0:00:04 > 0:00:07I'm Andrew Graham-Dixon, and I'm an art historian.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Is it a town or is it a piece of theatre?!
0:00:09 > 0:00:13I'm Giorgio Locatelli and I'm a cook.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17The sultana is really tangy, a little, like a little Sicilian, huh?
0:00:17 > 0:00:18We both share a passion.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22This is real Baroque, yeah. This is decadent!
0:00:22 > 0:00:24A love.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Oh!
0:00:26 > 0:00:27An obsession.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30I've never seen anything like that!
0:00:30 > 0:00:31Her name?
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Sicilia - the Mediterranean island of Sicily.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40We've both been her ardent suitors for years.
0:00:40 > 0:00:46I love how layers of history have created a unique blend of art and architecture here.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50- It's like winning the World Cup in archaeological terms. - That's exactly...
0:00:50 > 0:00:54And I adore her incredible flavour and no-nonsense approach to food.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Here you are, ten square metre,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00you could find all these ingredients, here they are in front of you.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02But it's only recently we discovered
0:01:02 > 0:01:06that we share the same intense passion for the island.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09So we decide to team up and travel here together.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11This really is the Naked Chef!
0:01:11 > 0:01:13- He is the naked...- The real one! - He is the real naked chef!
0:01:13 > 0:01:18In sharing our knowledge and our love for the island with each other,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21we hope to uncover even more of the secrets and treasures.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24The sadness.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26This was a hole in a nation.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28This was a hole in the heart of a nation.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31And the pleasures of our beloved Sicily.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35As a piece of sincere painting, it's fantastic!
0:01:35 > 0:01:38From simple, delicious food packed with incredible flavour...
0:01:38 > 0:01:41There you are - perfection!
0:01:41 > 0:01:44..to the truly jaw-dropping art and culture -
0:01:44 > 0:01:48a mirror to the exuberance and extraordinary history of its people.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51CROWD MURMURS EXCITEDLY
0:01:51 > 0:01:52APPLAUSE
0:02:13 > 0:02:17This is the Noto Valley in the south-east of the island.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22It's a dramatic landscape with an equally dramatic history.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27- In 1693, there was a huge earthquake.- Right.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30One of the great sort of natural disasters in Sicilian history,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32and it happened right here.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I've got an eyewitness description in the guidebook.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40"It was so horrible and ghastly, this event of biblical proportions,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43"that the soil undulated like the waves of a stormy sea
0:02:43 > 0:02:46"and the mountains danced as if drunk."
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Oh, that sounds terrifying!
0:02:52 > 0:02:58After the earthquake, the major towns in the valley were rebuilt in the lavish Baroque style
0:02:58 > 0:03:01favoured by the island's colonial overlords - the Spanish.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05They've been in control of Sicily since the end of the 13th century,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09but the island was just a small part of their empire,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13ruled by the viceroy and a collection of land-owning barons.
0:03:13 > 0:03:19Under the Spanish, the number of those holding titles and territory expanded,
0:03:19 > 0:03:24creating more feudal estates that had to be paid for by the poor Sicilian.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30This is Noto, the most spectacular of the Baroque towns built by the Spanish.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34It was created according to a meticulous town plan,
0:03:34 > 0:03:38designed to deliver the wow factor from the moment you arrive.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43I can't work out if it's a town or a piece of theatre!
0:03:43 > 0:03:45That's, yeah. It looks...
0:03:45 > 0:03:47You feel like you're in a stage set, don't you?
0:03:47 > 0:03:48- It does.- It's incredible.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50And it's unusual in Sicily, isn't it,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53because usually the cities have built up over time,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56but here you've got a town that was all made in one moment.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59So it preserves this Baroque idea.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Baroque towns like Noto reflected the Spanish rulers' belief
0:04:03 > 0:04:05in the importance of hierarchy.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08The rich lived in lavish splendour in the centre,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11with the poor languishing at the fringes.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15'I've been told the best view of the town is from San Carlo Church.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19'Father Salvatore kindly agreed to let us in.'
0:04:20 > 0:04:22THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:04:28 > 0:04:30- Whoa!- That's a lot of steps!
0:04:30 > 0:04:31THEY LAUGH
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Well that's, I think, 38 steps, so we're halfway.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38- You count them?- Yeah.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Ah! Personal training, the medieval way!
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Wow. See what they mean about the view.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55That's exactly...
0:04:55 > 0:04:57You get the whole theatre from up here.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02And I think you realise how much it favours the rich people.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06The poorer people of Noto didn't actually like the design,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09cos it's really a design for the rich,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13and I think the richer you were, the more you got a place up the hill.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The whole town, the whole theatre of the town seems to be up the hill.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Yeah. Rich people up at the top,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and the poor people at the bottom, drinking their piss!
0:05:22 > 0:05:25- Is that, is that an Italian expression?- Yes!
0:05:25 > 0:05:28It's funny, cos when you come this way, you can see how,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31how compressed this city is.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33I mean, it stops just about
0:05:33 > 0:05:36where that pair of orange trousers is hanging up.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39- At the Fire Brigade!- That's where the old city would have stopped.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42I mean now there's suburban sprawl, but I think, in the past,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45beyond that point, it would have just been hovels.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Shacks, almost like a shanty town,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49absolute radical contrast between the rich and the poor.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54It's almost designed to remind you which place you have in society
0:05:54 > 0:05:56every single day, from the moment you get up.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59It's ironic that the sublime beauty of Sicily's Baroque towns
0:05:59 > 0:06:04'could have been created by such an oppressively unfair regime.'
0:06:05 > 0:06:07The privilege and ambition of the noble classes
0:06:07 > 0:06:11created extravagant sculptural confections,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15like the facade of this palazzo - the finest in the town.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18This is the most famous palace, isn't it, in Noto, they say?
0:06:18 > 0:06:20- Yeah, that's... - Palazzo Villa Dorado?
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Villa Dorado, which is the residence of the Nicolaci,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28and you know, here you are, look at that. No wonder it's famous.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31- What have we got? We've got lions. - Lions.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35We've got a cross between a mermaid and an angel.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38It's like the figure, they are on the front of boats sometimes.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41You have that kind of thing, without the wings.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43I love these grotesque faces down here.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45They remind me a bit of the gargoyles, you know,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49that they used to put on churches in the Middle Ages to scare away evil spirits.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Yes.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53And that looks like multiplied Pegasuses.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Pegasuses, yeah.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00It's a funny thing that Noto was rediscovered for the 20th century largely by Anthony Blunt.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02- Right.- Art historian.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06But it's weird that the most famous Communist in English history
0:07:06 > 0:07:08should have been so fascinated
0:07:08 > 0:07:12by the architecture of absolute power and feudal tyranny!
0:07:12 > 0:07:15I wanted to come back down here a bit, even a little bit more
0:07:15 > 0:07:18because I think one of the amazing things about this street is,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21apart from the beauty of the Palace, is the fact
0:07:21 > 0:07:25that the whole thing with the church at the end, this palace,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28that palace, they're three separate buildings, but it's one effect.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32It's like a painting of a street in perspective, rather than a street.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34It almost looks like the tower are bending in
0:07:34 > 0:07:36to fit inside of the set, isn't it?
