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[TUCCI] I have driven in Italy quite a bit.
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But I did say to one guy when I was doing a movie,
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I said, "It's very interesting,
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people don't really stop at stop lights that much."
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And he goes, "No, no, no.
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The stop light is just a suggestion."
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There's nowhere on Earth quite like Tuscany.
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The land is idyllic,
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the art is divine
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and the food is out of this world.
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[TUCCI] Oh my god.
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It just melts in your mouth.
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[LAUGHS]
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I'm Stanley Tucci,
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I'm fascinated by my Italian heritage.
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So, I'm traveling across Italy
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to discover how the food,
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in each of this country's twenty regions,
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is as unique as the people and their past.
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The creations of famous Tuscans are known the world over.
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Michelangelo, I think if he were to come back today, he'd be able
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to walk around Florence. It hasn't changed.
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But it's the hands of the ordinary people...
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[Chef] We fold it like this.
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...that have crafted the incredible food here.
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It's like a Christmas in your mouth, yeah.
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This is a place built on human ingenuity,
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mind-boggling riches and an insane amount of bread.
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I really don't know how they eat this much bread.
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It's delicious but so hot.
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All great love affairs start somewhere.
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And for me...
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my love of Italy started right here, in Florence,
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when I was just 12 years old.
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That's delicious.
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You have to taste that.
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Like this tartlet filled with rice pudding, I mean, come on.
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There's always something wonderful
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to discover in Florence.
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The city is the capital of Tuscany.
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500 years ago, it was the playground
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of some of the richest families on Earth.
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In the countryside,
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they used their land to cultivate
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the finest produce and cattle
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And in the city they bankrolled
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the incredible explosion of art,
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science and architecture known as the Renaissance.
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I love that just about everywhere you turn
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there's something incredible to see.
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The chance to actually live among these treasures,
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even just for a year,
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lured a young family from suburban New York to Florence
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nearly 50 years ago.
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It seems that no matter where you are,
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you can always see that Duomo.
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My family.
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Meet Joan and Stan Tucci.
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[STAN] I have a photograph of this, do you remember?
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Back in 1972 we moved here
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because my dad was a high school art teacher
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taking a year off to follow his dream.
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-[STAN] Oh my Lord. -[TUCCI] That's unbelievable.
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-[STAN] All that foreshortening. -[TUCCI] I know.
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-[STAN] How incredible is that? -That's incredible.
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My Dad came to study figure drawing and sculpture here.
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[TUCCI] Look at it, when you really look
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and you see that perspective,
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-I can't see that far. -It's staggering.
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-It hurts my neck. -Does it?
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-Yeah. -Lay down.
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[LAUGHS]
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At nearly 400 feet,
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the Duomo is still the tallest structure in Florence.
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It took 16 years to build,
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and to hurry things along,
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the genius architect, Brunelleschi,
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came up with a way to slash lunch breaks.
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The workmen, when they were building this,
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guys had to come down and make their lunch,
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they would lose all this time.
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So he found out what they were cooking
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and he put ovens up there
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and he would just cook up there, make their lunch up there.
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-That doesn't sound... Really? -Supposedly.
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Money was tight on our year abroad,
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so our family lived in slightly less grandeur than this...
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This is a lot cleaner than it used to be.
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It's very clean.
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...just north of the city center, in this building.
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Not the whole thing, you understand.
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[TUCCI] So our apartment was those four windows?
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One, two, three, four? That was us
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-on the end there, right? -Yeah.
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[JOAN] It was nice.
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-[TUCCI] You'd never traveled. -[JOAN] No.
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My parents, you know, mom and pop, said,
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"Why are you going?" You know.
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Your parents, who came from Italy?
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Who came from Italy
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-It was Florence, not Colobraro. -Didn't want you to go to Italy.
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But it worked out.
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It was fun. -I think everybody ended up
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getting a great deal out of it.
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I came for sculpture, certainly Joan,
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with all the food, cooking...
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-It changed everything. -It changed everything.
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-It changed everything for me, certainly.
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While my father was studying art,
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my mom was studying something just as beautiful,
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the local cuisine.
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One of these because it's so big?
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No, a little more.
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Little more.
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It didn't know how to cook when we got married.
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Didn't even know how to boil water.
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While she was here,
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my mother was also inspired by the spirit of the Renaissance
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and set out to discover the art of Italian cooking.
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When we lived in Florence when everyone was in school,
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I would learn to make different recipes. I loved it.
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My mother soon found the key
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that unlocks so much of Italian cooking.
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A simple combination of carrots, celery, and onions.
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Fried up together, it's called the soffritto.
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[JOAN] Looking good, what do you think, Stan?
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[TUCCI] Yeah, it's good.
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[JOAN] Throw the tomato in?
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It's the base of countless Italian dishes,
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including today's offering.
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A Tucci family favorite called Salsa Maria Rosa.
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[TUCCI] Now, put some water in it.
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[JOAN] Put some water in it, yeah.
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It's a delicious vegetable sauce
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and we named it after a beloved neighbor
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here in Florence,
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who showed mom how to make it all those years ago.
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In the fine tradition of Tuscan home cooking,
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it's cheap, nutritious and full of tomato.
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-[TUCCI] I make it quite often. -[JOAN] Do you? Yeah.
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[TUCCI] Of course, yeah. The kids love it.
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But here's the thing,
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every time my mother comes to visit, which is too often.
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-Alright. -Alright, anyway.
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I always go, "Can you show me how to make this?",
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but mine still doesn't turn out the way hers turns out.
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I don't get it.
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-I think that's it, Stan. -I think we did it.
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[JOAN] We did it.
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-We did it. -Nice.
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[TUCCI] There we go.
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[JOAN] It's nice to have help. I love it, it's fun.
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That's my hobby.
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But I don't have anyone
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to cook for anymore. I miss my grandchildren.
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Oh don't, don't.
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But you could move to England. If this series does well...
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-If this series does well. -Which series?
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The one we're shooting right now.
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I got news for ya.
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[LAUGHS]
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The time we shared in Florence changed everything for us.
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-Finally, you're here. -Yes.
