From the Stones to the Stars Italy Unpacked

'I'm Andrew Graham-Dixon and I'm an art historian.'

It's one of the top five most beautiful paintings in the world.

'I'm Giorgio Locatelli and I'm a chef.'

When you say handmade, it's what it means!

'We're both passionate about my homeland - Italy.'

It's so, so beautiful.

'The rich flavours and classic dishes of this land are in my culinary DNA.'

I wouldn't mind being a pig if I have to grow up here.

'And this country's rich layers of art and history

'have captivated me since childhood.'

Primitive but actually fantastic, beautiful, sophisticated.

'In this series, we'll be travelling all the way up

'the east coast of the country -

'from the deep south to the extreme north.'

'Stepping off the tourist track wherever we go.'

-Not a bad spot, is it?

-This is a dream.

'I want to show off some of my country's more surprising food,

'often most born out of necessity but leaving a legacy

'that's still shaping Italian modern cuisine around the world.'

-It's better than an oyster.

-Much better than an oyster.

'And the art, too, is extraordinary, exotic

'and deeply rooted in history.'

'Our journey begin in the south - Basilicata and Puglia.

'These region can be thought of as the instep and the heel

'of the boot that is Italy.'

'We'll visit places that are very much under the radar.

'Difficult to get to but it's beautiful driving country,

'and full of little-known treasures to discover.'

We're here in one of the driest regions of Italy - Basilicata.

Until the '70s, they were living in caves.

That's where I'm going to take you,

I'm going to take you to Matera and have a look at these caves.

It's one of the jewels of this place, Matera?

Absolutely.

Although now Matera looks very picturesque, for centuries

life has been very harsh and the people here were very poor.

Even in modern times,

families were still living in houses carved out of the rock.

It looks like a cubist painting.

An ancient maze in which you can lose yourself for hours.

I'm really intrigued by the appearance of this town.

I'd like to find out more about its past and its present.

It's like a, kind of, human rabbit warren.

Except, instead of tunnels, there are all these passages, these stairs

these endless different layers and, sort of, exterior corridors...

I think we need to go up this one.

Sometimes when you think about, like, New York and places like that,

when the people lives vertically.

This is like, you know, this has been doing that

for thousands and thousands of years.

Really unusual, isn't it,

to find a place where the medieval structure,

probably earlier than medieval structure, survives?

-Look at that!

-Fantastic, isn't it fantastic?

Look at how beautiful it is.

This is the chimney of somebody's house underneath here.

There. So you're walking on the roof of someone.

We're walking on the roof.

-This is incredible, isn't it?

-It's fantastic.

'The old town of Matera is called Sassi, stones,

'and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.'

'The Sassi is one of the earliest human settlements in Italy.

'People have lived here since Palaeolithic times.'

I think this is the way to see it.

A walk through the backstreets.

All the houses, kind of, prop each other up in some way.

I think we're in for a... Southern Italian storm, no?

Fantastic.

'We still need to do our shopping for lunch.

'Let's go before it starts to rain.'

'The market's bursting with a wonderful variety

'of local fruit and veg.

'I'm struck by these hefty round courgettes,

'like green cricket balls.'

'I've decided to cook a typical peasant recipe - pignata.

'Everything I need is here.'

Buongiorno, allora...

Look at the range of vegetables they have. It's incredible, isn't it?

For a small stall...

-You know, some of the stuff maybe comes directly from the farmer.

-Yeah.

Yeah, that's the one.

Quali?

Piccadilly o...?

Piccadilly they're called? Fantastic.

Is this Piccadilly Circus then?

-Mhh.

-Yeah, it smells like tomato.

-It smells like a tomato.

-Hasn't been in the fridge.

-No.

-Grazie.

-Ciao, mister.

-Ciao, grazie.

-Ciao.

Arrivederci, grazie.

-He said, "Ciao, mister."

-Ciao, mister.

Ciao, signore, ciao, mister.

'Our last stop is the butcher.

'In the past, meat was considered a luxury.

'People would eat it maybe just once a year

'for a special occasion, like the harvest.'

-Pecora is ewe.

-It's mutton.

Yeah, it's like a mutton.

Four pounds, yeah, we take it all, we take it all.

To cook a perfect pignata, you have to put a bit of sausages.

It's a nice flavours.

Prego, prego, prego.

Very typical thing.

-Grazie.

-There we are. Grazie.

-Grazie, buona giornata.

-Buona giornata.

-Arrivederci.

'Before we go into the kitchen, I want to take Giorgio

'on a mini-pilgrimage to a unique church

'perched on top of one of Matera's rocks.'

It's raining today but if we were 13th-century visitors to the church

coming up from the town, we'd actually be happy.

-Why?

-Because it hardly ever rains here

and that's blessed water coming from the heavens.

Water is really precious in this town.

And it's the subject of this church, if you like,

it's called Santa Maria de Idris - St Maria of the Water.

Of the water.

And it was a particular place of devotion for the women of Matera.

They wouldn't come in like we're coming in.

-They wouldn't walk on their feet.

-No?

No, they'd start at the bottom of the hill on their knees.

So all the way they'd come up like this.

-No way.