0:07:36 > 0:07:38It was planned like that, yeah.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41It's an unusually narrow church. Why is it narrow?
0:07:41 > 0:07:43It's narrow because the street's narrow
0:07:43 > 0:07:46and it's got to end the street, it's the focal point.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51But Noto isn't all privilege and hierarchy.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55There is one Noto experience that can be enjoyed by everyone -
0:07:55 > 0:07:57the most democratic of treats - ice cream!
0:07:58 > 0:08:02The Sicilians have been expert ice-cream makers
0:08:02 > 0:08:04since the legend has it.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09The Arabs created the earliest kind here in the eighth century.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13I'm bringing Andrew to taste the very best!
0:08:13 > 0:08:15So, this is the place?
0:08:15 > 0:08:16This is the place.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19'Corrado Assenza's creations are exquisite,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21'like the Baroque architecture here.'
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Ciao, ciao.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Giorgio has given you a big build-up.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32He says you're the best ice cream maker in, in Sicily.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34I don't know if...
0:08:34 > 0:08:35- In the world.- In the world!
0:08:35 > 0:08:38In the world! I consider in the world.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41So what do you recommend? What do you recommend?
0:08:41 > 0:08:44I show you. With a simple almond sorbet.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48This corner of Sicily have the best quality almonds in the world.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Almond.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54- HE MOUTHS:- Wow!
0:08:54 > 0:08:56- You see, this one's...- Unbelievable!
0:08:56 > 0:08:57No dairy products.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59I've never tasted anything like that.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01- Just water...- That is intense.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04The canella coming up to your nose, and a bit of cinnamon in that.
0:09:06 > 0:09:12OK, and this one is Montezuma, spices, chocolate, dark chocolate,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16with small pieces of lemon and orange candy.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21Ah! It's also the consistency, that is really amazing.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24This is a strawberry sorbet. But no cream?
0:09:24 > 0:09:26No dairy products.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31But it feels like some, like a wine tasting.
0:09:31 > 0:09:32It does, yeah.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36- You want to kind of clean your palate. What is the Torrone? - Torrone is like a nougat.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42That's sort of the richer end, isn't it? That's really rich.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45The strawberry's all light, almost like a mousse.
0:09:45 > 0:09:46That's very Baroque.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49That's, yeah, this is Baroque. This is real Baroque!
0:09:49 > 0:09:51- Yeah!- This is decadent!
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Corrado, are you going to show us how you make this ice cream?
0:09:55 > 0:09:59OK, follow me and I bring you in the lab to show you...
0:09:59 > 0:10:01- The lab?- The lab!
0:10:01 > 0:10:03He calls it the lab, OK?
0:10:03 > 0:10:06'Corrado's ice creams are sublime taste sensations
0:10:06 > 0:10:10'and, in his lab, he prepares one of his latest concoction,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13'with a fittingly precious title - Gold.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19'He insists on sourcing all ingredients locally,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21'and it's this deep connection with the terrain of Sicily
0:10:21 > 0:10:25'that is his most important source of inspiration.'
0:10:26 > 0:10:31When you say have an idea for putting the ingredients together, how does the idea come?
0:10:31 > 0:10:36Do you sit and you think deliberately or does it come to you when you're sitting?
0:10:36 > 0:10:41Around the world. Around the world, during all the day, during all the years.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45When you bring something in you, of you, in your mind,
0:10:45 > 0:10:52a fresh wind, for example, is enough or a new sound or a new emotion
0:10:52 > 0:10:55in a landscape, natural landscape, an example,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58bringing me to recipes in few minutes.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00He's like a poet now as well!
0:11:00 > 0:11:04And this is what I call the music of the ice cream.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07This is a rhythm we use, listen.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08RHYTHMIC GRATING OF LEMON
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Now, try you to make the same music.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19HALTING ATTEMPT AT SAME RHYTHM
0:11:19 > 0:11:22He's slow.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- Well, he's being very careful. - Be careful. Be careful.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27- Not too much?- Not, not so much.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29- Just the yellow.- Just the skin.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31OK, it goes that way.
0:11:31 > 0:11:32- This is the way.- OK.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33CAUTIOUS SCRATCHING
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Soft. Now hard.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40You need to go...
0:11:40 > 0:11:42Go. Thank you.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43So I did OK?
0:11:43 > 0:11:44Thank you.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Not better!
0:11:47 > 0:11:50This is the gold. Infused honey with saffron.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53It's honey infused with saffron.
0:11:53 > 0:11:54Yes.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56BLENDER WHIRRS
0:11:58 > 0:12:00'This is pure alchemy!
0:12:00 > 0:12:03'The flavours Corrado uses are simple,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06'but it's the way he combines them that makes it special.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09'I can't wait to taste the result.'
0:12:10 > 0:12:11There you are.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13The man with the golden touch!
0:12:15 > 0:12:17Yes, the golden...
0:12:17 > 0:12:19- This is for you, Andrew. - Grazie.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21It's more light.
0:12:21 > 0:12:22- Who's going to go first?- Me!
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Go on, you go first.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29- Mmm!- Mm!
0:12:29 > 0:12:32- Mm!- Again, the way it melts in your mouth.
0:12:32 > 0:12:33Is that a word, "mmmm"!?
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Well, that says more than the words, no?
0:12:36 > 0:12:39This is culture of food applied to ice cream.
0:12:39 > 0:12:46And is popular culture, Sicilian culture of food - elegance.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48That's the way.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50It's my pleasure to meet you. To have you...
0:12:50 > 0:12:52No, it's my pleasure to...
0:12:52 > 0:12:53Downstairs. In my lab!
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Our trip to Sicily coincides with Easter,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03and here it's the most important feast in the Christian calendar.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Ceremonies take place all over the island
0:13:07 > 0:13:11to commemorate Christ's death and resurrection.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Today, it's Good Friday, and we're heading to the hilltop town of Enna,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20home to the most important procession in Sicily.
0:13:20 > 0:13:21CHURCH BELLS TOLL
0:13:27 > 0:13:32In the 16th century, the Spanish organised the local guilds of Enna
0:13:32 > 0:13:34into groups called confraternities,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37each one with their own chapel and coat of arms.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42The robes worn by the confraternities
0:13:42 > 0:13:45are almost identical to those I've seen in processions in Spain.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Powerful.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48Mysterious.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50And even a little intimidating.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02So Andrew, look at that. They all come together.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04They are all coming together.