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After a year spent in the home of the Renaissance,
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we returned to America as a family reborn.
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It's so delicate, this sauce too, isn't it?
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You smell the sweetness of the carrot and the butter.
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Our eyes had been opened
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to some of the greatest treasures on Earth
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and some pretty good food too.
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It's so good.
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For me, it was the start
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of a lifelong love affair with Italy.
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-Cheers. -Cheers.
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Thank you, thank you.
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-To Florence. -Thank you, cheers.
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There's a family whose name hangs over this region
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like the hot Tuscan sun.
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Their astonishing wealth
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made them one of the most powerful families
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on Earth back in the 1500s.
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They practically bankrolled the Renaissance,
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paying for artists and scientists
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like Michelangelo and Galileo
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to remake the world.
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[TUCCI] How many days a week are you here?
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They are the Medici.
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So come in.
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And I'm going to meet one of them.
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You are in a place
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that the Florentines call ‘The Casino de Medici'.
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And this is a place created as a scientific laboratory
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the Medici wanted all the bright minds in Europe
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to come here
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and to create new things
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and to experiment with science, with the arts,
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with food, with spices.
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So it was like you say a think tank.
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A think tank.
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-Or a taste tank. -Exactly.
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Expert Art Restorer, Daniela Murphy,
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is sneaking me in for an audience
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with the most powerful Medici of them all.
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-Where is he? -He's right, right there.
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Oh my.
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Meet Cosimo Primo de Medici.
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He led the family at their dizzying height
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in the 1500s.
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In this fresco, undergoing restoration,
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he's become so powerful
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he's being crowned Grand Duke of Tuscany
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by the Pope himself
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He marries an extremely wealthy woman,
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the Spanish princess' Eleanor de Toledo.
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Not only does she bring a lot of money
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but she brings a lot of the new spices from the New World.
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The chocolates, the coffee,
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Everything that is the cuisine.
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That's when the tomato arrived?
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That's when it arrives more or less in that era then.
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Which completely altered Italian...
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Completely.
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-Completely. -...cuisine
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Medici money cultivated this city, and the arts
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and the ideas that grew here in the Renaissance
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changed how we all see the world.
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But this family also changed the way things taste.
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It may seem a long way from Michelangelo
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to the greatest T-bone steak you've ever eaten,
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but the Medici had a hand in that too.
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Secret.
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Fabio Picchi may look
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like he's fallen out of a Renaissance painting,
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but he's actually a renowned chef,
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a born and bred Florentine,
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and a master of meat.
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Back in the 1500s
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most people wouldn't even get close
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to cuts of meat this good.
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Tuscany's famous Chianina cattle needed lots of land,
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that was hugely expensive to run.
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Of course, the Medici didn't need to worry about that.
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But why?
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500 years later, thankfully you don't need to be
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a Grand Duke to enjoy steaks this big,
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and Fabio wants to cook for me Tuscany's signature dish,
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the magnificent bistecca alla Fiorentina.
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Good.
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And in case lunch isn't looking worthy enough
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of, like, ten men,
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Fabio picks out a little appetizer,
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yet another cut of meat.
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We head back to the deli Fabio owns.
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Thank you. Oh, look at that, look at the flowers.
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He hurries us past any food that hasn't had a pulse.
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And we head up to his hideaway on the roof,
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where he does his cooking.
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Oh my god. Come on.
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We're starting with the Chianina beef,
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the Medici family favorite.
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The cattle has grazed the Tuscan fields
262
00:12:19,700 --> 00:12:21,366
for 2,000 years.
263
00:12:21,433 --> 00:12:23,133
They're of such high quality,
264
00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,300
that we're eating it raw.
265
00:12:41,566 --> 00:12:42,700
Oh my god.
266
00:12:44,566 --> 00:12:47,233
That's the best sushi I've ever had.
267
00:12:47,300 --> 00:12:48,266
[LAUGHS]
268
00:12:52,433 --> 00:12:54,700
And now, the main event.
269
00:13:12,700 --> 00:13:16,300
So what he's doing now he says, this is, the secret--
270
00:13:16,366 --> 00:13:17,600
[FABIO] The family secret.
271
00:13:17,666 --> 00:13:20,133
Besides excessive amounts of salt.
272
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,766
So the little sort of wisps of olive branch
273
00:13:25,033 --> 00:13:27,400
like this in the fire.
274
00:13:31,566 --> 00:13:34,100
So you're getting, you're getting
275
00:13:34,166 --> 00:13:36,300
the flavor of those olive branches.
276
00:13:36,366 --> 00:13:38,200
It gives it a very distinctive taste.
277
00:13:42,266 --> 00:13:44,033
During the Renaissance,
278
00:13:44,100 --> 00:13:47,133
the Medici lit fires around the city on feast days
279
00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,300
and handed out roast beef to the common people.
280
00:13:50,366 --> 00:13:51,733
Most of the time though,
281
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,300
they kept this amazing meat for themselves.
282
00:13:59,366 --> 00:14:02,033
This one actually comes from the same area
283
00:14:02,100 --> 00:14:04,533
where the Medici family originated.
284
00:14:07,666 --> 00:14:09,700
Jesus.
285
00:14:09,766 --> 00:14:13,033
This is like no steak I've ever eaten.
286
00:14:13,100 --> 00:14:15,466
It's both crisp and delicate
287
00:14:15,533 --> 00:14:19,166
and the smoke carries the taste of the land.
288
00:14:19,233 --> 00:14:23,666
God damn it! It just melts in your mouth.
289
00:14:23,733 --> 00:14:25,600
It's what makes the regional cooking of Italy
290
00:14:25,666 --> 00:14:29,033
about so much more than just a tasty meal.
291
00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:44,566
But the palate is the organ that connects Italy.
292
00:15:16,700 --> 00:15:19,400
-I'll drink to that. -Yeah.
293
00:15:19,466 --> 00:15:20,600
Cheers.
294
00:15:30,433 --> 00:15:33,066
There comes a time in any show about Tuscany
295
00:15:33,133 --> 00:15:36,633
where the host heads out to the spectacular hills
296
00:15:36,700 --> 00:15:38,533
and tells you how the Mediterranean sun
297
00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,433
has blessed the Tuscan vineyards for 3000 years.