-Yeah.

-And...that's not all.

-Is that what they used to do?

That's not all. I'm not kidding.

This channel here is called a leccatoio,

which means a licking channel.

And you would lick your way

-into the church.

-No way.

-Yeah.

Now, this might seem like a weird,

primitive ritual,

but, I think, when you think about the nature of this place

and when you see this image, it begins to make sense.

-She is the Madonna of the water jugs.

-Right.

Now, she's all scratch and scribble

cos she's been so destroyed by time.

I think you can feel, sort of,

accumulated centuries of veneration and prayer.

I love the way it's placed, the way it's placed above the city.

-I mean, look at that view.

-Oh, yeah. And you feel you're on an eminence.

It's amazing, as well, is that the building becomes the mountain

and the mountain becomes the church, isn't it?

-It's almost like using nature.

-Yeah.

-This little arch, they've cut this through.

-OK.

It actually takes us into a different church.

This is San Giovanni Monterrone, named after the rock.

St John of the rock.

And it's got these wonderful little fragments of frescoes.

-Look at that face up there.

-So beautiful.

They were painted in the 13th century

and yet they're done in this archaic Byzantine style.

Yeah.

If you come over here, look.

-Much later. Late 16th century.

-Yeah, you can see that.

Shakespeare's writing his tragedies, Caravaggio's painting...

and yet this is what they think the latest style is here...

as if from two centuries earlier than that.

Aren't they beautiful?

This looks like a girl that could walk down the streets today,

doesn't it?

Yeah. I know what you mean, the figure's got this very dark hair,

these dark eyes, dark complexion.

But it's not actually a girl, it's not actually a woman.

This is San Giovanni the Evangelist.

He's often seen as the most feminine of the disciples

and Christ embraces him.

I think also what is amazing -

you can see at least three layers here.

So they painted one on top of each other.

That must be at least three frescoes back.

That might be 1300.

But no matter how many layers of time we find,

whenever we do arrive at a time, at a period,

we see that they are 200 years behind everyone else.

This part of Italy is the forgotten land of the Mezzogiorno,

as we call the south.

Even as late as 1940, most Italian hadn't even heard of Matera.

That all changed thanks to one man - Carlo Levi, a northern Italian,

who was banished in 1935 for opposing Mussolini's Fascist regime.

While in exile, he wrote Christ Stopped At Eboli,

published in 1945.

I read it when I was young, at school.

Because, you know, our teacher was from the south of Italy

and when he start to try to explain to us the problem of the Mezzogiorno,

that was the first book, the book that was more essential for us

northern Italian boy, or northern Italian kids, to understand,

really, what was the problem, how bad it was this problem in the south.

I think what I was most struck by was the description of Matera,

which is described by Levi, who himself, presumably,

was deeply shocked.

And he says it's like Dante's Inferno.

And he talks about these windows or doors into the rock

and they're like these black eyes that haunt him.

And then he looks inside and he sees these families living

20 to a room with their animals, with their pigs,

their sheep, their dogs.

This was a place of sufferance

and where people really, really lived in a way we cannot even imagine now.

The most striking thing for me was the description of the children

and he describes children like...

well, like the children we see in Africa today when there's a famine.

They've got grotesquely distended stomachs,

their legs are thin like skeletons, they're so demoralised and ill,

they can't even wipe the flies from their eyes.

And I just...you know, it's really shocking.

I don't know who you'd compare Carlo Levi to today.

He's, sort of, almost like the Bob Geldof of his time,

he really got people to think about it, didn't he?

Exactly.

And it's changed, hasn't it? Beyond recognition.

It's their time to show off and make, you know,

something great of this past.

And as a measure of it, they're one of the candidate cities

-to be European City of Culture.

-Of culture.

Carlo Levi would be pretty proud of that.

Yeah.

It is a magical place.

Today, about half of the Sassi has been restored.

People have moved back, making their homes once again in the honeycomb.

The town's been given a second chance and it's come back to life.

Our kitchen is inside one of these restored caves.

I love how they've kept the old structure.

The perfect location for what I'm going to cook -

mutton stew with vegetable, pork sausage and pecorino cheese.

Your job is to pull your sleeves up

and, with this implement, to peel these potatoes.

Oh, thanks.

I'll cut the other stuff.

We are going to cut the Piccadilly tomato in half.

-Can I just check that they're OK?

-Yeah.

They're delicious, aren't they?

They're OK, they're like plums.

They're sweet.

Do you want it very hot?

I don't know, how hot are these?

-They're hot.

-I just ate a whole one.

-And it's not hot?

-It's really hot.

GIORGIO LAUGHS

-Ho, ho, ho, ho.

-I told you it was really hot.

My tongue, I can't feel it any more, it's completely anaesthetized.

-I say not to eat it.

-Yeah, I know.

-Why do you eat it?!

Bring the pignata, which is that amphora.

This is beautiful.

'I've to layer the ingredients one on top of each other

'so that everything will cook evenly.

'It's like an ancient pressure cooker - with an edible lid.'

There's a bit of the celery, a little bit of the onions,

a bit of the lamb.

Yeah, this is OK.

I made some dough.