0:14:04 > 0:14:083,000 people, apparently, actually, in the confraternities,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12so that's one in seven of the entire population of the town is actually processing.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23The Chapel of the Sacred Heart is home to the Baroque statue -
0:14:23 > 0:14:27one of the two that will be carried during the procession.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31Usually, only the confraternities are allowed inside,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35but we have been given special permission to take a closer look.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41Her iconography repeats the iconography of their chest heraldry
0:14:41 > 0:14:43which shows a heart pierced by the sword.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It's her heart being pierced by the sword of pain.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Broken, by this pain of losing her child.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52- It says 1600 in that baldacchino - Yeah.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55So it's a Baroque object and yet, you know,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58it's got electric lights attached to it.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02They've, they've kept it updated. It's part of a modern living ritual.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04I mean, this is amazing!
0:15:04 > 0:15:06This is much older.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08This bleeding Christ.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13To me, that looks like 13th century, really old piece of sculpture.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- There's nothing renaissance about that.- No.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21That's the Middle Ages.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23It shows the strain that he's been on the cross
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and all the stress that he's been through.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30It's meant to make you feel sort of agony of sympathy, isn't it?
0:15:30 > 0:15:36Once upon a time, they used to celebrate Easter like this in England, 500 years ago.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38I can feel the pressure mounting, minute by minute.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Lift-off is about to happen.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42We should let them get on with that.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Let them get on with that.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50SOMBRE MUSIC IN MINOR KEY
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Here we go.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Carrying the Madonna from the chapel is no mean feat.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04There are over 70 men bearing the weight of the platform
0:16:04 > 0:16:07which, believe it or not, weighs as much as our car!
0:16:13 > 0:16:16- This guy looks like he's suffering a bit, doesn't he?- Already.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18'The whole affair is so theatrical,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22'and I love how they sway as they carry the statue.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27'It's to ensure that they stay in step over the long distance to come,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29'but it looks more like a synchronised dance.'
0:16:40 > 0:16:44As night falls, the procession builds to a dazzling climax.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47What strikes me about the procession here in Enna is that,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51although the culture and ritual have been inherited from the Spanish,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53I can't think of anything more Sicilian.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01It's a ceremony marking the death of Christ,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03but the triumphant music and spectacle make it feel
0:17:03 > 0:17:05more like an opera.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10'A very Sicilian opera that we can all be part of...
0:17:12 > 0:17:16'..with pain and joy in equal measure.'
0:17:16 > 0:17:21That is real Sicily. That is real Sicily.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22It is only here you see that.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24- Nowhere else.- Nowhere else.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30I've never seen anything like that.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36'What a beautiful way to celebrate Good Friday.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38'I can't wait to see what they do on Easter Sunday!'
0:17:46 > 0:17:47BELLS CHIME
0:17:47 > 0:17:49The next morning we head for Modica,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52another of the fine Baroque towns built by the Spanish.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58But there is also a sweeter side to their legacy here,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02which can be savoured in the town's pride and joy.
0:18:02 > 0:18:03Chocolate.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Modica is home to the oldest chocolate makers in the island,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11the Buonojuto.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15They still make chocolate here to the original 16th-century recipe,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19brought by the Spanish from the Aztecs in the New World.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27C'e Signor Pierpaolo? Grazie.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32Is it just this part of Italy where they make this chocolate?
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Pierpaolo. Giorgio.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37- Andrew.- Pierpaolo, nice to meet you.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Welcome. Come in the kitchen with me.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Ah, fantastic! Come, straight in the kitchen.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43We dive in!
0:18:46 > 0:18:51'Pierpaolo's family has been making chocolate here for six generations.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56'Just few ingredients. Cocoa, sugar, a little flavouring.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01'It's a world away from the chocolate that we are used to in Britain.'
0:19:02 > 0:19:08What we are looking for is to make chocolate with the smallest label...
0:19:08 > 0:19:10that you can find.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Did you hear that? They want less ingredients as possible.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18This is it. Less. You know, when you go and buy a bar of chocolate,
0:19:18 > 0:19:19you want to read the ingredients.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Less ingredients you've got, and better it is.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24- What's this? - This is the sound of my childhood.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28BANGING
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Is that the sound of the Aztec drums?!
0:19:39 > 0:19:43You see, the chocolate has changed. It becomes much more translucent.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47All the bits of oxygen and air that was left inside is gone,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51and you know, you're going to have a bar that is even.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54So when you pack it, cos you know, that's what it is.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56But this noise...
0:19:56 > 0:19:58I'm still getting over it. It's amazing!
0:19:58 > 0:20:02..it's part of, you know... the food is not only a recipe,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05it's a matter of rhythm.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08It looks much more gritty. I'm looking at the texture.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11I mean, I think of chocolate as something that's smooth, liquid.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14That's a particularity of the chocolate of Modica.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Yeah.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20This strange texture is because the sugar never melts
0:20:20 > 0:20:21during the process.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Taste it.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Ah, it's ... it's like sort of chocolate grit.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29You will feel a strange texture in your mouth.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Mm, completely strange texture.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34So my question would be if somebody came to Sicily
0:20:34 > 0:20:39in the 17th century and had a bar of chocolate, would it be like this?
0:20:39 > 0:20:40It was very similar.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Here, chocolate was a food,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46so it was not so important to have a beautiful chocolate
0:20:46 > 0:20:51but something that could give you energy during the day.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55'It's difficult today to think that chocolate was ever a staple food.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58'But Pierpaolo's creations have certainly given me
0:20:58 > 0:21:01'all the energy I need for today.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03'I think we just might be skipping dinner!'
0:21:06 > 0:21:10We decide to spend the rest of Easter in Modica.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Like everyone else, we are in time for the Easter Sunday procession -
0:21:14 > 0:21:18a famous ritual called the Vasa Vasa.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Religion has long been a binding agent in Sicily,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27especially in the deeply unequal society created by the Spanish.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And you can still feel that rallying power today.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37We still have some time, so I'm taking Giorgio to see
0:21:37 > 0:21:39the town's finest cathedral.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43It's dedicated to his name saint, Saint Giorgio.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49'And to me, its curvy facade is much more than just grand architecture.'
0:21:49 > 0:21:51So, that's a church. What do you think?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54It looks like a cake, doesn't it? Not like a church.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57- Ah, so you think it looks like a cake?- It does.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00- You see, I ... - It's like a wedding cake.
0:22:00 > 0:22:01Well, I can see that.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05But I also think what's amazing about this church is,
0:22:05 > 0:22:10you know like the Baroque style, for me, it has the ability to be
0:22:10 > 0:22:14incredibly sensual, almost to turn a building into a human body.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15Yeah.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19And I think the key to this church is that inscription there, Mater Ecclesia.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23- La Mater Ecclesia.- The mother church. And for me, it's ...
0:22:23 > 0:22:26You see a cake, I don't see that, I see...
0:22:26 > 0:22:28the Madonna opening out her cloak.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Oh, wow!
0:22:30 > 0:22:34And down there, enfolding the town.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37There's an old renaissance iconography
0:22:37 > 0:22:39where you have the Madonna
0:22:39 > 0:22:42and she opens her cloak and inside the cloak are all the people.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44And that's what for me this church is.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47It's like the mother's going to look after you.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51It's going to be a good day. Let's go.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00'On the way to the town square I spot a stall selling a fruit
0:23:00 > 0:23:04'called cedro, that I'm sure Andrew won't have tasted before.'
