0:00:03 > 0:00:06Hi, I'm Andrew Graham-Dixon, and I'm an art historian.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09These ancient roads are slightly bumpy.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Calma, calma.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And I'm Giorgio Locatelli, and I'm a cook.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20We've been all over Italy revealing gastronomic and artistic treasures.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25But now we've come to its beating heart - Rome.
0:00:28 > 0:00:34It's a 2,000-year-old metropolis where past and present collide.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36It's as unique for an art lover...
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Staring out at us.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42A painting of the first century AD, and there are not many of those.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45As it is for a food lover...
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Cuisine that has its backbone on necessity,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50that's the cuisine that survives!
0:00:50 > 0:00:55We will taste traditional recipes beloved by the Romans.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Oh, mamma mia!
0:00:57 > 0:00:58How good is that?
0:00:58 > 0:01:02And we'll plunge our forks into the cultures that have shaped the city.
0:01:02 > 0:01:09The whole world is cowering in awe of this symbol of papal power.
0:01:09 > 0:01:10HORN TOOTS
0:01:10 > 0:01:14We'll explore Rome's greatest works of art and architecture.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Not a bad room to have a party in.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Full of light...
0:01:21 > 0:01:23..but also, sometimes, darkness.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Unbelievable.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28I actually can hear him screaming.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43HORN TOOTS
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Sorry, scooter!
0:01:52 > 0:01:54- HORN BLARES - Calma, calma.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58GIORGIO CHUCKLES
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Rome is like a giant time machine,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06where treasures from over 2,000 years of history have been preserved
0:02:06 > 0:02:09in the many layers of the city.
0:02:09 > 0:02:10Ah, look! Look at this!
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Look at this, what I got for you, Andrew.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18Wow! Never fail to be amazed by that. Never fails.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Every great work of art in Rome, every great recipe,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26has deep roots in the past.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29That's why, to appreciate the richness of this city,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32you have to dig beneath its surface,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35to play the part of the archaeologist.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37All these Roman walls are enormous on the left, aren't they?
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Believe it or not.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43And there isn't a better place to start our journey through the
0:02:43 > 0:02:45many layers of Rome's history than here.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Just a couple of hundred yards from the Colosseum.
0:02:51 > 0:02:52OK, Andrew.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55So, here we are.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58I love this place. The church of San Clemente.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05Here in Rome, we really are surrounded by history,
0:03:05 > 0:03:062,000 years of it.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08It's become a cliche to say that,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11but what I really love about the city is the different textures
0:03:11 > 0:03:13of history that you get here.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And that's why I think this is a great first stop, San Clemente.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20It's a Christian church erected in the Middle Ages on the
0:03:20 > 0:03:23ruins of Roman pagan antiquity.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25It's like a vertical time machine.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27You can travel down, down, down, down, down,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31and right at the bottom there's this fantastic unexpected human story,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33but I'm not going to tell you what it is.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35- Let's go and have a look, then. - Andiamo.
0:03:40 > 0:03:41Wow.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45This is just one of the most beautiful churches in Rome.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50Look at this beautiful apse mosaic of Christ on the cross
0:03:50 > 0:03:52representing the tree of life.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54Beneath, you have Mary and John.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Look at the delicacy of his loincloth,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00that gold structure in mosaic.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04- The leaf looks like they are artichoke leaves.- They maybe are.
0:04:04 > 0:04:05That could be a Roman touch.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12- Incredibly beautiful. - So that, I may say, is probably
0:04:12 > 0:04:1450 or 60 years work.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16This is a very important church,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19because interred here were the remains of Pope Clement.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22- Yeah.- I think he's the third Pope after Peter.- Yes.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26So it's filled with Christian significance.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29But it's also, once you get your eye in and you look around,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33it's a spectacular demonstration of the way in which buildings in Rome
0:04:33 > 0:04:34have evolved over centuries of history.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39So, it's such a mishmash. You've got these ancient Roman columns.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41They don't match each other,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45they obviously just used what they could find to make that basilica.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48- Of course, they're all different! - They're all different.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51And then all of this rectangle of stone,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54this amazing marble choir gallery,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57was actually made in 536.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00- Wow...- Sixth century.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Like, 600 years before the church.
0:05:03 > 0:05:04Exactly.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Over there you've got something that takes us back to the early
0:05:08 > 0:05:1215th century, some early Renaissance frescos by Masolino.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Over there you've got a beautiful Renaissance tomb memorial
0:05:16 > 0:05:18- to one of the Popes.- OK.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23And then above, you've got this extraordinary Baroque ceiling,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26you know, from the 17th-18th century.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29So, you've got all these different levels of history
0:05:29 > 0:05:31- just in this one building. - Yes, yeah.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34But I'm going to have to take you actually downstairs,
0:05:34 > 0:05:38- because we can explore what lies beneath here.- Beneath.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42We are going down into the distant past!
0:05:43 > 0:05:46All of the Rome we see today is built on top of the other
0:05:46 > 0:05:48much older Romes.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Wow, it's incredible!
0:05:51 > 0:05:56In 1857, the prior of San Clemente, Friar Joseph Mullooly,
0:05:56 > 0:06:00uncovered the remains of a Christian church beneath the existing one,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03dating back all the way to the fourth century.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08Very little survives of the original church, just a few frescos.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Frescos depicting New Testament scenes and the life of San Clemente.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17But there's yet another lower layer that takes you back to a Rome
0:06:17 > 0:06:20400 years older even than that.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24We're going down into ancient Rome itself.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27You have to imagine, it's the time of Nero.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29Nero's fiddled, Rome's burned.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33They've rebuilt vast areas of the city, including all these houses.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35There's a rabbit warren of streets down here.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Archaeologists believe all this dates from roughly 70 AD,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43just after Nero's death.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46And in the basement of this house, look what we have.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49- Look what we have.- Wow!
0:06:51 > 0:06:53A subterranean chamber.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57This is the cult of Mithras.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03For a while, Mithraic cult was so strong and so powerful that it was
0:07:03 > 0:07:04a rival to Christianity.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06It had some of the same features as Christianity.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10It had ceremonies involving wine and blood,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14it had a central myth in which good triumphs over evil.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17A man kills a bull.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Look at that agonized neck of the bull.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Come with me. This is a part that they've...
0:07:23 > 0:07:25This is never open to the public, this part,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27but they've let us go in.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32They think that this was a schoolroom that was also part
0:07:32 > 0:07:34of the Mithraic cult.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38And if you bring your torch over here, if you look in the middle...
0:07:39 > 0:07:44..they think that that might be the schoolteacher staring out at us.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51A painting of the first century AD, and there are not many of those.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54This is, like, what, 2,100 years old?