298
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:46,766
They may even have a thoughtful sip
299
00:15:47,033 --> 00:15:48,400
of a world famous Tuscan wine
300
00:15:48,466 --> 00:15:50,266
like Chianti Classico.
301
00:15:52,266 --> 00:15:54,633
But I'm not going to do that.
302
00:15:54,700 --> 00:15:58,500
I'm going on a good old fashioned bar crawl.
303
00:15:58,566 --> 00:16:03,300
And when I say ‘old fashioned', I mean, like, the Renaissance.
304
00:16:08,766 --> 00:16:12,166
I'm going to meet a friend of mine, Elisabetta,
305
00:16:12,233 --> 00:16:14,466
who is a Renaissance scholar.
306
00:16:14,533 --> 00:16:19,133
She's incredibly boring, but we'll make it through.
307
00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,266
My God, I can't believe you came.
308
00:16:21,333 --> 00:16:23,400
-Hi. -How are you?
309
00:16:23,466 --> 00:16:24,600
-How are you? -Good to see you.
310
00:16:24,666 --> 00:16:26,566
Nice to see you too.
311
00:16:26,633 --> 00:16:28,433
This little bar has just reintroduced
312
00:16:28,500 --> 00:16:29,733
a 500-year-old tradition.
313
00:16:32,133 --> 00:16:33,700
In 1559, our old friend,
314
00:16:33,766 --> 00:16:36,733
the Grand Duke Cosimo Primo de Medici,
315
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,400
decreed that wealthy Florentines
316
00:16:39,466 --> 00:16:41,266
could sell the wine they produced
317
00:16:41,333 --> 00:16:44,066
on their country estates direct from little windows
318
00:16:44,133 --> 00:16:47,066
cut into the walls of their city palaces
319
00:16:47,133 --> 00:16:49,766
instead of through taverns and inn keepers.
320
00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,333
So, you would walk by, and you would buy, not by the glass,
321
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:19,666
but you'd buy by the bottle.
322
00:17:19,733 --> 00:17:21,366
-You'd buy a flask. -You buy a flask.
323
00:17:21,433 --> 00:17:24,066
They had a little wooden door, there was a bell.
324
00:17:24,133 --> 00:17:27,066
Sometimes they would also place things like a flask on top
325
00:17:27,133 --> 00:17:30,333
like an advertisement to say, "Hey guys, we sell wine."
326
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,400
Because I remember living here when I was a kid.
327
00:17:32,466 --> 00:17:33,766
I'd see these things,
328
00:17:34,033 --> 00:17:35,500
I always thought they were for, you know,
329
00:17:35,566 --> 00:17:37,633
where you'd put a little statue or something.
330
00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:40,500
-Yeah, like a tabernacle. -Yeah, exactly.
331
00:17:40,566 --> 00:17:42,500
-Let's order some wine. -OK
332
00:17:42,566 --> 00:17:45,766
-Let's order some wine. -How do you. Do I pull this?
333
00:17:46,033 --> 00:17:48,100
-Ring -Oh, it's a bell.
334
00:17:50,033 --> 00:17:52,500
-Will someone come? -Well, they're awfully slow.
335
00:17:52,566 --> 00:17:55,600
Oh, hi. That's wonderful. Hi, how are you?
336
00:18:00,566 --> 00:18:02,433
-Here you go. -Oh, thank you so much.
337
00:18:02,500 --> 00:18:04,500
Thank you, thank you so much, thank you.
338
00:18:08,333 --> 00:18:09,533
That's good.
339
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,333
-That's good. -I always thought wine,
340
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:14,566
the taste is better when it comes through a window.
341
00:18:14,633 --> 00:18:15,566
Yeah.
342
00:18:16,633 --> 00:18:18,133
You get another wine?
343
00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:19,533
-Yeah, oh yeah. -Yeah.
344
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:20,566
It seems to be empty.
345
00:18:20,633 --> 00:18:22,466
Oh, hi. How are you?
346
00:18:22,533 --> 00:18:24,066
Can I get...
347
00:18:24,133 --> 00:18:26,000
Five hundred years ago,
348
00:18:26,066 --> 00:18:28,333
everyone was encouraged to drink
349
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,400
at least a liter of wine a day.
350
00:18:30,466 --> 00:18:33,433
Not for the winemaker's profit but for health reasons.
351
00:18:33,500 --> 00:18:35,233
-Come on. -Let's sit.
352
00:18:35,300 --> 00:18:37,600
So tell me everything else you know.
353
00:18:37,666 --> 00:18:41,600
And some people needed to be more healthy than others.
354
00:18:41,666 --> 00:18:47,166
If you were pregnant you could have one at any time.
355
00:18:47,233 --> 00:18:49,300
-You could have one at any time? -Yeah.
356
00:18:49,366 --> 00:18:51,333
-If you were pregnant. -Yeah.
357
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,033
Because it was considered...
358
00:18:53,100 --> 00:18:55,166
My mother did that too. No, she didn't.
359
00:18:55,233 --> 00:18:56,166
-Really? -Yeah.
360
00:18:56,233 --> 00:18:57,466
Like a nourishment.
361
00:18:57,533 --> 00:18:59,066
So, it's sort of the opposite of today?
362
00:18:59,133 --> 00:19:01,000
-Yeah, of today. -Okay.
363
00:19:01,066 --> 00:19:02,466
-Come on. -Let's go, come on.
364
00:19:06,233 --> 00:19:09,066
This could be a disappointingly short wine crawl
365
00:19:09,133 --> 00:19:10,600
as Bar Babae is currently the only
366
00:19:10,666 --> 00:19:13,200
functioning wine window in Florence.
367
00:19:13,266 --> 00:19:16,733
Even if there are still 130 or so defunct ones
368
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:18,166
around the city.
369
00:19:18,233 --> 00:19:19,566
These little Wine Windows
370
00:19:19,633 --> 00:19:21,700
don't exist anywhere outside of Tuscany,
371
00:19:21,766 --> 00:19:24,766
another example of Renaissance genius.
