0:00:02 > 0:00:04'I'm Andrew Graham-Dixon and I'm an art historian.'
0:00:04 > 0:00:07It's one of the top five most beautiful paintings in the world.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11'I'm Giorgio Locatelli and I'm a chef.'
0:00:11 > 0:00:15When you say handmade, this is 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 > 0:00:31I wouldn't mind being a pig if I had to grow up here.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34And this country's rich layers of art and history
0:00:34 > 0:00:36have captivated me since childhood.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Primitive but actually fantastic. Beautiful, sophisticated.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44In this series, we'll be travelling all the way up
0:00:44 > 0:00:47the east coast of the country from the deep south
0:00:47 > 0:00:50to the extreme north
0:00:50 > 0:00:53stepping off the tourist track wherever we go.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55- Not a bad spot, is it? - This is a dream!
0:00:57 > 0:01:02I want to show off some of my country's most surprising food,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06often most born out of necessity but leaving a legacy that is
0:01:06 > 0:01:09still shaping Italian modern cuisine around the world.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13- It's better than an oyster. - Much better than an oyster!
0:01:13 > 0:01:16And the art too is extraordinary,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20exotic and deeply rooted in history.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23The last leg of our journey is in Veneto.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Whoo-hoo!
0:01:25 > 0:01:30It's one of Italy's most fascinating regions, and a real melting pot,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34thanks to its geographical position in the north-east of Italy.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36This is the story of how the merchants of Venice
0:01:36 > 0:01:39with their work ethic, their sophistication
0:01:39 > 0:01:43and love for the dolce vita shaped this unique region.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46- Isn't that fantastic? - It's so brilliant.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05So here we are, Venice.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08- Who could ever get tired of this view?- It's so beautiful!
0:02:08 > 0:02:10St Mark's, the Doge's palace,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13there's your named church, San Giorgio Maggiore.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16But, for us, this is not the destination,
0:02:16 > 0:02:17it's the setting-off point
0:02:17 > 0:02:19because we're not interested in Venice this time around.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Exactly. We are going to go and see Veneto.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26The Venetians sort of expand themselves towards
0:02:26 > 0:02:28the east for hundreds of years through the sea.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Then, suddenly, when they sort of lost their power, what did they do?
0:02:32 > 0:02:34They turn inland, they turn inland and here you are,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38you have big cities like Padua, Vicenza, all these cities
0:02:38 > 0:02:41that have grown up fed by the wealth that was created by this town here.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45And some of the greatest art and artists that we associate
0:02:45 > 0:02:48with the name Venice, you can find their masterpieces in places
0:02:48 > 0:02:52like Padua, Vicenza, and I imagine also the same is true with the food?
0:02:52 > 0:02:53The food is incredible
0:02:53 > 0:02:57because again, obviously, the influence of the sea is really,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01really strong but then the influence of the land will be incredible.
0:03:01 > 0:03:02We will taste some of the best cheeses
0:03:02 > 0:03:04that you will ever come through.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07And what is amazing is these people are great workers.
0:03:07 > 0:03:08At the base of what they say is,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10"Chi non lavora non fa' l'amore."
0:03:10 > 0:03:13So it means if you don't work hard, you don't even get sex.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Wow, that's the work ethic.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17So where are we going to start?
0:03:17 > 0:03:20The first thing I'm going to take you to see is this place
0:03:20 > 0:03:22- called Chioggia.- Chioggia.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24I'm going to take you to see some of the most exceptional
0:03:24 > 0:03:26fish that they do down there.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Let's go.
0:03:28 > 0:03:29Chioggia, we are arriving.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40The Venetian lagoon extends for 212 square miles
0:03:40 > 0:03:43and contains 51 islands altogether.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Chioggia lies at the southern entrance
0:03:46 > 0:03:49about 16 miles south of Venice,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53and in the Middle Ages, it was second only to Venice.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Fleets from here once controlled the lucrative salt trade,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59right across the Adriatic Sea.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04I can smell fish. Where are you taking me?
0:04:04 > 0:04:07You can smell fish everywhere here.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09We are full immersion fish.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Can you follow your nose?
0:04:22 > 0:04:26So, Andrew, this is the mercato al dettaglio.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29So that means it's where the people come to buy the fish that they eat.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31As opposed to...?
0:04:31 > 0:04:35As opposed to "all' ingrosso", that is for the trade.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN
0:04:45 > 0:04:46Absolutely beautiful.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49- You could make a good fish soup here.- Unbelievable.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52That's because having a sand bottom on the sea,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55you have a lot more flat fish than the other.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00I mean, this is a paradise.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Look at the baby prawns, it's so fantastic.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05- I wasn't expecting... - That's a conger eel.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Look at that, it's a skinned conger eel.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Chop it down, you can use it for soup and you eat the meat.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13When I buy it from people in England, it's so difficult to get it.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16These, they put them back, they don't take them out.
0:05:16 > 0:05:17It's only eight euros.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Bellissimo!
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Look at this. No roast beef for lunch here, I tell you.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Sandbanks and mudflats make the lagoon one of the richest
0:05:35 > 0:05:39and most fragile ecosystems in the Mediterranean.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44The lagoon is famous above all for its clams - le vongole.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48They are as much a symbol of the lagoon as Venice itself.
0:05:50 > 0:05:51So, Andrew, what do you think?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54- Wow, it's... - Why do you think I took you here?
0:05:54 > 0:05:57- I don't know, it's busy.- Yeah, I took you here, it's a big surprise.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00This is my friend Maurizio. Maurizio!
0:06:00 > 0:06:03- Ciao! Come stai? - Ciao, Giorgio!
0:06:03 > 0:06:07- Fantastico! Long time, no see! - Salve, buongiorno, sono Andrea.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09- This is Andrew. - Maurizio, ciao.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10So what is this boat?
0:06:10 > 0:06:14- This is a special boat for harvesting!- Yes.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18- Harvesting! Not fishing - harvesting, because...- Harvesting what?
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Vongole.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Vongole! The clams!
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Maurizio trained as a marine biologist and spent many years
0:06:30 > 0:06:33teaching fishermen how to harvest the clams
0:06:33 > 0:06:36whilst respecting the ecosystem of the lagoon.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40It's thanks to people like him that the lagoon has been kept alive.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46On board there are a couple of curious tools,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50which must have been perfected through generations of clam harvesting,
0:06:50 > 0:06:52as well as some rather unusual get-up.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59OK, Andrew, come on, put them on, you have to put your bits on.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02- Hang on.- Just on one. - Oh, I see, OK.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Just sit down, put one in...
0:07:07 > 0:07:09Oh, my God!
0:07:09 > 0:07:11- Are you on?- Yeah, yeah.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13- You need to move your feet in.- Wow!
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Now you pull them up like that
0:07:15 > 0:07:17and tuck them in like that, that's all you have to do.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19It's quite stylish.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22GIORGIO LAUGHS
0:07:22 > 0:07:24- There you are.- That's good.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Now you are a real vongolaro.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29I think I might make this my daily outfit.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Walking down Piccadilly... it would be quite good.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Looking good today.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41We seem to be quite far from the coast.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45I'm all togged up, but how are we going to get at the clams?
0:07:45 > 0:07:49The answer, according to Maurizio, is one step at a time.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Andiamo a incontrare le vongole.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54We are going to meet the vongole now.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57I can't believe it's so shallow here.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00The whole lagoon is shallow like that.
0:08:00 > 0:08:01'It might look like open sea,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04'but the lagoon here is never more than three feet deep.'
0:08:06 > 0:08:07That's really nice here.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11- Easy.- Have you never been down a stepladder?
0:08:11 > 0:08:15Not like this, normally I'm changing a light bulb.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Going the other way, not down.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Ooh, it's such a weird feeling!
0:08:25 > 0:08:26It's like a rake.
0:08:28 > 0:08:29So it goes in
0:08:29 > 0:08:34because the vongole lives about 3-4cm underneath of the sand.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37So you've got to really go in.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39It's not an easy job.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43He has got to clean out the water, which is very sandy.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45I'd like to have a go.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48It's a very hard job, Andrew. It's not going to be easy.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51There you are, that is fantastic, Andrew!
0:08:51 > 0:08:54We are looking for something that we have planted here.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56How long does it take to grow?
0:09:00 > 0:09:02So one year and a half to grow.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04- It's brilliant.- Yeah.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06It's almost like picking fruit.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08RATTLING
0:09:08 > 0:09:11- I love this noise! - Maurizio, can I have a go?
0:09:16 > 0:09:17So what do I do?
0:09:21 > 0:09:23- Vibrations.- Yes, slower.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25- Slow.- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27- Like that.- Yeah.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- It's hard work, man!- Yes.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39Yeah!
0:09:42 > 0:09:43Andrew's vongole, man!
0:09:43 > 0:09:45- I got a big one.- I love that!
0:09:45 > 0:09:46That's enough for us, for lunch.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50That's enough for lunch, half for me and half for you.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Grazie, Maurizio. Fantastico! Andiamo.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Chioggia produces approximately 2,000 tonnes of clams per year.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07The clams have to be sold alive.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10They can survive refrigerated for five days maximum,
0:10:10 > 0:10:12so they are mainly sold in Europe.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Andrew, after all the hard work we have done,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23I'm getting these pearls, these are the pearls of the Adriatic.
0:10:23 > 0:10:24Look at how beautiful...
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Look at the yellow, look at the size of this!
0:10:27 > 0:10:29That one is for me.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Anyway, so we are going to go now to the Casoni.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35The Casoni are like a man-made house on stilts
0:10:35 > 0:10:41and they were built just to process mussel, oyster and vongole.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43We are going to go there and we're going to cook.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45- We are going to cook. - Wait and see.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06See, we are in the middle of the sea, but still it's not like the sea.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08This is like a farm.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12This proves the healthiness of the sea.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14People say - it's an old cliche -
0:11:14 > 0:11:18that Venice and the Venetian lagoon, it smells bad. It doesn't.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22It has the sweetest smell of any sea in the world, I think.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- That's right.- This is like a little corner of paradise, isn't it?
0:11:25 > 0:11:27This is beautiful!
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Come on, Andrew, let's go cook these.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Get off. Take that.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37This is really, really hard, man.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39I'm in my favourite place in the world
0:11:39 > 0:11:42and you are about to cook me my favourite dish in the world.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44How lucky are you?
0:11:50 > 0:11:55Look, the most important thing about the most delicious food
0:11:55 > 0:11:57is always to not overcomplicate it.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01I know people who make spaghetti with vongole, they put cream,
0:12:01 > 0:12:06- saffron, tomato, anything that comes to their minds.- Eugh!
0:12:06 > 0:12:09So the main thing is to always make a sauce that is the simplest.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12We are going to use a little bit of garlic, a little bit of chilli
0:12:12 > 0:12:17and parsley at the end. Olive oil and some white wine.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Your job is to hold this and defend me
0:12:20 > 0:12:23from anybody who is going to attack us, OK?
0:12:23 > 0:12:26- Anybody who wants to eat our clams. - Anybody who wants to have our clams.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Look, so the water is boiling.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31I'm going to start with the sauce before I put the spaghetti.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35I think we like garlic, so me and you will have two cloves of garlic
0:12:35 > 0:12:37for two portions, OK?
0:12:37 > 0:12:40One of the most important things, Andrew, you know what it is?
0:12:40 > 0:12:42It's to use olive oil that is not so strong.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45So I wouldn't use our Sicilian olive oil for that.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47I'd use like a Ligurian olive oil
0:12:47 > 0:12:50that is a little bit lighter in flavour.
0:12:50 > 0:12:51Chilli.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53I love chilli, you know me.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I'm going to put one whole chilli in there.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58That smell is great.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Do not burn the garlic, they will be bitter.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04So get the vongole, Andrew.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Here they are.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11- The sea's out there. - Our beautiful little sea sculptures.
0:13:11 > 0:13:12OK.
0:13:13 > 0:13:14One for you.
0:13:17 > 0:13:18Very good.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23- I just want to make sure you... Did you put my big one in?- Yeah.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25I'm going to saute like that.
0:13:25 > 0:13:26A touch of wine.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32A little bit, like that, not much.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35- Wow! What a smell! - Let that come out.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Don't cover it straightaway,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41make sure you let the wine evaporate
0:13:41 > 0:13:44so you have that really nice flavour,
0:13:44 > 0:13:46but not the actual alcohol of that.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50This is going to take 4-5 minutes to cook, so off we go.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53So this is really "fasto foodo", as you say.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Well, you pick up our vongole, you go home,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- really, in 25 minutes you should be able to eat.- Yeah.
0:13:59 > 0:14:00Look, see? It's going.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02They're opening up, one by one.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06Any one of them that stays closed, we are going to get rid of it.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10With the amount of spaghetti that we have, that's too much shell,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14you don't want to serve a plate of shells,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16so what we are going to do now, we pick one out.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22- Then we hold one of these and we go like that.- Yeah, yeah.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25So you use one clam to disembowel the other one.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Disembowel the other one! I love that!
0:14:28 > 0:14:30You have to make it really tragic!
0:14:30 > 0:14:32You know, it's only a vongola, Andrew.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35I haven't got the hang of it... Ah, there we go, I see.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40'After 4-5 minutes, it's time to put the spaghetti into the pan
0:14:40 > 0:14:43'with some roughly cut parsley and then toss it together.'
0:14:47 > 0:14:50I love that crunching noise, it means it's nearly ready.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53OK, here you here, give us the plates.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54A bit of the spaghetti.
0:14:56 > 0:14:57And a bit of the spaghetti.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05I can hear boats coming from the mainland, I think they smelt it.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07- Perfect.- Are you ready?
0:15:07 > 0:15:09That garlic is fantastic.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12It's not Chinese garlic, it's Italian garlic.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Wow, sir, look at that! I've got myself a little clam there.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20- Mm! - GIORGIO LAUGHS
0:15:21 > 0:15:23- My...- That is so delicious.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Fiery, it's got the sea.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31How long have they been cooking this round here, do you think?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33This is prehistoric.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37When they were eating oyster, they were eating this.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43It's time to say goodbye to Chioggia.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Ooh-hoo!
0:15:45 > 0:15:47We've planned a route that follows in the footsteps
0:15:47 > 0:15:52of the Venetians themselves as they built their inland empire.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54From the beginning of the 15th century,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58as their supremacy at sea was at first challenged
0:15:58 > 0:16:00and then overthrown by the forces of Islam,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03the Venetians increasingly annexed territories
0:16:03 > 0:16:07and founded colonies on the Italian mainland.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Our first destination is the town of Padova.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15In 1405, Padova was conquered by the Venetians and remained
0:16:15 > 0:16:19a faithful ally until the end of the Venetian Republic in 1797.
0:16:21 > 0:16:22Andrew...
0:16:25 > 0:16:28There's that nice Italian phrase... What's that old Italian phrase
0:16:28 > 0:16:31- about, you know, the Venetians... - "Veneziani gran signori,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35"Padovani gran dottori." Great doctors.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38So the Venetians are great messieurs.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42- Messieurs.- And the Padovani are very learned.- Very learned.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46- And that's presumably in reference...- The university, of course.- Yeah, yeah.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Even before the Venetians conquered this land,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Padua was an important cultural centre.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57The University of Padua was established in 1222
0:16:57 > 0:17:01and still remains one the most prominent universities in the world.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Today, Padua is most famous for the wonderful frescoes
0:17:07 > 0:17:10painted by Giotto in the overcrowded Arena Chapel,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14but very few people know about another masterpiece -
0:17:14 > 0:17:16a cycle of frescoes here,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19in the almost empty baptistery of the Duomo,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21painted in the 14th century,
0:17:21 > 0:17:2427 years before the Venetian invasion.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29- Whoa!- Here we are.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31What is this? Look at that!
0:17:33 > 0:17:36- Beautiful round... - I've never seen this, ever!
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Isn't it something?
0:17:38 > 0:17:39It is incredible.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42It's like going to heaven with your eyes.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44It's so busy, isn't it?
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Look at that beautiful vision of heaven
0:17:47 > 0:17:51with Christ Pantocrator in the centre, looking down on us
0:17:51 > 0:17:54with those sad, solemn eyes
0:17:54 > 0:17:57surrounded by the seraphim, the cherubim,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00the circles of the angels, then the blessed.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07On the walls, the stories of Christ, who sheds his blood to save us.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10I like this scene here, look,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Judas betraying Christ. Judas gives him the kiss of friendship
0:18:13 > 0:18:16which is not really the kiss of friendship at all.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Judas has got a black halo.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Sort of an anti-halo, it's almost like a dark star
0:18:22 > 0:18:24compared to Christ's sun.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27It's created in 1375.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31The painter, who is called Menabuoi,
0:18:31 > 0:18:37- he's working immediately after the terrible Black Death.- Right.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42- OK.- When in England, 1.4 million out of 4 million people die.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47In Italy it's the same, but in the Veneto, it's even worse.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50I read that Venice was much worse hit by that,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54obviously because of the trade, the boat bringing in rats and things,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58so it killed more than three-quarters of the population of Venice.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01- It was really... Exactly. - It was bad.- Really bad.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04And these pictures were painted
0:19:04 > 0:19:08just 28 years after that great outbreak,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11but at the time when the sense of emergency
0:19:11 > 0:19:13is still absolutely with these people.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17There are regular outbreaks of plague, thousands of people die.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20That fear, that terror, that sense of desire
0:19:20 > 0:19:22that God should come to save you,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25I think this whole space vibrates with it,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27absolutely pullulates with it.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Look at that massacre of the innocents!
0:19:31 > 0:19:32Pap-pap-pap!
0:19:32 > 0:19:35Stabbing of these babies, I mean, it's a terrible scene
0:19:35 > 0:19:40and I wonder if it isn't a kind of allegory of what Giusto de' Menaboui
0:19:40 > 0:19:43and his patrons thought the plague was doing to the people of Padova.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47- Stabbing them, killing them, just...no mercy, no pity.- Hm.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54And very tellingly, if you look at that scene there -
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Christ healing the sick - he is being watched.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Do you see there are three faces up there in the crowd
0:20:01 > 0:20:04who are particularly individuated?
0:20:04 > 0:20:09Well, that is the patron, her husband and Petrarch the poet.
0:20:09 > 0:20:15And the scene is set in a square very much like the central square
0:20:15 > 0:20:20of Padova, so it's as if they are willing Christ to come to Padova
0:20:20 > 0:20:23and save those suffering from the plague.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Beautiful colour. I find the colour absolutely amazing.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30At the first glance, as soon as you look around,
0:20:30 > 0:20:32you can always tell which one Jesus is
0:20:32 > 0:20:35- because he is wearing this beautiful blue...- Yeah.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39..mantel that you can just spot out in the picture...
0:20:39 > 0:20:40Here he is, him.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44I like the thought of it as an act of patronage,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47that this lady, Fina, as she was called,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50she wanted all of the children of Padova
0:20:50 > 0:20:55to be baptised under the eye of that image of God.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58If you're going to be baptised here, you're going to be blessed
0:20:58 > 0:21:00and maybe you are going to be saved.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03So, I don't know about you,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06but we got up here quite early, so I fancy a coffee.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10- It's usually you that says that. - You always fancy a coffee.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12No, it's usually you that says that.
0:21:12 > 0:21:13Grazie.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Padua's most famous coffee house is the Caffe Pedrocchi,
0:21:26 > 0:21:31erected in 1831 by coffee entrepreneur Antonio Pedrocchi.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38He chose the architect Giuseppe Jappelli,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41who would build one of the most beautiful cafes in the world
0:21:41 > 0:21:42in the neoclassic style.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51It's been a favourite meeting place of the Paduan intelligentsia
0:21:51 > 0:21:53for nearly two centuries.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03You are looking very mischievous, what have you ordered?
0:22:03 > 0:22:05No, I ordered... Buongiorno.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07I order you a coffee
0:22:07 > 0:22:13because we are in a cafe, which is, you know, a very important place.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17- Grazie.- This is, you know, possibly
0:22:17 > 0:22:22one of the most well-known Italian desserts and it's called tiramisu.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Everybody knows tiramisu all over the world, isn't it?
0:22:25 > 0:22:26- Pick me up. - Pick me up.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29That's right, and it shouldn't be eaten after dinner,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31it's too much after dinner, it's too much after lunch.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35This should be eaten in the morning. That's what it was made for.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38- So it's literally a pick-me-up. - Yeah.- Like an elevenses, really.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41It's got coffee, it's got eggs, it's got sugar -
0:22:41 > 0:22:43what picks you up more than that?
0:22:43 > 0:22:45So can I have a go?
0:22:45 > 0:22:47No, you have to wait.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49For the explication?
0:22:49 > 0:22:51No, please, have a go, have a taste.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54I like the idea of serving it in a cup like that.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57It's certainly substantial.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02- Mm.- I mean...
0:23:02 > 0:23:06It's a good one, tremendously sweet, lots of coffee.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10People like to think this is a dessert that's been in Italy forever.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12No, it's a very, very modern thing.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15- It's been invented in the '70s. - Oh, really?
0:23:15 > 0:23:16It wasn't around before that.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20This is a dessert that is born out of the fact we have refrigeration,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24things like that, you have raw eggs, you have mascarpone in it.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28- Tiramisu was invented in Veneto. - I didn't know that.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Obviously coffee comes through Venice, you know, all these spices,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34all the trade from the East come through Venice,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38and drinking hot chocolate and coffee was invented in Venice.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40It's where they started doing it.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42It's where the English coffee house began
0:23:42 > 0:23:44because English milords went to Venice,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47had this wonderful stuff and wanted to have that at home.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49That's right, and brought it back to London.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53It's so ingrained in popular sort of society,
0:23:53 > 0:23:58this idea of socialising around something to eat,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02something delicious, it's kind of like, you know, it's very Italian.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05All these anonymous coffee chains
0:24:05 > 0:24:09should go and learn the art of running cafes from Caffe Pedrocchi.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11But now, time to say goodbye to Padova.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15We're continuing our journey on water,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17heading north-east from Padua...
0:24:19 > 0:24:21..and following a system of canals
0:24:21 > 0:24:24sourced in the River Brenta in the 16th century.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28The Venetians used these waterways
0:24:28 > 0:24:31to connect their growing inland empire with the lagoon.
0:24:34 > 0:24:35Oh, look at that.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39But until the Venetians built this network of canals,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43- this area was malaria infested. - Yeah.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46- Salt marshes.- Swamp. - Nobody lived here.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49So we are in a landscape that was created by the Venetians,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52not just colonised. But that's not all they built.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57The most wonderful monuments to this new Venetian inland empire
0:24:57 > 0:25:00are the great classical houses they built on their country estates.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03They've come inland, and look, here it is.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05- Wow!- The Villa Malcontenta,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07one of the most famous, one of the greatest.
0:25:07 > 0:25:131559, Andrea Palladio - what style does he choose? The classical style.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Classical porticos, Ionic columns,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17this grand block of a house
0:25:17 > 0:25:20designed to resemble an ancient Roman temple.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23He thought Roman houses were like that.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Hey, never mind, he made a mistake.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28The aristocracy of Europe for the next 400 years would repeat that mistake.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32If you look at English country houses, they've all got temple fronts too.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Isn't that fantastic?
0:25:34 > 0:25:35It's so brilliant.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38At the top, it says "For the Foscari brothers",
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Nicholas and Aloisius Foscari.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44So that's one of the very first Venetian country houses,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and yet it's connected to Venice by this system of canals.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52They are people of the water, they like travelling by water.
0:25:59 > 0:26:00Wow, amazing!
0:26:00 > 0:26:03So calm.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Buongiorno.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20Buon viaggio.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25CHEERING
0:26:29 > 0:26:32A very well-fed group of Italian tourists,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35eating a nine-course meal while taking in the villas of Palladio.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37- Yeah...- That is a good way to spend the afternoon.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41The most important thing is that there is some Prosecco going.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43We got this wrong, where is the table groaning?
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Hey, don't complain before you know what's coming.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49- OK.- I got something coming as well. - Oh, we've got a picnic.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51I love this - look, they even have a little balcony.
0:26:58 > 0:26:59Andrew?
0:27:01 > 0:27:03What's this?
0:27:03 > 0:27:07I've just been in the cambusa, look what I made for you.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11It's called baccala mantecato, a very, very easy recipe.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15- Made with fish?- Made with fish, made with stockfish,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18from the northern Atlantic stockfish.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21It's delicious, it tastes like it's been preserved in some way.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23It's got a Venetian touch to it.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26The process is quite long - you take a wind-dried fish,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29then you have to soak it for 24 hours,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34cook it in milk and then beat it to death, as they add the olive oil.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36So it's like a kind of fish puree almost.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39That's what it is. This is, I guess, the only way the Venetians,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41when they move inland,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44they could bring some fish with them, before refrigeration.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46This is something that is so well known
0:27:46 > 0:27:50because whenever you go to have an aperitivo or something to drink
0:27:50 > 0:27:53before dinner when you meet your friends, that's what...
0:27:53 > 0:27:54Mind your head!
0:27:54 > 0:27:58ANDREW LAUGHS
0:27:58 > 0:28:01..that's what they would serve. That was dangerous.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Concentrate on the food.
0:28:04 > 0:28:05Ding dong!
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Back on terra firma,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16our next destination is the town of Vicenza
0:28:16 > 0:28:17that reached its golden age
0:28:17 > 0:28:21under the Republic of Venice in the 16th century,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24home town to the architect Andrea Palladio,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28whose villas are also scattered across the surrounding countryside.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30None more beautiful than the Villa Rotonda.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35It's such a treat to be able to see this masterpiece,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37even if only from a car.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41It's like an echo from the grandiose palaces of Venice.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Vicenza's merchants would commission many more masterpieces.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53As for the church of Santa Corona, where you can still admire
0:28:53 > 0:28:57one of the most haunting pictures ever created by human hand.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03So this is it, this is what we came to see.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08- Andrew!- I just love this picture so much, it's by Giovanni Bellini,
0:29:08 > 0:29:11and the subject is the baptism of Christ.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15It's painted in the very first years of the 16th century.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18In my own personal kind of grading,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22it's one of the top five most beautiful paintings in the world.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Just stunning, it's got everything.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32And really special because it's still in the church
0:29:32 > 0:29:34for which it's commissioned.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39It's still in the huge architectural frame
0:29:39 > 0:29:42which the patron, Battista Graziani,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45he was so pleased with the painting he got from Bellini
0:29:45 > 0:29:49that he commissioned this frame, which Bellini helped to design.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51It's beautiful, I never, ever seen...
0:29:53 > 0:29:59..a Christ looking so beautifully modern and real, isn't it?
0:29:59 > 0:30:00Look at his eyes!
0:30:00 > 0:30:03It's one of the most beautiful figures in Western painting,
0:30:03 > 0:30:04that figure of Christ.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07There is something about the eyes of everyone on the painting,
0:30:07 > 0:30:11from Jesus to the girl, especially that girl with the red robe.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14I think they're meant to represent faith, hope and charity.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17Other people think they're meant to represent angelic figures,
0:30:17 > 0:30:19but she looks on the point of speech.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21Yes, she's really coming out of it.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26And the detail, look at the little stones underneath the feet of Christ.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27It looks like the river bed.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Really important, because that's part of the miracle.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32The miracle is that at the moment of Christ's baptism,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35the river stops. It's not going to cover his feet
0:30:35 > 0:30:37because it pays reverence to God.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40What's incredible, as well, is the back, isn't it?
0:30:40 > 0:30:42- The landscape.- The landscape.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Those blue mountains behind.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Well, Leonardo da Vinci uses exactly the same technique in the Mona Lisa.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50It's called aerial perspective.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53If you stand at the top of a mountain and look into the distance,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56because of the refraction of light through the air,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59as things get further away, they get bluer.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01Blue remembered hills - that's what those are.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05It looks a bit like the mountain that we have, you know, we are here
0:31:05 > 0:31:08in Northern Europe, behind there is Austria, you know?
0:31:09 > 0:31:13Bellini was a Venetian painter and it's very important
0:31:13 > 0:31:16that he's from Venice because what he brings to Italian painting
0:31:16 > 0:31:20is this aspect of travel and trade and influence and cross-influence,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24because on the one hand you've got this technique he's used -
0:31:24 > 0:31:26oil paint on wood with bright colours.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28Well, that comes from Northern Europe.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31He's seen the altarpieces of Van Eyck.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34There's the influence of the Florentine Renaissance in his work
0:31:34 > 0:31:36and the influence of Byzantium
0:31:36 > 0:31:38in that transcendent figure of God the Father.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41So he brings all these things together and then he pushes forward.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Without him, no Titian, without him, no Leonardo da Vinci.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48He is such an important painter.
0:31:51 > 0:31:56You can see that Bellini knew that this was one of his masterpieces.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00- Because he signed it.- He signed it like that. He wanted us to know...
0:32:00 > 0:32:03- That he did that.- ..500 years later,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06"I, Bellini, painted this picture."
0:32:06 > 0:32:08You know, it's 20 years since I came here.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11So I say it's one of my favourite paintings in the world
0:32:11 > 0:32:13but it's one that I've neglected.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16It's just... Oh, it makes me want to jump up and down.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Maybe we should say thank you to Battista Graziani...
0:32:20 > 0:32:23- For paying for it! - For paying for it!
0:32:23 > 0:32:25- THEY LAUGH - Arrivederci.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35Throughout history, Venetians never lost their great gift for commerce.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39After World War II, their economic recovery
0:32:39 > 0:32:42has been one of the fastest in Italy and in Europe.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46From the Renaissance to the present day,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Venetians have always been great patrons of the arts.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54One of my favourite recent creations is from the 1960s,
0:32:54 > 0:32:55commissioned by the Brion family,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59and, luckily, it's on the way towards our last destination.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05So, this is a rather melancholy, very peaceful place.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09It's the communal cemetery of Altivole,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13and the reason we're here is that in the late '60s
0:33:13 > 0:33:16a very wealthy local industrialist -
0:33:16 > 0:33:20a manufacturer of televisions and radios -
0:33:20 > 0:33:23and his wife, Giuseppe and Onorina Brion,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26approached a modern architect, Carlo Scarpa,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29and asked him to make for them a tomb.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32But a tomb with a difference. They wanted something new,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35something cutting edge, something avant-garde -
0:33:35 > 0:33:37they were great followers of the avant garde.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39And he thought about it and he said,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43"Well, I think I could create something for you that's spiritual,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46"something different from these shoe boxes."
0:33:46 > 0:33:49What he made is through this arch.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07So what did Scarpa create for his clients?
0:34:07 > 0:34:10I think he created a kind of Palladian villa for their souls,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12surrounded by water...
0:34:14 > 0:34:17..all done in this modernist style,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21a very aggressively modernist style.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25Look at the way he uses the light, the texture.
0:34:25 > 0:34:26All the windows and doors
0:34:26 > 0:34:29are designed to give you two experiences.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33This is also very Venetian, this use of coloured marble.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38You find it inside the great cathedral of St Mark's in Venice.
0:34:38 > 0:34:39That's right.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42It's a real mixture of influences going on here.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Sort of cuts through to the light, this transparency of effects -
0:34:46 > 0:34:49it's almost like a Japanese interior.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53And then we've got this door which is decorated
0:34:53 > 0:34:56with this geometric pattern that evokes the cross
0:34:56 > 0:34:58but also suggests...
0:34:58 > 0:35:00- This is brilliant! - ..Mondrian.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Oh, it's very heavy.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07But here, this is, as it were, the real business end of the mausoleum.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14In this sort of courtyard garden area
0:35:14 > 0:35:19we've got the tomb of Giuseppe and his wife, Onorina.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22Like a sort of sculptural resting place.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24But look at this, look at these colours.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27So, at this point the bridge, which I think symbolises
0:35:27 > 0:35:32the transition from life to death, also becomes a rainbow,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35which is the traditional symbol of God's love.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38Again, so often the modern Italians,
0:35:38 > 0:35:43the modern Venetians, they still languish in the shadow of the past.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48Everyone knows the greats of the Renaissance and the Baroque
0:35:48 > 0:35:51but I think this is really a modern masterpiece.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55There's something of the Zen garden about this death garden.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57That's right.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59The water lilies...
0:35:59 > 0:36:01You can come here and contemplate.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Oh, look at that.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06I love the way that it's here.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09It wouldn't be the same if it was in a city.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14Being surrounded by those maize fields with that church
0:36:14 > 0:36:17sticking up out of the flat horizon,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21and then beyond, the Bellini mountains.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Very spectacular, isn't it? As you leave you really see
0:36:32 > 0:36:37the contrast in the scenery, the flat land and then the mountains.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39It's almost like we're heading off
0:36:39 > 0:36:41into the background of Bellini's painting.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45We're searching for those blue mountains we saw, yeah?
0:36:45 > 0:36:46I hope we find them.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48We will, we can't miss them!
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Andrew, they're so big, you don't even need a map,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53you can just look at them.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01By 1454, Venice had conquered - mostly by diplomacy -
0:37:01 > 0:37:04all of the present Veneto up to the Dolomites,
0:37:04 > 0:37:06now shared between Austria and Italy.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18The Venetians now had everything they needed -
0:37:18 > 0:37:22the lagoon, great for trading and fishing,
0:37:22 > 0:37:23a fertile farmland,
0:37:23 > 0:37:28and, from these forests, the wood they needed to build their fleets.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31There's even an area up here called San Marco,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34renowned for its strong and straight pines.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38It's where the Venetians used to get the tree trunks for their masts.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42What I find amazing is how, in such a short time,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46you leave the plains of the Veneto and you come up in towards
0:37:46 > 0:37:50the mountains as if you've almost flicked a switch,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53everything seems totally different yet you're still in the Veneto.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The only thing that's not different is the dialect.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00They still speak Veneto.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Can you do it? Can you do it? Do it.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Me son Veneziano, faccio tutto mi, faccio tutto mi!
0:38:08 > 0:38:10I'll have to practise!
0:38:10 > 0:38:12"Faccio tutto mi" means "I do everything".
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Don't worry, I'll do everything.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16And what's the food like in this part?
0:38:16 > 0:38:19The food is a little bit of that Austrian,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23middle European cooking, but with the Italian touch.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27So the Knoedel, that the German would make big like that,
0:38:27 > 0:38:29they make it small like that.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31And they're beautiful, they're light, soft.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35- So, hearty but also delicate. - Very, yes.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Our first stop is in the Comelico valley,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43a beautiful and untouched little corner of the Dolomites.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46It's not a bad spot, is it?
0:38:46 > 0:38:47Hey.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50This is a dream.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Can you imagine, in the morning you come up here,
0:38:53 > 0:38:58cook lunch, you look out the window and that's what you see?
0:38:58 > 0:39:01The whole area has been protected by this amphitheatre
0:39:01 > 0:39:03of these beautiful mountains.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07They protect these people. They've kept it secret.
0:39:08 > 0:39:09It's beautiful.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12It's interesting how the architecture's completely different.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16No more of that lightness and delicacy, those Venetian palazzi.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Now it's these heavy wooden buildings
0:39:19 > 0:39:22with their long eaves to deflect the snow.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25You really feel that these villages up there,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27it's hunched against the elements, isn't it?
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Little bell tower, the houses huddled round...
0:39:31 > 0:39:32It's lovely.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34That's beautiful. That's a buzzard.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36Falco. A falcon.
0:39:38 > 0:39:39Look, he's taking the hot air.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42I'm jealous. What must it feel like to do that?
0:39:45 > 0:39:47This isn't an area renowned for art,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51obviously it's so far away from the major cultural centres,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54but I've got a good friend called Giuliano who comes from here
0:39:54 > 0:39:57and he tells me that in a little village called San Nicolo
0:39:57 > 0:40:00there are some really fascinating frescoes.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03So that's going to be what I want to take you to see.
0:40:03 > 0:40:04OK, let's go and see that,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07then I'll take you up the mountain and show you where
0:40:07 > 0:40:10the First World War happened.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12- It's a deal.- Let's go.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19But art and history will have to wait.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22I first want to cook lunch for Andrew.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25The locals would normally cook game, but not far from here
0:40:25 > 0:40:27there is a speciality that I want Andrew to try.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35We need to go to Misurina. 1,754 metres above sea level,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38it's one of the largest natural lakes in Italy.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53I wanted to come here to walk around the lake.
0:40:53 > 0:40:58You've got to think about the beauty of this water. It's fantastic.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00It's so clear, the water.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02This is Stefano.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04- How are you doing, Stefano?- Ciao.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:41:09 > 0:41:11He's got three trouts.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13- Bravo.- Generous fisherman. Grazie, Stefano.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30To go with the trout I want to cook a popular local dish,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33an Italian version of German dumpling.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37I'm intrigued to see what ingredients
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Giorgio will have found to create our meal.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44Due to the mountainous landscape and the long, cold winters,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47cooks round here have often had to make a little go a long way.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52Andrew, I'm going to cook you one of the dishes that to me
0:41:52 > 0:41:54represents these mountains more than anything else.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56It's called canederli.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59The recipe starts like that, so you're using some old bread.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02You know, you cannot throw away old bread in Italy.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04Especially the old generation that have been through the war,
0:42:04 > 0:42:09if you throw away bread they think it's a mortal sin, you know?
0:42:09 > 0:42:11So, we've got some milk.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16The flavour goes from salty, then we are going to do to sweet.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19There are some in the summer that are made with plums in it,
0:42:19 > 0:42:21some with cheese...
0:42:21 > 0:42:23- And you'd eat it as a pudding? - As a pudding.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27You see the bread now is completely sort of wet.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29The most important thing is that when you press it,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32it doesn't lose any of the milk that you add to it,
0:42:32 > 0:42:34so you know you've got a good mixture then, OK?
0:42:34 > 0:42:37This is cuisine out of necessity, you know,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40and using the ingredients that you have around.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42So, this is a bit of onions that I have pre-cooked
0:42:42 > 0:42:45with a little bit of butter that will give a little flavour
0:42:45 > 0:42:47without getting them too coloured.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51Then some people put cheese inside.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54So what's the name of that cheese, Giorgio?
0:42:54 > 0:42:58It's called Malga. It's a typical mountain cheese that they make here.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01I don't make too much because you don't want it to be too soft.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03We can serve this on top after.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05You want to taste a little bit?
0:43:05 > 0:43:07I can see what you're doing.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09HE CHUCKLES
0:43:09 > 0:43:10Well, just to check.
0:43:10 > 0:43:11And then last...
0:43:13 > 0:43:14Speck?
0:43:14 > 0:43:18Not too much salt up here so very difficult to cure meat,
0:43:18 > 0:43:23so smoking it fast in the old system gives it a very special flavour.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26The cheese is lovely. Come si chiama? Malga?
0:43:26 > 0:43:28- Malga. It's typical cheese from here. - Very soft.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30It's great with canederli.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32Can you eat that raw, as well?
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Definitely, it's been cured already, Andrew,
0:43:35 > 0:43:37but just keep your fingers off what I'm doing
0:43:37 > 0:43:40cos I'm going to cut your fingers off.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44I'm going to cut it really nice and fine again.
0:43:44 > 0:43:45Put that inside.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50To finish off the mixture I'm adding chives,
0:43:50 > 0:43:55finely cut sage, rosemary and parsley,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58a bit of grated nutmeg and one egg to bind it together.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03And now I'm mixing.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08We're ready to do the Knoedel, the canederli.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11We're going to put a little bit of breadcrumb in there,
0:44:11 > 0:44:14and then get a little bit of this in your hands, and then...
0:44:16 > 0:44:19How big is a Knoerdeli? Canederli?
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Well, I would think this is enough,
0:44:23 > 0:44:28and then we roll them a little bit into the breadcrumbs.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32Yeah, can you make it?
0:44:32 > 0:44:34You want it a bit rounder, maybe.
0:44:34 > 0:44:35Terrible!
0:44:37 > 0:44:41'Once they're all rolled, - some rounder than the other -
0:44:41 > 0:44:44'they need to be gently placed in a simmering stock.'
0:44:44 > 0:44:46What kind of stock is it that you're using?
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Just normal chicken stock, or whatever,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51or vegetable stock if you do the vegetarian.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53And how long do you cook them for?
0:44:55 > 0:44:58When they come on top, they will be almost ready.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00- They actually float?- Float.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02Ah! Well, that's nice and easy.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06'I still have to prepare the trout.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09'I will keep the canederli warm in a sauce that I made with butter,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12'herbs and a couple of spoons of the stock.'
0:45:22 > 0:45:27Andrew, one of the most beautiful fishes there are in this area
0:45:27 > 0:45:31is this beautiful trout. Look at that.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32Unusual colouring.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36The colouring is dictated by the fact that the trout are eating
0:45:36 > 0:45:39some little prawns, so that's why they get that red.
0:45:41 > 0:45:46I've got my butter, I'm getting my trout, which I will season.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50At this point, some people would put flour on it or things like that.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53I don't want to scare them cooked.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56I want to convince them to be cooked for me.
0:45:56 > 0:45:57You know what I mean?
0:45:57 > 0:46:00I want to make sure that they're happy to be cooked by me.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Are you listening, trout?
0:46:02 > 0:46:04What's the name of this variety of trout?
0:46:04 > 0:46:07They're called fario.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Obviously, living in such a cold water,
0:46:11 > 0:46:15the fish itself has a lot of fat in order to protect himself,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18so what I'm trying to do now is to fry off and flush out
0:46:18 > 0:46:22all the fat that I have on both sides.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28This is going to be part of the beauty of this recipe.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34I'm now adding a plate of finely cut carrots,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37celery and onions that I have previously cooked in butter.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42And the most important and unusual ingredient -
0:46:42 > 0:46:44the red wine from Veneto.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48This will help to bring out the flavour of the fatty fish.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54OK, look, Andrew, one very important trick.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Press there.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58- Can you feel it going click? - Yeah.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01That means at the moment the fillet at the top is really cooking.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03You pushed and it's come off the bone,
0:47:03 > 0:47:05so that means that the thing is cooked.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13I have been cooking a lot of very important kind of food
0:47:13 > 0:47:17created by chefs and things, but I tell you,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20I'm feeling such a privilege to be here,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23up in these mountains, cooking this food,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26with all these things that come from, you know,
0:47:26 > 0:47:31such a culture of the people of up here.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Whoo-hoo!
0:47:40 > 0:47:42That's your trout.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44And that is your canederli.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46- My little Dolomites. - Dolomites.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48Whoa.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53Oh! Mm!
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Mmm!
0:47:55 > 0:47:57What a taste!
0:47:57 > 0:47:59Such a fantastic thing.
0:47:59 > 0:48:00Full of flavour.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Absolutely, absolutely packed with it.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06You can taste the smokiness of the meat.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08But above all I taste the herbs.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11For some stale bread, it's not that bad, is it?
0:48:11 > 0:48:14Can you imagine, when it's really cold that's what you want,
0:48:14 > 0:48:16something that will fill you up, something to warm you up.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Should we eat the trout at the same time?
0:48:18 > 0:48:20That's exactly what you want to do.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23- Just take a whole...? - Take the whole fish, yeah.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25Ahh, come here.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28And that sauce. Oh, I love the skin.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30ANDREW CHUCKLES
0:48:31 > 0:48:33Perfect.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38Wow! Isn't that good?
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Sometimes trout can be a bit soggy, muddy.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43That's fresh and clear.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45Mmm! Giorgio!
0:48:45 > 0:48:47You're eating a very happy fish.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50So this is a trout that's really only ever drunk mineral water.
0:48:50 > 0:48:51Better than mineral water.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Perfect water from the mountains springs.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56It really is, that's the nicest trout I've ever tasted.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59The most pure flavour.
0:48:59 > 0:49:00Not bad, eh?
0:49:07 > 0:49:11The Venetian demand for wood from this area brought new prosperity.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15Little villages in the middle of nowhere had enough money
0:49:15 > 0:49:18to pay artists to decorate their local churches,
0:49:18 > 0:49:20like this one in San Nicolo.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26It's like a little frontier church, 123km from Venice
0:49:26 > 0:49:29but only 5km from Austria.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37Really lovely church.
0:49:37 > 0:49:38Very Gothic.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41It was built in the 12th century.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45Now, the lovely surprise here is this,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49in a little country church in the Veneto
0:49:49 > 0:49:52because, for one thing, in the Veneto they don't really do frescoes
0:49:52 > 0:49:56in the Renaissance, because it's too damp, the climate isn't good enough.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59- It won't stick on the wall. - Yeah, very few frescoes in Venice.
0:49:59 > 0:50:04And it's by a mysterious painter called Gianfrancesco Tolmezzo.
0:50:04 > 0:50:05Tolmezzo.
0:50:05 > 0:50:10About whom we know almost exactly nothing.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13Now, my friend told me that there was a ladder over here,
0:50:13 > 0:50:17and, gosh, he was right! There's a ladder over here.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20- You have very important friends all over the world, Andrew. - Pretty amazing.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22You see these figures here?
0:50:22 > 0:50:24Do you mind if I just get up and have a look?
0:50:24 > 0:50:27It's OK, I'll hold the steps for you.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29Thank you. Stop it.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33- Stop it! - It is a stabilising technique.- Yes...
0:50:34 > 0:50:37It's not in a great state of preservation,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41but this annunciate angel, this is Gabriel...
0:50:41 > 0:50:44- Yeah, Gabriele. - ..with the lily,
0:50:44 > 0:50:48very feminine, in profile.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51He's mysterious, this Gianfrancesco Tolmezzo,
0:50:51 > 0:50:56but looking at that he has to have been to Tuscany.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59- I think he has to have visited Florence.- Really?
0:50:59 > 0:51:03You don't see angels like this anywhere, really, except in Tuscany.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06I mean, this could be straight out of a painting by Filippo Lippi.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12It is also such a human face, it's very beautiful, you are right.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15But I think there are two other things worth looking at in here.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19- This side we've got the adoration of the shepherds.- The pastori.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22So the poor are adoring the newborn Christ,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25and on the other side the adoration of the Magi,
0:51:25 > 0:51:30the three wise men from the East who arrive laden with riches,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34who give gold, frankincense and myrrh to Christ.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36There's one thing, look.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38- Le Tre Cime di Lavaredo up there. - Ah, yeah!
0:51:38 > 0:51:40Look at the Dolomites at the end, can you see them?
0:51:40 > 0:51:45It's as if Joseph, Jesus and Mary have come,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49not to Bethlehem, but they've come to this valley,
0:51:49 > 0:51:51and the kings have come to this valley, too,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54and they've come across the mountains to get here.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57But I think the people of here would have been more drawn
0:51:57 > 0:52:00to that side because this is their life.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04- They've got broken trousers. - They've got broken trousers, yeah.
0:52:04 > 0:52:10Look, holes at the knees, there they are, the shepherds adoring.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14It's a strong emphasis on the fact these are the poor people.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Yeah, the colour of the skin, the boys are really dark
0:52:18 > 0:52:22and really tough like they've been out in the mountains.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25Joseph looks like he's really had a long day, doesn't he?
0:52:25 > 0:52:27He had a long night more than a long day.
0:52:27 > 0:52:32I like the way he's paid such attention to the timber framework.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36- It looks like the timber of a house from here, doesn't it?- Exactly.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39This is the province of San Nicolo.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Yeah, look at those rocks, very vertical rocks.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45It's such a beautiful piece of painting.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48Look at the drapery, the complexity of that drapery painting.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51That's so hard to achieve in fresco.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55I'm mystified by this Gianfrancesco Tolmezzo, because
0:52:55 > 0:52:59he's not so good at figures but his painting of drapery is fantastic.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01I wonder if he didn't...
0:53:01 > 0:53:03I'm inventing stories in my head about him now,
0:53:03 > 0:53:05but I wonder if he didn't go off to Florence
0:53:05 > 0:53:07to try and make his fortune as a painter,
0:53:07 > 0:53:10got taken on as an apprentice, he started painting some draperies,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13then he got into a few fights and had to run back to the mountains!
0:53:13 > 0:53:15That's a possibility as well.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17I mean, this is how painters' lives turned out.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20In order to have a crumb of bread he painted the church
0:53:20 > 0:53:22of the place where he was running away.
0:53:24 > 0:53:25I think these are amazing.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29They should be in every tourist guide book to the area.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31People should come and visit.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35No-one comes here except the local congregation, really.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37That's what it was made for, for them.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41Yeah, but I think it's worth these being a bit better known.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46What a little gem you find, Andrew. It's fantastic, this little church.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50I didn't expect anything from the outside. So beautiful.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52I'm glad you like it.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05We're ending our travels as the Venetians ended theirs -
0:54:05 > 0:54:08at the very top of the Dolomites.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Here, thousands of men lost their life defending the freedom of Italy.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21It's beautiful, isn't it?
0:54:21 > 0:54:23You really feel you're in the heart of the Dolomites here.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25And it's very peaceful.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29But there is one thing I want to tell you about it.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33In the First World War, Italy entered the war in 1915,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35one year after England,
0:54:35 > 0:54:38and they start to fight the Austro-Hungarian.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41So the Austro-Hungarian border was actually here,
0:54:41 > 0:54:42coming all the way down here.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46While in the other places they fought on the trenches on the flat land,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49here they fought on the trenches that they built themselves.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51You can see those holes on the wall,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54- you can actually see people walking up there on the ridge.- Yeah, yeah.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57Those are not natural ridges.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01These are all pathways, or, like, tunnels as well,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04this is where the Italian army was set.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06I can't imagine what it must have been like.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10I've been to Flanders and I've seen the trenches in the ground there...
0:55:10 > 0:55:15- In the mud.- ..and that's grim. You know, corrugated iron passages,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17men just living underground for weeks on end,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20sticking their head up only to be shot at.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22But here it would've been a different kind of atrocity.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24I mean, it would've been...
0:55:24 > 0:55:26I mean, imagine spending the night up there
0:55:26 > 0:55:30- again and again and again, freezing.- No fire, no nothing.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33You must think it was so important here
0:55:33 > 0:55:35because the Austrians were there.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38If they go through this that's Italy down there.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40That's Veneto down there and that's all Italy.
0:55:40 > 0:55:41It opens in front of you.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43If you can manage to go over this,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45then everything is just a little walk, isn't it?
0:55:45 > 0:55:48- You're into the plains.- When you are down in the valley, that's it.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50This is the only place they could stop them,
0:55:50 > 0:55:52and they did stop them for two years.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03These people lost their life up in the snow,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06in the cold, no food...
0:56:06 > 0:56:09The strength that made Italy what it is.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12It's so difficult to think of it now, isn't it?
0:56:12 > 0:56:14You know, on a day like this.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17Yeah, we are here, we appreciate the beauty of it,
0:56:17 > 0:56:23but deep inside the stones there is a great story of sufferance.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25The worst expression of humanity.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43I feel like I'm on top of the world, never mind on top of the Veneto.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45Isn't that something?
0:56:45 > 0:56:49It is an epic end for this journey, isn't it?
0:56:49 > 0:56:50It's been a good journey.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54One of the things I love about the Veneto is this sense
0:56:54 > 0:56:56that the people, on the one hand they're immensely practical -
0:56:56 > 0:56:59you know, practical seafaring men, mountain men -
0:56:59 > 0:57:01but they've also got this wonderful sense
0:57:01 > 0:57:03of spirituality and transcendence,
0:57:03 > 0:57:06so you get this beautiful Bellini painting,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09or that dome with the vision of heaven.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12So you're almost joining la terra e il cielo.
0:57:12 > 0:57:18Like the Veneto itself, which begins by the sea and climbs the mountains.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21I think a lot of people, when they think of Italy,
0:57:21 > 0:57:23they think of pasta, spaghetti,
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Rome, Florence, the Amalfi coast,
0:57:26 > 0:57:29and I think what we've been trying to do with these journeys
0:57:29 > 0:57:34is to perhaps open up the perception of what Italy is
0:57:34 > 0:57:36or what Italy can be, to show that there are many,
0:57:36 > 0:57:38many more sides to Italy than that.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41Italy is so rich of everything.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45These people are closer to Austria than they are to Rome,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48and, you know, we started our journey in Sicily
0:57:48 > 0:57:52where the people are closer to Africa and Tunisia than they are to Rome.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58So, what's going to happen next? We've finished Italy.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01No, no. Italy's never finished, you know.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04Everywhere you go, you turn a little corner,
0:58:04 > 0:58:06there will be something special
0:58:06 > 0:58:08or somebody who does something in a special way.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11Italy needs to be still unpacked.
0:58:11 > 0:58:12Never say never.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18Shall we go for lunch?
0:58:18 > 0:58:20HE LAUGHS
0:58:21 > 0:58:23I think that's going to be the last thing you say on this earth.
0:58:25 > 0:58:27Thank you, Andrew.