0:07:54 > 0:07:55If he were still alive, yeah,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58he'd be celebrating his 2,000th birthday pretty soon.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00How amazing is that? GIORGIO CHUCKLES
0:08:01 > 0:08:02TRANSLATION:
0:08:05 > 0:08:07See, I always know when you like something
0:08:07 > 0:08:09cos you start speaking in Italian.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13I love it when a work of art puts you face to face with someone
0:08:13 > 0:08:15from another world.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18- And he just found it.- Wow!
0:08:20 > 0:08:22I am completely...
0:08:22 > 0:08:27Thank you, Andrew, this is such an incredible discovery, this place.
0:08:27 > 0:08:28Isn't it?
0:08:30 > 0:08:31I'm really glad you liked it.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45OK, Andrew, I'm going to take you all along the Lungotevere!
0:08:48 > 0:08:50See, now we're doing the Ponte Inglese.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53They call it the Ponte Inglese because...
0:08:53 > 0:08:55It's the only street in Rome where you drive on the left.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57That's right.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01I want to show Andrew a different type of archaeology.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03The archaeology of food.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06We are riding to the neighbourhood of Testaccio -
0:09:06 > 0:09:09only 12 minutes away by scooter from San Clemente.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14It's an area synonymous with food.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18In ancient times, the district was home to the imperial port,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22where the bulk of the Roman food supply was brought into the city.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25It's a bit rough around the edges.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27Where are you going to park?
0:09:29 > 0:09:35In 1888, Testaccio was where the city authorities decided to build
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Europe's largest municipal abattoir,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41which would go on to shape Rome's culinary style.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45So, where are we?
0:09:45 > 0:09:46It's a slaughterhouse.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49It's an enormous slaughterhouse.
0:09:49 > 0:09:50It's a beautiful slaughterhouse.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52You can see there's all these pens.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56The animals would be brought in from the countryside, then, you know,
0:09:56 > 0:09:58when it was the time they will be slaughtered
0:09:58 > 0:10:02and then taken in to feed the population.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Between 1870 and 1901,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Rome's population doubled from a quarter of a million
0:10:10 > 0:10:12to half a million.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16With so many new mouths to feed, they needed meat.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18And more of it than ever.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22- But this is, this is amazing! - Look at this.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24But this is like a city of death.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26- It's even still got the signs.- Yeah.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28They didn't only kill cows, they killed everything.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30You know, the chickens, everything.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Any kind of animal was slaughtered round here.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37But look at the architecture of it, it's like a temple.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40I love this marriage of styles.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44A classical pediment on a 19th century industrial slaughterhouse
0:10:44 > 0:10:46made of bricks and iron.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I just can't believe it, we're in the middle of Rome and this hasn't
0:10:49 > 0:10:53- been turned into apartment blocks or...- So, what happens is...
0:10:53 > 0:10:58- ..yuppie living.- The animal would be killed, the animal would be hanged,
0:10:58 > 0:10:59and then they could move around.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Incredible.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04In that space, I have to imagine, how many people?
0:11:04 > 0:11:08It would be, like, 60-80 people all dirty of blood.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Here was kind of like a pulsating sort of part of the town,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14because, you know, you know,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17you can only have a really lively town if you feed them and you have
0:11:17 > 0:11:20them healthy and they can work, and so-and-so.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26So this was part of kind of, even if it was about death, it's about life.
0:11:26 > 0:11:27It's amazing, this place.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29The energy in that room.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I mean, Charles Dickens would've
0:11:31 > 0:11:33written a whole novel about this place.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37It's like Rome delivers this piece of history.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40It's not like the history of politics or a history of, like,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43with a name attached to it or a movement.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46No, it's just part of actual real history.
0:11:48 > 0:11:49So, Giorgio, how did this
0:11:49 > 0:11:53- extraordinary place change the food of Rome?- OK.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57So you got to think about the new and extremely rich people
0:11:57 > 0:11:59and powerful people that ran this beautiful house,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02and they have, like, hundreds of people who serve and work in it.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05So they would send the cooks down to the market.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08The cooks would come down and buy a quarter of the animal.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11So they walk away with the front quarter or the back quarter.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14What was left in the place was all the other bits.
0:12:14 > 0:12:15What they call the quinto quarto.
0:12:15 > 0:12:16What we call the offal in English.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Like the liver, the kidneys, the heart, and the feet and...
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Yeah, the lips...
0:12:22 > 0:12:27Really, the most, you know, horrible bits, you know, of the animal.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29And some of the people didn't get paid.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33You didn't get paid money, you got paid with those bits of animal.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36- So these guys are coming home with a bucket full of liver.- Yeah.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Or a bucket full of tripe.
0:12:38 > 0:12:39And they give it to the wife,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42and the wife will just cook it and sell it.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44And so that's how they will make their money.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49Ah. So, this leads to a new kind of street food.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53This great idea of the street market with the people who then consume the
0:12:53 > 0:12:57food, it was like hundreds of years ago it was done in Rome.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04The slaughterhouse closed down in 1975.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09But across the road at Testaccio Market its legacy lives on.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12From the age of 14,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Signor Sergio Esposito worked at the abattoir.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20And for the last 40 years he's been cooking offal
0:13:20 > 0:13:23using traditional recipes passed down by his grandmother.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Buongiorno, Sergio.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29- Buongiorno.- Come va?- Bene.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Mi amico Andrew.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33ANDREW SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:13:33 > 0:13:35I'm Andrew, ciao.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36Look what he's doing.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Look, he's cutting your favourite thing.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42- La coratella.- Oh, so this is the heart and the lungs.- The heart...
0:13:42 > 0:13:45The lungs, look at that, look at that.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Look at that beauty of the lamb.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49You see why they call it the fifth quarter,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53- when you look at it, but when you taste it...- Yeah!
0:13:53 > 0:13:55TRANSLATION:
0:14:05 > 0:14:09So, when he was little, he used to work where they killed the animals.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10TRANSLATION:
0:14:24 > 0:14:26That's exactly what you were saying.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28So, his grandfather was working in the slaughterhouse.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31And got paid a little bit of money and a little bit of meat.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34- And quite a lot of liver.- And liver!
0:14:34 > 0:14:37So, you must taste one thing.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39- You must taste one thing. - Can I taste three things?
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Now then, don't be greedy.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45So, this is a kidney sandwich.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47- What else is in the recipe?- Onions.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50TRANSLATION:
0:14:51 > 0:14:54- And wine.- White wine.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55Wine.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Oh, mamma mia!
0:14:59 > 0:15:00How good is that?
0:15:04 > 0:15:07GIORGIO SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:15:07 > 0:15:08Can I have the...?
0:15:12 > 0:15:15He's obviously got great admiration for you.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18The flavour is incredible and it's so direct.
0:15:18 > 0:15:19There is three ingredients.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22There's white wine, there's onions, and there is kidney.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24And you can taste all three of that.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27And when you walk away, tomorrow you will remember what you eat.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29So this is what it's all about.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30I mean, the sweetness,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33the unbelievable flavour that comes through.
