons of vinegar.

Wow.

Stir it, stir it, stir it, stir it, and let it reduce a bit.

The sugar and the vinegar they become almost like a syrup.

I add fresh basil.

I do not cut it, I break it.

But I will roughly chop the celery.

-And by now, the bread...

-Breaks very easily.

Breaks very easy, but it still stays in one piece,

it's still got that little bit al dente, that crunchiness.

-Mmm!

-Which is fantastic.

I can already imagine.

-Go on, just go on.

-Come on, come on, come on.

And, just for you, but also for me, I will put a few anchovies.

That's beautiful.

Ah!

And just tell me.

Go on, come on!

Delightful.

Yeah!

It's 1st November, the day of a pagan festival

that's unique to the town of Orsara di Puglia.

It's All Souls Day, the Day of the Dead.

People party all night.

But before we sample the food,

it's 11am and the whole town has come to mourn its loved ones.

I don't know.

It's moving,

but I make some provision to put a few ashes in one huge firework,

have a lovely party and the firework being banged in the air

and there was Antonio Carluccio.

And I hope they do it.

Where is Gennaro?

Where is he praying?

There you are.

How are you?

-All right, thank you.

-Yeah?

Are you sure?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK.

I know that you take it...

..a bit heavy.

-It's all right.

-You're all right.

But be happy. Tonight we have big celebration with food,

with sausages and fires everywhere.

Shall we go?

-Come on, let's go.

-OK, you're all right.

-Yeah, fine, let's go.

Good.

Good, good, good.

When night falls, we head into town to see what's cooking.

Antonio!

Gennaro!

Come in, you have to see this. Come in, come in.

There's a queue for getting the meat, for the festivity.

SPEAKS ITALIAN

So about a tonne of sausages to celebrate today.

And enjoy themselves!

Queue and queue and queue.

-Let's go eat something, Antonio, I'm feeling very hungry.

-Buona sera.

-Buona sera, grazie. Bueno apetito.

-Unbelievable.

-Tremendous.

There is a strange, spooky feeling in the streets.

Everyone is putting candles outside their houses and building bonfires.

They believe the flames and the sparks attract the dead

back to spend just one night with their families.

We come across Vito, from the olive-picking family.

I want to know if teenage lads still believe all this stuff.

This house that we're near here, apparently, this old woman,

-her name was Messalina, died in the stairs.

-Yes.

-And every now and then, you hear the steps of the woman going up and down the stairs.

-Yes.

So we always put a chair so the old lady can sit here

and watch the fire with us.

Which kind of food do you cook now when the fire is on?

-Pork chops.

-Pork chops?

-Sausages.

-Yes.

-Bacon.

-Bacon.

-We have to light the fire now.

-What time is it?

-Half past six.

-All the souls rise from the death at seven o'clock.

-At seven?

-Yes.

Do they have an alarm call?

-The fire, before seven, all the saints will get angry.

-Antonio, I fully agree.

-You agree?

-Of course! Did you want the souls to be angry? You tell me.

I don't think that in the soul they can be angry if you do a little fire.

Antonio, no, no, no, no, no. They will. They will.

Look. He says that. They all say that.

Seven o'clock.

I say that you're a minority, so we light at seven o'clock.

-Everything is precise.

-Precise.

It has to be seven o'clock the fire has to be lit.

Seven o'clock precise.

Raw sausages!

'Well, obviously it's going to be a long wait here.

'Perhaps Vito's mother Maria has something to offer.'

This is a traditional granocotto for All Saints Day.

Oh, yes.

'Granocotto means cooked grain.'

-So the recipe is that you put this grain...

-Barley, yes.

-..into water for one day.

-One day, overnight.

Then you boil it in plenty of water.

Water. Then you add vincotto.

-It's a sort of...

-Cooked wine.

A sort of syrupy thing.

Let me taste because my granny used to prepare it,

it was just wonderful.

Mm, mm, mm, mm.

I want to taste it, as well.

It is just fantastic.

-There we go.

-A bit of pomegranate, wonderful.

And a bit of chocolate.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Here we go.

This is a very old recipe.

Looks to me that it's been here for a long, long time.

-How is it? Is it delicious?

-Wonderful.

And this is what you cook on All Souls Day?

The women go to the cemetery. So they don't have time to bake bread.

Maria, the soul of a relative that comes inside the house.

And do you believe that?

Yes, I do believe.

Ask your mother-in-law.

So it's true that they see the soul.

They saw the souls.

I say cheers to all the souls of the world.

Nona Pepinella, my granny,

wherever you are, cheers.

It's wonderful.

Where religious belief is simple in the heart of ordinary people,

so is the food.

And there is always a place for absent friends.

I smell sausages.

Sausages.

-Sausages.

-Sausages.

-Sausages. Ah!

-Sausages everywhere.

-Gennaro, they are special for this occasion.

-OK.

-Biscuit with vincotto.

-Where?

-Here.

-OK, let's go.

-In there.

Gennaro, you know exactly that the Italians, we all love food.

And we wait for just a celebration of any kind to have special food.

Any excuse.

Now we are going to use Italy's most famous celebration cake,

Christmas Panettone, to make a wonderful pudding.

Should you be the happy recipient of a panettone

around Christmas time, there are various ways to deal with it.