0:23:04 > 0:23:07So I eat the whole thing, Giorgio?
0:23:07 > 0:23:08- Si.- It's like a lemon but...
0:23:08 > 0:23:11You have to eat everything and try to balance as much you eat
0:23:11 > 0:23:15of the inside with the skin. The skin is very important.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18This is what is used to make all those candy.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32It's amazing. I've seen these in old paintings.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36- That's right, yeah.- I always thought it was just like a big lemon.- Yeah.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39And, you know, where in the world are you're going to be able
0:23:39 > 0:23:42to eat something that you never eat before?
0:23:44 > 0:23:47'I always enjoyed going to Easter processions with my parents
0:23:47 > 0:23:52'when I was a child, but Vasa Vasa is something special.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55'A statue of the Madonna in mourning is paraded through the town
0:23:55 > 0:23:57'in search of her son, Jesus.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03'It's a moving piece of street theatre that everybody can be part of.'
0:24:03 > 0:24:07So this is the Madonna kind of, "Where are you, Jesus,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09"where are you?"
0:24:09 > 0:24:10Yeah, "Where are you?"
0:24:10 > 0:24:14And the music is really nice. She's sad, she's...
0:24:14 > 0:24:17But it's Easter Sunday, so she will find him and he's...
0:24:17 > 0:24:19You can see a little bit of the colour.
0:24:19 > 0:24:26When she meets him, the black will come off and she'll be dressed in azzura.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31And this is Jesus now.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35But of course, cos she's come that way, it's like they're missing each other, right?
0:24:35 > 0:24:38- Missing each other. - They're looking for each other.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41You see, it's much more. They're wearing red, there's no sad,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43there's music, because he's already...
0:24:43 > 0:24:45He's triumphant.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47BAND PLAYS JUBILANT MARCHING MUSIC
0:24:54 > 0:25:00'It's noon, and finally, it's the time for the climax of the procession.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07'You can sense what a special event it is for the people gathered here.'
0:25:07 > 0:25:11They all wear the best, their Sunday best.
0:25:11 > 0:25:12The children are all dressed up.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14It's a rebirth.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17And you know, they will think, "We're going to have a nice lunch,"
0:25:17 > 0:25:20- which is... - For the first time in a long time.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24That's exactly. Some people will have meat for the first time in six weeks.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Look, Andrew, Christ is coming.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29The Madonna's on her way.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34'I'm glad we managed to secure a coveted spot on this balcony.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37'It means we'll be able to get a clear sight of the moment
0:25:37 > 0:25:41'when the Madonna finally discovers the Christ and kisses him.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45'This is why the procession is called Vasa Vasa. It means "kiss".'
0:25:45 > 0:25:48- The whole thing is so physical, isn't it?- It is.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50I mean, it's a physical celebration.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52- Right. - I mean, even the statues move.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57There they go. And this is the moment of the Vasa Vasa.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00APPLAUSE
0:26:06 > 0:26:10'It's one of the most moving ceremonies I've ever experienced.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15'Joyful, unashamedly heartfelt.'
0:26:15 > 0:26:19See, for me, this is a performance version of what
0:26:19 > 0:26:22we were thinking when we were up at that church.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25That the church is the Madonna that enfolds the people
0:26:25 > 0:26:28and all the people feel together within the Madonna's embrace.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32And then, it's like we've seen it, that's what we've seen.
0:26:32 > 0:26:33They're all there.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36It's as if they're being embraced by this moment.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Everybody feels part of it. Togetherness.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41- You can feel that when they clapped.- They do, yeah.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46When they clapped, it was beautiful. It was nothing kind of "Oh, we've got to clap now."
0:26:46 > 0:26:47It was natural, yeah.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50I'm really glad we came here.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55We've been invited to continue the celebration with a local family,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57the Vannucios.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Like most families all over the island,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03they still celebrate Easter with a traditional Sicilian lunch.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08'When we arrive, the men of the family are busy making ricotta
0:27:08 > 0:27:09'in one of the outhouses.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16'It's a cheese with its roots in the humble peasant food of Sicily.'
0:27:16 > 0:27:18The rich people have the milk, filter it,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21and then you have the cheese, and once you salt it,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23you make pecorino with that.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26- OK.- The poor people were left with the ciero, which is...
0:27:26 > 0:27:30- Which is what's left from the making...- What's left from the making of the cheese.- OK.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Every time you eat ricotta you'll cry thinking about this one.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Oh, thanks, Giorgio(!) So you're giving me the best ricotta I've ever tasted
0:27:38 > 0:27:42- and you're simultaneously going to ruin ricotta for me!- Yeah.- Great.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44But, but what you find is this ricotta is going to have
0:27:44 > 0:27:46a really animal taste.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48When my kids first tasted it, they said,
0:27:48 > 0:27:49"Ah, it tastes like an animal!"
0:27:52 > 0:27:54Mmm. Mmm!
0:27:54 > 0:27:56- You've got the texture of blancmange almost.- Yes.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59- And really salty. - Really salty, yeah.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02- And it tastes like the smell of the barn a bit.- Yeah.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05- But it's... I mean that in a good way.- Yeah.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13'Next door, some of the women are busy making bread,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16'and they seem slightly reluctant to accept any help from us.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20'It's pretty clear that there's a strict division of roles going on here.'
0:28:20 > 0:28:23Usually, it was the shepherd who would make the ricotta
0:28:23 > 0:28:24and bring into town to sell.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27So that was a man job, because the women weren't shepherds.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29So that stays as a man job.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31But to be in the kitchen, that's not a man job.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34You see a man in here? Only me and you.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37And they'll think we are funny that we are cooking with them!
0:28:37 > 0:28:40- Are they? They think we're funny! - They didn't give us a piece.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Ah, OK, look.
0:28:43 > 0:28:49Kind of turn it and, you know, and push with your hands
0:28:49 > 0:28:52and keep on turning back sort of thing, you know.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55So you work like that and you come back...
0:28:55 > 0:28:56- She's laughing at me! - Yeah, she is.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59She's definitely laughing at me!
0:28:59 > 0:29:00ANDREW LAUGHS
0:29:14 > 0:29:16I'm only a Michelin-starred chef!
0:29:16 > 0:29:19ANDREW LAUGHS
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Famous all over the world!
0:29:26 > 0:29:30Easter lunch has always been a deeply symbolic meal in Sicily...
0:29:32 > 0:29:35..made from simple recipes handed down through the generations.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41Lamb is at the centre of the feats to signify the sacrifice of Christ,
0:29:41 > 0:29:45and there is an array of different pies stuffed with the meat.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47Like this Impanata.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49You will only find it in this part of Sicily.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53There are also dove Easter cakes,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56stuffed with eggs which symbolise peace.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04I sit at the top of the table.
0:30:04 > 0:30:05Yeah, why not.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07Whoa!