0:15:33 > 0:15:34Do you have tripe?
0:15:38 > 0:15:41It might not be to everyone's taste,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45but the stomach lining of a cow cooked with onions and tomato sauce
0:15:45 > 0:15:47is a real delicacy.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Look at that.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52- That's a little bit of pecorino Romano on top.- Look at that.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53That's a sandwich.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00The saltiness jumps out at you.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02And it's got a little bit of mentucce in that.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04A touch of mint.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06You see, lots of people, if you even say the word tripe,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09they go, "Ew! How can you eat that?"
0:16:09 > 0:16:12But the truth is, it's such a beautiful, delicate dish.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15It's so rich, isn't it? You can taste the richness of that.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19You know, it's almost sticking, your lips are sticking together.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21- Fantastic.- La Romanita.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24We tasted "Romanity," that's what he calls it.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27It's a Romeness, Romeness sandwiches.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30- Sergio, grazie.- Grazie.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34- Grazie.- Grazie.- Arrivederci.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36- Ciao, ciao.- Ciao!
0:16:42 > 0:16:43HORN TOOTS
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Romanity comes in many forms.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53And if there is one community that's left its mark on
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Roman culinary tradition, it's the Jewish community.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Their origins in the city can be traced back to 200 BC,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10when envoys arrived from the Holy Land hoping to establish
0:17:10 > 0:17:12trading links with ancient Rome.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21More than 2,000 years later, the Jewish presence lives on.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29This is called pizza ebraica.
0:17:29 > 0:17:30- Grazie.- Grazie.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Are you not going to pay for it?
0:17:37 > 0:17:39It's very special.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45- 300 years?- Si.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48- That's...- They've been baking in this corner for 300 years.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Complement... Well, it tastes like it.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53Si.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09- Really good.- Medieval sweet bread.
0:18:09 > 0:18:10Grazie.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Grazie. Arrivederci.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29But life for the Jewish people of Rome hasn't always been sweet.
0:18:31 > 0:18:37In 1555, Pope Paul IV ordered the construction of the Jewish ghetto.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Its walls confined them to a squalid area along the River Tiber.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Severe laws restricted them to just a few occupations.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50- This is a very characteristic street of the ghetto.- Mm.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55Because it's narrow, reflecting the medieval origins of this area,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57but it's also really tall.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02So, it's very shadowed, it's very dark, it's a bit dank and damp.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05The reason the buildings are so tall here is because
0:19:05 > 0:19:08the ghetto couldn't expand outwards, so they had to build up.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Which made the sanitation in an area that was already not great,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14- even worse.- Yeah. That's the place they were given.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Like not a very good piece of land.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22They had all these humiliating sort of ceremonies and rituals.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26So if you were the Chief Rabbi in the ghetto,
0:19:26 > 0:19:31every year you had to renegotiate the Jews' tenancy of the ghetto.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36And when the Caporioni, the head of the city councillors of Rome agreed,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40it was marked by ceremony on the Capitoline Hill in that
0:19:40 > 0:19:42beautiful square that Michelangelo designed.
0:19:42 > 0:19:48The rabbi would say, "Oh, thank you for giving me and the Jews
0:19:48 > 0:19:49"another year in the ghetto."
0:19:49 > 0:19:53And the ceremony ended when the rabbi turned round and was
0:19:53 > 0:19:56bent down as part of this public theatre.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59- And the Caporioni kicked him in the...- Man, no!
0:19:59 > 0:20:00No, really, that was the...
0:20:00 > 0:20:02Well, that's unbelievable.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Access to food was extremely limited,
0:20:09 > 0:20:15as the Jewish people were restricted in their employment opportunities.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19One of the few occupations permitted was selling food on the street,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23which meant they could bring home the leftovers.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Despite their limited access to ingredients,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32they still created mouthwatering dishes,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35which have stood the test of time,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38and I'm going to cook a couple for Andrew.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Coffee delivery service!
0:20:43 > 0:20:48Oh! Thank you, Andrew. Good man.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Mm. Even the takeaway coffee tastes good in Rome, doesn't it?
0:20:53 > 0:20:57- It's not bad.- OK, look, I'm going to cook you some stuff.
0:20:57 > 0:20:58It's called gozzamoddi.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02And they are like these... Kind of like meatballs.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05- Made with chicken? - Made with chicken. Bravo.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07You've carefully kept the chicken skin.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Any type of fat would have been expensive.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15Use the skin. These guys lived on the scraps of everybody else.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19So, it was a cuisine created by the necessity, and as usual,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21a cuisine that creates
0:21:21 > 0:21:24and has its backbone, on necessity -
0:21:24 > 0:21:26that's the cuisine that survives.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Give me a job. Something not too difficult.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31OK, I'm going to give you a couple of carrots to peel.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33We've got the celery.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37First, I'm going to prepare a sauce
0:21:37 > 0:21:41using carrots, celery, onions and tomato,
0:21:41 > 0:21:43and my secret ingredient.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45So, I have the skin.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48These will give this really beautiful
0:21:48 > 0:21:50chicken flavour to the sauce.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55A nice little... Like if it was a spoonful.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59- The smell is very good.- Smells like we're cooking, doesn't it?
0:22:00 > 0:22:05One of the typical things of the Jewish community -
0:22:05 > 0:22:07they didn't write the recipe down.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10The recipes were something that were passed
0:22:10 > 0:22:11mostly from mother to daughter.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16This is hundreds of years of refining and refining.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19The experience, the necessity,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21and the availability of ingredients,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23so these are the three things then placed together
0:22:23 > 0:22:26to make this recipe incredible.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29You've got to taste the sauce and tell me if we need more salt.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Come on. Blow, blow, blow, blow, blow.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38- Salt?- A tiny bit more.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43A tiny bit of salt, and we let it cook.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46And, you know, could you taste already the chicken in that?
0:22:46 > 0:22:49- Yeah. From the fat?- Of course. - Definitely. Yeah, really nice.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Unbelievable. I love that.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Now it needs to simmer, and what we're going to do,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58I'm going to make the meatball mixture.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03I'm going to add salt, pepper,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07a tiny little bit of cinnamon.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Then, I got a little bit of the kosher bread,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13which I have already sort of put in water.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17So, this is going to give me a really, really nice consistency.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21- The egg is to bind it?- That's right. - It's going to sort of become
0:23:21 > 0:23:25- a beautiful glomerated mass of flavour.- OK.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30And is the idea that the meatball in the sauce -
0:23:30 > 0:23:32that is the dish, there's nothing else?
0:23:32 > 0:23:35- No, that's it. - There's no rice or potatoes?
0:23:35 > 0:23:37No, they would eat so frugally.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40No, there is nothing coming with that.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Six of them. OK, I'm going to place them in.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49And now we're going to have to go and get the artichoke,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53because you can't come to Rome, in the Jewish quarter,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55and not having artichoke.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57But, hang on, they're not in season.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59If you know people, you can get artichoke.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02So, we're going to cut the stems off.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Roman artichokes are exceptionally tender.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Everything, from the leaves to the stem and heart,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12is edible and delicious.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20It's got that silvery green, doesn't it?
0:24:20 > 0:24:24- That's quite a noise.- Beautiful, isn't it?- The cauldron is bubbling.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29This way of deep-frying artichokes is known as carciofi alla giudia,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Jewish-style artichoke,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35and it's now one of the most famous of all Roman recipes.
0:24:35 > 0:24:40Cos the ghetto's so small, everybody else would know
0:24:40 > 0:24:43that the mama in this house is cooking the artichokes
0:24:43 > 0:24:45cos the smell is travelling down the street.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49The idea is to open it up.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52No mistaking that you're eating a flower.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54So, they're actually cooked?
0:24:54 > 0:24:57- You're just finishing the texture?- Yeah.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59You're going to sort of flash-fry them?
0:25:01 > 0:25:06Look at that. It makes me think of Van Gogh's sunflowers!
0:25:06 > 0:25:08THEY LAUGH You've just painted a picture.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Une artiste! I cannot be more happy than that.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19I think it's perfect.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24- Well, this is so lovely.- Mm.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27I like the contrast in the two textures.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31So, the heart is all soft, almost like an avocado.
0:25:31 > 0:25:32- Mm.- And the petals are...
0:25:32 > 0:25:35- Nice and crispy. - Yeah, they're like crisps.
0:25:35 > 0:25:36Taking my hat off
0:25:36 > 0:25:40to the Jewish tradition of cooking artichoke like that.
0:25:40 > 0:25:41I think it's stunning.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Mm-mm-mm!
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Oh, such a smell! Mm!
0:25:49 > 0:25:52Really chicken, but also with this rich tomato, as well.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Let's taste it.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57- See?- Mm!
0:25:57 > 0:26:00- Amazing, yeah?- That is amazing! GIORGIO CHUCKLES
0:26:00 > 0:26:02The experience in the mouth
0:26:02 > 0:26:07is that it's such a refined dish, it's such a delicate flavour.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11So light. We're touching this small history, the human history.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13On the one hand, you've got the artichoke,
0:26:13 > 0:26:14which is made by people who know that,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17at any point, they might have to run away.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19So, they're doing something that they can keep,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22they can eat in a week. You can literally put it in your pocket.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24- Yeah.- The other hand, with the meatballs,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26they're making food that, simultaneously,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30is completely of this place - Rome - with these wonderful ingredients,
0:26:30 > 0:26:32but also they just have this little memory
0:26:32 > 0:26:35- of the travels of the Jews in the form of the cinnamon...- Mm.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38..which is not something I associate at all with Italian food.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Yeah, I wouldn't think any Italian would put any cinnamon.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43I mean, I don't know where cinnamon comes from,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46but, to me, it's a little taste of, you know, the Middle East.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49And the little girl can be told by her mum, "You see the cinnamon?
0:26:49 > 0:26:51"That's because we've been there."
0:26:52 > 0:26:56It's lovely. Thank you, Giorgio. That's absolutely delicious.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00I never had something where the appearance is so,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03as it were, ordinary, and the taste is so sublime.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25- Grazie.- Oh, Andrew! Look at that. That's...
0:27:27 > 0:27:32..30% and 50% schiuma.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34- Schiuma.- La schiuma. - There's no milk, just cream?
0:27:34 > 0:27:36No, this is the cream of the coffee.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41What I like about Rome is that, in most other cities,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44if you want to experience the past, you have to go into a museum.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48- You have to go inside, to a museum. - Right.- Here in Rome - no, no.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51If you want to tell me about the past, and the slaughterhouses,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54and what it was like one date, you just take me over there,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57- and it's all still there. - Old places - that can be the museum.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00- Yes, you're right.- But it's not a museum of history with a capital H.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03It's a museum of history with a small H for humanity.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05- For humanity. - It's the history of food,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08or it might be the history of what the Jews once did here,
0:28:08 > 0:28:10how they once lived.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12That's what I like. Everywhere you turn,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14- there's another story.- Yes.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18So, today, we're going to go and see something from high, high culture.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21- OK.- We're going to go to one of the great palaces.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24My favourite thing in there is actually not,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26like, a famous, great masterpiece.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29It's something quite strange and unusual, and it's food-related.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31- Grazie.- Grazie. Buona giornata.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40This would be a nice street to live in,
0:28:40 > 0:28:44with all these beautiful views across the Tiber.
0:28:47 > 0:28:48HORN HONKS
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Here we are.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54We're heading to the Palazzo Colonna,
0:28:54 > 0:28:59one of the oldest and largest private palaces in all of Rome.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01- Nice little abode. - HE CHUCKLES
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Yes, humble - not quite.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09The Palazzo Colonna spans an entire city block.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Its construction began in the 14th century,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15and the building work lasted for 500 years,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19hence the rich mix of different architectural styles.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Even the great artist and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini
0:29:23 > 0:29:28lent his expertise to the building and design of the palace.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31So, this is the great symbol of the Colonna - the column.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33And then, on the side, this inscription.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37- "Semper immota." - Never moved.- Never moved.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39Always here.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43And you can't say that it's a hollow boast,
0:29:43 > 0:29:47- cos they are still here.- Right. That's Aslan for us, to meet us.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50- Salve. Buongiorno, Aslan. - Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Aslan, a member of the modern Colonna family,
0:29:53 > 0:29:55is going to show us around.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58- Giorgio, after you.- Oh, thank you.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02The Colonna family was among the most powerful and influential
0:30:02 > 0:30:05of the Roman baronial dynasties.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10Within their family tree, you can find a Pope, a saint,
0:30:10 > 0:30:16a spiritual adviser of Michelangelo, a general, a patron of Caravaggio,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19and many other church and political leaders.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24- Oh!- That's why I took my glasses off.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Yes, yes, you need to take your glasses off.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29What a room!
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Giorgio, hai visto?
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Amazing. Amazing.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Not a bad room to have a party in.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41The splendid Galleria Colonna
0:30:41 > 0:30:43was commissioned in the mid-17th century
0:30:43 > 0:30:49by Cardinal Girolamo and his nephew Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52- What a thing, huh?- Oh, my God!
0:30:52 > 0:30:57From the outset, the gallery was conceived as a vast stage set
0:30:57 > 0:31:00to celebrate the Colonna family's part
0:31:00 > 0:31:05in a famous military victory of 1571.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07The room is 76m long,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11and every square inch is decorated, gilded,
0:31:11 > 0:31:13or adorned with sculpture.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16You can't come in here and not be amazed.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22On the roof, you've got the great Battle of Lepanto.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28It's really the one great victory of the Christians over Islam.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32In command of the victorious fleet is Marcantonio Colonna,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36and the Colonna family will never let the world forget
0:31:36 > 0:31:38that they were at the centre of this triumph.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Still, in Italy, you know, if you see a big guy,
0:31:42 > 0:31:44you say, "Che bel pezzo di Marcantonio."
