0:00:02 > 0:00:04'I'm Andrew Graham-Dixon and I'm an art historian.'
0:00:04 > 0:00:08It's one of the top five most beautiful paintings in the world.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10'I'm Giorgio Locatelli and I'm a chef.'
0:00:11 > 0:00:15When you say handmade, that's what it means!
0:00:15 > 0:00:18'We're both passionate about my homeland, Italy.'
0:00:18 > 0:00:21It's so, so beautiful.
0:00:21 > 0:00:27'The rich flavours and classic dishes of this land are in my culinary DNA.'
0:00:27 > 0:00:30I wouldn't mind being a pig if I have to grow up here.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34'And this country's rich layers of art and history
0:00:34 > 0:00:37'have captivated me since childhood.'
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Primitive but actually fantastic.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40Beautiful, sophisticated.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44'In this series, we'll be travelling all the way up
0:00:44 > 0:00:46'the east coast of the country,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50'from the deep south to the extreme north,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53'stepping off the tourist track wherever we go.'
0:00:53 > 0:00:55- Not a bad spot, is it? - This is a dream.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02'I want to show off some of my country's most surprising food,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06'often most born out of necessity but leaving a legacy that's
0:01:06 > 0:01:10'still shaping Italian modern cuisine around the world.'
0:01:10 > 0:01:13- It's better than an oyster. - Much better than an oyster.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17'And the art, too, is extraordinary, exotic
0:01:17 > 0:01:19'and deeply rooted in history.'
0:01:24 > 0:01:26We began in the deep south
0:01:26 > 0:01:30and will finish up in the far north in the Veneto,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32but on this leg of our journey, we'll be unpacking
0:01:32 > 0:01:37two regions in the very middle - Le Marche and Umbria,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41home to some of the most captivating Renaissance art in all of Italy.
0:01:43 > 0:01:44And trying its delicious,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48natural flavours as we travel into the heart of Italy.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01We start in Le Marche,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03a region that rolls from the Apennine Mountains,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07the backbone of Italy, down to the Adriatic coast.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13We're going to begin in a place that I love - Urbino,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16the town that gave us the painter Raphael
0:02:16 > 0:02:20and the architect Bramante, who created St Peters in Rome.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24It's a little Renaissance gem of a town.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33So, this stand seems to have caught your eye. What is this?
0:02:33 > 0:02:36This is what I wanted to show you for a long time.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39This is a real speciality of Le Marche.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40This is called olive ascolane.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno a voi. - This is Ze Migliori.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47- Ciao. Buongiorno.- Mio figlio. - And this is his son.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50And his father used to do this, and his father's father used to do this.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53- Oh, OK.- So they travel all over the region to make this delicacy.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00To make olive ascolane, Ze Migliori stuffs the olives with meat
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and his son Augusto deep fries them in breadcrumbs...
0:03:05 > 0:03:09..to create this simple but richly-flavoured snack.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15The most important thing is to use the right type of olives.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19- Have I tasted these olives...- No. - ..sometimes stuffed with pepper?
0:03:19 > 0:03:22- No, no, no, no.- They're only used for this?- Yes.
0:03:22 > 0:03:23The olives...
0:03:23 > 0:03:27TRANSLATION:
0:03:27 > 0:03:29You have to taste these olives because they taste different.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32- What does it mean, 'tenera'? - Tenera - tender.
0:03:32 > 0:03:33Tenera e crocante.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Because it's tender and very crispy in the same time
0:03:36 > 0:03:38and it has a fantastic flavour.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40These olives really makes the difference, you know.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44- They're sweet, they're sweet. - Sweet, completely.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Let me show you how to make one.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48I cut the tip and then I follow it.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53Just go around without breaking until you make it a spiral out of it.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59- Brilliant.- So we got the spiral. - You've got a S-shaped curl of olive.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01And then I got a little bit of the stuffing...
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Manzo e maiale fatto a tocchetti.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Beef...beef and pork all cut in little pieces and cooked like a ragu.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11I put it here.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13And then we rebuild the olives around it.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15- So you are kind of replacing the olive stone?- Yeah.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Then it goes into the flour, and then in the egg...
0:04:20 > 0:04:23and from the eggs onto the breadcrumbs.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30Remember, the fritto - the fried - is always something for Sunday.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34It was something you have to be a rich occasion to have fritto.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38- Is that because traditionally it was quite a luxurious thing to do?- Si.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42TRANSLATION:
0:04:51 > 0:04:53They ask you
0:04:53 > 0:04:56- when you come back from a wedding, "Was the..."- "Was the bride..."
0:04:56 > 0:04:59"..bride beautiful?" "Yes, what about the olives?"
0:04:59 > 0:05:01THEY LAUGH
0:05:01 > 0:05:03- What about the olives?! - Much more important.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06- E la verita.- Ti credo. I believe you, I believe you.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Look at that. You can put it in there.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Do we just wait a second?
0:05:11 > 0:05:13No, no, eat them straightaway. Nice and hot, Andrew.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Sempre cosi. "Be careful," thank you.
0:05:19 > 0:05:20You tell me the truth.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23- Eccole qua.- Mmm.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Is it delicious?
0:05:27 > 0:05:29- It's unbelievable.- Yes!
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Can you imagine this...
0:05:30 > 0:05:33E buonissimo. It's beautiful.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37What's surprising about them is how delicate the taste is.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39You've got this sort of sweetness in the olives
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and then you've got this, um...
0:05:42 > 0:05:44- saltiness.- Saltiness.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46I remember, I went to a wedding.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49I must have been 18 or something like that. They had these.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51I tell you what, it's the first time I had them.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53I just went on, and on, and on.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56I never had nothing else to eat than olive ascolane.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59When I discovered them, I was like, "My God, this is incredible!"
0:05:59 > 0:06:02I can see why, they're very moreish.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06- Grazie mille.- Grazie a voi.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Mi raccomando, eh? TRANSLATION:
0:06:08 > 0:06:11- ALL:- Grazie.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Grazie. Arrivederci.
0:06:15 > 0:06:16Take one.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21The olives are mouthwatering,
0:06:21 > 0:06:26but today's main course is a rather different kind of dish.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30I'm taking Giorgio to see perhaps Urbino's greatest treasure,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34the vast palace of the man who put this town on the map.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Scholar, connoisseur, commander of a private army,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42he was one of the driving forces behind the Italian Renaissance.
0:06:44 > 0:06:50Urbino as we see it now is very much the creation of one man.
0:06:50 > 0:06:51And he's signed the city.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Everywhere you look, you see his initials.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59FE DVX, Federico Da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00He wasn't afraid to show off.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Oh, no, he ruled this place.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05He was the tyrant of the town.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07A benevolent tyrant, or so he liked to think.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Federico was obsessed by the classical past.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15And this beautiful inscription tells us all about him.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17He won every battle in which he fought,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21he lead his troops into action six times,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24but through war he brought peace.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27He was victorious.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31This inscription is a masterpiece of early Renaissance typography.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Absolutely beautiful writing.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Very modern, in a way, isn't it?
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Very, very, very sharp and clear and rational.
0:07:40 > 0:07:41I love the 'Q'.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45The 'Q' is the same as the 'O' but it's got this really long tail.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48I love these punctuation points between the words.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49There's the sort of little leaf.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52He loved really fine stone carving.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55This palace is his domain, it's all about him.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04Federico was a warrior, but with an enquiring mind.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09He'd had a classical education, he read Latin military texts
0:08:09 > 0:08:12and he studied rhetoric so he could persuade his enemies to
0:08:12 > 0:08:16surrender without even fighting, and he'd still get paid.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Knowledge, for Federico, was power.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23Everything in this palace is calculated to his specifications,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26even the shallowness of these steps.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30- You notice how easy they are to walk up?- Yes.- That's because
0:08:30 > 0:08:34he said to his architect, "If I get to the top of my stairs
0:08:34 > 0:08:37"and I've broken into a sweat, you've done a bad job."
0:08:37 > 0:08:41The palace was heavily looted in the years after Federico's death
0:08:41 > 0:08:44and now it's eerily empty.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48From the few things that remain, you can still piece together
0:08:48 > 0:08:52a portrait of Federico himself, a true Renaissance man.
0:08:52 > 0:08:58They have kept this, which is a very rare portrait of Federico himself...
0:08:58 > 0:08:59Hmm.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03..with his son in his library.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05I like the idea that instead of being on the horse like that,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08he's there with a book in his hand.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Knowledge was as important to him as courage.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15I think the expression is incredible.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Look, he's got lines all over his head,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21like he's really thinking heavily.
0:09:21 > 0:09:27Almost like saying, "I'm strong, I'm powerful. I also have knowledge."
0:09:27 > 0:09:30He's always painted from this side
0:09:30 > 0:09:31because, when he was young,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34he was passionately in love with this woman
0:09:34 > 0:09:37and he jousted in her colours.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39And one day, his opponent's lance
0:09:39 > 0:09:44went through his visor and completely removed Federico's eye.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46So he was blind in one eye on the other side
0:09:46 > 0:09:49and apparently had a very disfiguring scar.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Do you notice that he has no bridge to his nose?
0:09:52 > 0:09:54- A gap.- There's a gap.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Now, some people think that's because
0:09:57 > 0:10:00when the lance entered the visor of his helmet,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04it removed part of his nose as well as his eye.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06There's another theory which I really like -
0:10:06 > 0:10:12according to which Federico actually asked his surgeon,
0:10:12 > 0:10:13his court surgeon,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16to remove the bridge of his nose.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18So that he could see with the other eye...
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Exactly, cos he was a great student of optics.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24He commissioned the first great Renaissance treatise
0:10:24 > 0:10:27on perspective, and it's all about what the single eye can see.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34Over here, there's a really good example, or proof, of Federico's
0:10:34 > 0:10:39interest in the science of vision, the science of optics.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42This...this is called The Ideal City,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45and it's a perfectly perspectively
0:10:45 > 0:10:50drawn and painted depiction of, I think,
0:10:50 > 0:10:55the kind of city that Federico wanted to turn Urbino into.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00This was all absolutely brand-new, this Renaissance ability
0:11:00 > 0:11:04to create a perspectively perfect depiction
0:11:04 > 0:11:10mathematically receding through space of an architectural vision.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15You know, Andrew, I like to think that somebody 600 years ago
0:11:15 > 0:11:20just comes here and saw this and thought, "Wow, this is the future!"
0:11:20 > 0:11:23This would have seemed absolutely futuristic.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Federico and his artists saw themselves as visionaries.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28They WERE visionaries.
0:11:28 > 0:11:29The new Renaissance ideas
0:11:29 > 0:11:31that lie behind a picture like this
0:11:31 > 0:11:34have very much shaped our world.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37- Definitely.- If you think of a city like Paris,
0:11:37 > 0:11:42which is...with its huge, wide avenues, very carefully planned.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Central buildings, like the Theatre de Paris.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48It's absolutely that notion.
0:11:49 > 0:11:55It's about doing away with the medieval labyrinth of old towns.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59It's very beautiful and very peaceful
0:11:59 > 0:12:00and there is nobody there.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02The only live things -
0:12:02 > 0:12:04two little pigeon there.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08They've crept unnoticed, or they've flown unnoticed,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11into The Ideal City.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15All the door open. The windows are open as well.
0:12:15 > 0:12:16It's quite eerie.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19It's like a sort of Marie Celeste city.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Federico's Ideal Cities had a huge influence on the public
0:12:25 > 0:12:27spaces of the modern world,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30but he was actually a very private man.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35And behind this empty enthronement hall is his personal study,
0:12:35 > 0:12:37a place of retreat,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40which is one of my favourite rooms in the whole world.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46In this great huge palace with its vast, echoing halls,
0:12:46 > 0:12:50the best room of all is the smallest.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55- This is Federico's private Studiolo, his study.- Wow.
0:12:56 > 0:13:03Still with its original 15th-century wood-panelled walls.
0:13:04 > 0:13:11Every inch decorated with this tremendously intricate,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14absolutely beautiful inlaid wood.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Designed and created by the very finest artists
0:13:20 > 0:13:22of the early Renaissance.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28Botticelli designed this figure of one the three Graces.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34Piero della Francesca possibly designed this landscape.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Everywhere you look it's just a feast for the eyes.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Unbelievable.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46You see that trapezoidal circle?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Almost impossible to create the image of that in perspective
0:13:49 > 0:13:52if you're painting, let alone to do it in inlaid wood.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59Isn't it something? I mean, the sheer level of optical trickery
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and illusionism in these panels.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05This is the absolute pinnacle of the art form of intarsio.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10It's all different types of wood, no?
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Different types of wood to create different kind of colours,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16and sometimes they would burn the wood to create those shadows,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18that sense of the shadow, and then they would polish it
0:14:18 > 0:14:21so that the char would stay fixed.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Look at the armour. Looks like it's shining!
0:14:25 > 0:14:28It's as if he's hung up his armour in that cupboard
0:14:28 > 0:14:31and you've got the trompe l'oeil curtains that enable us to see it.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34How can you make wood shining?
0:14:34 > 0:14:38The skill of that, the spur dangling over the edge.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41I think he planned the rooms as carefully
0:14:41 > 0:14:43as a military campaign.
0:14:43 > 0:14:44Definitely.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49Always in the art created for Federico and his palace,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53you've got the two symbols together - I am a warrior
0:14:53 > 0:14:55but I am also a man of learning.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57There's the books.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01In a sense, the whole Studiolo is kind of a room to reflect
0:15:01 > 0:15:03a man's brain, a man's spirit,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05a man's sense of who he was.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07I've never seen anything like that.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10There isn't really anything else like it in the world.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The Studiolo was such a feast for the eyes that now
0:15:20 > 0:15:23we need a hearty Le Marche feast for our palates.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28I'm going to make something that Federico probably ate himself,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31and is one of my favourite dishes from the region,
0:15:31 > 0:15:32if not all Italy.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37The classic Le Marche dish of coniglio in porchetta.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Rabbit in the style of roast pork.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45- Buongiorno! Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48TRANSLATION:
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Why does she leave the head on the rabbit?
0:15:57 > 0:15:59The head is the most important thing.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02First of all, because you know that it's a rabbit and not a cat.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04First. ANDREW LAUGHS
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Second, because you can tell the age of the rabbit
0:16:08 > 0:16:10from the size of his teeth.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12You don't want a rabbit that is too old.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15You want a maximum of eight months old, nine months old.
0:16:15 > 0:16:16So you can tell...
0:16:16 > 0:16:19So, the head of the rabbit is like a sell-by date?
0:16:19 > 0:16:23That is...that is exactly what it is.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Look at the array of meat and how beautiful and well kept.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30You don't only just buy the meat, you buy the knowledge of the person.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32If you decide to buy that piece of meat,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34they'll tell you how to cook it.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38TRANSLATION:
0:16:38 > 0:16:40- Prego.- Grazie.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44And the smile as well, look at the beautiful smile.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46- Un bel sorriso.- Buona giornata.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48- Grazie. Arrivederci. - Arrivederci. Grazie.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53With our rabbit, we're heading down the valley below Urbino.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59We'll be cooking at the historic Le Marche hunting lodge.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04It's the very house where Torquato Tasso,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06the great 16th-century poet,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10wrote beautiful verses in homage to the landscapes of Le Marche.
0:17:11 > 0:17:12Everywhere you go in this part of Italy
0:17:12 > 0:17:15you seem to touch a little piece of history.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So, Andrew, this recipe fascinates me from the first time I had it.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27My grandad used to actually, you know, raise rabbit.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31And my grandmother used to be like cooking this rabbit.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34It's almost like my signature dish.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38One of the main ingredients, and obviously you know
0:17:38 > 0:17:42in the middle of Italy, is going to be this wild fennel.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43It's lovely. Smell that.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46It's fantastic, isn't it?
0:17:47 > 0:17:51- So, you're creating a kind of broth? - That's right.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55OK, I'm going to put that in cold water with two or three
0:17:55 > 0:17:57cloves of garlic
0:17:57 > 0:18:00and close the whole thing and put it on to boil.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02This is going to be my stock.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05I think we need to cook the rabbit cos it's staring at me, Giorgio.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Hold on a second.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09The next step is to prepare the rabbit.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14I'm going to cut it in half for you so that you can eat the actual...
0:18:16 > 0:18:19The meat must be really pink and beautiful.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21The fat must be really white.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24- The lady in the butcher's said leave the bone...- Leave the bones in.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26Some people takes all the bones off.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30I feel that if you leave the bones in it, it's so much better.
0:18:30 > 0:18:31I'm ready with that.
0:18:31 > 0:18:32Now I'm going to make the stuffing.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36I'm going to chop the liver.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40The only problem with houses like this is
0:18:40 > 0:18:45they also have historical chopping boards which are never straight.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52'Along with the liver, I add one fresh sausage, raw pancetta
0:18:52 > 0:18:54'and a good dollop of lard.'
0:18:58 > 0:19:00I'm putting all this stuffing in it.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02It will make it really juicy and really cook perfectly.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06I often think we don't eat enough rabbit.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11No. It has bad publicity because the kids looks at them like a pet.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14The rabbit has become this thing that talks to us.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17I blame Richard Adams - Watership Down.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21I tell you what, me and my brother grow up,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24and when we were little, we'd go with my grandad
0:19:24 > 0:19:26and we'd choose the one, the rabbit to kill.
0:19:26 > 0:19:27I think that it teach us
0:19:27 > 0:19:30to appreciate that it wasn't just something that arrived from the shop
0:19:30 > 0:19:32in a packet.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36One of the thing the lady this morning in the shop told me,
0:19:36 > 0:19:41"As you're starting it, just put a little bit of the pancetta
0:19:41 > 0:19:42"on top of it."
0:19:42 > 0:19:48When it start to colour, I will add some of the stock to keep it moist
0:19:48 > 0:19:52- and I will cover it and cook it in the oven, OK?- Hmm.
0:19:52 > 0:19:53So, are you ready to wait two hours now?
0:19:53 > 0:19:55Yeah, I'm ready to wait.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59I'm actually ready to eat it now but if two hours is necessary,
0:19:59 > 0:20:00two hours is necessary.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08As the rabbit cooks, we'll take a passeggiata through the lush
0:20:08 > 0:20:09ground of the hunting lodge.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14When people talk about central Italy,
0:20:14 > 0:20:16they often really mean Tuscany.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19There is so much more to discover in the heart of Italy.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23This undulating landscape on the eastern side of the Apennines
0:20:23 > 0:20:25is truly breathtaking.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30After basting the rabbit with wild fennel broth,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33we are ready to eat our feast.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Il coniglio in porchetta, Andrew.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Looking good!
0:20:37 > 0:20:38Whoa.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42What a wonderful, hearty plate of food.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Bello.
0:20:51 > 0:20:52There you go. That looks good.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Eh, wait a minute.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57- Ah, I've got some gravy as well. - Yeah.- Looks rich, doesn't it?
0:20:58 > 0:21:02So, what would you recommend, that I take a little bit of rabbit?
0:21:02 > 0:21:05- A little bit of the stuffing. - Dip it round in the gravy.
0:21:05 > 0:21:06That's right.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Mmm.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Really good. Really good.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21- What...?- Is it tender?
0:21:21 > 0:21:23It's completely tender, it's not dry.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26I can see how it might be dry but it isn't. Perfect.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30This is like one of my favourite recipe.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32The meat it's closest to that I'm familiar with
0:21:32 > 0:21:35- would have to be chicken, I suppose. - Yes.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41It's got a lovely, delicate taste.
0:21:41 > 0:21:42Yeah, unbelievable.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47- The stuffing with the liver gives it that little kick.- Hmm.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49It's a great flavour there.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52So, what makes this a Marchigiana dish?
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Once upon a time, every household will have 10, 20 rabbits,
0:21:56 > 0:21:57then they just give all the scrapes,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00the vegetable and something like that,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03and that's how they just got their protein through the years.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07I can't believe that from this small rabbit,
0:22:07 > 0:22:08this huge plate of food emerges,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11but that's fairly Marchigiana maybe, you know,
0:22:11 > 0:22:12they make a lot out of a little.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Like Urbino.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Little town but it produces Raphael,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Bramante - the architect of St Peter's.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21I think this is a place that really punches above its weight.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24It's a small place but it produced so many great figures.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Even in modernity, you know.
0:22:26 > 0:22:27You know who came from Marche?
0:22:27 > 0:22:33Valentino Rossi, the greatest motorbike driver in the entire world!
0:22:33 > 0:22:35I think I just heard him driving past.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37THEY LAUGH
0:22:40 > 0:22:44So far we've seen the sunny, gentle side of Le Marche.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Now I want to show Andrew the darker side of the region
0:22:48 > 0:22:51and begin our descent to the centre of the Earth.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55There we can get a different perspective
0:22:55 > 0:22:57on what makes Le Marche so special.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01I've never been to this part of Le Marche, Giorgio.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04When people think about Italy and especially, you know,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07not northern Italy with the Alps, they always think about
0:23:07 > 0:23:11these beaches and sea, don't they?
0:23:11 > 0:23:13They never think about the Apennine.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17The Apennine, they really are big mountains, they're really steep.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Geologically, they're very interesting as well.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22- Are they like the spine of Italy? - That's right.
0:23:23 > 0:23:24So where are you taking me?
0:23:24 > 0:23:27I'm going to take you to Frasassi.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30There's a little surprise for you here.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31They must have a lot of rock falls
0:23:31 > 0:23:35cos they've sort of bound the mountain in wire caging.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40Very porous rocks that allow water to come through.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44This is a road cut through next to the river.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47It's an incredible place. Here we are.
0:23:52 > 0:23:53We're in the middle of nowhere.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05- It's a long tunnel.- Yes.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09You're going to be absolutely gobsmacked when you see this.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12L'Abisso di Ancona, Andrew.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13Here we are.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Look at the magnificence of this.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17That is something!
0:24:17 > 0:24:21- That is incredible. - It's so big. It's enormous.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25The Abisso di Ancona, or Ancona Abyss,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27lies deep beneath the Frasassi Gorge.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Discovered by chance in 1971, the abyss is one of the largest
0:24:34 > 0:24:39underground caves in the world at 240m high.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44It's a place that takes us back to a world before history.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48These stalagmites took more than 100,000 years,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51drip by drip, to grow to over 60ft high,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53as tall as Nelson's Column.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58You showed me some massive buildings and things like that.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Apparently it's as big as the cathedral of Milan.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04- A cathedral made by nature. - That's right.
0:25:04 > 0:25:05I want to take a closer look
0:25:05 > 0:25:08at some of these stalagmites and stalactites.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10- They're beautiful, aren't they? - They really are.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13I don't think I've ever seen such wonderful ones.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20It's really awe-inspiring to be down here looking up.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25You can see why the surrealists called these cave formations
0:25:25 > 0:25:26petrified forests.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Yes. They look like trees, don't they?
0:25:29 > 0:25:32They look like so many different things.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34That could be made of candle wax.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37That one reminds me of a Chinese pagoda,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40maybe at Kew Gardens or somewhere. It's fantastic.
0:25:41 > 0:25:42Have you see up there?
0:25:42 > 0:25:46There's a shape that looks almost like tripe or something like that.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51You know, Andrew, this was a very humbling experience
0:25:51 > 0:25:53to be inside here.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Time really is relative when you look at something like that.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07- There's someone coming down there. - Yes. That is the actual way in...
0:26:07 > 0:26:10in which the actually cave was discovered.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13- That's...they abseiled down. - Unbelievable, no?
0:26:14 > 0:26:18They found this hole apparently and it was the size of a football.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21And some really cold air was coming up.
0:26:21 > 0:26:22They drop a stone
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and they thought it was 100 metres
0:26:24 > 0:26:26but then it turned out to be 200 metres high.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29ANDREW SHOUTS
0:26:29 > 0:26:32ANDREW'S VOICE ECHOES
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Imagine if you shouted... You'd know, wouldn't you?
0:26:36 > 0:26:38- They must have thought... - This is a big cave.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41"..I did found something incredible here."
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Like discovering a new planet if you're an astronomer.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Definitely.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Must have been such an exhilarating moment.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51Look at the shadow of him.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56We really are in the belly of the Apennines.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02So brilliant, this mountain. It's so beautiful from the outside to ever...
0:27:04 > 0:27:07..hide such a secret for such a long time.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20We haven't crossed the Apennines so much as gone under them,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24and now we've emerged on the other side, we're in Umbria.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Without a coastline, Umbria is often called 'the green heart of Italy.'
0:27:30 > 0:27:36A landscape of fertile plains dotted with hilltop towns,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Umbria has a long tradition of men working with nature
0:27:39 > 0:27:41to create some of the best produce in Italy.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46And some of the best paintings in Italy too,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48which is what we're just about to see.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53It's so nice to see these lowlands.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55We're right at the bottom of the valley.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Each of the village is just up at the top, isn't it?
0:27:58 > 0:28:01We're on our way to Spello,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03which I don't think very many people visit,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07but it contains, for me, one of the great series of fresco paintings
0:28:07 > 0:28:08of the Renaissance
0:28:08 > 0:28:12by an artist called Pinturicchio - the little painter.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15- That's the...- There it is now.
0:28:18 > 0:28:19During the Renaissance,
0:28:19 > 0:28:24powerful local families fought for control of Umbria's fertile land.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28You can still feel that rather troubled past...
0:28:28 > 0:28:29if you know where to look.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33The Baglioni family once controlled Spello,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36and in 1500, they asked Pinturicchio to paint
0:28:36 > 0:28:39the chapel of the Santa Maria Maggiore Church
0:28:39 > 0:28:40and demonstrate to the world,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43through their art, the grip they had on the area.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50It's one of the great things of the Renaissance
0:28:50 > 0:28:54but very few people know about it, very few people
0:28:54 > 0:28:56come and see these paintings.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59They've recently been restored, the colours are singing.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01Look at the gold of the halos,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05the green of the grass, the blue of the sky.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07It's just stunning.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10There are three frescoes,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14each telling a different story from the early life of Christ.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18To bring biblical legend home to his audience, Pinturicchio set
0:29:18 > 0:29:21the action not in the Holy Land but on Umbrian soil.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Painting less than 50 years after the death
0:29:25 > 0:29:29of Federico da Montefeltro, Pinturicchio clearly knew all about
0:29:29 > 0:29:32the tricks of perspective developed in Urbino.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36This scene, of the young Christ teaching his elders,
0:29:36 > 0:29:41is like Federico's Ideal City, except now it's full of people.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44But Pinturicchio wasn't just a follower,
0:29:44 > 0:29:48he was an innovator in his own right, with his own unique
0:29:48 > 0:29:52sense of colour, grace and heavenly harmony.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54This is the Annunciation.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Wow, look at that.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01Look at the ray of light coming down to Earth
0:30:01 > 0:30:03with the dove.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06Look at the dove, it's got this... HE WHISTLES
0:30:06 > 0:30:09..like she's whistling, really, to the Madonna.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13That's God impregnating the Virgin Mary.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17And she's going, "Ooh, I can feel it."
0:30:19 > 0:30:22The spirit of the Lord moves within me...
0:30:25 > 0:30:27..and at the same time,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Gabriel with the lily -
0:30:30 > 0:30:33symbol of the virgin's purity, the white lily.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39That might be one of the most beautiful archangel
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Gabriels in the world.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48It's so delicate, androgynous and beautiful.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50- Look at that.- Look at the wings.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53GIORGIO GASPS Look at the colour on there.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56Like peacock wings.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58It's a feast for the eyes.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01Really a feast. It's just incredible.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05- Here is the man. - Pinturicchio himself.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Pinturicchio was so proud of this chapel,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12of this sequence of frescoes that he included his own self portrait
0:31:12 > 0:31:14in a gold frame.
0:31:15 > 0:31:16Look at the choir of angels.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19- Angels are beau...- Just beautiful.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22If you ever want to explain to anybody what is the heavenly choir,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25bring them here, that's it.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29That entire group with all its swirling drapery,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32its wonderful symphony of colours,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35all done in a single day of painting.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38That's eight hours, the time it takes for plaster to dry.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41Just doesn't get better than that.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45I think the message of the painting is to say,
0:31:45 > 0:31:49"Jesus Christ has been born again, here, in Umbria."
0:31:49 > 0:31:52The scene of the Nativity is all set in the local landscape
0:31:52 > 0:31:57and these are probably portraits of the local peasantry.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Although they look so peaceful, so calm, you would imagine
0:32:01 > 0:32:04no violence ever takes place in this world.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06The context for these paintings being commissioned
0:32:06 > 0:32:09was one of extreme violence and conflict.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13And those have got swords, so they must be like, I don't know,
0:32:13 > 0:32:14warriors.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16There's a fight taking place.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18This is the Baglioni Chapel.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22The Baglioni was a local family - very rich, very powerful,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26but they'd just gone through a period of horrible vendetta.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30- Hmm.- Grifonetto Baglioni had actually been to the
0:32:30 > 0:32:35wedding of his cousin Astore to Lavinia Colonna and had used it...
0:32:35 > 0:32:36Because everyone was together.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39..he'd used it to kill the entire family and try to seize control
0:32:39 > 0:32:42of the region. He'd been defeated
0:32:42 > 0:32:45by this man, Troilo, who commissioned
0:32:45 > 0:32:47these beautiful paintings
0:32:47 > 0:32:52from Pinturicchio to celebrate and reaffirm the Baglioni family's grip
0:32:52 > 0:32:54on this territory.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57So, behind these paintings, there's a lot of blood.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01In fact, they called the marriage where Grifonetto killed
0:33:01 > 0:33:05all the guests, they called it "the marriage of blood."
0:33:05 > 0:33:07(Wow.)
0:33:07 > 0:33:12It seems to happen again and again in Italy in so many families.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Because you have this sort of family control over an area.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17You know, the Medici controlling Florence,
0:33:17 > 0:33:19the Sforza controlling Milan,
0:33:19 > 0:33:22the Baglioni controlling this part of Umbria.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25But Troilo, he looks like a pretty tough character.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28He does, doesn't he? What's that?
0:33:28 > 0:33:30That's somebody hanging up there.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33That is Pinturicchio's way of conveying
0:33:33 > 0:33:34the murders are in the past,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37the blood wedding has been,
0:33:37 > 0:33:42Grifonetto has been executed, justice has been done,
0:33:42 > 0:33:43order has been restored.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56From the skilled artist of Spello to the skilled
0:33:56 > 0:33:58artisan of the valley of Norcia.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02For centuries, people from this valley have been known
0:34:02 > 0:34:07as master pig butchers and makers of delicious pork sausages and salamis.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12Butchers in Italy are still sometimes even called Norcino,
0:34:12 > 0:34:14or the person from Norcia.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17Where are you taking me?
0:34:17 > 0:34:20I'm going to take you to see a real Norcino.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23The guys just breed the animals, kills them
0:34:23 > 0:34:27and turn them into sausages and things like that, and ham.
0:34:27 > 0:34:28A real, traditional one.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31- So this is the real deal? - This is the real deal.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34A fantastic place. The fields and the...
0:34:34 > 0:34:36This is where they grow the lentils
0:34:36 > 0:34:39that they use as a feed for the animals.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42It's beautiful, this Valle di Norcia.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45It looks really fertile.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47I love the colour of the earth.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49I think they've just ploughed the fields.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55I can't leave here without getting some local sausages
0:34:55 > 0:34:59and they are the ingredient of the traditional Umbrian recipe
0:34:59 > 0:35:00I want to make.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Fresh pork sausages with lentils.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07People have farmed pigs in this majestic valley
0:35:07 > 0:35:10for thousands of years.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13And this farm is one of only a few in Italy
0:35:13 > 0:35:16trying to reintroduce an ancient breed of Umbrian pigs.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Andrew, you can't even imagine how excited I am to see these pigs.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25I love them.
0:35:25 > 0:35:26Look at them.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28They're just so beautiful.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32This is maiale nero cintato...
0:35:32 > 0:35:35- So the black belted pig... - ..di Nor...
0:35:35 > 0:35:36- ..of Norcia.- ..from Norcia.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38As you can see, the pig is black,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42and he has this belt that goes around the front legs.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46So, that's la cinta. Cinta is this, the belt.
0:35:46 > 0:35:47So our belt.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49They look more to me like...
0:35:49 > 0:35:53almost like a cross between a domesticated pig and a wild boar.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56They are closer to the wild boar than, you know,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00those completely northern European shaved pink pigs
0:36:00 > 0:36:02that we are used to seeing.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04And what makes them so special?
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Why are they so desirable to the Norcino pig butchers?
0:36:08 > 0:36:12You will tell me why they are so desirable when you taste it.
0:36:12 > 0:36:13- That's when you know.- Very simple.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15But the idea of this is that, you know,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19the animal is reared in a very humane way.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21The animal is very happy.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23It's fed lentils,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26which are the by-product of those lands
0:36:26 > 0:36:28that you got here.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32Big ones are in pens and they are opened up on the woods,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34so they are half woods
0:36:34 > 0:36:37and half sort of, you know, open area, like that.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41So they'll eat acorns and nuts and maybe berries even.
0:36:41 > 0:36:42Berries.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45That gives them a fantastic flavour to the meat, you know?
0:36:45 > 0:36:47Plus the animal's moving around.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49I think, what it is is just...
0:36:49 > 0:36:53this relation between this meat and this land.
0:36:53 > 0:36:54And this is, like, you know...
0:36:54 > 0:36:57I wouldn't mind being a pig if I had to grow up here, wouldn't you?
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Yes, if you're going to be a pig, this is a good place to be.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03It's, um... What would pig heaven be called?
0:37:03 > 0:37:04Porkadise!
0:37:04 > 0:37:05Pigtopia!
0:37:07 > 0:37:09Pigtopia. I love that.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11- Well, this is kind of pigtopia. - Pigtopia!
0:37:14 > 0:37:17Next to the farm is the family butcher's store.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20The couple who runs it are known locally as Li Tappi
0:37:20 > 0:37:23or the little corks, as they're both so short.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Mr Mario is a Norcino,
0:37:26 > 0:37:28and he's going to make some sausage for us.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30He's here with his wife, look!
0:37:30 > 0:37:33By the way, these people have been married for 48 years,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36so making sausages is something that could save your marriage.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42'Mario and Gabriella Salvatori make fresh sausages
0:37:42 > 0:37:44'which people drive from all over Italy to buy.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49'The only ingredients are pork from their farm, salt, pepper,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53'and for every 20 kilos of meat, one clove of garlic,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56'as well as their love and pride.'
0:37:57 > 0:37:59They use prime pieces of the pork,
0:37:59 > 0:38:01Look at the mixture.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03100% of fresh meat.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06This operation, usually, is always made by machine.
0:38:06 > 0:38:12TRANSLATION:
0:38:12 > 0:38:16When they start... When they really start to do that by themselves,
0:38:16 > 0:38:18when they run their business, this is how they would do it.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Now, a lot of the people do this by machine,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24but, look, now, what we're going to witness now is incredible.
0:38:24 > 0:38:25And what's is the sausage skin made from?
0:38:25 > 0:38:27From the intestine of the pig.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29This looks very easy.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31- Doesn't look very easy...- Look very easy.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34But there is so much rhythm and strength...
0:38:34 > 0:38:36Almost looks like an umbilical cord...
0:38:37 > 0:38:39I love this machine.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41The machine is fabulous, isn't it?
0:38:41 > 0:38:43- Look, she's sewing it up.- She's just doing that...
0:38:43 > 0:38:46But there's a kind of surgical precision about the whole process.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Unbelievable.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52And, in fact, there is a connection between
0:38:52 > 0:38:53this part of Italy and surgery,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56because the skills of the pork butcher
0:38:56 > 0:38:57were then transplanted
0:38:57 > 0:38:59and the first surgeons came from here
0:38:59 > 0:39:04and there was this man called Cesare Scacchi
0:39:04 > 0:39:06who actually went to the court of Queen Elizabeth
0:39:06 > 0:39:09in 1588, the year of the Armada.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Yet, I think that their precision and capacity
0:39:12 > 0:39:16to cutting down and go through muscles and understanding fibres
0:39:16 > 0:39:17- and understanding what was...- Yeah!
0:39:17 > 0:39:20- It was then translated into humans. - Yeah.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24I mean, Elizabeth I had a cataract in her eye
0:39:24 > 0:39:26- and that's why she asked... - So they got a guy from...?
0:39:26 > 0:39:29- ..a guy from here, cos they knew how to use a knife.- It's unbelievable.
0:39:31 > 0:39:32Fantastic.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35The manuality is incredible.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40- How many we going to buy, Andrew? - Um... Well, I would say...
0:39:40 > 0:39:43maybe, like, about that many for me.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45No, I'm only kidding. I don't know!
0:39:45 > 0:39:47I don't know. I imagine they're very rich.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49I think to be on the safe side, we buy 10 of them.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51Five for you, five for me.
0:39:51 > 0:39:52That sounds plenty.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54- All right.- Do you think we should buy some...?
0:39:54 > 0:39:55Grazie!
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Un bacio.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Siete uno spettacolo.
0:39:59 > 0:40:00Grazie!
0:40:00 > 0:40:01Grazie.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05Arrivederci.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10We've got our sausages,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14and to get our lentils, we need to climb up into the mountains
0:40:14 > 0:40:16and the highest village of the Apennines.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21The town of Castelluccio, 4,500 feet above sea level,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24and home to some of the best lentils in the world.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27And as we're driving up, the mists suddenly clear
0:40:27 > 0:40:30and we're given another vision of celestial beauty.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33This time, it's not in a painting.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36I thought you said there was no sea in Umbria?!
0:40:36 > 0:40:38THEY LAUGH
0:40:38 > 0:40:41This is so, so beautiful.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44God...
0:40:44 > 0:40:45I'm speechless, Andrew.
0:40:47 > 0:40:48It's something, isn't it?
0:40:50 > 0:40:52I mean, we have drove all through that,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55and I had no hope that we were going to see the sun today,
0:40:55 > 0:40:57- I really didn't.- I know!
0:40:57 > 0:40:58But look at this!
0:41:00 > 0:41:02You really feel like you're in the Apennines here.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05I mean, if... Well, we're kind of above everything.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07So, our man who makes the sausages,
0:41:07 > 0:41:09he's somewhere down there beneath the sea of fog.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15We're lucky today though, aren't we? I mean, to have this view.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18To actually rise above the clouds.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22The clouds are formed during the night
0:41:22 > 0:41:24until the heat is kind of like...
0:41:24 > 0:41:25melting them off.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27And, so, the last one will be like
0:41:27 > 0:41:30the one who's at the bottom of the valley.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34- It's a beautiful, beautiful day.- It is.- And, er...
0:41:35 > 0:41:36Umbria, Umbria.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43The whole of this road's like a wonderful rollercoaster
0:41:43 > 0:41:45through the natural landscape of Umbria.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47And our destination -
0:41:47 > 0:41:49this fertile valley.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53Here, I am discovering for the first time in my life
0:41:53 > 0:41:56the Piano Grande of Castelluccio.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58The Great Plain of Castelluccio.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Wow, look at that.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09- This is...- That is something.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11- There's nothing at all...- And that's all lentils.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16It's very special.
0:42:16 > 0:42:17That is Castelluccio!
0:42:17 > 0:42:20- Like a painting! It's beautiful. - Unbelievable.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23It's really unusual to find a lovely city like that
0:42:23 > 0:42:26which is completely in a valley without any upper somethings.
0:42:27 > 0:42:28Look at this strange road.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30You can see that the Romans
0:42:30 > 0:42:31have been here. But, whoa!
0:42:34 > 0:42:36The road to Castelluccio takes you through
0:42:36 > 0:42:38what today is a national park.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44The lentils grown here are known throughout Italy
0:42:44 > 0:42:45as Castelluccio lentils,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47for their unique flavour that comes from
0:42:47 > 0:42:50this majestic land in the clouds.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53I'm excited to prepare this dish
0:42:53 > 0:42:56in the very town that gives the lentils their name.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01Look how beautiful they are. They're so special.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Look, they haven't got even the same colour.
0:43:03 > 0:43:09What I love is this beautiful pinky, brown, green.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11I mean, all the colours are there.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14'To cook the lentils, I chop some celery,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16'add a few cloves of garlic,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19'and just cover them with fresh mountain water.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21'No stock cubes, no soaking.
0:43:22 > 0:43:28'A simple recipe built on centuries of Umbrian skills and tradition.'
0:43:28 > 0:43:30We're going to have to cook the sausages.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32How many you want?
0:43:32 > 0:43:34Well, what about three for you, three for me
0:43:34 > 0:43:36and one in case somebody wants some more.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39- I love them, the fact that they are not exactly the same size.- Yeah.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43I'm ready. I'm putting the sausages in.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51I'm going to get the colour.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53You know, leaving some nice flavour in there.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57Straight from the land to the table.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00Absolutely. This is really peasant cooking at its best.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04The mud! You know, those beautiful pigs.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08That they have been fed with the leftovers of those...
0:44:08 > 0:44:10- Lentils.- ..lentils.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13It's lovely cooking the meal that comes from the land
0:44:13 > 0:44:16directly above the land.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18It's a great view from here.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22Now I'm going to get them out.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25They're not cooked yet, they're still a bit rare.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27Get the onions, Andrew.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29Put them in there.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31- Just straight in here?- In there, perfect.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36You chopped them very fine.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38You see, it melts straight away.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41This is the passata.
0:44:42 > 0:44:43The home-made one.
0:44:45 > 0:44:46OK, here we are.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52So, you've got gold onions and red tomato sauce.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55You can see already that that's going to taste good.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59The tomato sauce is boiling, sausages are in...
0:45:00 > 0:45:03I am proud of this recipe, because we have managed to produce it
0:45:03 > 0:45:05with the minimum of ingredients.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Like the real people here would produce it.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11I mean, you could have, could add tonnes of things.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14You can add rosemary, sage, carrots, celery.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17You can add anything, you know...
0:45:17 > 0:45:19I don't think it's going to make it better.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22- No, I agree with you.- I think this is the essential.
0:45:22 > 0:45:23Do you want to taste it?
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Good flavour. Almost like a nut.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Yeah, yeah, the really nice nutty flavours.
0:45:40 > 0:45:41Scoop them out...
0:45:43 > 0:45:44..and put them in it.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51A tiny little bit of this beautiful Umbrian olive oil...
0:45:52 > 0:45:54..and we are ready.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56OK, here you are.
0:45:56 > 0:45:57So, it's a one-pot meal.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01Well, that's not good enough, it's a one-pot masterpiece.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05- Yeah, it's a masterpiece from this land.- Yeah.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07Not from the cook, this is not the cook.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11- You've stepped back.- This is the land which talk to you. Not the chef.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13- Well...- This is a very important thing.
0:46:13 > 0:46:14I think it takes a really good cook to say that.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Where we going to eat it? Have we got...?
0:46:18 > 0:46:20- Let's just eat outside...- OK.- ..and take in the view.
0:46:20 > 0:46:21Yeah, let's do that.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26Andrew, guarda.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29TRANSLATION:
0:46:30 > 0:46:32Not bad, hey?
0:46:35 > 0:46:36Siediti.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40Are you ready to taste Umbria?
0:46:40 > 0:46:43- Yeah, I am.- Are you?- Give me some Umbria.
0:46:43 > 0:46:44You've got to prepare yourself.
0:46:46 > 0:46:47Bello!
0:46:53 > 0:46:54Can I have a bit of lentils?
0:46:56 > 0:46:57Is that enough?
0:46:57 > 0:46:59I think to be beginning with, yeah.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Here we go.
0:47:06 > 0:47:07Look at that.
0:47:08 > 0:47:09Lentils.
0:47:13 > 0:47:14Mm!
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Aren't those sausages fantastic?
0:47:17 > 0:47:19Sometimes less is much better.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Simplicity delivers a better taste.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24Yeah, what I love about this recipe is it doesn't confuse your mind.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28You're not thinking, "Oh, what's that? Huh? Oo? What's? Oo!
0:47:28 > 0:47:29"What's that? Why's that there?"
0:47:29 > 0:47:33No, you've just got the beautiful meat of the perfectly raised pig.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36The wonderful taste of the lentils, the tomato sauce
0:47:36 > 0:47:37and a kiss of garlic.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39- Perfect.- That's right.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43The lentils really...brings it up, almost, isn't it?
0:47:43 > 0:47:48What I really like is the way the sausage has very little fat.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50It doesn't taste greasy in any way.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54The moisture comes from the lentil, not from the fat.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58- Tastes like it's really good for you.- Hmm.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01I think what is also amazing is that, really,
0:48:01 > 0:48:07these are flavours that really are so representative of Umbria.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10You know, this area, Castelluccio and Norcia.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12How nice is it to eat it here!
0:48:15 > 0:48:17So, that's where the lentils came from.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21All around. They don't only use the flat,
0:48:21 > 0:48:22they use also the sides.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26You can see the agricultural bit goes really right up as well.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29So everything on our plate is from within 10km.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Amazing!
0:48:31 > 0:48:35It's almost like a divine gift.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39This concentration of goodness that comes to your plates.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42And we better eat quickly, because the storms are coming across.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44It doesn't rhyme, but it's true,
0:48:44 > 0:48:46the rain in Umbria falls mostly on the lentils.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Umbria is an amazing patchwork of valleys,
0:49:02 > 0:49:04each hiding its own treasures.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07The most famous town in the region
0:49:07 > 0:49:10is the birthplace of St Francis, Assisi.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17Today, this holy town is full of day trippers and pilgrims.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21But we're not stopping at Assisi.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24We're heading off to a little town off the beaten track
0:49:24 > 0:49:25called Montefalco.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32Here, you can get up close to the life of St Francis
0:49:32 > 0:49:34in some beautiful frescoes
0:49:34 > 0:49:36painted by a young Renaissance master.
0:49:42 > 0:49:43I like this kind of place.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Little church, little town.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52All on our own with some frescoes painted by Benozzo Gozzoli.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58This was his first work as a maestro in his own right
0:49:58 > 0:50:00in the early 1450s.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02This is his debut.
0:50:03 > 0:50:08These are his first ambitious paintings and here in Umbria,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11of course, the subject is the life of...
0:50:11 > 0:50:12Francis.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Francis of Assisi. And here is the birth.
0:50:16 > 0:50:22Gozzoli has set it in his own time and because Francis was rich,
0:50:22 > 0:50:28he has him being born in a beautiful luxurious 15th-century palazzo.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31They haven't had Venetian blinds yet
0:50:31 > 0:50:35- but there are like blinds but with holes in it.- It's brilliant.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38That nail hanging out between the windows.
0:50:38 > 0:50:39I hadn't seen the nail.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42That actually becomes a device in painting.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45You know, when the painter wants to show off that he can paint shadows,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47he does this trompe l'oeil nail.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50What I love about these is they're almost like little
0:50:50 > 0:50:53photographs of 15th-century life.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56This type of fresco cycle, it's very much the forerunner of cinema,
0:50:56 > 0:51:01cartoons, our way of telling stories one image after another.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07Here, Jesus Christ came to St Francis in a dream and showed him
0:51:07 > 0:51:10a vision of the heavenly city.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12You can imagine Gozzoli scratching his head
0:51:12 > 0:51:15and thinking, "What should the heavenly city look like?
0:51:15 > 0:51:18"What is the most fantastic building I can think of?"
0:51:18 > 0:51:21Where is Gozzoli from? He's from Florence.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24And so, what's he depicted? The Palazzo Signoria.
0:51:24 > 0:51:25The main building of Florence
0:51:25 > 0:51:29with all of the Christian flags flying from it.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32Francis gets the dream wrong and he thinks he's being called
0:51:32 > 0:51:34actually to go on a crusade.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36In fact, he's being called by God
0:51:36 > 0:51:40to rebuild his church, to remake the heavenly city on Earth.
0:51:40 > 0:51:48And for me, this is the most dramatic scene in the whole chapel.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52Beautiful painting of the early Renaissance city.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55What's happening here is that St Francis has
0:51:55 > 0:51:57- renounced his worldly possessions. - Right.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01His father was in the textile trade and was very rich
0:52:01 > 0:52:05and Francis has given away all his clothes, given away all his money.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10His father, furious, is coming with all the things that Francis
0:52:10 > 0:52:12has rejected, all the beautiful textiles and clothes
0:52:12 > 0:52:15and he's about to beat him with his belt
0:52:15 > 0:52:18and, look, there are two children of the family there.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21They've got stones that they are ready to throw at Francis.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26The family is about to get him
0:52:26 > 0:52:28and who comes to his rescue?
0:52:28 > 0:52:30It's the bishop of Assisi.
0:52:30 > 0:52:37I find it slightly sinister because Gozzoli is painting 220 years
0:52:37 > 0:52:41after Francis' death and this is a time when the church very much
0:52:41 > 0:52:46wants to make Francis its own when, in fact, in his own time,
0:52:46 > 0:52:47Francis had been revolutionary
0:52:47 > 0:52:50and had a lot of friction with the church cos he felt the church
0:52:50 > 0:52:53was losing touch with ordinary people and he was very
0:52:53 > 0:52:59critical of the rich bishops living luxuriously and the monks in their
0:52:59 > 0:53:04monasteries eating their fill while the poor people went without food.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07Here we've got, I think it's a sort of strange paradoxical image.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09He's thrown away his rich clothing
0:53:09 > 0:53:14and here the bishop is wrapping him in his cope which is richly
0:53:14 > 0:53:17embroidered, make him more part of the church than he really was.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24Also the father has a really very aggressive stance, isn't it,
0:53:24 > 0:53:25and the face.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28He's absolutely brilliant with faces, I think.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33And the hairstyle, absolutely exceptional.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35He is the master of the golden ringlet.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38I mean, you're dead right about the faces.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41Every single detail of those faces is really carefully painted
0:53:41 > 0:53:44and we know that the time allotted for these paintings
0:53:44 > 0:53:47was, you know, you'd expect maybe a year.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Gozzoli took two years to paint these pictures.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54And, in fact, he got so late that his patrons in Florence
0:53:54 > 0:53:56began to get impatient.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59They were like, "Where are you, man? Where are you, Benozzo? Come back!"
0:53:59 > 0:54:01There's a wonderful detail over here.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05It's a sort of footnote to the experience
0:54:05 > 0:54:06of looking at the frescoes.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08This is a fantastic thing.
0:54:08 > 0:54:13It's a letter from Benozzo to a friend in Florence.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15It's, I suppose, the 15th-century equivalent
0:54:15 > 0:54:17of a hastily dashed off e-mail,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21and he's writing in 1452 to say,
0:54:21 > 0:54:23"I'm really sorry. I know
0:54:23 > 0:54:25"I said I'd come to see you, I know I'd come to visit.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28"I think there's probably a commission involved
0:54:28 > 0:54:30"but I can't because I'm still stuck here in Montefalco
0:54:30 > 0:54:32"painting my frescoes."
0:54:32 > 0:54:35So ancient and so modern.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38- We still write like that to people, don't we, sometimes?- Yeah!
0:54:38 > 0:54:43When we want to be really proper, we do write something like that.
0:54:43 > 0:54:44Yeah.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47On the paper with your name on it and the date.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49Incredible.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52- Beautiful thing.- Yeah.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55Well, it took him two years to paint these frescoes
0:54:55 > 0:54:59so this poor chap was obviously kept waiting quite some time.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Andiamo.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11Andrew has shown me the Renaissance masterpieces of Umbria.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14We are at the end of our journey
0:55:14 > 0:55:18and we cannot leave this beautiful region without me showing him
0:55:18 > 0:55:22what I think is Umbria's greatest natural masterpiece.
0:55:22 > 0:55:27A spectacle forged by human hands and the power of nature.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32The Waterfall of Marmore.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34The Cascatta delle Marmore.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Fantastic, hey?
0:55:38 > 0:55:39And you know what?
0:55:39 > 0:55:42That's man-made. By the Romans.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44Amazing.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51The waterfall is said to be the highest man-made
0:55:51 > 0:55:52waterfall in the world.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59At 165m high, it was created by an entire Roman legion diverting
0:55:59 > 0:56:01a river to get rid of malaria.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07I love this cloud of mist.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13During the 19th century and 18th century, English Romantics...
0:56:13 > 0:56:15That's right.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17This was one of the places the Grand Tour...
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Byron used to come here.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22He said, "Horribly beautiful."
0:56:22 > 0:56:25- Horribly beautiful. - Horribly beautiful.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28This was the epitome of the sublime.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Something in nature that makes you feel scared.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37The waterfall today is regulated by a dam
0:56:37 > 0:56:40and only runs at half the power it did when Byron saw it.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49Around one million litres of water pour through the waterfall
0:56:49 > 0:56:52every minute creating its own torrent of air.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00It's a powerful symbol of Umbria itself, a place where man has
0:57:00 > 0:57:04worked with the forces of nature for thousands of years and continues
0:57:04 > 0:57:06to do so.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10A tradition flowing from the past on into the future.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18So I think we've travelled thousand of kilometres through Le Marche
0:57:18 > 0:57:21and Umbria, huge territory.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24- Beautiful territory.- Beautiful.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27I'm trying to think what my favourite things have been.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30I loved the coniglio in porchetta that you made,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33the rabbit - that was just so delicious.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35Also I loved those Pinturicchio paintings.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38They were beautiful. Just restored like that,
0:57:38 > 0:57:42they were absolutely live and vibrant. So nice.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45But the thing that shocked me more, Andrew,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47was that Altopiano di Castelluccio.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49That was like being in another world.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52I never knew that in Italy there was a place like that.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54It was so beautiful.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57It was. It was like being on top of the world.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59But now it's onward and upwards
0:57:59 > 0:58:03because we are on our way to the Veneto,
0:58:03 > 0:58:06but not the familiar Veneto of Venezia because we're not
0:58:06 > 0:58:08even going to go to Venice, right?
0:58:08 > 0:58:11No Venice at all. We are going to go to Padova, we are
0:58:11 > 0:58:14going to go to Vicenza, and then the best, Andrew,
0:58:14 > 0:58:17is going to be that we are going to go right up,
0:58:17 > 0:58:20right up to the Dolomites,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23which are these rocks that look back to Italy and
0:58:23 > 0:58:26you're not going to believe what you are going to see, I'm telling you.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28Andiamo!