The main idea is not to lose any of the flavour.

You're, kind of, almost putting it to bed - your dish.

Goes to sleep for three hours.

-And what happens to this wonderful covering?

-You eat it.

It'll be like bread.

-But it won't crack?

-Well...

-You hope?

-I hope.

The food almost, kind of, steams?

It will, kind of, move as it goes...

But it's not going to really reach...

No, it's not going to pick up boiling.

That's why we cook it next to the fire.

We should put it in now.

OK, in you come.

-So now what? You just put it down?

-Yeah.

Ahh. GIORGIO SIGHS

Not too close, not too far.

And again, I give him a turn.

I'm so worried that it's going to come out so nice

and I have to wait for three hours now.

Like, I'm steaming more than that pot because I don't know

what's going to happen in that pot, you know what I mean?

I know it's going to be good. Non preoccupare.

There is time for one last look at the Sassi while the food cooks.

There aren't many descriptions of old Matera

but there's one that I really like.

It was written in the 17th century by a man of the cloth.

And he said that, in the evening, it was the custom here that each house

would put out a light.

And because there were so many houses, so many windows,

so many doors,

the whole city was almost like a sea of light which, would be reflected

in the starry sky above.

I can see what you mean.

It's different now, of course,

but if you half close your eyes you can almost get that effect.

Dalle stalle alle stelle.

From the stalls to the stars.

To the stars.

-Come.

-Well, it is about the hour of eating, isn't it?

Yes.

Hello!

-Ah, at last.

-That is amazing

That is one of the weirdest looking things.

-That's the lid?

-That is the lid.

-What do you think, Andrew?

-I think it's a spectacular object.

-Mmm.

-Wow.

-Ohh.

-I must have a smell of this.

Wow! That smells fantastic. Doesn't it smell fantastic?

You can actually eat that.

-I'm going to sit here and salivate...

-'Unpolitely.'

There we go, look, a big bit of ewe.

-This must be a bit of cheese that is melt.

-I never got any cheese.

Better put some on. I know it's more than I should have.

That's a big plate of stuff.

The cheese smells fantastic, as well.

OK.

Whoa!

The lamb is fantastic, isn't it?

When we put it next to the fire, I was really worried about it

because the power of the fire is something that, you know,

it takes years to really understand it.

-Look at that lamb, it's perfect. It just comes off the bone.

-Yeah.

It's absolutely delicious, Andrew.

Peasant food at its best.

What I like about it is it's very hearty.

To me, it tastes really healthy.

Like it's good for you.

-Cin cin, man.

-Cheers.

'We've travelled a few miles outside of Matera into the wilderness

'because my sources tell me there's been an extraordinary art discovery

'hidden away in some caves.'

Wow, look at the river.

Gorgeous scenery.

'Until 1963, shepherds used to keep their flocks inside these caves.

'I hope we're not on a wild sheep chase.'

Wow.

Not bad, huh?

We're right in the middle of the countryside

in the middle of nowhere, look at this.

In a cave cut into a cliff.

-This is amazing.

-Spectacular, isn't it?

Look at this.

This is San Pietro, he's got the keys.

The keys.

Do you know how old these paintings are?

-I've got no idea.

-They are really, really old.

Everything in here was painted before 850,

so we're talking 9th century, 8th century, 1,200 years old.

Amongst the oldest frescoes in all of Southern Italy

and amongst the best.

But still a really well kept secret.

-I mean, hardly anybody ever comes here.

-No.

There's virtually nothing written about these works.

'The artists who created the frescoes are unknown.

'Perhaps they were master painters from the Byzantine East,

'called in by the Benedictine monks who settled in these caves

'during the 8th century -

'gradually transforming them into little churches.'

And if you come around on this side. Look at that.

Absolutely beautiful painting.

Look at her dress, it looks like a print

from last year collection in Paris.

Primitive but actually fantastic, beautiful, sophisticated.

What I love about it is the way in which

they've used the shape of the rock so that she is looming over you.

That's right.

Her head is actually painted on the overhang

so she's looking down on you.

She's got the sweetest eyes ever.

But look up here. This is really rare.

Monumental depiction of Genesis.

I am...yeah, lost for words.

What do you mean?

-Andrew Graham-Dixon speechless...

-I am.

-..in front of a work art?

Never seen that.

In the centre of the Sistine Chapel you've got that tree.

And that thing of the fingers as well, look, his arms are up.

Yes, exactly.

-The single hand of God...

-Right.

-..creates Adam.

Give the life to Adam.

Obviously Michelangelo didn't see this, but he's inheriting it.

That's the tree of knowledge with Satan twined around it.

-ANDREW HISSES

-Whispering to Eve, "Take the apple,

"take the apple."

And look what is it - the forbidden fruit.

It's not an apple - is a fig.

Look, she's really ashamed.

It's almost like you're seeing the beginning

of Italian religious painting here.

And it's here in a cave in little Matera.

How incredible.

'I'll never forget these frescoes - so unexpected.

'Matera's been one surprise after another.'

'Andrew put the bar of discoveries pretty high.

'Luckily, I have the perfect match.'

Buongiorno!

Buongiorno, buongiorno!