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Sharing Easter with the Vannuccios it's clear to see
0:30:18 > 0:30:23that for Sicilians, family and faith are still at the heart of what's important.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Spending time together over a table is a sign
0:30:28 > 0:30:31of great achievement in life.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34It's like the table's like a huge great altar
0:30:34 > 0:30:38- and the family gathers around it. - That's right.- Salute!
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Buono Pasqua!
0:30:42 > 0:30:46Back in Modica, I've arranged to do a little informal house hunting.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49But I'm not looking for a holiday home.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52I just want to take a sneak peek inside one of the town's
0:30:52 > 0:30:54many Baroque palazzos up for sale.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00'I know of an English estate agent, Ramsay Gilderdale,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03'who specialises in selling these buildings,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07'and I've asked him to let us visit one of the finest on his books.'
0:31:10 > 0:31:16So this is a palazzo that was built in the middle of the 1800s
0:31:16 > 0:31:20and then had quite a lot of work done to it in the 1970s,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24including this staircase which was completely remodelled.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28And it's divided into two apartments, one of which,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31as you can see, is pretty 1970s.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36And the other one remains as it was in the 19th century.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43Very 1970s. Even the computer looks like 1970s!
0:31:44 > 0:31:46- Here we go.- Wow!
0:31:59 > 0:32:01No!
0:32:03 > 0:32:08This would have been painted probably 1850 to 1900.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11- Wow!- The naked woman flying across the ceiling.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14And think of what else is happening in Europe.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17You've got, you know, the year of revolutions, 1848.
0:32:17 > 0:32:201850, the Great Exhibition, the Industrial Revolution.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24- Industrial Revolution.- A world engulfed in change. And here...
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Close the shutter and stay inside.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32Peasants can keep working the land, they can keep sipping their tea,
0:32:32 > 0:32:37looking up at these sort of strange Baroque luxurious fantasies.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40And have you noticed here, look, there's even a sort of remnant
0:32:40 > 0:32:44of that old Catholic superstition, like we saw at Enna.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48That's right, the sword going through her heart.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50But there's no sense of participation in this space.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52It's as if they just...
0:32:52 > 0:32:56they keep the past under glass, preserve it forever.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01But it is, it is slightly...spooky.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04You feel like the ghosts of the people who lived here
0:33:04 > 0:33:05have only just left.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09I'm not sure I'm going to be putting in an offer!
0:33:14 > 0:33:17While the rich felt safe in their Baroque palazzos,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21it was a very different story on their estates in the Sicilian countryside.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27In the 18th century, although the Spanish Empire was in decline,
0:33:27 > 0:33:32the feudal system they encouraged in Sicily was as strong as ever.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Heavily taxed by their overlords and desperately poor,
0:33:37 > 0:33:39some Sicilians took the law into their own hands.
0:33:42 > 0:33:43They became bandits,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47stealing from the store of rich barons to feed themselves.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51The fortified farmhouse
0:33:51 > 0:33:53'where we're spending the night, near Ispica,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56'was just the kind of place those bandits would have ransacked.'
0:33:58 > 0:33:59Buongiorno.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03- Franco.- Franco.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17- Kitchen.- Well, that's my...
0:34:17 > 0:34:21That's your bit. I'm going to go and make sure I get the best room.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28'As Giorgio prepared dinner,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32'I started to explore the phenomenon of the bandito, the bandit.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37'What's fascinating is that many believe the Mafia, that most Sicilian of crime networks,
0:34:37 > 0:34:40'has its roots in the island's centuries-old bandit culture.'
0:34:43 > 0:34:47At the beginning, they were basically people who were resisting
0:34:47 > 0:34:50the advance of settled agriculture. They were nomads.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53- Yeah.- But then gradually, as the Spanish system,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57you know, the feudal system took hold with all these barons
0:34:57 > 0:35:00living in different places, the bandito, the bandit
0:35:00 > 0:35:03became a different kind of figure, kind of Robin Hood figure.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05And there's a good phrase in here, he said,
0:35:05 > 0:35:09"This is, this is one way in which the notion gained acceptance
0:35:09 > 0:35:13"in Sicily that to cheat and to steal successfully made one
0:35:13 > 0:35:16"worthy of respect and admiration, like a man of honour,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19"perhaps even a fighter for Sicilian independence."
0:35:19 > 0:35:22But then it became more complicated.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Because the barons, the people who lived in houses like this,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28they got wise to it, and they thought
0:35:28 > 0:35:33"Well, hang on, instead of fighting the banditti, let's use them.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35"Let's pay them."
0:35:35 > 0:35:38So then what happens is that the banditti will actually work
0:35:38 > 0:35:42for Baron A or Baron B, and keep the poor in subjection.
0:35:42 > 0:35:48Right. So from being mean of getting justice,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51- they become a mean of oppression? - Yeah. Exactly.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58'I'm making my own version of bandit food for dinner!
0:35:58 > 0:35:59'It's called maccu.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02'Just dried fava beans,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05'boiled to a pulp and seasoned with wild herbs.'
0:36:08 > 0:36:12I can imagine the bandits just having a pocketful of fava beans,
0:36:12 > 0:36:19you know, when they were on the run, it was important to have something that would sustain.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22And I think this is a recipe then really is perfect for that.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25It really describes that type of food.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29OK. Here you are. Look.
0:36:29 > 0:36:30So this is the maccu.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33This is the maccu. This one...
0:36:33 > 0:36:36I'm going put a little bit of these onions on top to give you
0:36:36 > 0:36:39- a bit of an extra flavour.- Hm-mm.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42And then, a little bit of the chilli chicory.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47Chilli chicory, fantastic! Wild, that's straight from the field!
0:36:47 > 0:36:51If you think about it, and every time we see it on our table,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55you know, we're getting things that come from maybe in one place,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58there is things that come from like ten different countries.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02Here you are, ten square metres, you can find all these ingredients, here in front of you.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06So we're eating the Sicilian terrain.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09We're eating the land. There you are.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11Ah, no, no, come on, they wouldn't have done...
0:37:11 > 0:37:13They wouldn't have put a garnish on, would they!
0:37:13 > 0:37:16No, it's not garnish! You're going to eat it.
0:37:16 > 0:37:17All right, yeah.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22I'm going to plunge in and take a good bandit-sized mouthful.
0:37:24 > 0:37:25Mmm. Mmm!
0:37:28 > 0:37:32You wouldn't think that some dried fava beans would taste like that.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Ah, it's lovely.
0:37:35 > 0:37:36Is it too spicy for you?
0:37:36 > 0:37:38No, it's perfect.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41I don't think it wants to be too spicy, do you?
0:37:45 > 0:37:48To understand the extent of the poverty in Sicily,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51we're going to the nearby Cava D'Ispica.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55This eight-mile gorge is full of caves carved out of the rocks.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02'Sicilian actually lived here in extreme poverty for centuries.'
0:38:03 > 0:38:06The settlement was established in the Middle Ages,
0:38:06 > 0:38:10but what's really incredible is that the last inhabitants
0:38:10 > 0:38:11only left in the '60s.