When I talked to my friend, Gennaro, I said, "What shall we do?

"Shall we do something different?"

And he came to the idea to make the Zucotto.

Zucotto is a speciality from Tuscany.

We start with the ricotta and the ricotta will be put in two lots.

And we have here about half a kilo of ricotta.

Freshly made.

So I think that it's now half each.

This is candied peel of lemon

and other fruit, which, cut into small pieces...

Gennaro, can you do me the honour?

-Of course, with the greatest pleasure.

-Fantastic.

Meanwhile, I will put the sugar...

So, I divide it here probably 75 grams of sugar.

I weigh it with my hand. And I start to work it.

So now the panettone is a celebration thing

and unites all of Italy somehow.

You say in your house you don't eat panettone.

-I do eat panettone.

-When?

I usually have a panettone at Christmas.

How can you do Christmas without a panettone?

No, that's what I think.

So we put some cocoa powder here,

yes, about 30, 40 grams of this.

This is an easy recipe everybody can work,

especially the children.

I remember I was assisting, and you too probably,

with all the cooking process.

Yeah, that's fantastic.

-That was the best bit.

-Yes.

Now I'm waiting for you to divide between the two.

Fantastic!

-Which one you want?

-This one here.

And then I take the other half.

-I'll come and cut the other one.

-The other one.

There we are. Gennaro, you must see that sometimes

I find it a little bit hard to be with you all the time.

Yes, I know, I do indeed. I mean you do indeed.

-Yes, but I think...

-But, don't say.

For this pudding here, we do a light, lovely collaboration, yes?

Oh, you still have to do the chocolate?

-Of course I do the chocolate.

-I need only 50 grams.

OK, while you're doing this, I cut actually the panettone.

Then we cut first of all two circles to put in between.

Shall we put them inside this one?

Half and half.

-Half and half.

-Half here, half there.

And now with the other one.

Shall I mix this one inside?

Yeah, a little bit there.

These are almonds - flaked almonds.

-Now mix it well.

-Yeah.

While I am preparing the base of it,

where I put Clingfilm, so that we can lift it better later on.

And now another little trick.

Vin Santo, it's holy wine, as they say.

Antonio, I can't wait.

I would like to brush it very well so it becomes quite moist and flavoursome.

So now we start with the white.

Now give me the other one.

I love this.

Yes.

Well, you put the weight here,

and we put it in the fridge.

Minimum six hours.

You can do it the day before.

There you are. La-la, la-la, la-la!

Panettone Zucotto.

And you cut it like this.

Mmm!

-You sure?

-Perfect, yes.

Yeah, yeah. Yes!

Fantastic. Look at this!

-Gennaro...

-Perfection!

This is a collaboration that is out of this world.

And now just taste it.

-Shall we?

-Yes. Happy Christmas, Happy New Year,

happy anything you want.

Happy every day.

Mmm. Mmm, mmm, hmm, hmm, mmm.

-Such a delicious flavour.

-It's wonderful.

Ah!

I have enjoyed our trip to Puglia

and for good food I put up with a bit of religion.

But before we leave this part of Italy,

I want to make a pilgrimage on my own.

This is the right thing.

-Antonio!

-Yes.

Come here, come here, come here, come here.

Oh, Antonio, I'm finding mushrooms so brilliant.

-Let's see.

-Antonio.

-Wow!

Trompette la mort. That's fantastic.

Or Horn of Plenty in English.

Antonio!

Wood blewits everywhere here.

Good. Collect them.

Bring some to me.

Antonio, there's so many.

You are a donkey, you can carry them.

This is my cathedral.

This is the world that I understand.

World made of nature.

The mushrooms are the kings, actually funnily enough.

Otherwise you could see sort of piles and piles and piles of leaves

and branches and trees become rotted.

And responsible for this rotting, they are the mushrooms.

This you can see really the eternal cycle of life.

Death comes down, something else is built up,

life comes back again and continues and continues and continues.

I don't know for how long. Nobody knows.

But that's the point.

That's the wonderful thing, that we don't know

when we are turned also into earth and ashes, and for another purpose.

Oh, the smell!

It is death and life together.

But the smell...

Almost edible.

Viva la natura!

Antonio...

This stone I carry inside is ever so heavy.

Which stone?

-What do you mean which stone?

-Yeah.

Antonio...

You carried this stone?

I've been carrying this stone for all the journey.

Was this yours?

-That was a joke.

-That was a joke? Now you realise.

I threw my stone a very long time ago.

-You threw your stone a long time?

-Yes.

It got heavier.

-Only Gennaro can do that.

-You fooled me.

Listen, Gennaro, we have done a long journey.

We have indeed, Antonio.

We had some grievances, but we had also lovely time.

More lovely time more than anything else.

Shall we symbolise everything that we ate together,

with that, turn the other way and start a new life.

New life, Anton? For 30 years, after 30 years.

Listen, listen, a new time, not a new life.

A new time without all those stupid jokes.

Just a minute, Anton. One for me and one for you.

Give him a kiss.

I don't believe a filthy stone. Throw it away.

One, two, three.

E voila.

Come on, let's go to eat, Antonio, come on. I'm starving.

I was carrying that stone all the way and you chucked away yours.

That's not fair.

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