'Gaetano owns a herd of cows known as Podolica,

'an ancient breed that comes from the Eastern Steppe.

'They're very strong, the perfect species to survive this harsh land.'

'They look very much like Matera moo cows -

'they're even the same colour as the local stone.'

What is important is that the animal don't get any additional feed.

All they eat is what grows here. Look, this is wild rocket.

They eat this and there's all this flavours goes in the milk

and thereafter goes in the cheese.

I can't wait to taste the cheese.

OK.

'Gaetano makes caciocavallo, a cheese so ancient

'it was mentioned by the Greek writer Hippocrates in 500 BC.'

'I bet it's what the painters who created those frescoes

'in the caves used to eat.'

There is thousand of year of history and experience in this movement.

But look, he's stretching the dough up.

You said dough, I mean, it looks like dough.

It's like a dough. Oh, look at how beautiful.

I'm going to get it. Move it round.

It looks like a whale's tongue.

We're going to stretch it really, really long.

His own weight is pulling on it.

'It's very important to stretch the curd because it realigns

'the protein in the cheese to give its characteristic texture.'

I never done this before.

This is like, for you it be...if Van Gogh was here and painting

and you just passing the colour, Andrew.

Have you seen his hands?

This guy's hands have got a strength that you cannot even imagine.

I've seen his forearms.

One, two and push.

Gaetano may be a man of few words

but his actions speak for themselves.

He's dedicated his life to keeping the caciocavallo tradition alive.

As they stay in the hot water...

They begin to, sort of, melt back into one piece.

-That's right.

-Is it very hot?

Very hot. I barely can touch it.

And my hands are quite used to heat.

-OK, here you are.

-Oh, wow.

As he's closing, he's pushing with his knees as well.

So it's like a jellyfish that's been forced to swallow its own tentacles.

And turn it completely inside out in order to create one skin outside.

Very important...the whole process, close it completely

so there is no air coming through.

There is no infiltration, there won't be any mould growing on it.

-It's like watching a potter making a pot out of clay.

-Absolutely.

It looks like an ancient object, somehow.

Isn't it beautiful?

Aw, it's like a baby.

When you say handmade, it's what it means!

Handmade, made with your hands.

I am a very, very, very happy boy.

I have done something that I have never done in my life.

This is so fantastic!

'After a couple of hours of this masterclass

'in ancient cheese making,

'we couldn't possibly leave Gaetano without having a little taste

'of his caciocavallo.'

OK, we're going to taste one.

This is 12 months.

If you taste it, you've got to have a big bit.

Ohh.

GIORGIO LAUGHS

Come no.

It has the same kind of intensity as a really fantastic Cheddar.

-Cheddar.

-I mean, it's...

-It's a bit more grainy than a Cheddar.

Yeah, more than towards Parmesan in that sense.

-Yes, more towards Parmesan.

-You can taste almost crystallised...

Yeah, the crystal in that, that's exactly.

It's super, it's fantastically good.

-Grazie.

-Andiamo. Grazie.

-Arrivederci.

-Andiamo.

'Goodbye, Matera.

'We are now heading to the neighbouring region of Puglia.'

Mapping Matera was absolutely essential.

I've never seen a place like that.

It's extraordinary, isn't it?

But what can we look forward to in Puglia?

-Because I've never been to this part of the south of Italy.

-OK.

I imagine Puglia is a more...

perhaps a more generous land than Basilicata.

This is a land of plenty, if you have the seeds in your pocket,

just falls out, something is going to grow.

I'm looking forward to the architecture, I think,

more than anything else...

The Baroque, I think it's a great centre for the Baroque - Lecce.

That's right. Puglia is more connected to the rest of Italy

than the other southern region.

They don't feel forgotten down there.

Well, Christ stopped at Eboli but Christ went to Puglia.

Hmm, we can say that. Definitely went to Puglia, yes.

'Situated in the southern tip of the Italian peninsula,

'Puglia is a succession of broad plains and low-lying hills.

'Having warm and sunny weather most of the year

'and being surrounded by the sea,

'Puglia is very generous and a rich land.

'So although Basilicata and Puglia are neighbouring regions,

'they are miles apart.'

'The city of Lecce became one of the powerhouses of Puglia

'during the 15th century.'

'The 16th century was its real golden age.'

'Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor,

'it rose to be the second city of the south, after Naples.'

Here we are.

These little streets - then suddenly they open up

and reveal their treasures.

This is probably the piece of resistance, you might say,

of Lecce Baroque.

It's called Santa Croce and it's seething with detail.

-Isn't that fantastic?

-It's incredible.

Apparently, the reason that is so detailed is because the stone,

which is a local stone, is really, really fine

and it's very easy to work it.

Like, you can just carve it with a penknife, apparently.

And it's so porous, as well.

So what they used to do is take it

and immerse it in a solution of milk and water.

So that's the reason why it's still here.

So it's a sort of cross between sculpture and a very hard cheese.

You know how good they are with cheese around here.

Lecce Baroque is defiantly exuberant and deeply counter reformation -

a triumphant assertion of the Roman Catholic Church

against its Protestant enemies.