0:38:20 > 0:38:21It's unbelievable!
0:38:21 > 0:38:25This must have been the kitchen because you see it's all black,
0:38:25 > 0:38:26so that must have been the fire.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Look, this is the oven, so this must have been the kitchen!
0:38:29 > 0:38:31Can you see the oven?
0:38:31 > 0:38:34It looks almost like it could have been made by an ancient Roman.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37How old do you think that is? Could be a thousand years, yeah?
0:38:37 > 0:38:39That's a question, isn't it?
0:38:40 > 0:38:42It's unbelievable.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45Obviously they had different function for each of the room.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49To me, I think this would have been where they held the animal in.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51They would have kept the animal in this side,
0:38:51 > 0:38:53cos the animal didn't need to, you know...
0:38:53 > 0:38:57- Actually, they made heat themselves. - Yeah, animals were central heating.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00Central heating. And they would have slept next to them.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03What do you think these holes in the ceiling are?
0:39:03 > 0:39:06That is maybe to fix a pole, the straight one,
0:39:06 > 0:39:08and those one then goes around,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11they would have put something across to hang it, or maybe actually,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14you know, the animal used to have a ring nose.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17- You think it's a tether? - That's what it was.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19I love this window. Look, have you seen this window?
0:39:21 > 0:39:25This window's fantastic. You can see the whole valley.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28It's extraordinary, there's this sense that you're actually living
0:39:28 > 0:39:31inside a natural fortification, almost like a fortress
0:39:31 > 0:39:35made by nature, but man has sort of honeycombed his way into it.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Oh. look, and you'll like this, Giorgio, look, you've even got ...
0:39:38 > 0:39:40Well, they're not ready,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44but in a couple of months you just reach out of your window - figs.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47- Have you see, there's a staircase. - Yeah, this is a staircase up.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50This is incredible! Look, it's got a hole in it.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55It's quite wonky.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Watch out for that one, there's a big hole.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09It's amazing!
0:40:09 > 0:40:11(It is.)
0:40:11 > 0:40:13It's like a lost civilisation.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18It's 4,000 years of man shaping the mountain.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23At its height of population, 20,000 people lived in these caves.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25So it's almost like...
0:40:25 > 0:40:27It's basically a city above a valley.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Incredible, isn't it?
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Poor Sicilians.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41The kind of people who lived in caves like these
0:40:41 > 0:40:44were a source of inspiration for my favourite artist -
0:40:44 > 0:40:46Caravaggio.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49We're taking a massive detour
0:40:49 > 0:40:52and going to the north-eastern tip of Sicily.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56But for me it's a must and I hope Giorgio agrees.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00Caravaggio fled to Sicily in the 17th century
0:41:00 > 0:41:06and ended up here in Messina, a port just a couple of miles from Italy.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09It's where he painted some of his most moving pictures.
0:41:12 > 0:41:13His biographer in Sicily said
0:41:13 > 0:41:17that his temperament was as uneasy as the straits of Messina,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21as turbulent as that sea, which is kind of true.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23He'd murdered a man in Rome, he'd run away,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26he was under capital sentence - sentence of death.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30Then he runs off to Malta and he does something terrible in Malta.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32He gets involved in a fight and a guy gets shot.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35So THEN, he escapes from prison on Malta,
0:41:35 > 0:41:39and he sails round and arrives in Sicily - he's on the run -
0:41:39 > 0:41:41and he makes his way here to Messina.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46Of all his paintings that he did in Sicily, several were destroyed.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48- One of them was stolen by the Mafia. - Yes.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52But this one, this one survives and it's...it's absolutely fantastic!
0:41:52 > 0:41:53Let's go and have a look.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57Franciscan monks, devoted to helping the poor,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00commissioned Caravaggio to paint this picture,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03now located in Messina's regional museum.
0:42:04 > 0:42:05Here it is.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11It's The Nativity by Caravaggio and...
0:42:11 > 0:42:12I wanted you to see it,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16simply cos it's really just one of my favourite pictures in the world.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19I think it's one of the most moving pictures in the world.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24It's the picture that was painted for, you know, poor Sicilian people
0:42:24 > 0:42:26with very, very little hope...
0:42:26 > 0:42:28living very hard lives.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30This was a picture for them
0:42:30 > 0:42:33to almost huddle around, like you might huddle round a fire.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Right.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38So you feel like Sicily has an effect on it?
0:42:38 > 0:42:40The people of Sicily, the poverty,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43has an effect on the way he's tried to portray the whole thing.
0:42:43 > 0:42:44Definitely.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48He's the most sensitive painter that I can ever think of in history to where he's painting.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50When he paints in Naples,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53he paints a crowded city like Naples we know was.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56- When he goes to Malta, he paints hard soldiers.- Right.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58And when he paints in Sicily he paints poor people.
0:42:58 > 0:42:59And I...
0:42:59 > 0:43:03I can't help wondering also if, if this picture is almost...
0:43:04 > 0:43:07He's painting it...for his sins.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09He's painting... Cos he's killed a man.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11You know, what can he do to make it better?
0:43:11 > 0:43:13Well...he can make this gesture, this is all he has.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15This is very precious.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18He's got no money, he's got nothing else except his talent
0:43:18 > 0:43:20and he's giving this.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24Andrew, you sound sad.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Sad. Well, this picture...
0:43:28 > 0:43:29This picture makes me sad.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31It's a very sad picture because...
0:43:31 > 0:43:33ANDREW SIGHS
0:43:33 > 0:43:36I mean, apart from anything else, it's a sad subject. I mean, it's...
0:43:36 > 0:43:39To me, this is not just Mary with the child Christ,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42this is, you know, any refugee mother
0:43:42 > 0:43:45living in a difficult situation in a difficult time.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48You know, it's a picture about the plight of the poor,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52it's a picture that's meant to remind you that Christ was poor,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55and it's giving hope to poor people, but in a very, very bleak way.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02I mean, in many ways, it's... it's not that well painted.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04You know, look at the shoulder.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07There's something funny about the shoulder of the middle shepherd,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11it's not quite anatomically right, but...in the end I don't care.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14When you hear about this big painter
0:44:14 > 0:44:17you always expect something, like...incredible.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20But this has this beauty
0:44:20 > 0:44:24to really bring you back to what it was like at that moment
0:44:24 > 0:44:27and...to remember, you know...