0:31:44 > 0:31:46It means, "What a great big man."
0:31:46 > 0:31:48So, still hundreds and hundreds of years,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50these guys set the standard,
0:31:50 > 0:31:55and the Italians still, you know, aim to Marcantonio.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57I mean, the action there, you can actually...
0:31:57 > 0:32:00You feel the spray of the sea coming down towards you.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02You see these people drowning and...
0:32:02 > 0:32:04- And all the flags. - ..it is unbelievable.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Beautifully vibrant, and beautiful colour.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11It's a very famous room even for people
0:32:11 > 0:32:14who are not perhaps interested in art history,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17because this is where they shot the final scene of Roman Holiday.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19Roman Holiday was here.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21And up there was Audrey Hepburn
0:32:21 > 0:32:23saying hello to all the journalists here.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26That's right. And then there's poor Gregory Peck.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29- Was it Gregory Peck?- Gregory Peck, yeah.- Yeah, with his broken heart.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32But, I mean, if ever a room was waiting for the cinema...
0:32:32 > 0:32:34- It's this one.- ..it's this one.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37- Thank you, Aslan.- Grazie.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40- Grazie.- Is it OK if we stay just a little while longer?
0:32:40 > 0:32:41Of course. There's plenty of space.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43There's quite a lot of things to look at.
0:32:44 > 0:32:49This palace, every room - every room - is a cornucopia.
0:32:51 > 0:32:52I love this painting.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55This is such a strange, weird, wonderful painting.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00It was commissioned by him, Filippo Colonna,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03after the death of his wife and the death of his mother.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06And what he wanted was a depiction of the souls of the blessed
0:33:06 > 0:33:12rising on the last day when Christ comes back,
0:33:12 > 0:33:14and we are all born again.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16And everyone being born again is a Colonna.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20- Look, there's Marcantonio Colonna. - Marcantonio.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22And when I see him there,
0:33:22 > 0:33:24I see what you mean when you say he's like a big guy.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26I mean, he looks like a wrestler!
0:33:26 > 0:33:28He's going to wrestle his way into heaven.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Isn't that something? By Pietro Da Cortona.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35So, by a famous artist, I've never seen a painting quite like it.
0:33:36 > 0:33:42- Talking of eternity and the soul, this is the family's chapel.- Mm.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47Even in such a rich art collection as this,
0:33:47 > 0:33:51if you dig a little, there's always a surprise to unearth.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54- Look at this.- Oh, my God.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58This has only been discovered
0:33:58 > 0:34:02by the Colonna family themselves last year.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07There was always a rather dirty cross on the altar,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10but they only recently realised that it was actually a box,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12- and that, inside...- No way!- Yeah.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15- This was inside the box! - This was inside.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20It's late 15th century, it's from Florence...
0:34:21 > 0:34:23..but they don't know who it's by.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25Some people have suggested Antonio da Sangallo.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28Some people have suggested it could even be by Michelangelo.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Look at the rib cage, look at the blood,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34look at the handling of the drapery and the face.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38- Absolutely amazing thing.- Mm.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Can you imagine having that, you know,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43sort of forgotten in a cupboard?
0:34:43 > 0:34:47That is unbelievable.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Not bad, eh?
0:34:50 > 0:34:53I've got something that I think
0:34:53 > 0:34:55is definitely going to be to your taste,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58and I mean taste with a capital T.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02From the sacred to the profane.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05If ever there was a picture for Giorgio Locatelli,
0:35:05 > 0:35:08surely, it's this one. It's called...
0:35:08 > 0:35:11- BOTH:- The Beaneater.- Yeah. - You know, I know this picture,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15because that was right in the front of the cookery books...
0:35:15 > 0:35:17- Oh, really? - ..I used to have at school. Yes.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21This is beautiful, because, look, these are black-eyed beans.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23You see a little bit of the juices there.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26- Can you see it falling down?- Yes!
0:35:26 > 0:35:29And that's like... Look at that. Like a cipollotto.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Brown bread, cos, obviously, at that time, you know,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34they didn't make white flour yet.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Typical Roman way to cut it on the top like that.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39And then you can see that you can break it up in pieces.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41So, he's holding one piece.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45You know this is painted by Annibale Carracci in the 1590s?
0:35:45 > 0:35:47This was his version of Arte Povera.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50This was his way of painting the life
0:35:50 > 0:35:52of poor, ordinary, working people.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54He pioneered this, along with Caravaggio.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57It's almost as if Carracci has changed his style
0:35:57 > 0:35:59to adapt to the subject matter.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02He's painting something that is quite a poor subject,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04and he's doing it very quickly.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06He's doing low colours,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09not bright flashes of red or ultramarine blue.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12It's brilliant that they've put it underneath this picture,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14which is all about Mary as the Queen of Heaven,
0:36:14 > 0:36:16you know, wearing her wonderful draperies.
0:36:16 > 0:36:21And then, beneath, it's the people's king of the beans!
0:36:21 > 0:36:24And it's lovely, as well, I think that, you know,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27in the Palazzo Colonna, which is so much a place
0:36:27 > 0:36:31about this huge span of history,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34in the end, what's the painting we've finished in front of?
0:36:34 > 0:36:36- A peasant eating his dinner. - And how Roman is that?
0:36:36 > 0:36:40This is great for me to have seen this. Really.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50HORN HONKS It wouldn't be Rome if we didn't hit
0:36:50 > 0:36:52- an occasional traffic jam, would it?- Yeah.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57I Vigili del Fuoco - the fire brigade, Andrew.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00- Andiamo. - HORN HONKS
0:37:03 > 0:37:05So, where are we going, Giorgio?
0:37:05 > 0:37:09- We're going to see a very good chef. - What's her name?
0:37:09 > 0:37:12Si chiama Cristina Bowerman.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16She's very inspiring, the way she works with old recipes.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18Her food is really top-notch.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Maybe she can cook us some beans, eh?
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Well, that's... Let's hope so.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31Cristina's Michelin-starred restaurant is called Glass Hostaria.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34It's in the trendy neighbourhood of Trastevere
0:37:34 > 0:37:36in the centre of the city.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38You come from these great, wide avenues
0:37:38 > 0:37:41into these little almost like labyrinths of streets.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46With all these bars and restaurants, everybody eating and drinking.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49HORN HONKS This is it?
0:37:49 > 0:37:51I'm going to introduce you.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56- Cristina.- In this beautiful tavern. - How are you?
0:37:56 > 0:37:59- Can we come in?- Welcome. - Very well.- Yes. Come on over.
0:37:59 > 0:38:04Cristina uses ingredients from traditional Roman cuisine.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Today, she's going to cook for us a unique cheesecake.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12- A cheesecake?- A cheesecake with pasta, with beans, and mussels.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Are we talking about almost a scherzo on the cheesecake?
0:38:16 > 0:38:18- Exactly.- Cos it's a joke on the cheesecake.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20- That is exactly it. - Cos we're savoury here.
0:38:20 > 0:38:21- We're not sweet.- Exactly.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24This is actually the base of the cheesecake,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26but let me show you how I did it.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30She boiled it, and then she put it into a dryer, and dried.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Can I just get that right?
0:38:32 > 0:38:34The base of the cheesecake - you cook pasta?
0:38:34 > 0:38:36- Exactly.- You then, when it's cooked...
0:38:36 > 0:38:37- Dry them.- ..you deep-fry it?
0:38:37 > 0:38:40- Yes.- Deep-fried it. - Then you dry it in the oven?
0:38:40 > 0:38:41And then you crunch it up?
0:38:41 > 0:38:45- So, it's instead of the biscuits? - Exactly.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49- How thick do you want it? - I want it, like, this thick.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53- OK.- And you need to press it.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57- So, now... - What's this extraordinary...?
0:38:57 > 0:39:00- That's the beans. That's the beans. - This is cannellini beans.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03The cannellini beans that have been made into a puree.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05- This is what that becomes? - Exactly.- That's exactly it.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Beans are really part of our tradition.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12They used to say the Roman army would travel on their stomach,
0:39:12 > 0:39:15and, you know, what they would carry would be like cicerchie.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17- They will have... - Chickpeas?- Yeah, like...
0:39:17 > 0:39:19Cicerchie is like wild chickpeas
0:39:19 > 0:39:22that they used to carry on their bags with their salt -
0:39:22 > 0:39:24their own salt - and a little bit of flour.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27So, they would do this, like, cook the beans,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29add things, and make some... I don't know. Some bread.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31And they would make up something like that,
0:39:31 > 0:39:33even as they were advancing.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37So, even this would probably very much surprise a Roman soldier,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39but he would still, in some taste memory,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41he would know what it is.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45- It's going to look like a dessert! - Exactly.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48And this is my last touch. Smell it.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53- Wow! That is...- Those are mussels.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55Goodness me. So, how have you prepared those?
0:39:55 > 0:39:59I cooked them up, then I dehydrated them,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03- and then I powderised them. - Goodness me. I never heard of that.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06- Can you buy this or...? - No, you have to make it fresh.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08- No, no, no, I made them. - You make it yourself?- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12So, you're going to have that bean taste, pasta taste,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15and then you're going to be hit by that sort of flavour of the fish
0:40:15 > 0:40:19because, you know, like, the mussel, they've got that really fish...
0:40:19 > 0:40:23- Rich, fishy flavour. - That is very ingenious.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28- So, when did you invent this recipe? - Last month.- Last month?!
0:40:28 > 0:40:33So, this is straight off the wheel of time.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37- Mm!- Can you taste the mussels? - Yeah. Very strong.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39- The mussel comes at the end... - At the end.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41..with the seasoning and...
0:40:41 > 0:40:43And that's the thing that should stay with you.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46What I love also is this crust.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48I have one little more surprise.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51- Could you wait just 20 seconds? I'm going to go get it.- OK.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54- We can wait.- You can clean up here, so I can put it right there.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58- We can eat a bit more of this if you want.- So...
0:40:58 > 0:41:00- Ooh, wow!- Cannelloni.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02I want you to taste it and guess what it is.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Mm! It's some kind of beautiful semifreddo.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14- Mm-hm.- Made of...?
0:41:14 > 0:41:17If you're going to put me to the test, it's like nougat?
0:41:17 > 0:41:19- Almonds?- OK, I'll make it easy for you.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22- They are all beans. - That's all beans?!
0:41:22 > 0:41:25This is a meringue made out of the leftover water
0:41:25 > 0:41:27from cooking the beans.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30That's a bean powder, and that's a bean mousse.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32- You're kidding me!- Yes. - You are kidding me.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35The only different thing is it's an almond outside.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37- There is an almond. I knew there was an almond.- Yeah, the green stuff.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40- But everything else is a bean? - Everything else is a bean.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43You are kidding me. So, you can make anything out of a bean, right?
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Not only. You use everything, even the water.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48No, I don't mean... I don't mean one.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50I mean YOU can make anything out of a bean.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53- Thank you. Yes.- You really can.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58- Come on, let's go.- Thank you.- This was delicious.- That was fantastic.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01It's BEAN great. SHE CHUCKLES
0:42:10 > 0:42:12But in the 1920s,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15there was a man who wanted to shake up the Italian way
0:42:15 > 0:42:17of living and thinking.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19Everything, from the food they ate
0:42:19 > 0:42:22to the attitude towards work and the state.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini
0:42:26 > 0:42:29dreamt of restoring the glories of the past -
0:42:29 > 0:42:35to turn a nation of spaghetti-eaters into gladiators, even gods.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39In 1922 he came to power,
0:42:39 > 0:42:44determined to transform what was still a very young and weak country.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49So beautiful, isn't it? Look at that.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51In Rome, he demolished old neighbourhoods,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54creating new districts full of angular buildings
0:42:54 > 0:42:57and a style known as fascist architecture.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59It's really striking, isn't it?
0:43:01 > 0:43:04We've come to visit one of his most symbolic architectural projects
0:43:04 > 0:43:06in the northern part of Rome.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14This is the Stadio dei Marmi, designed by Enrico Del Debbio.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19This is very much Mussolini's vision for a new Italy -
0:43:19 > 0:43:21strong, tall.
0:43:21 > 0:43:28The statues evoke the ancient Roman idea of health, physique.
0:43:28 > 0:43:34"If our boys can be trained up to win the 100m, the shot put,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37"the boxing, then Italy can win a war.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40"Italy can rule Europe."
0:43:40 > 0:43:43The statues are made of Carrara marble.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46- Each one has the name of a different province of Italy.- Yes.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50So, apparently, each of the provinces was to...
0:43:50 > 0:43:54They agreed to donate one of the statues.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56- They "agreed". - THEY CHUCKLE
0:43:56 > 0:44:00- Like they had much choice! - They agreed to donate a statue.
0:44:00 > 0:44:05- Oh, I see. So, that's why Venice is the sailor.- Of course.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07Football - that must be Milan, right?
0:44:07 > 0:44:09THEY LAUGH
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Have you noticed, they all have the same bottom?
0:44:11 > 0:44:14It's the bottom of Michelangelo's David.
0:44:14 > 0:44:19Also, they're all in this kind of Michelangelo pastiche.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Also, the same style as Hitler's statues.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27- Yeah.- Arno Breker. This idea of the Aryan perfect body.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30There's a bit of eugenics, I think, about this.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32You know, "If we breed from the right stock,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36"Italians will all grow to be 20ft tall."
0:44:36 > 0:44:38The setting is incredible,
0:44:38 > 0:44:42but I can't stop that little bit of sadness
0:44:42 > 0:44:45to really think what this really represents -
0:44:45 > 0:44:47this delusional moment,
0:44:47 > 0:44:49this moment that Italy thought about themselves
0:44:49 > 0:44:54really something that we are not.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56Is there anywhere else in Europe than...?
0:44:56 > 0:44:58Something like that was there from a previous regime
0:44:58 > 0:45:02- would have been, like, blown away and broken down.- That's very Rome.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05You know, if you want to find the sculptures created
0:45:05 > 0:45:08to project Hitler's idea of Germany, you have to go to the storeroom
0:45:08 > 0:45:12of the German Museum of History in Berlin.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16If you want to see Stalin's great images of
0:45:16 > 0:45:18the Soviet state as he envisaged it,
0:45:18 > 0:45:21you have to go to the basement of the New Tretyakov Gallery.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25But here in Rome, because, somehow, they have this tolerant attitude
0:45:25 > 0:45:30that every part of history, its OK to have it remembered.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32I don't think they celebrate it, but they leave it here,
0:45:32 > 0:45:37maybe almost now for us as a kind of lesson of a mistake
0:45:37 > 0:45:38that shouldn't be made again.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40Salve.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Do you know, in this helmet,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51you look a little bit like Mussolini?
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Andrew, that's not a very nice thing to say.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58Mussolini's idea of displaying power through architecture
0:45:58 > 0:46:00was not a new concept.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05It has been part of the Roman DNA
0:46:05 > 0:46:09since the Caesars built monuments like the Colosseum.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15This architecture of power reached its peak
0:46:15 > 0:46:17during the age of the Baroque,
0:46:17 > 0:46:21when one man above all others used stone and sculpture
0:46:21 > 0:46:24to express the glory of the Christian church
0:46:24 > 0:46:27in a multitude of breathtaking forms.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31The great 17th-century sculptor, painter and architect
0:46:31 > 0:46:35Gian Lorenzo Bernini was responsible for many great works,
0:46:35 > 0:46:39including the colonnade of St Peter's,
0:46:39 > 0:46:43the beautiful statues which line the Sant'Angelo Bridge,
0:46:43 > 0:46:48and the masterpiece which stands in this square.
0:46:49 > 0:46:50This is Piazza Navona.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53This is one of the most beautiful squares in the world.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56- Very unusual shape. - It's an unusual shape
0:46:56 > 0:46:59because this was
0:46:59 > 0:47:02Imperatore Domiziano Stadium for running.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05So, the people used to run around here.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07So, we've got the footprint of a stadium,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11but now it's a Baroque square, and in the middle,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14the most ambitious, perhaps the most brilliant
0:47:14 > 0:47:18of Bernini's monuments to the power of the papal states.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20- Look at that. - It's fantastic, isn't it?
0:47:20 > 0:47:23You know, he very nearly didn't get to design this because
0:47:23 > 0:47:26- the Pope who commissioned it, Innocent X...- Right.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28..he didn't like Bernini
0:47:28 > 0:47:31cos Bernini had done a lot of work for the Pope before.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34Bernini played a clever trick, cos he had a female friend -
0:47:34 > 0:47:36- an aristocratic friend - who was quite close to the Pope.- Mm.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40And she, one day, took a silver model
0:47:40 > 0:47:42that Bernini had made of a fountain -
0:47:42 > 0:47:46an imaginary fountain - and took it into the Pamphili Palace.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49That was the family palace of the Pope.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52And he saw this silver model,
0:47:52 > 0:47:54and he said, "Oh, that's my fountain.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56"That's the fountain I've been dreaming of."
0:47:56 > 0:47:59And she said, "Yes, but it's by Bernini."
0:47:59 > 0:48:03And he said, "Oh, well, Bernini's going to have the job.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06"I said no, but I've got to say yes cos it's so beautiful."
0:48:06 > 0:48:09And this is how it turned out in marble.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14- Is that all Carrara marble? - All Carrara marble
0:48:14 > 0:48:16with an entire Egyptian obelisk
0:48:16 > 0:48:19pillaged from ancient Egypt by the ancient Romans,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23which was set up on top of Bernini's fountain.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26So, the idea of the fountain is that the whole world -
0:48:26 > 0:48:30symbolised by the great rivers of the four continents -
0:48:30 > 0:48:36the whole world is cowering in awe of this papal erection,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39this symbol of papal power.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44Bernini is such a Roman.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46You know, he's almost got Roman marble
0:48:46 > 0:48:49in his veins instead of blood.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55So, he knows very well that the ancient Roman sculptors
0:48:55 > 0:48:59created these figures of the river gods.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03But in Bernini, everything is about movement, motion, drama, theatre.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12If the Roman river gods of the past have been woken up,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15they've been dynamised and energised.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Each one has a different pose.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20This one is the River Plate, the New World.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25That's the Ganges. That's India.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28Isn't that wonderful - the palm tree just sort of
0:49:28 > 0:49:32growing up towards the base of the obelisk?
0:49:32 > 0:49:35I mean, it's amazing, how it's made of this marble,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37and the travertino.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40And also this idea of the movement is incredible, isn't it?
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Well, the lion is drinking. That's what it's doing.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46The lion's come to drink.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50- So, this is Africa. - What animal is that?
0:49:50 > 0:49:51Is it a crocodile, an armadillo?
0:49:51 > 0:49:54- What is it?- That's where you can see, in the sculpture,
0:49:54 > 0:49:56the limits of his knowledge. He can do a lion...
0:49:56 > 0:49:59- Oh, yeah.- ..because they had lions in Baroque Rome.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01They had... You know, they knew what they looked like.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05But, yeah, I think it's meant to be an armadillo,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08but it's almost like a dragon in a fairy story.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13This fountain is one of the many works by Bernini
0:50:13 > 0:50:18to have defined his public image as a great artist,
0:50:18 > 0:50:22someone with the title "the man that built Baroque Rome".
0:50:22 > 0:50:25But I want to scratch below the surface
0:50:25 > 0:50:29to see what else Rome can reveal of him.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33Bernini is all over this town, but as a man,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36he remains, to most people, I think, quite mysterious.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39It's as if you can't really touch his personality.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43In fact, he was quite a troubled guy.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46He was a very unsuccessful human being.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48Yeah, you could put it like that.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52He ordered his servant to disfigure his mistress.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54He had a lot of problems with his brother.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57So, at the centre of his life, there's this profound sense of guilt
0:50:57 > 0:51:00and anxiety, but nowhere do you touch it in his work -
0:51:00 > 0:51:03except one place, and that's where I want to take you.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05Here - Spanish Embassy.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08There are two sculptures that give you, if you like,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11his personality, and we have an appointment.
0:51:11 > 0:51:12OK, let's have a look.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18This rarely-seen sculpture
0:51:18 > 0:51:22was commissioned by the Spanish Cardinal Montoya in 1619
0:51:22 > 0:51:26when Bernini was only 20 years old.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30I wanted you to see this cos this is the great Bernini
0:51:30 > 0:51:32that no-one ever sees.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35This is actually a self-portrait.
0:51:35 > 0:51:37This is Bernini's face.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41The vein going down his neck, like pumping blood into the...
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Unbelievable.
0:51:43 > 0:51:48I mean, his understanding of muscle and things is incredible.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53The expression of the nose, the bags under his eyes...
0:51:53 > 0:51:55It's like he's there for real.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57One of Bernini's great gifts as an artist
0:51:57 > 0:52:02would be the ability to turn marble into human expression.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07Even Michelangelo doesn't capture this level of expression.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10I actually can hear him screaming.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14You're right, you can hear. You can hear the cry of anguish!
0:52:15 > 0:52:18Bernini was a violent man.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21When Bernini's brother slept with Bernini's mistress,
0:52:21 > 0:52:22he was so enraged
0:52:22 > 0:52:25that he tried to beat his brother to death with a steel bar.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29His brother only survived by seeking sanctuary in a local church.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31And Bernini then, very brutally,
0:52:31 > 0:52:35ordered one of his servants to go and cut the face,
0:52:35 > 0:52:37with a razor, of his mistress -
0:52:37 > 0:52:39literally to disfigure her
0:52:39 > 0:52:43for having injured his face, his reputation.
0:52:43 > 0:52:44But do you know what it really represents?
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Someone in torment. The soul condemned to damnation.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51- Dannati.- So, there he is, screaming,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54as he first sees that he's going to experience
0:52:54 > 0:52:58the rest of his existence, all eternity, in the flames of hell.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00But to fully understand this work of art,
0:53:00 > 0:53:04we need to look at its twin - light to its darkness.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09Come on this side, cos on this side, we've got the blessed soul -
0:53:09 > 0:53:11the soul that goes to heaven.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15Bernini placed both of the sculptures
0:53:15 > 0:53:175m away from the other one,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20and each had to have a mirror behind it.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22And, you know, when you look down mirrors,
0:53:22 > 0:53:25you get this perspective of infinite time
0:53:25 > 0:53:27- that these sculptures occupy. - Of course, because you can see...
0:53:27 > 0:53:29So, whether you're damned or whether you're blessed,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33you're going to be looking into infinity always.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38I think maybe you're also meant to think about yourself.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Where am I going to be at the end of the day?
0:53:40 > 0:53:45Am I going to be down in the flames of hell with him,
0:53:45 > 0:53:51or am I going to be the one with eyes fixed heavenward?
0:54:01 > 0:54:04Bernini has left an indelible mark on Rome.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09But there is another less celebrated body of work
0:54:09 > 0:54:12which is dotted all over the city,
0:54:12 > 0:54:16and before we leave, we want to pay tribute to it.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20You know these little Madonnas that we keep seeing...
0:54:20 > 0:54:22- Yeah.- ..here, there, everywhere? - Everywhere.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Apparently, there are 2,000 of these Madonnas...
0:54:26 > 0:54:31- Yeah?- ..here in Rome, and this is one of my favourites.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33The Madonna of the Tunnel is what I call her.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37I think, here, they call her Maria di Roma.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39But isn't that such a wonderful thing?
0:54:39 > 0:54:42A piece of folk art, probably been repainted...
0:54:43 > 0:54:45..100, 200 times.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49You know, this is a mile away from Annibale Carracci,
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Caravaggio, Michelangelo, but I love it all the more for that.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56It's so Roman. As you say, there's about 2,000 of them around.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59So, that means that you have one Madonna,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01I've got my Madonna, and he's got his Madonna.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04- Every apartment block has its own Madonna.- That's right.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07You know, there's people, they put this little statue,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10they put a candle, they put the flowers.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15They treat it almost like they might treat their mother's grave in the cemetery.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18I love the fact that it's just so straightforward.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20Look at these clumsy little...
0:55:20 > 0:55:23They're like Roman babies in their nappies,
0:55:23 > 0:55:29and they're just happy to be here holding up the Virgin's tunnel.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31And the ceiling is actually, you know...
0:55:31 > 0:55:34As folk art goes, that's kind of pretty brilliant, isn't it?
0:55:34 > 0:55:37It's actually a fresco - real fresco.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40HE CHUCKLES And it's just a pedestrian tunnel.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43- How more Roman than that can you be? - That is incredible.
0:55:56 > 0:56:02The beauty of this city is immense. There's no beauty like that.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14After delving through the many layers of this great city,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18we are ending our journey at Rome's foundations.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25What a glorious scene. What beautiful light.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28- This is incredible.- Amazing!
0:56:28 > 0:56:30- That's the Colosseum down at the end there.- Yeah.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32It's the corner.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Well, that's 2,000 years of history right there,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37and looking down on it, you know, we're looking down
0:56:37 > 0:56:41on the central site of all Roman archaeology - the Forum.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45And in the past, when I've come here and looked at this view,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49I've always imagined, in my mind, I always wondered, you know,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52where's Emperor Nero, if we could go back in time?
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Where are the senators? Where's Cicero?
0:56:55 > 0:56:58- I'm not thinking that, though. - No.- I'm thinking,
0:56:58 > 0:57:02"Hmm, I wonder where the artichoke seller would have been?
0:57:02 > 0:57:04"I wonder where the butcher would have come in?
0:57:04 > 0:57:06"Where's the Jewish cook?"
0:57:06 > 0:57:08"Where is the little Jewish guy that does the recipe?"
0:57:08 > 0:57:11We did the archaeology of a different city this time, didn't we?
0:57:11 > 0:57:14- A different kind of archaeology. - We did, we did.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19- This is super special.- Think of all the places that we haven't visited.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21We haven't actually been down there in the Forum,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25we haven't visited the Colosseum, we haven't seen the Sistine Chapel.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28We've done our unpacked thing, where we, you know,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31we stick to the edges, we go to the less well-known places.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33But, you know, do we feel any worse for that?
0:57:33 > 0:57:38Have we missed those other things? I don't think so.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43In order to understand this Rome through history,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47you've got to also understand the life of the normal people,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49not only of the kings and the emperor.
0:57:49 > 0:57:50- Yeah, yeah, I agree.- Or the popes.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52I mean, maybe that's the truest version of history.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54You know, you try to find the book that is lost
0:57:54 > 0:57:56at the bottom of the library.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Try to turn the pages that no-one's read.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09The Open University has produced a free guide
0:58:09 > 0:58:12to interesting places to visit while you are in Rome.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15To order your free copy, please call...
0:58:18 > 0:58:20Or go to...
0:58:24 > 0:58:26And follow the link to the Open University.