First Italian writer to come to Lecce and comment on this building,

Marchese Grimaldi, simply wrote that it's like

the nightmare of a lunatic realised in stone.

'Although Lecce has plenty of amazing Baroque art to see,

'it feels like a town that hasn't yet been discovered.'

'In fact, we seem to have the entire town to ourselves.

'It's as if we're walking through an empty stage set.'

Isn't it beautiful?

This is all by Giuseppe Zimbalo.

He was an architect and he designed all this.

This is really incredibly beautiful.

The church is dedicated to St Orontius.

He was venerated with a passion here

because they believed that he had delivered the city of Lecce

from a great plague in the 1650s.

And so they got all their money together and erected this church

and the bell tower.

When was it that they built this?

That was finished in 1682.

There's a big inscription on the top.

You know, I thought you were so clever

that you knew when it was built.

-But you were reading it.

-I'm just reading 1682.

This is breathtakingly beautiful.

Such a jewel, Lecce.

I just have the right thing to keep us going for a little longer

until we stop for lunch.

When you come to Lecce, you have to have this.

-And what is it called?

-Pasticciotto.

Don't think I've ever seen one of these before.

No, it's only made in Lecce. Pasticciotto is like Pasticcio.

These guy in 1745 called Nicola Ascalone,

and he just put some pastry together and he put some cream in there.

And ever since, it's been like the flagship.

This is representative of this place.

Look, it's so beautiful. And look what's inside.

This is going to inspire you to take in all this Baroque.

It's a sort of...higher level custard pie.

-OK. Now...

-It's amazing.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

-Hmm.

Suitably pepped up by the pasticciotto,

it's time to visit one of the most beautiful

and richly decorated churches in all of Lecce.

So here we are, Giorgio, the church of San Matteo.

I think the interior, to me, it's almost like biting

into one of those pasticciotti.

Bella farcita.

It's, like, absolutely stuffed, it's full, it's rich.

GIORGIO LAUGHS

There's tremendous emphasis, I think, on decoration.

It's very, very much what Lecce is all about.

It's almost like you spend more time looking at the frames

than you'd spend on the paintings themselves.

There are cherubs, there's fruit, there's things going on.

The result is that each painting is framed

like a little piece of theatre.

And the main attraction, of course,

it's his church, is San Matteo himself.

There he is, on the altar.

He is the first Evangelist to write down the true story

of the life of Christ.

His is the first of the four Gospels and he is about to start writing.

He's just, like, holding...

-He's holding a quill.

-A quill.

He's looking up to God for inspiration.

The angel is handing him the paper on which he will write his gospel.

E bella farcita.

-Yes.

-The whole thing is very rich, isn't it?

It is, it is. This would originally have been even more spectacular.

I think the gold has come down, the colours have come less.

So it would originally really have, sort of, glittered

and gleamed at you.

The effect must have been quite awe-inspiring.

If you're a humble peasant sitting in the pew,

looking up at that, it makes you feel quite small.

But at the same time, it's also speaking your language because...

You can understand what's happening without being able to read a lot.

Exactly.

'Unlike Basilicata, where they had to squeeze life from the stones,

'here it's the complete opposite.'

Out of all the southern region,

I feel that Puglia is the one who's really has a plenty.

Is the more rich and the land that gives more than anyone else.

Just look at this tree. This is a fig tree.

Those are called the fioroni,

the one who comes first in the season.

-Fioroni...

-Yeah, like a big flower.

-It's like flowers.

Yeah, they are the flowers.

It's like a little corner of paradise out here, isn't it?

It is unbelievably rich.

And when you look at the colour of the land.

I love this dark soil.

Dark, completely beautiful. It has an incredible smell.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-And what's that over there?

-Andrew, you just put it all over me.

And look at this wheat.

-Beautiful.

-Look at that. Durum wheat at their best.

They wonder why you have beautiful bread and beautiful pasta here

with wheat like that.

'This is also the land of very unusual constructions

'known as trulli, unique to this corner of Italy.'

I just noticed there's a little trullo.

Well, that must be one of the trullo

of the people who worked on the countryside

would occupy so that nobody would come and steal their crop.

It's a wonderful object.

This looks slightly slipped down the side.

Look inside the structure, it's so beautiful.

Unbelievable, yeah.

The whole building is made of stone without any cement.

It really looks like an igloo.

-You're in love with the trullo now?

-I think I'm in love with it.

'Trulli are remarkable constructions made without mortar.

'The stones are just laid on top of one another.

'Many are ancient but until recently they've been left to fall into ruin.

'Now, they're listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage.'

'Trulli are to Puglia what the cave dwellings are to Basilicata.

'Architectural survivals from the past that are actually

'very well suited to modern needs and are now being restored.

'Nowhere more triumphantly so than in Alberobello,

'which has more than 1,500 trulli, almost every one now inhabited.

'Trulli not only look like igloos, they work like igloos

'but in reverse, shielding their inhabitants

'from the fierce heat outside and making sure they stay cool.'

'I know an even better way to stay cool on a hot day like this.

'I know a woman who makes ice cream

'only using product in the surrounding countryside.

'Time for an Apulian ice cream.'

OK, Andrew, this is going to be a test for you.

-A test?

-Test.

A test on your taste buds. OK, here we are.

Stay there, don't listen.

Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno, signore

-Oh, buongiorno.

Allora, volevo... Go away, just stand back a minute.

-ANDREW LAUGHS

-OK.

Benissimo.

This is speciality and you have to guess what it is.

If you don't guess, that's it, you're out.

I'm not cooking for you any more.

She's putting a lot in.

-I choose three fruit typical of here.

-I just got one question...

-Grazie.

-No, no questions.

You can't talk to her cos you'll ask her what it is.

-But I've got a question for you.

-OK, taste test.

-Where's yours?

-It's the...

OK, now, taste and tell me what it is.

-Green figs.

-Remember, it's the start...

This is not the figs of September, this is called fiorone,

so the first figs who comes out at this time of the year.

Yeah, OK, figs, very good.

Second one, taste.

Cherry?

-Wrong, this is really special.

-Hang on...

This is called percoche,

which are this really typical peach that grow only in Puglia.

And they're really big and they're really juicy.

-The peach is really good.

-Third one...

That's not fruit, that's nut.

It's not co...it's almond.

Bravo!

-Do you know what, I've just realised what you've done, Giorgio?

-What?

You've chosen the ice cream in the colour of the Italian flag!

That's exactly. GIORGIO LAUGHS

-Undercover patriotism.

-Grazie.

-Grazie, arrivederci.

-Arrivederci.

'The flavours change according to the season.

'Like the figs we just tried, hardly anything here is imported.'

'Eating the percoche ice cream was like tasting summer itself.'

'Now that we are rejuvenated, we can start

'the essential preparation for my main dish

'and there is somebody waiting to help.'

Signora Cosima?

Buongiorno! Oh, che piacere.

Benissimo.

-Which means, literally, little ears.

-That's what it means.

-Little ears of pasta?

-Little ear of pasta.

She obviously has done this for hundreds of years...

or not hundreds of years - for a long time.

ANDREW LAUGHS

Better not translate that into Italian.

Learning from people that has been making this for long time.

Pull it...pull it.

Now, she is kneading the pasta on the wooden base

without any flour on it so there is that friction.

That friction will give the texture to the pasta

then would allow the pasta to take in the sauce,

to grasp the sauce to grasp the olive oil.

Allora, Andrew, she shows you.

Pull, turn it round and make the orecchiette.

-I can do one.

-Forza.

-Taglia?

-Si.

-Tira.

You don't have very good observation, you spend hours...

-OK, OK.

-Pull.

-Pull.

-Oh, mamma...

-Oh, mamma mia, che disastro.

-What a disaster.

-It's turned into a new kind of...

Just sit down there, just stay there, just stay there.

-Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa.

-OK.

I think I'll just have to stand around and let you

make all the pasta for my dinner.

Bravo, Giorgio.

Bravo, Giorgio.

So it's quite a simple process but you need to get the knack.

So if it was for you, we'd go without lunch.

Thank goodness you're with me.

I think this is enough for me and for Andrew for dinner.

'Orecchiette used to be a peasant food and now,

'like so many other poor man's dish, has become a gourmet hit.

'This new culinary trend has rescued

'so many recipes that would have been otherwise forgotten.'

'Cooking in kitchens like that one carved out of a cave in Matera

'and now here in a trullo adds a special historical ingredient.

'You don't just taste the food,

'you experience the culture that produced it.'

Smell that.

Ahh.

Grazie. It does smell very good.

Look, what we want, and this is your job...a bit of the leaf...

these beautiful, tender leaves.

Imagine that these are very good for one.

-They're very healthy, aren't they?

-Yes.

-Isn't this the type of dark green vegetables...

-Yes.

..we're always being told to eat?

I think we've got more than enough Andrew, now.

Going to give them a wash.

'Turnip tops usually get thrown away because nowadays people don't

'see it as a food and how good they can taste.'

-So they've literally been in for, I'd say, 30 seconds.

-Yeah.

Just to take the boil.

You do these just with garlic. You put some garlic in it and the chilli.

-You cut the garlic thin.

-Very thin.

I'm going to put in the cime di rapa.

You can taste if you want.

Very nice. Buono.

Bitter?

No.

'As usual, watching Giorgio cook is making me hungry.

'I feel like nibbling on some antipasti typical of the region.'

'My absolute favourite is the exquisite burrata.'

Burrata is a by-product of making mozzarella.

So everything what's left over don't get thrown away.

All those little bits goes inside with a bit of cream.

And then they close it.

Look how thin is the skin of it.

It's almost, like, in a membrane.

It's so creamy, so nice.

It's very good.

That's unbelievable!

Andrew, here's the orecchiette that we made with Cosima this morning.

Come over here.

-The little ears are going in.

-Ooh, ah.

The pasta will stick if you don't stir it.

-So stir, stir.

-Oh, yeah.

You can feel that it might be getting there.

Some people like it more al dente, some people like it less al dente,

some people hasn't got no 'dente' so it has to be really well cooked.

That sauce has become very dark green.

And have a really full flavour.

OK, off we go.

There you are. Thank you, Cosima.

Grazie.

It's not like any pasta that I ever ate before, I think.

-I mean, it's really...

-Consistency wise, no?

It's substantial.

Every single one of these little ears, orecchiette,

each one has done what you'd hoped it would do

which is that this side has scooped up the sauce

-and the other side has trapped the sauce.

-Well, yeah...

But they've all done it.

Excuse my fingers. So it's like a wonderful piece of design.

I think that, in Puglia, the ingredients,

kind of, like, screams at you.

Yeah, yeah.

I love it.

My favourite recipes are the old recipes

and I think this is just delicious, fantastic.

Thank you.

We landed...in Puglia.

You are very close to Greece, you know?

Well, I noticed in one of the restaurants here we were offered

-a Greek salad...

-That's ridiculous, Andrew.

..and some of the people still speaking Ancient Greek.

Greek salad they invented in Los Angeles.

Between the 8th and the 9th centuries BC,

Puglia was one of the pearls of Magna Graecia.

What we're going to see now is, I am sure, 100% Greek.

Andrew, where are we?

Well, this is the Jatta collection

in the very little known town of Ruvo.

It's a real secret jewel, I think.

It's a very unusual collection

because it dates from the 19th century

and the history of art in Italy in the 19th century, for Italians,

is a rather unhappy one.

It's mostly a history of Italians being persuaded either to sell...

-Sell it.

-..or give away their greatest treasures.

This is incredible, Andrew.

This a collection where, essentially, two brothers,

Giulio and Giovanni Jatta, decided that they wanted to keep

the treasures of Ruvo, which were principally Ancient Greek remains.

The way that the collection's been laid out -

it all leads you to the great treasure of the museum,

which is this vase.

-Wow.

-Really unusual.

I never see a white figure on one of these vases.

We could even touch it if we wanted to.

We won't touch it but we could if we wanted it to.

You can't touch it because you're being watched.

Giovanni Jatta placed here in this room

with his eyes on his greatest treasure.

-Of course.

-It's a nice touch, that.

Forever looking at his most precious treasure.

Forever looking at his most precious thing.

Here we've got Jason and the Argonauts,

that's the prow of their ship.

Here's Medea, the mother of Jason's children,

carrying a bowl full of poison.

And who has she poisoned?

She's poisoned the great bronze giant, Talos,

who has been appointed to guard Crete

and who's been killing everybody, this bronze automaton.

And then he's dying and to convey the notion of his death,

the artist has, suddenly, startlingly, departed

from the colours of the Greek vase - red and black.

Talos has been depicted in white, his body is drained of life.

And down here's Crete, this beautiful, swooning, terrified girl,

personifying Crete the island, who's losing her protector.

Their two figures almost fall open like, perhaps,

the two halves of a tree being split.

This detail and they are absolutely brilliant.

I love the horse head.

One line, so perfect, so powerful.

And, you know what? Look at the hands.

Holding him there.

I love the details of the clothes.

You could create a Greek costume using those as your pattern.

This is 2,400, 2,450 years old.

I'm so, so incredibly touched by this.

Definitely worth the trip. Definitely.

Good.

'The Greeks left their mark on this corner of Italy in many ways,

'and you can still sense their ghostly presence

'in many of the folk traditions of Puglia.'

'There's a little square in the white hill top town of Ostuni

'where they still dance a dance called the tarantella.

'It's said to be medieval in origin

'but its roots surely go back much further.

'So much so that seeing a performance

'is like watching the figures

'on a Greek vase come to life.'

'The dance tells the story of a girl, bitten by a spider, a tarantula,

'who becomes possessed and fall into a trance.'

Bravissimi, bravissimi.

Oh, I loved that.

It's not a dance, it's an exorcism.

'Tradition is properly alive here in Puglia, as in Basilicata.

'It's as though a new generation is determined to dig up

'what's been forgotten.

'To recover what previous generations were ashamed of.'

'The most obvious legacy of antiquity is all around us in Puglia.

'Vast groves of olive tree

'which have been in production for more than 2,000 year.'

Wow. Andrew, look at that.

Look at down there, on your right, look at that.

Beautiful Adriatic Sea.

All that green there, you see all that silver green -

that's all olive trees.

Some of the trees are enormous. You look because I have to drive.

Every tree, 20, 40 litres of oil.

Look how much olive grows up here.

And you can see why the Greeks, the Romans loved it.

This huge, fertile plain.

'Puglia isn't just one picture postcard after another.

'It has its modern industrial side too

'which has brought economic growth

'but has also weakened traditional family ties

'and blighted part of the coastline.

'In the '60s and '70s, attempts were made

'to make the port city of Taranto into an industrial hub

'of Southern Italy.

'But new factories brought new problems in their wake -

'familiar to most big cities around the world.'

'Taranto isn't a place tourists really visit,

'but it's home to a masterpiece of modern architecture

'and one that might never have come into being if it hadn't been

'for the troubles experienced here in recent times.'

Gio Ponti was quite an idealistic man.

And he had this idea of erecting a cathedral.

he said he wanted it to be like a ship in which the Christian souls

would sail towards God.

And he wanted that great central facade in the middle

to resemble a sail.

'With this cathedral,

'the church was trying to recover a sense of community

'lost with the sudden industrialisation of the town.'

I really love this church interior.

I like the way that the floor slopes

which means that the congregation is sort of led towards the altar,

and also it's like the staggering of seats in a theatre.

It means even if you're sat at the back, you can see what's going on.

The stoups for containing holy water are actually real sea shells.

So he's referring to the proximity of the sea.

I also really like these two crosses erected on concrete columns.

It's a cross and it's an anchor as well.

Yes, you're right. I hadn't seen that.

It looks to me like a mosque more than anything else.

I think that's because Gio Ponti himself said

he wanted to express the religious ideas without images.

He wanted to express them through form.

I love these beautiful doors, these diamond crosses, un-patterned light.

Think he's so clever, look, he regulate the entrance of the light

so much for the congregation

but then he opens the ceiling there and allow this flash of light

coming through on the altar.

So it's almost like it's lighten up there, isn't it?

This is such a clever ploy.

He would be very pleased that you said that, Gio Ponti, cos he said,

"The one thing I want to use in my architecture

"that I think isn't used enough in modern architecture is...light."

'We've travelled far in space and time -

'from the caves in Matera to the Greek vase via Baroque Lecce.

'And visiting this cathedral brought us back to the 20th century.

'We're almost at the end of our journey.'

'Most people who visit the south of Italy head straight for the sea,

'but we've kept it for last.'

'We're in the beautiful port of Trani, 130km north of Taranto.

'Puglia has 900km of coastline

'and the best way to admire it is by boat.'

Michele!

-Buongiorno, come sta?

-Bene, e Lei?

OK.

'We have chosen the ancient fisherman route towards San Nicola,

'the Norman cathedral of Trani.

'It's like a lighthouse and guides our way.'

Andrew, look, this is so beautiful.

It's such a representation of Christianity

in the middle of the sea.

Can you imagine you were coming back here after you've been months at sea

and you're coming back and you see this there.

And you know you are at home.

One of the greatest power of this region is this sea, the Adriatic Sea.

And it has this fantastic fish that has this beautiful flavour.

If you have to think about the most representative fish

than there is in Puglia is - the ricci di mare...

-The sea urchins?

-..which is the sea urchin, that's right.

Andrew, my dear friend.

-I'm transfixed.

-You're transfixed?

I don't know what you've got in store for me.

You're telling me that's food?!

-No, that's not the food. The food is inside.

-OK.

Do you want to taste one?

-Hang on, you just got those out the sea.

-Yeah.

That's what I avoid treading on when I go swimming.

-For you, that's the antipasto.

-That's the antipasto.

So with a little...snip

I'm cutting off...the top.

HE SINGS: # Andrew, Andrew... #

What?

You're going to love this. The thing is...

It just looks so disgusting!

It looks like you've opened the top of an alien's egg.

Absolutely delicious, isn't it?

Wow.

That is so unexpectedly good.

-Is it?

-Hmm.

-I told you.

-I actually thought you were winding me up.

I'm not winding you up.

When it comes to food, I never wind up anybody, you know?

It's almost like a cross between

cod's roe, oyster and the coral of a scallop.

But they taste incredibly full of protein.

This was one of the favourite things to eat of Salvador Dali.

I can see why these might have appealed to Salvador Dali.

-So you only eat the yellow bits?

-Which is the eggs.

-What is all the rest?

-The rest you don't want to know.

It's better than an oyster.

Much better than an oyster. Look at that.

I'd go further.

-Is that for me as well?

-Yeah.

That's better than caviar...

Definitely, caviar is good when, you know, the guys decide

how much salt to add to that but HERE there's nothing add to that.

This is just came out the sea now like that - bang!

I just got them here...

That much caviar would cost, probably, about £1,000.

How much did that cost us?

Ten minutes in the water.

Ten minutes in the water and maybe a few spines in the feet, hey?

-That is delicious.

-Was it?

-You like it?

-That is seriously...

-I knew you were going to love it.

We've only got...20 left.

'This beautiful stretch of coastline seems like a suitable place

'to end our journey.'

Basilicata and Puglia, they are part of the really deep south.

Both of them come from a history of poverty.

This people, they really had nothing.

Witnessing Gaetano's hands making this cheese.

It was, for me, an experience that I would want any of my chef to have.

And it wasn't just the ancient nature of what he was doing,

the cheese itself, the final product was completely...delicious.

Unbelievable.

And this manuality,

as human beings, we should be able to maintain this.

We should invest in this.

For me, the south, it's plunging into history, it's strong flavours

it's sunshine, it's blue skies.

Everything is - turned up the volume.

And now they have a chance.

And you could see the young ones, really they're proud of what they do.

Really they wanted to show you what they're made of.

I thought that when we saw the tarantella.

It wasn't old people doing the dance,

it was young people keeping their own traditions alive.

Yes. Proud of that.

So where are we going to go next?

We're going to go north.

So Umbria, Marche.

I can tell you one thing, we're going to see

some absolutely fantastic art, especially painting.

But I don't really know the food.

Oh, the food is really, really good.

-It's going to be a good journey.

-Fantastic.

-Come with me.