372
00:19:25,033 --> 00:19:26,566
-There are too many of them. -Yeah.
373
00:19:26,633 --> 00:19:30,466
And then, completely by chance, we come across another.
374
00:19:32,433 --> 00:19:34,266
But the sign would be from when?
375
00:19:34,333 --> 00:19:36,266
That sign.
376
00:20:05,533 --> 00:20:08,366
-The little doors of paradise. -Paradise, yeah.
377
00:20:10,300 --> 00:20:12,766
Hi, hi, there you are again.
378
00:20:13,033 --> 00:20:14,566
Hi, how are you?
379
00:20:14,633 --> 00:20:16,133
Thank you so much.
380
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:20,766
To end of the evening
381
00:20:21,033 --> 00:20:24,266
we head out for Tuscany's favorite nightcap.
382
00:20:24,333 --> 00:20:28,033
the local dessert wine, Vin Santo, the holy wine.
383
00:20:28,100 --> 00:20:31,500
It's called Vin Santo because when you drink it, a halo...
384
00:20:31,566 --> 00:20:33,533
-A halo comes? -A halo is on your head.
385
00:20:34,666 --> 00:20:36,300
Anyway.
386
00:20:36,366 --> 00:20:38,766
Tuscan tradition dictates you dip almond biscotti,
387
00:20:39,033 --> 00:20:43,133
known in Italy as cantucci, in your vin santo.
388
00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:48,233
Oh, angle, is that what it means?
389
00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:49,700
Yeah.
390
00:20:49,766 --> 00:20:53,766
The result is a sweet, crunchy and heady delight.
391
00:20:54,033 --> 00:20:55,400
Maybe too heady.
392
00:20:55,466 --> 00:20:59,033
Anything that ends in Tucci, I like.
393
00:20:59,100 --> 00:21:00,433
[LAUGHS]
394
00:21:00,500 --> 00:21:03,400
-That's the end of that episode. -That's so funny.
395
00:21:05,466 --> 00:21:08,166
Cantucci, right.
396
00:21:20,133 --> 00:21:21,600
Tuscany may be renowned
397
00:21:21,666 --> 00:21:24,333
for incredible meat and fine wines,
398
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,666
but this food of the rich is only half the story.
399
00:21:27,733 --> 00:21:29,666
The other branch of Tuscan cooking
400
00:21:29,733 --> 00:21:34,400
grew out of biting poverty and humble ingredients.
401
00:21:34,466 --> 00:21:36,033
So, where do you wanna go first?
402
00:21:36,100 --> 00:21:38,000
Historian Leonardo Romanelli
403
00:21:38,066 --> 00:21:40,533
is taking me to Florence's central market
404
00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,300
to show me the ingredients of what the Italians call
405
00:21:43,366 --> 00:21:45,600
‘Cucina Povera', poor food.
406
00:21:45,666 --> 00:21:47,500
So, you wanna show me some beans
407
00:21:47,566 --> 00:21:51,700
which are a staple of Florentine cooking.
408
00:21:51,766 --> 00:21:55,033
-So you have different types. -For different dishes.
409
00:21:55,100 --> 00:21:57,333
The best are zolfini.
410
00:21:57,400 --> 00:21:59,500
These type of beans are solid
411
00:21:59,566 --> 00:22:03,100
but you don't need to put in the water before cooking.
412
00:22:03,166 --> 00:22:06,300
-Oh really? -And they taste so...
413
00:22:06,366 --> 00:22:08,333
You don't have to soak them beforehand?
414
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,000
No, that's the difference.
415
00:22:13,566 --> 00:22:16,300
It means the Florentines eat the beans.
416
00:22:16,366 --> 00:22:17,666
The bean eaters.
417
00:22:17,733 --> 00:22:20,633
Yeah, because we are using so many different--
418
00:22:20,700 --> 00:22:23,433
Oh no, now you're going to mix them all up.
419
00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:25,233
[LAUGHS]
420
00:22:25,300 --> 00:22:29,333
The cooking is really, very poor, simple cooking.
421
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,600
That's true.
422
00:22:31,666 --> 00:22:34,133
I read that during the Renaissance
423
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,566
the wealthier people would have meat.
424
00:22:36,633 --> 00:22:39,633
Whereas the poorer people basically just had beans,
425
00:22:39,700 --> 00:22:43,366
some kind of soup and some bread and that was it.
426
00:22:43,433 --> 00:22:46,533
I have to say, we use what we have.
427
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:48,666
It says something about the character
428
00:22:48,733 --> 00:22:50,466
of the Tuscany people.
429
00:22:50,533 --> 00:22:53,166
We have Tuscan bread without salt.
430
00:22:53,233 --> 00:22:55,100
I know, I remember when I was a kid
431
00:22:55,166 --> 00:22:56,366
and we came here
432
00:22:56,433 --> 00:22:58,366
and we tasted the bread and I was like,
433
00:22:58,433 --> 00:23:00,400
"This is terrible, this is the worst thing
434
00:23:00,466 --> 00:23:02,500
I've ever had in my life."
435
00:23:02,566 --> 00:23:04,700
We never got used to it.
436
00:23:04,766 --> 00:23:06,533
Seeing these basic ingredients
437
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,666
here in the city market is one thing,
438
00:23:08,733 --> 00:23:12,733
but the only way to truly understand Tuscan ‘poor food'
439
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:14,466
is to get out of the city
440
00:23:14,533 --> 00:23:19,400
and go deep into the endlessly beautiful countryside.
441
00:23:19,466 --> 00:23:21,533
Isn't that kind of amazing when you look around,
442
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,733
is that, I mean, you really don't see
443
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:26,733
a contemporary building for miles.
444
00:23:28,033 --> 00:23:29,666
Look at that.
445
00:23:29,733 --> 00:23:33,000
I'm following the River Arno, 50 miles south of Florence,
446
00:23:33,066 --> 00:23:35,566
to a small village called Ponte Buriano,
447
00:23:35,633 --> 00:23:39,566
where I've been invited to a wheat threshing festival.
448
00:23:39,633 --> 00:23:42,266
Do I know what threshing of the wheat is?
449
00:23:42,333 --> 00:23:43,333
Are you kidding?
450
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,300
I grew up threshing wheat.
451
00:23:52,366 --> 00:23:54,100
Now, if memory serves,
452
00:23:54,166 --> 00:23:56,533
threshing is where the grains of wheat are shaken loose
453
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,400
so they can be ground down to make flour.
454
00:23:59,466 --> 00:24:02,400
[TUCCI] Oh that's the steam, that's the steam engine.
455
00:24:02,466 --> 00:24:04,100
[RENATO] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
456
00:24:04,166 --> 00:24:08,100
Renato Viscovo, a local teacher, organizes this event.
457
00:24:37,166 --> 00:24:40,533
Tonight there's a huge feast for the villagers.
458
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:42,566
They're coming together to give thanks
459
00:24:42,633 --> 00:24:44,500
for the good times in this region
460
00:24:44,566 --> 00:24:46,433
that was once ravaged by famines
461
00:24:46,500 --> 00:24:49,433
and where farmers were treated as indentured servants
462
00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:52,000
by their oppressive aristocratic landowners,
463
00:24:52,066 --> 00:24:55,166
until relatively recently.
464
00:25:03,700 --> 00:25:05,466
This is a world away
465
00:25:05,533 --> 00:25:08,533
from the huge steaks and fine wines of Florence.
466
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,666
The people here cook what they grow
467
00:25:11,733 --> 00:25:13,433
and after the toil of harvesting
468
00:25:13,500 --> 00:25:14,733
and milling the wheat,
469
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,166
what they're left with is bread.
470
00:25:25,333 --> 00:25:28,200
Lots and lots of bread.
471
00:25:28,266 --> 00:25:32,733
So here the dough is rising and you cook it in that oven.
472
00:25:36,133 --> 00:25:37,700
Like it was done many years ago.
473
00:25:41,266 --> 00:25:43,066
Over in the kitchens,
474
00:25:43,133 --> 00:25:44,566
some of the 200 villagers
475
00:25:44,633 --> 00:25:46,733
are hard at work preparing the feast,
476
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,100
and here too, bread plays a starring role
477
00:25:50,166 --> 00:25:52,166
in pretty much everything.
478
00:25:52,233 --> 00:25:53,666
[TUCCI] What are they making?
479
00:26:07,366 --> 00:26:09,433
[TUCCI] Oh, the Gander.
480
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:16,700
Oh my god.
481
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,066
-[RENATO] Good? -It's delicious but it's so hot.
482
00:26:27,666 --> 00:26:31,133
I go out back and discover wood-fired ovens
483
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,333
full of roasting ganders.
484
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,766
These male geese were one of the few farm animals
485
00:26:37,033 --> 00:26:39,000
that peasants were allowed to keep for themselves
486
00:26:39,066 --> 00:26:42,133
and not have to share with their landlords.
487
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,266
They were saved for special occasions
488
00:26:44,333 --> 00:26:45,700
like weddings and festivals.
489
00:26:45,766 --> 00:26:48,466
The smell is incredible.
490
00:26:54,466 --> 00:26:55,500
Come on.
491
00:26:59,433 --> 00:27:02,466
You know? Really, it's like a Christmas in your mouth.
492
00:27:02,533 --> 00:27:03,566
Yeah, wow.
493
00:27:21,666 --> 00:27:23,200
Well, you're great cooks.
494
00:27:29,500 --> 00:27:31,733
Over the centuries,
495
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,466
the food of the working people here in the Tuscan countryside
496
00:27:34,533 --> 00:27:36,333
developed into its own cuisine.
497
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,166
It's not as showy as the food in Florence
498
00:27:39,233 --> 00:27:41,666
but it's one that is just as glorious
499
00:27:41,733 --> 00:27:44,566
as the landscape from which it comes.
500
00:27:44,633 --> 00:27:46,433
[LAUGHS]
501
00:27:58,566 --> 00:28:00,433
My night at the wheat threshing festival
502
00:28:00,500 --> 00:28:05,200
has reminded me of the epic, insatiable obsession
503
00:28:05,266 --> 00:28:07,533
Tuscany has with bread.
504
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,000
It's a love that has echoed through the ages
505
00:28:10,066 --> 00:28:13,766
and there are recipes for every stage of a loaf's life.
506
00:28:14,033 --> 00:28:17,500
The best ones however are saved for the advanced years,
507
00:28:17,566 --> 00:28:20,600
when bread is old and stale.
508
00:28:20,666 --> 00:28:24,366
That's when Tuscan cooks get really creative.
509
00:28:28,033 --> 00:28:29,166
[TUCCI] And here we are.
510
00:28:29,233 --> 00:28:31,166
-Yeah. -Yeah, it's very exciting.
511
00:28:31,233 --> 00:28:34,233
I'm having lunch at the Cinghiale Bianco,
512
00:28:34,300 --> 00:28:36,600
one of my favorite restaurants in Florence.
513
00:28:36,666 --> 00:28:38,633
So nice to see you. Really nice to see you.
514
00:28:38,700 --> 00:28:41,166
And I'm joined again by local food expert,
515
00:28:41,233 --> 00:28:42,600
Professor Leonardo Romanelli,
516
00:28:42,666 --> 00:28:45,566
and my friend the art restorer, Daniella Murphy.
517
00:28:45,633 --> 00:28:47,066
-Hi, Stanley. -[TUCCI] Uh-oh.
518
00:28:47,133 --> 00:28:49,200
-[LEONARDO] Oh, hi. -[TUCCI] Hi.
519
00:28:49,266 --> 00:28:51,500
This place specializes in ‘poor food'
520
00:28:51,566 --> 00:28:53,433
and their recipes are so heavenly.
521
00:28:53,500 --> 00:28:57,000
I'm sure it's where old bread would choose to come and die.
522
00:28:59,666 --> 00:29:01,700
Marco Maselli is the restaurant's owner
523
00:29:01,766 --> 00:29:03,500
This is the ribolita.
524
00:29:03,566 --> 00:29:07,100
Basically, the main ingredients are bread and the black cabbage.
525
00:29:07,166 --> 00:29:10,633
And then, we have the tomato and bread soup,
526
00:29:10,700 --> 00:29:12,233
Pappa al pomodoro.
527
00:29:12,300 --> 00:29:14,566
The base is olive oil and garlic,
528
00:29:14,633 --> 00:29:16,333
Tuscan bread and tomato.
529
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,333
It sounds very simple.
530
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,133
-Not so simple to prepare. -[TUCCI] Not simple to make.
531
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,033
[MARCO] To make good.
532
00:29:22,100 --> 00:29:26,633
But, in my opinion, the queen of the Tuscan dishes
533
00:29:26,700 --> 00:29:28,366
is the Panzanella.
534
00:29:28,433 --> 00:29:30,066
I was hoping that was mine.
535
00:29:30,133 --> 00:29:33,366
Also, a very simple and 'poor' dish.
536
00:29:33,433 --> 00:29:39,133
Tuscan bread soaked in vinegar and onion and tomato.
537
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,666
-[MARCO] Enjoy. -[TUCCI] Thank you.
538
00:29:40,733 --> 00:29:42,400
[Daniella] This Panzanella is very good.
539
00:29:42,466 --> 00:29:46,366
[TUCCI] And this Pappa al pomodoro, perfecto.
540
00:29:46,433 --> 00:29:47,733
This is one of my favorite things,
541
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,700
I make it for my kids, they'll just eat.
542
00:29:50,766 --> 00:29:53,066
Like it's ice cream, practically.
543
00:29:53,133 --> 00:29:56,400
We have good tomatoes, good olive oil and Tuscan bread.
544
00:29:56,466 --> 00:29:57,700
Maybe not Tuscan bread.
545
00:29:57,766 --> 00:29:59,400
Maybe, OK. [LAUGHS]
546
00:29:59,466 --> 00:30:01,166
I have to admit,
547
00:30:01,233 --> 00:30:03,300
that I much prefer Tuscan bread cooked in dishes like this
548
00:30:03,366 --> 00:30:06,633
because on its own it can taste quite bland
549
00:30:06,700 --> 00:30:08,433
and that's an understatement.
550
00:30:08,500 --> 00:30:10,700
It actually tastes like cardboard.
551
00:30:10,766 --> 00:30:13,066
That's because it's unsalted.
552
00:30:13,133 --> 00:30:15,433
One theory is that Florence refused to pay
553
00:30:15,500 --> 00:30:19,466
its arch-rival town of Pisa for its salt.
554
00:30:19,533 --> 00:30:21,700
They were willing to spend money with other people
555
00:30:21,766 --> 00:30:23,500
but never give money to Pisa.
556
00:30:23,566 --> 00:30:25,566
-Yeah, especially Pisa. -Even today.
557
00:30:25,633 --> 00:30:28,200
But of course, this being Italy,
558
00:30:28,266 --> 00:30:33,366
food rivalries go deep but no-one can quite remember why.
559
00:30:33,433 --> 00:30:35,466
Another idea is this,
560
00:30:35,533 --> 00:30:40,000
if they don't use salt the bread could stay for a long time.
561
00:30:40,066 --> 00:30:41,333
Really, without salt?
562
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,066
-I didn't know that. -Because, because
563
00:30:43,133 --> 00:30:44,600
-the salt, the salt... -The salt breaks it down.
564
00:30:44,666 --> 00:30:46,266
The salt became brine.
565
00:30:46,333 --> 00:30:47,666
For sure the most convincing one
566
00:30:47,733 --> 00:30:49,500
is we don't want to give money to the Pisani.
567
00:30:49,566 --> 00:30:51,600
That's the most convincing. [LAUGHS]
568
00:30:51,666 --> 00:30:53,200
I believe that, actually, most of all.
569
00:30:53,266 --> 00:30:55,200
-Yeah. -[LAUGHS]
570
00:30:55,266 --> 00:30:57,633
For me panzanella is one of the greatest dishes
571
00:30:57,700 --> 00:30:59,500
of Tuscan poor food.
572
00:30:59,566 --> 00:31:03,533
Giving brittle old bread new life by using fresh tomatoes
573
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:07,066
to create a surprisingly refreshing salad.
574
00:31:11,633 --> 00:31:13,733
Knowing my love of food and art,
575
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,233
Daniela has invited me to a festival this evening.
576
00:31:18,300 --> 00:31:20,400
A very fancy festival.
577
00:31:22,700 --> 00:31:27,233
The one thing that everybody has in common is the food.
578
00:31:27,300 --> 00:31:28,533
Yeah.
579
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,000
This event is about as far as you can get
580
00:31:31,066 --> 00:31:33,033
from the wheat threshing festival.
581
00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:36,566
Here Florence's richest and most powerful families have gathered,
582
00:31:36,633 --> 00:31:38,666
as they have for centuries,
583
00:31:38,733 --> 00:31:43,233
to toast the city's new creative talent from chefs and musicians,
584
00:31:43,300 --> 00:31:46,166
to artists hoping to follow in the footsteps
585
00:31:46,233 --> 00:31:49,200
of Da Vinci and Michelangelo.
586
00:31:49,266 --> 00:31:52,566
You are right now in a situation where,
587
00:31:52,633 --> 00:31:54,766
more or less 500 years ago,
588
00:31:55,033 --> 00:31:57,333
the Medici would have done something like this.
589
00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,300
So we're going to go and have some food now.
590
00:31:59,366 --> 00:32:01,366
She knows me too well.
591
00:32:12,100 --> 00:32:13,400
Really?
592
00:32:13,466 --> 00:32:16,400
It's a very sophisticated form of Panzenella.
593
00:32:16,466 --> 00:32:18,033
This looks very different
594
00:32:18,100 --> 00:32:20,633
to the rustic bread salad we had for lunch.
595
00:32:20,700 --> 00:32:22,100
[DANIELLA] But it tastes of Panzanella.
596
00:32:22,166 --> 00:32:24,300
It completely tastes of Panzanella.
597
00:32:24,366 --> 00:32:27,700
Panzanella was what the farmers would eat.