0:44:27 > 0:44:30the Son of God was a human as well,
0:44:30 > 0:44:32you know, he was a baby once.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36- A Sicilian baby.- A Sicilian baby.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46We've returned to the south of the island,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50to a place famed for the excellence of the most basic of food.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59The backstreets of the unassuming town of Lentini
0:44:59 > 0:45:02are home to a colony of highly prized breadmakers.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08In Sicily, poverty made it necessary to be inventive
0:45:08 > 0:45:10with the few ingredients you had.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14But the quality of this simple bread, baked in stone ovens,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17fired by olive branch and with nut shells,
0:45:17 > 0:45:18is supposed to be incredible.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22Now protected by the Slow Food movement,
0:45:22 > 0:45:24most of the bakeries are run by women
0:45:24 > 0:45:27who were taught by their mothers and grandmothers.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32Signora Rosa is one of the best bakers in town.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46She started doing this when she was three.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48- OK, all right. - So at least, at least 45 years ago.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Just a little bit, the shapes. That's the only thing.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07She said they did the shapes cos people like different shapes.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09The dough and how they work is the same.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12So you're very gentle with it, Giorgio.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14You have to be. Can you feel, it's like...
0:46:14 > 0:46:17- Yeah, when I was doing it... - It's like touching a beautiful woman, isn't it?
0:46:32 > 0:46:34By the time the bread was baked,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37a large crowd had squeezed into the bakery.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42Rosa bakes each loaf according to what the customer wants.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46Young families like a crispier crust,
0:46:46 > 0:46:50while the old people need something softer.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54At last we get a chance to taste the bread!
0:46:55 > 0:46:59Remember one thing, Andrew, don't drop a crumb on the floor,
0:46:59 > 0:47:01because it's an old saying.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06You know, if you drop a crumb on the floor,
0:47:06 > 0:47:08when you die, then you'll be condemned
0:47:08 > 0:47:10all the rest of your eternity
0:47:10 > 0:47:13to pick it up with your eyelashes!
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Is that a Sicilian saying?
0:47:16 > 0:47:19- That's a Sicilian... - That's typically perverse, somehow.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25'I'd never tasted bread with such an incredible flavour -
0:47:25 > 0:47:28'smoky, nutty, deliciously aromatic.'
0:47:29 > 0:47:30Oh, my God!
0:47:38 > 0:47:41- Grazie, Rosa.- Delizioso.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49The long tradition of simple food made here in Sicily
0:47:49 > 0:47:52is also mirrored in the art of the people.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55There's an art form called the Presepe -
0:47:55 > 0:47:58household sculptures made simply from clay,
0:47:58 > 0:48:02particularly strong during the years of Spanish occupation.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06The best collection of these nativity scenes
0:48:06 > 0:48:10can be found in the nearby town of Caltagirone.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17Fortunately, the sculptures we've come to see at the Presepe Museum are indoors!
0:48:17 > 0:48:20Here they're going to say, "Inglese, you brought this weather!"
0:48:20 > 0:48:21THEY LAUGH
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Last time they had weather like that was 200 years ago!
0:48:24 > 0:48:28When Nelson was here or something!
0:48:28 > 0:48:31It's an art form that is perfectly adapted for you
0:48:31 > 0:48:33because after all, it's cooked!
0:48:33 > 0:48:35It's sculpture that you cook!
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Anything that goes in the oven, ask me!
0:48:38 > 0:48:42And what it really is, it's a kind of household version
0:48:42 > 0:48:46of that rather dramatic kind of sculpture
0:48:46 > 0:48:48that we saw being taken in the procession.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50The job of the sculpture was to explain,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53perhaps to the children in the family, the story of Jesus Christ.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57And they're not really, they're not part of art history, these things.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Giorgio Vasari, the first art historian,
0:48:59 > 0:49:01- he hated this kind of thing.- Right.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05Which is an irony because his father was a terracotta worker.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07But the annoying thing, as in many regional museums,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10is that we can't see cos they're behind glass.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Maybe we can ask somebody if they can let us see.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16- Do you think? - Yeah, we can ask.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21The museum director took great care
0:49:21 > 0:49:24in directing how the sculptures should be handled.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27Attenzione.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31Yeah, I'm going to clear the scene.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37'They were created by a local artist called Giuseppe Bongiovanni Vaccaro.'
0:49:49 > 0:49:52It's a very, very overlooked art form.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55I think a large part of the reason for that
0:49:55 > 0:49:58is that...in the rest of Italy, indeed the rest of Europe,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00they had the Renaissance
0:50:00 > 0:50:04and this idea that the artist had to rise above humble craft origins,
0:50:04 > 0:50:09had to rise above the status of a painter
0:50:09 > 0:50:11or a sculptor just for the people.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13That was then looked down on.
0:50:13 > 0:50:14He had to be more sophisticated,
0:50:14 > 0:50:16to create beautiful things
0:50:16 > 0:50:19for the court, for princes, for nobles, for intellectuals.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23But in Sicily, they kept this popular tradition going.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25And these things I think are made...
0:50:25 > 0:50:29I mean, they're made in the 19th century or the late 18th century,
0:50:29 > 0:50:34but they were making this from... 1300, 1400, 1500,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37it just stays, this tradition stays alive.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41I mean, in a way it's...
0:50:43 > 0:50:47..it's almost like a permanent version of the kind of
0:50:47 > 0:50:51nativity scenes that families make for themselves at Christmas.
0:50:51 > 0:50:52That's right.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55You know, when we were little, we'd go and pick the grass and build it
0:50:55 > 0:50:58and as you were getting older, every year you got a different statue,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01so every year - when you get to about ten or 12 -
0:51:01 > 0:51:03you really have a good...
0:51:03 > 0:51:05So your Presepe got more and more complicated?
0:51:05 > 0:51:08We used to make the river with some silver paper
0:51:08 > 0:51:10and all these little things, and the cows,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13and every year you bought a little piece, you know.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15But I think the problem for modern eyes
0:51:15 > 0:51:19is that there's been such a kind of debased version of this tradition
0:51:19 > 0:51:21in modern times.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24You know, there's a kind of association with kitsch.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26- Yeah.- The kind of rather unpleasant terracotta...
0:51:26 > 0:51:28These don't look kitsch, though.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30No, these are not at all. This is art.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34This gives completely a different...
0:51:34 > 0:51:35you know, feeling.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38It's art for people,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41to help them in their life, to help them with their worship.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44Very practical, like cooking.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46I'm so... I can't believe...
0:51:46 > 0:51:49- DIRECTOR LAUGHS - OK.- Grazie.- Ciao.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56We're leaving Caltagirone and southern Sicily behind,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59to head to the west of the island.
0:52:00 > 0:52:01Our destination?
0:52:01 > 0:52:03The port of Marsala,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06one of the most famous places on the whole island.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10It's where General Giuseppe Garibaldi
0:52:10 > 0:52:13launched the campaign to unite Italy in 1860.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16By this time, the Spanish were no longer ruling Sicily,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19and the Sicilians welcomed Garibaldi's promises
0:52:19 > 0:52:21of justice and reform
0:52:21 > 0:52:24in a united Italy.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27But we are also here for another reason -
0:52:27 > 0:52:30I'm taking Andrew to taste a little bit of Sicily
0:52:30 > 0:52:32with a very British flavour.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39This is Cantine Florio, the most successful producer of Marsala wine.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43In the late 18th Century, an English entrepreneur called John Woodhouse
0:52:43 > 0:52:48set up a business to fortify local wine and export it back to Britain.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54The British already had a taste for fortified wine from Spain,
0:52:54 > 0:52:57and Marsala became an instant hit.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02Our guide, Marcello, invited us to sample some of the wine.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04This really reminds me when I was little,
0:53:04 > 0:53:08when I was allowed to have a little sip every now and again of this!