598
00:32:27,766 --> 00:32:31,400
And now it's turned into this very sophisticated--
599
00:32:31,466 --> 00:32:33,333
-[TUCCI] Foam. -Foam.
600
00:32:35,333 --> 00:32:38,266
You see, the past being rediscovered.
601
00:32:38,333 --> 00:32:40,133
[TUCCI] It's a little Renaissance in a bowl.
602
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:41,733
[DANIELLA] There's a little Renaissance in it
603
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:43,066
and a lot of the future.
604
00:32:44,566 --> 00:32:46,733
[CROWD CHATTING]
605
00:32:51,666 --> 00:32:53,333
[BUSTLING CROWDS]
606
00:32:56,233 --> 00:32:58,366
After tasting this new version of panzanella,
607
00:32:58,433 --> 00:33:03,633
we made some inquiries and found the chef who created it.
608
00:33:03,700 --> 00:33:05,366
Nerina Martinelli and her team
609
00:33:05,433 --> 00:33:09,100
are just about to open Nugolo, a brand-new restaurant
610
00:33:09,166 --> 00:33:13,433
that re-imagines Tuscany's rural food in the heart of the city.
611
00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:16,166
[NERINA] The idea around the menu and the dishes that we do
612
00:33:16,233 --> 00:33:20,400
is to take traditional dishes, traditional recipes
613
00:33:20,466 --> 00:33:22,433
and then add something new.
614
00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:24,366
All the team of the restaurant,
615
00:33:24,433 --> 00:33:27,333
we are all under 30 years old so we are all really young.
616
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,166
These young chefs
617
00:33:29,233 --> 00:33:32,200
are seeing old Tuscan dishes with new eyes.
618
00:33:32,266 --> 00:33:33,666
[NERINA] So, the Panzanella foam
619
00:33:33,733 --> 00:33:37,766
is an example of a traditional Tuscan dish.
620
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:43,133
So, farmers.
621
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:45,200
Basically made with the simplest...
622
00:33:45,266 --> 00:33:46,733
Exactly.
623
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,033
-...poorest ingredients. -Onion, tomato, bread, vinegar.
624
00:33:50,100 --> 00:33:51,733
Cucumber, that's it.
625
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,033
And normally we do it with old bread.
626
00:33:54,100 --> 00:33:57,200
-[TUCCI] With old bread. Right. -With old bread.
627
00:33:57,266 --> 00:34:00,333
But you're taking it to another level by foaming it.
628
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,200
The air inside it becomes very light
629
00:34:03,266 --> 00:34:06,700
but still keeping the flavor of the panzanella.
630
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,766
And we finish with the basil oil.
631
00:34:13,033 --> 00:34:15,033
Couple of drops.
632
00:34:15,100 --> 00:34:16,466
I love that you did this.
633
00:34:16,533 --> 00:34:18,633
-Extra virgin olive oil. -It's so smart.
634
00:34:25,266 --> 00:34:27,500
It's, it's delicious.
635
00:34:27,566 --> 00:34:30,266
[ANTONIO] Especially for summer time, it's really fresh.
636
00:34:30,333 --> 00:34:34,566
Yeah, it's like, it really is the perfect appetizer, isn't it.
637
00:34:34,633 --> 00:34:36,500
-Exactly. -Exactly.
638
00:34:36,566 --> 00:34:41,200
Wow, you've taken tomatoes to a whole other place.
639
00:34:41,266 --> 00:34:45,633
And the simplest dishes to a whole other level.
640
00:34:45,700 --> 00:34:48,266
This simple bread salad has woven its way
641
00:34:48,333 --> 00:34:50,066
through Tuscan society.
642
00:34:50,133 --> 00:34:52,533
From peasants ensuring food doesn't go to waste
643
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,533
to Florentine aristocrats.
644
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,366
It's great to see these definitive Tuscan flavors
645
00:34:58,433 --> 00:35:00,466
now inspiring a new generation,
646
00:35:00,533 --> 00:35:03,266
making exciting food that looks to the future
647
00:35:03,333 --> 00:35:06,733
while respecting the land and its history.
648
00:35:18,233 --> 00:35:21,533
The food of rich cities and the poor countryside
649
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,233
are the two great pillars of Tuscan cuisine.
650
00:35:24,300 --> 00:35:28,333
But what unites them is a blast of fresh sea breeze
651
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,266
blowing in from Tuscany's fabulous coastline.
652
00:35:32,333 --> 00:35:34,566
I've come 50 miles west of Florence
653
00:35:34,633 --> 00:35:37,200
to the city of Livorno.
654
00:35:37,266 --> 00:35:40,300
In the late 16th Century, the Medici family
655
00:35:40,366 --> 00:35:43,233
turned it into one of the great trading ports of Italy,
656
00:35:43,300 --> 00:35:45,466
where Tuscany welcomed the world.
657
00:35:45,533 --> 00:35:49,133
Chef Fabio Picchi is never happier than when he's here,
658
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,300
with friends, and the prospect of a good meal on the horizon.
659
00:36:09,366 --> 00:36:11,066
During the Renaissance,
660
00:36:11,133 --> 00:36:13,700
migrants were actively encouraged to settle in Livorno
661
00:36:13,766 --> 00:36:16,066
and its reputation as a free-thinking
662
00:36:16,133 --> 00:36:17,733
big-hearted city by the sea...
663
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:19,566
[TUCCI] Oh yeah, nice.
664
00:36:19,633 --> 00:36:22,133
...drew people from across Europe and beyond.
665
00:36:23,466 --> 00:36:25,066
In the town center,
666
00:36:25,133 --> 00:36:28,233
is a tiny place called Torteria Da Gagarin.
667
00:36:28,300 --> 00:36:31,633
It opened in 1959 and sells just one thing.
668
00:36:31,700 --> 00:36:33,300
Known as "the cake",
669
00:36:33,366 --> 00:36:36,366
it's a pancake made from chickpea flour.
670
00:36:47,666 --> 00:36:50,033
The torteria is a local institution,
671
00:36:50,100 --> 00:36:55,300
serving up "the cake" in, what else, a huge hunk of bread.
672
00:37:07,700 --> 00:37:09,366
[TUCCI] This is good, I like this.
673
00:37:09,433 --> 00:37:11,000
It's absolutely delicious.
674
00:37:11,066 --> 00:37:13,266
And he says that he makes it because he loves it.
675
00:37:13,333 --> 00:37:16,400
He makes it at home but he can't make it as good as this.
676
00:37:16,466 --> 00:37:18,100
[FABIO] Yeah.
677
00:37:20,066 --> 00:37:21,666
After that little appetizer,
678
00:37:21,733 --> 00:37:24,300
we head up to the house of one of Fabio's friends
679
00:37:24,366 --> 00:37:26,366
in the hills above the town.
680
00:37:26,433 --> 00:37:28,666
He's gathered together the ingredients
681
00:37:28,733 --> 00:37:30,266
for a Livornese classic.
682
00:37:30,333 --> 00:37:32,600
He's making a fish stew.
683
00:37:41,733 --> 00:37:46,000
-This is a fake Cacciucco. -It's a fake.
684
00:37:46,066 --> 00:37:49,100
I need to keep my voice down so the neighbors don't hear
685
00:37:49,166 --> 00:37:51,033
but if you're not from Livorno,
686
00:37:51,100 --> 00:37:53,600
you're not supposed to be making this stew.
687
00:38:03,333 --> 00:38:05,266
[TUCCI] There's always this, sort of, battle between
688
00:38:05,333 --> 00:38:07,733
whether you're from here or from there, or from there.
689
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:09,533
Whatever you're making. Right?
690
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,600
You can make the same thing but you can't call it the thing.
691
00:38:12,666 --> 00:38:15,366
It is maybe a little bit different.
692
00:38:21,433 --> 00:38:23,600
[CHOPPING]
693
00:38:23,666 --> 00:38:29,233
Cacciucco is a rich fish stew that dates back over 500 years.
694
00:38:29,300 --> 00:38:31,333
It was the way Livorno's fishermen
695
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,766
would use up whatever they hadn't sold that day.
696
00:38:35,033 --> 00:38:37,166
This is an imperial cacciucco.
697
00:38:37,233 --> 00:38:39,566
He's using this really beautiful fish,
698
00:38:39,633 --> 00:38:43,300
he's also using lobster which is not a 'poor' fish, obviously.
699
00:38:43,366 --> 00:38:47,633
So, he's taking this and amping it up a bit.
700
00:38:58,166 --> 00:39:00,466
Like so many Italian dishes,
701
00:39:00,533 --> 00:39:04,633
the base of Fabio's stew is the trusty tomato.
702
00:39:04,700 --> 00:39:08,400
It's hard to imagine Italian cuisine without tomatoes
703
00:39:08,466 --> 00:39:10,633
but scholars only date their arrival
704
00:39:10,700 --> 00:39:12,766
to that fortuitous Medici marriage
705
00:39:13,033 --> 00:39:15,500
to Spanish nobility in the 1540s.
706
00:39:15,566 --> 00:39:17,466
Here in Livorno though...
707
00:39:17,533 --> 00:39:19,200
Sweet.
708
00:39:19,266 --> 00:39:21,666
...legend says that the tomato was brought by newcomers
709
00:39:21,733 --> 00:39:23,100
fleeing oppression.
710
00:39:43,733 --> 00:39:45,633
Tomatoes were a popular ingredient
711
00:39:45,700 --> 00:39:48,033
among the Jews of Southern Europe.
712
00:40:04,300 --> 00:40:05,433
Unless you want.
713
00:40:07,166 --> 00:40:10,233
Yeah, I think so, yeah.
714
00:40:10,300 --> 00:40:12,766
As the incredible smell drifts outside,
715
00:40:13,033 --> 00:40:15,366
Fabio's friends take their seats.
716
00:40:15,433 --> 00:40:17,700
The density of that flavor is just--
717
00:40:31,333 --> 00:40:32,633
[TUCCI] Wow.
718
00:40:41,633 --> 00:40:44,066
[APPLAUSE]
719
00:40:44,133 --> 00:40:45,633
Fabio may not be from Livorno
720
00:40:45,700 --> 00:40:49,766
but he can definitely cook a cacciucco.
721
00:40:58,066 --> 00:40:59,500
These are ingredients rooted
722
00:40:59,566 --> 00:41:01,566
in both the poor fishing community
723
00:41:01,633 --> 00:41:05,166
and in Livorno's immigrant past.
724
00:41:05,233 --> 00:41:08,033
It's a part of Tuscany's history on a plate.
725
00:41:11,633 --> 00:41:13,466
And Fabio's not finished.
726
00:41:13,533 --> 00:41:15,266
In true Tuscan tradition,
727
00:41:15,333 --> 00:41:18,300
creativity is everything and nothing goes to waste,
728
00:41:18,366 --> 00:41:22,700
so he whips up a whole second course with the leftover sauce.
729
00:41:27,100 --> 00:41:29,300
You have all the flavors of the sea,
730
00:41:29,366 --> 00:41:31,500
otherwise what would you do with that?
731
00:41:31,566 --> 00:41:33,033
Beautiful.
732
00:41:33,100 --> 00:41:36,033
A sauce that he had left, it only makes sense.
733
00:41:38,233 --> 00:41:41,166
It's the best, best thing in the world.
734
00:41:41,233 --> 00:41:43,466
[SPEAKS ITALIAN]
735
00:41:43,533 --> 00:41:45,000
Cheers.
736
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,166
I feel very lucky that my parents followed their hearts
737
00:41:50,233 --> 00:41:51,466
and moved us across the world
738
00:41:51,533 --> 00:41:54,400
for a year when we were just kids.
739
00:41:54,466 --> 00:41:57,766
I saw how the food of both rich and poor came together
740
00:41:58,033 --> 00:42:01,433
in this corner of Italy that's like nowhere on Earth...
741
00:42:01,500 --> 00:42:02,500
Wow
742
00:42:02,566 --> 00:42:04,200
...and nearly 50 years later,
743
00:42:04,266 --> 00:42:07,200
I still keep coming back for more.
52924
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