0:53:08 > 0:53:10When I was a child as well,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13I grew up with a little sip of Marsala
0:53:13 > 0:53:14cos it was good for your health.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17It's good for you, yeah. Makes you strong.
0:53:17 > 0:53:18It makes you strong, yeah.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23This, always in our culture, meant for years and years and years,
0:53:23 > 0:53:25an energiser, a tonic...
0:53:25 > 0:53:26It does.
0:53:26 > 0:53:28It is a tonic, isn't it?
0:53:28 > 0:53:30It is like... It has that...
0:53:30 > 0:53:34I'm not saying medicinal quality, but it would sell as a medicinal
0:53:34 > 0:53:37to the Americans during prohibition, you know.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40- Really?- Yes.- Yes. - Is that how they got it through?
0:53:40 > 0:53:43They'd say, "No, no, this is not alcohol, this is a medicine."
0:53:43 > 0:53:45'We usually think of Marsala as a sweet wine,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49'but there is another kind - Marsala Vergine.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52'I was sure Andrew wouldn't have tasted it before.'
0:53:52 > 0:53:54This is a...
0:53:54 > 0:53:59100% Grillo grape variety Marsala Vergine I made, so...
0:53:59 > 0:54:02What we really...appreciate,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05is the acidic content, that means the freshness at the end.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08And that's what you want, you prize the freshness?
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Yeah, because if not, well, we are in trouble.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15That's unusual to be looking for freshness in a wine that's so old.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18That has a beautiful smell.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24It's the aftertone, it's just, after you just swallow it
0:54:24 > 0:54:26and it's really rich.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31- I think you can taste the sun as well.- And the sun.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33You can taste... It's warm.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35It's generally what I used to say to people,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39to people when we are in front of this wine -
0:54:39 > 0:54:44you can absolutely taste the sun, the salt by the sea.
0:54:44 > 0:54:45I remember one time,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49one of my wine waiters tried to explain to one of the guests about...
0:54:49 > 0:54:50and then he ended up saying,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54"You know, it's like, it's like you taking Sicily and squeezing it,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56"and that's where you get, Marsala."
0:54:56 > 0:54:58And he meant this Marsala, the Vergine?
0:54:58 > 0:55:01The Vergine, of course. MARCELLO LAUGHS
0:55:02 > 0:55:06'I really think Marsala could be an allegory for Sicily herself -
0:55:06 > 0:55:10'a sweet blend of native and foreign influences.'
0:55:11 > 0:55:14This blend has made Sicily one of the most fascinating,
0:55:14 > 0:55:16multi-layered places in the world.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19But it's also brought hardship and disappointment.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24When Garibaldi landed in Marsala to unify Italy,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26Sicilians felt for the first time
0:55:26 > 0:55:29they might have control over their own destiny.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33But the truth was darker and far more complicated.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41The poor people thought that after the unification there would be
0:55:41 > 0:55:44a redistribution of the land, but not in Sicily.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48So again, the people who were ruling, you know,
0:55:48 > 0:55:51they didn't want to give anything to the poor.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54So once again, once again they've been let down?
0:55:54 > 0:55:55Big time.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59And it's true, isn't it, that those banditti, those guys
0:55:59 > 0:56:01who'd come up from the poor,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04who'd so long been on the outside of society,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08they had secretly worked themselves into every corner of power?
0:56:08 > 0:56:12- And then before...- So when people start to try to run a business...
0:56:12 > 0:56:14- Yeah.- An olive grove or a lemon business,
0:56:14 > 0:56:17they suddenly find that, "Oh, I've got to pay somebody"
0:56:17 > 0:56:19or, "Oh, my foreman, he's been shot
0:56:19 > 0:56:22"and all the money seems to have gone over there.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25"And when I ask where the money's gone..."
0:56:25 > 0:56:30Yeah, that's when really, you know, this underpower
0:56:30 > 0:56:32really infiltrated the institution.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Obviously, the whole thing was run out of violence.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40You know, violence was, you know, life was cheap here.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43You could get killed and disappear and nobody knew where you were.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46But isn't that... Doesn't that take us to the heart
0:56:46 > 0:56:48of I suppose what we've been thinking about,
0:56:48 > 0:56:49you know, on this journey,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51which is the Spanish legacy.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54That on the one hand - this amazing architecture.
0:56:54 > 0:56:56These towns that look like stage sets,
0:56:56 > 0:57:00the intense cucina poveri - cuisine of the poor -
0:57:00 > 0:57:02like the maccu that you cooked for me.
0:57:02 > 0:57:03That's right.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05But on the other side, you've got...
0:57:05 > 0:57:08It seems to me they created such a distrust
0:57:08 > 0:57:10of the very idea of government,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12that by the end of the 19th century,
0:57:12 > 0:57:14the whole island has been effectively
0:57:14 > 0:57:16taken over by a criminal organisation.
0:57:16 > 0:57:22You're talking about the birth of Cosa Nostra. Our thing.
0:57:23 > 0:57:24The Mafia.
0:57:24 > 0:57:25That's what it is.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28But the fact that it's called Cosa Nostra is...
0:57:28 > 0:57:31really shows you that it's them taking charge.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34And this is a very dark story.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37'Next week, on the final leg of our journey,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40'we'll see both the dark and the light sides of the island.'
0:57:40 > 0:57:44'We will discover how Sicilians attempt to forge a brighter future
0:57:44 > 0:57:48'by leaving the shady legacy of the Mafia behind,
0:57:48 > 0:57:50'reclaiming the splendour
0:57:50 > 0:57:53'that made the island the jewel of the Mediterranean.'
0:57:53 > 0:57:56It looks like he wants to swim out, doesn't he,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59after 2,000 years underneath the sea?
0:57:59 > 0:58:01'We'll look at the origins of Sicily,
0:58:01 > 0:58:03'visiting places that inspired
0:58:03 > 0:58:06'the island's many magical myths and legends.'
0:58:06 > 0:58:08You feel like you've entered the world of the gods.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13'And taste the flavour that seduced Sicily's first colonisers.'
0:58:13 > 0:58:14Don't mess about at all.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16It's just a piece of tuna and oregano,
0:58:16 > 0:58:20which would have grown wild all over the island.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24'It's an important journey that will trace how Sicily's golden past...'
0:58:24 > 0:58:25Que bella!
0:58:25 > 0:58:28'..is being revived here, in the modern age.'
0:58:28 > 0:58:31It's so unusual, for the statue to have come back all the way to this little town.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34That's almost like a David and Goliath story.
0:58:34 > 0:58:38'It's a story of victory and rebirth -
0:58:38 > 0:58:41'the Renaissance of Sicily.'
0:59:02 > 0:59:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:05 > 0:59:08E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk