01x05 - Tuscany

[bunniefuu]

[TUCCI] I have driven
in Italy quite a bit.

But I did say to one guy
when I was doing a movie,

I said, "It's very interesting,

people don'’t really stop
at stop lights that much."

And he goes, "No, no, no.

The stop light is
just a suggestion."

There's nowhere on Earth
quite like Tuscany.

The land is idyllic,

the art is divine

and the food is
out of this world.

[TUCCI] Oh my god.

It just melts in your mouth.

[LAUGHS]

I'm Stanley Tucci,

I'm fascinated by
my Italian heritage.

So, I'm traveling across Italy

to discover how the food,

in each of this
country's twenty regions,

is as unique as the
people and their past.

The creations of famous Tuscans
are known the world over.

Michelangelo, I think if he were
to come back today, he'd be able

to walk around Florence.
It hasn'’t changed.

But it's the hands of
the ordinary people...

[Chef] We fold it like this.

That have crafted the
incredible food here.

It's like a Christmas
in your mouth, yeah.

This is a place built
on human ingenuity,

mind-boggling riches and
an insane amount of bread.

I really don'’t know how
they eat this much bread.

It's delicious but so hot.

All great love affairs
start somewhere.

And for me...

my love of Italy started
right here, in Florence,

when I was just 12 years old.

That's delicious.

You have to taste that.

Like this tartlet filled with
rice pudding, I mean, come on.

There'’s always
something wonderful

to discover in Florence.

The city is the
capital of Tuscany.

500 years ago, it
was the playground

of some of the richest
families on Earth.

In the countryside,

they used their
land to cultivate

the finest produce and cattle

And in the city they bankrolled

the incredible expl*si*n of art,

science and architecture
known as the Renaissance.

I love that just about
everywhere you turn

there'’s something
incredible to see.

The chance to actually
live among these treasures,

even just for a year,

lured a young family from
suburban New York to Florence

nearly 50 years ago.

It seems that no
matter where you are,

you can always see that Duomo.

My family.

Meet Joan and Stan Tucci.

[STAN] I have a photograph
of this, do you remember?

Back in 1972 we moved here

because my dad was a
high school art teacher

taking a year off
to follow his dream.

- [STAN] Oh my Lord.
- [TUCCI] That's unbelievable.

- [STAN] All that foreshortening.
- [TUCCI] I know.

- [STAN] How incredible is that?
- That's incredible.

My Dad came to study figure
drawing and sculpture here.

[TUCCI] Look at it,
when you really look

and you see that perspective,

- I can't see that far.
- It's staggering.

- It hurts my neck.
- Does it?

- Yeah.
- Lay down.

[LAUGHS]

At nearly 400 feet,

the Duomo is still the
tallest structure in Florence.

It took 16 years to build,

and to hurry things along,

the genius architect,
Brunelleschi,

came up with a way to
slash lunch breaks.

The workmen, when they
were building this,

guys had to come down
and make their lunch,

they would lose all this time.

So he found out what
they were cooking

and he put ovens up there

and he would just cook up there,
make their lunch up there.

- That doesn'’t sound... Really?
- Supposedly.

Money was tight on
our year abroad,

so our family lived in slightly
less grandeur than this...

This is a lot cleaner
than it used to be.

It'’s very clean.

Just north of the city
center, in this building.

Not the whole thing,
you understand.

[TUCCI] So our apartment
was those four windows?

One, two, three,
four? That was us

- on the end there, right?
- Yeah.

[JOAN] It was nice.

- [TUCCI] You'd never traveled.
- [JOAN] No.

My parents, you know,
mom and pop, said,

"Why are you going?" You know.

Your parents, who
came from Italy?

Who came from Italy

- It was Florence, not Colobraro.
- Didn'’t want you to go to Italy.

But it worked out.

It was fun.
- I think everybody ended up

getting a great deal out of it.

I came for sculpture,
certainly Joan,

with all the food, cooking...

- It changed everything.
- It changed everything.

-It changed everything
for me, certainly.

While my father
was studying art,

my mom was studying
something just as beautiful,

the local cuisine.

One of these because
it'’s so big?

No, a little more.

Little more.

It didn'’t know how to
cook when we got married.

Didn't even know
how to boil water.

While she was here,

my mother was also inspired by
the spirit of the Renaissance

and set out to discover
the art of Italian cooking.

When we lived in Florence
when everyone was in school,

I would learn to make
different recipes. I loved it.

My mother soon found the key

that unlocks so much
of Italian cooking.

A simple combination of
carrots, celery, and onions.

Fried up together, it'’s
called the soffritto.

[JOAN] Looking good,
what do you think, Stan?

[TUCCI] Yeah, it's good.

[JOAN] Throw the tomato in?

It'’s the base of
countless Italian dishes,

including today'’s offering.

A Tucci family favorite
called Salsa Maria Rosa.

[TUCCI] Now, put
some water in it.

[JOAN] Put some
water in it, yeah.

It'’s a delicious
vegetable sauce

and we named it after
a beloved neighbor

here in Florence,

who showed mom how to make
it all those years ago.

In the fine tradition
of Tuscan home cooking,

it'’s cheap, nutritious
and full of tomato.

- [TUCCI] I make it quite often.
- [JOAN] Do you? Yeah.

[TUCCI] Of course,
yeah. The kids love it.

But here'’s the thing,

every time my mother comes
to visit, which is too often.

- Alright.
- Alright, anyway.

I always go, "Can you show
me how to make this?",

but mine still doesn'’t turn
out the way hers turns out.

I don'’t get it.

- I think that's it, Stan.
- I think we did it.

[JOAN] We did it.

- We did it.
- Nice.

[TUCCI] There we go.

[JOAN] It'’s nice to have
help. I love it, it'’s fun.

That's my hobby.

But I don'’t have anyone

to cook for anymore. I
miss my grandchildren.

Oh don'’t, don't.

But you could move to England.
If this series does well...

- If this series does well.
- Which series?

The one we'’re
sh**ting right now.

I got news for ya.

[LAUGHS]

The time we shared in Florence
changed everything for us.

- Finally, you're here.
- Yes.

After a year spent in the
home of the Renaissance,

we returned to America
as a family reborn.

It'’s so delicate, this
sauce too, isn'’t it?

You smell the sweetness of
the carrot and the butter.

Our eyes had been opened

to some of the greatest
treasures on Earth

and some pretty good food too.

It's so good.

For me, it was the start

of a lifelong love
affair with Italy.

- Cheers.
- Cheers.

Thank you, thank you.

- To Florence.
- Thank you, cheers.

There'’s a family whose
name hangs over this region

like the hot Tuscan sun.

Their astonishing wealth

made them one of the
most powerful families

on Earth back in the 1500s.

They practically
bankrolled the Renaissance,

paying for artists
and scientists

like Michelangelo and Galileo

to remake the world.

[TUCCI] How many days
a week are you here?

They are the Medici.

So come in.

And I'm going to
meet one of them.

You are in a place

that the Florentines call
'‘The Casino de Medici'’.

And this is a place created
as a scientific laboratory

the Medici wanted all the
bright minds in Europe

to come here

and to create new things

and to experiment with
science, with the arts,

with food, with spices.

So it was like you
say a think tank.

A think tank.

- Or a taste tank.
- Exactly.

Expert Art Restorer,
Daniela Murphy,

is sneaking me in
for an audience

with the most powerful
Medici of them all.

- Where is he?
- He's right, right there.

Oh my.

Meet Cosimo Primo de Medici.

He led the family at
their dizzying height

in the 1500s.

In this fresco,
undergoing restoration,

he'’s become so powerful

he'’s being crowned
Grand Duke of Tuscany

by the Pope himself

He marries an extremely
wealthy woman,

the Spanish princess'
Eleanor de Toledo.

Not only does she
bring a lot of money

but she brings a lot of the
new spices from the New World.

The chocolates, the coffee,

Everything that is the cuisine.

That'’s when the tomato arrived?

That's when it arrives more
or less in that era then.

Which completely
altered Italian...

Completely.

- Completely.
- Cuisine

Medici money cultivated
this city, and the arts

and the ideas that grew
here in the Renaissance

changed how we
all see the world.

But this family also changed
the way things taste.

It may seem a long
way from Michelangelo

to the greatest T-bone
steak you'’ve ever eaten,

but the Medici had
a hand in that too.

Secret.

Fabio Picchi may look

like he'’s fallen out of
a Renaissance painting,

but he'’s actually
a renowned chef,

a born and bred Florentine,

and a master of meat.

Back in the 1500s

most people wouldn'’t
even get close

to cuts of meat this good.

Tuscany'’s famous Chianina
cattle needed lots of land,

that was hugely
expensive to run.

Of course, the Medici didn'’t
need to worry about that.

But why?

500 years later, thankfully
you don'’t need to be

a Grand Duke to enjoy
steaks this big,

and Fabio wants to cook for
me Tuscany'’s signature dish,

the magnificent bistecca
alla Fiorentina.

Good.

And in case lunch isn'’t
looking worthy enough

of, like, ten men,

Fabio picks out a
little appetizer,

yet another cut of meat.

We head back to the
deli Fabio owns.

Thank you. Oh, look at
that, look at the flowers.

He hurries us past any food
that hasn'’t had a pulse.

And we head up to his
hideaway on the roof,

where he does his cooking.

Oh my god. Come on.

We'’re starting with
the Chianina beef,

the Medici family favorite.

The cattle has grazed
the Tuscan fields

for 2,000 years.

They'’re of such high quality,

that we'’re eating it raw.

Oh my god.

That's the best
sushi I've ever had.

[LAUGHS]

And now, the main event.

So what he'’s doing now he
says, this is, the secret...

[FABIO] The family secret.

Besides excessive
amounts of salt.

So the little sort of
wisps of olive branch

like this in the fire.

So you're getting,
you're getting

the flavor of those
olive branches.

It gives it a very
distinctive taste.

During the Renaissance,

the Medici lit fires around
the city on feast days

and handed out roast beef
to the common people.

Most of the time though,

they kept this amazing
meat for themselves.

This one actually comes
from the same area

where the Medici
family originated.

Jesus.

This is like no steak
I've ever eaten.

It'’s both crisp and delicate

and the smoke carries
the taste of the land.

God damn it! It just
melts in your mouth.

It'’s what makes the
regional cooking of Italy

about so much more
than just a tasty meal.

But the palate is the
organ that connects Italy.

- I'll drink to that.
- Yeah.

Cheers.

There comes a time in
any show about Tuscany

where the host heads out
to the spectacular hills

and tells you how
the Mediterranean sun

has blessed the Tuscan
vineyards for 3000 years.

They may even have
a thoughtful sip

of a world famous Tuscan wine

like Chianti Classico.

But I'’m not going to do that.

I'’m going on a good
old fashioned bar crawl.

And when I say '‘old fashioned'’,
I mean, like, the Renaissance.

I'’m going to meet a
friend of mine, Elisabetta,

who is a Renaissance scholar.

She'’s incredibly boring,
but we'’ll make it through.

My God, I can'’t
believe you came.

- Hi.
- How are you?

- How are you?
- Good to see you.

Nice to see you too.

This little bar has
just reintroduced

a 500-year-old tradition.

In 1559, our old friend,

the Grand Duke Cosimo
Primo de Medici,

decreed that wealthy Florentines

could sell the
wine they produced

on their country estates
direct from little windows

cut into the walls
of their city palaces

instead of through
taverns and inn keepers.

So, you would walk by, and you
would buy, not by the glass,

but you'd buy by the bottle.

- You'd buy a flask.
- You buy a flask.

They had a little wooden
door, there was a bell.

Sometimes they would also place
things like a flask on top

like an advertisement to say,
"Hey guys, we sell wine."

Because I remember living
here when I was a kid.

I'’d see these things,

I always thought they
were for, you know,

where you'’d put a little
statue or something.

- Yeah, like a tabernacle.
- Yeah, exactly.

- Let's order some wine.
- OK

- Let's order some wine.
- How do you. Do I pull this?

-Ring -Oh, it's a bell.

- Will someone come?
- Well, they're awfully slow.

Oh, hi. That's wonderful.
Hi, how are you?

- Here you go.
- Oh, thank you so much.

Thank you, thank you
so much, thank you.

That's good.

- That's good.
- I always thought wine,

the taste is better when
it comes through a window.

Yeah.

You get another wine?

- Yeah, oh yeah.
- Yeah.

It seems to be empty.

Oh, hi. How are you?

Can I get...

Five hundred years ago,

everyone was encouraged to drink

at least a liter of wine a day.

Not for the winemaker'’s
profit but for health reasons.

- Come on.
- Let's sit.

So tell me everything
else you know.

And some people needed to
be more healthy than others.

If you were pregnant you
could have one at any time.

- You could have one at any time?
- Yeah.

- If you were pregnant.
- Yeah.

Because it was considered...

My mother did that
too. No, she didn'’t.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Like a nourishment.

So, it's sort of the
opposite of today?

- Yeah, of today.
- Okay.

- Come on.
- Let's go, come on.

This could be a disappointingly
short wine crawl

as Bar Babae is
currently the only

functioning wine
window in Florence.

Even if there are still
130 or so defunct ones

around the city.

These little Wine Windows

don't exist anywhere
outside of Tuscany,

another example of
Renaissance genius.

- There are too many of them.
- Yeah.

And then, completely by
chance, we come across another.

But the sign would be from when?

That sign.

- The little doors of paradise.
- Paradise, yeah.

Hi, hi, there you are again.

Hi, how are you?

Thank you so much.

To end of the evening

we head out for Tuscany's
favorite nightcap.

The local dessert wine,
Vin Santo, the holy wine.

It's called Vin Santo because
when you drink it, a halo...

- A halo comes?
- A halo is on your head.

Anyway.

Tuscan tradition dictates
you dip almond biscotti,

known in Italy as cantucci,
in your vin santo.

Oh, angle, is that
what it means?

Yeah.

The result is a sweet,
crunchy and heady delight.

Maybe too heady.

Anything that ends
in Tucci, I like.

[LAUGHS]

- That's the end of that episode.
- That's so funny.

Cantucci, right.

Tuscany may be renowned

for incredible meat
and fine wines,

but this food of the rich
is only half the story.

The other branch
of Tuscan cooking

grew out of biting poverty
and humble ingredients.

So, where do you wanna go first?

Historian Leonardo Romanelli

is taking me to
Florence'’s central market

to show me the ingredients
of what the Italians call

'‘Cucina Povera'’, poor food.

So, you wanna show me some beans

which are a staple of
Florentine cooking.

- So you have different types.
- For different dishes.

The best are zolfini.

These type of beans are solid

but you don'’t need to put
in the water before cooking.

- Oh really?
- And they taste so...

You don'’t have to
soak them beforehand?

No, that's the difference.

It means the Florentines
eat the beans.

The bean eaters.

Yeah, because we are
using so many different...

Oh no, now you're going
to mix them all up.

[LAUGHS]

The cooking is really,
very poor, simple cooking.

That's true.

I read that during
the Renaissance

the wealthier people
would have meat.

Whereas the poorer people
basically just had beans,

some kind of soup and some
bread and that was it.

I have to say, we
use what we have.

It says something
about the character

of the Tuscany people.

We have Tuscan
bread without salt.

I know, I remember
when I was a kid

and we came here

and we tasted the
bread and I was like,

"This is terrible,
this is the worst thing

I've ever had in my life."

We never got used to it.

Seeing these basic ingredients

here in the city
market is one thing,

but the only way to truly
understand Tuscan '‘poor food'’

is to get out of the city

and go deep into the endlessly
beautiful countryside.

Isn't that kind of amazing
when you look around,

is that, I mean,
you really don't see

a contemporary
building for miles.

Look at that.

I'’m following the River Arno,
50 miles south of Florence,

to a small village
called Ponte Buriano,

where I'’ve been invited to
a wheat threshing festival.

Do I know what threshing
of the wheat is?

Are you kidding?

I grew up threshing wheat.

Now, if memory serves,

threshing is where the grains
of wheat are shaken loose

so they can be ground
down to make flour.

[TUCCI] Oh that's the steam,
that'’s the steam engine.

[RENATO] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Renato Viscovo, a local
teacher, organizes this event.

Tonight there'’s a huge
feast for the villagers.

They'’re coming
together to give thanks

for the good times
in this region

that was once ravaged by famines

and where farmers were
treated as indentured servants

by their oppressive
aristocratic landowners,

until relatively recently.

This is a world away

from the huge steaks and
fine wines of Florence.

The people here
cook what they grow

and after the toil of harvesting

and milling the wheat,

what they're left with is bread.

Lots and lots of bread.

So here the dough is rising
and you cook it in that oven.

Like it was done many years ago.

Over in the kitchens,

some of the 200 villagers

are hard at work
preparing the feast,

and here too, bread
plays a starring role

in pretty much everything.

[TUCCI] What are they making?

[TUCCI] Oh, the Gander.

Oh my god.

- [RENATO] Good?
- It's delicious but it's so hot.

I go out back and
discover wood-fired ovens

full of roasting ganders.

These male geese were one
of the few farm animals

that peasants were allowed
to keep for themselves

and not have to share
with their landlords.

They were saved for
special occasions

like weddings and festivals.

The smell is incredible.

Come on.

You know? Really, it's like
a Christmas in your mouth.

Yeah, wow.

Well, you're great cooks.

Over the centuries,

the food of the working people
here in the Tuscan countryside

developed into its own cuisine.

It'’s not as showy as
the food in Florence

but it's one that
is just as glorious

as the landscape
from which it comes.

[LAUGHS]

My night at the wheat
threshing festival

has reminded me of the
epic, insatiable obsession

Tuscany has with bread.

It'’s a love that has
echoed through the ages

and there are recipes for
every stage of a loaf'’s life.

The best ones however are
saved for the advanced years,

when bread is old and stale.

That'’s when Tuscan cooks
get really creative.

[TUCCI] And here we are.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, it's very exciting.

I'’m having lunch at
the Cinghiale Bianco,

one of my favorite
restaurants in Florence.

So nice to see you.
Really nice to see you.

And I'’m joined again
by local food expert,

Professor Leonardo Romanelli,

and my friend the art
restorer, Daniella Murphy.

- Hi, Stanley.
- [TUCCI] Uh-oh.

- [LEONARDO] Oh, hi.
- [TUCCI] Hi.

This place specializes
in '‘poor food'’

and their recipes
are so heavenly.

I'’m sure it's where old bread
would choose to come and die.

Marco Maselli is the
restaurant'’s owner

This is the ribolita.

Basically, the main ingredients
are bread and the black cabbage.

And then, we have the
tomato and bread soup,

Pappa al pomodoro.

The base is olive
oil and garlic,

Tuscan bread and tomato.

It sounds very simple.

- Not so simple to prepare.
- [TUCCI] Not simple to make.

[MARCO] To make good.

But, in my opinion, the
queen of the Tuscan dishes

is the Panzanella.

I was hoping that was mine.

Also, a very simple
and 'poor' dish.

Tuscan bread soaked in
vinegar and onion and tomato.

- [MARCO] Enjoy.
- [TUCCI] Thank you.

[Daniella] This
Panzanella is very good.

[TUCCI] And this Pappa
al pomodoro, perfecto.

This is one of my
favorite things,

I make it for my kids,
they'll just eat.

Like it's ice
cream, practically.

We have good tomatoes, good
olive oil and Tuscan bread.

Maybe not Tuscan bread.

Maybe, OK. [LAUGHS]

I have to admit,

that I much prefer Tuscan bread
cooked in dishes like this

because on its own it
can taste quite bland

and that'’s an understatement.

It actually tastes
like cardboard.

That'’s because it's unsalted.

One theory is that
Florence refused to pay

its arch-rival town
of Pisa for its salt.

They were willing to spend
money with other people

but never give money to Pisa.

- Yeah, especially Pisa.
- Even today.

But of course, this being Italy,

food rivalries go deep but
no-one can quite remember why.

Another idea is this,

if they don'’t use salt the
bread could stay for a long time.

Really, without salt?

- I didn't know that.
- Because, because

- the salt, the salt...
- The salt breaks it down.

The salt became brine.

For sure the most convincing one

is we don'’t want to
give money to the Pisani.

That's the most
convincing. [LAUGHS]

I believe that,
actually, most of all.

- Yeah.
- [LAUGHS]

For me panzanella is one
of the greatest dishes

of Tuscan poor food.

Giving brittle old bread new
life by using fresh tomatoes

to create a surprisingly
refreshing salad.

Knowing my love of food and art,

Daniela has invited me to
a festival this evening.

A very fancy festival.

The one thing that everybody
has in common is the food.

Yeah.

This event is about
as far as you can get

from the wheat
threshing festival.

Here Florence'’s richest and most
powerful families have gathered,

as they have for centuries,

to toast the city'’s new creative
talent from chefs and musicians,

to artists hoping to
follow in the footsteps

of Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

You are right now in
a situation where,

more or less 500 years ago,

the Medici would have
done something like this.

So we'’re going to go
and have some food now.

She knows me too well.

Really?

It's a very sophisticated
form of Panzenella.

This looks very different

to the rustic bread
salad we had for lunch.

[DANIELLA] But it
tastes of Panzanella.

It completely tastes
of Panzanella.

Panzanella was what
the farmers would eat.

And now it's turned into
this very sophisticated...

- [TUCCI] Foam.
- Foam.

You see, the past
being rediscovered.

[TUCCI] It'’s a little
Renaissance in a bowl.

[DANIELLA] There's a
little Renaissance in it

and a lot of the future.

[CROWD CHATTING]

[BUSTLING CROWDS]

After tasting this new
version of panzanella,

we made some inquiries and
found the chef who created it.

Nerina Martinelli and her team

are just about to open
Nugolo, a brand-new restaurant

that re-imagines Tuscany'’s rural
food in the heart of the city.

[NERINA] The idea around the
menu and the dishes that we do

is to take traditional
dishes, traditional recipes

and then add something new.

All the team of the restaurant,

we are all under 30 years old
so we are all really young.

These young chefs

are seeing old Tuscan
dishes with new eyes.

[NERINA] So, the Panzanella foam

is an example of a
traditional Tuscan dish.

So, farmers.

Basically made with
the simplest...

Exactly.

- Poorest ingredients.
- Onion, tomato, bread, vinegar.

Cucumber, that's it.

And normally we do
it with old bread.

- [TUCCI] With old bread. Right.
- With old bread.

But you're taking it to
another level by foaming it.

The air inside it
becomes very light

but still keeping the
flavor of the panzanella.

And we finish with
the basil oil.

Couple of drops.

I love that you did this.

- Extra virgin olive oil.
- It's so smart.

It's, it's delicious.

[ANTONIO] Especially for
summer time, it's really fresh.

Yeah, it's like, it really is
the perfect appetizer, isn't it.

- Exactly.
- Exactly.

Wow, you've taken tomatoes
to a whole other place.

And the simplest dishes
to a whole other level.

This simple bread
salad has woven its way

through Tuscan society.

From peasants ensuring
food doesn'’t go to waste

to Florentine aristocrats.

It'’s great to see these
definitive Tuscan flavors

now inspiring a new generation,

making exciting food
that looks to the future

while respecting the
land and its history.

The food of rich cities
and the poor countryside

are the two great pillars
of Tuscan cuisine.

But what unites them is a
blast of fresh sea breeze

blowing in from Tuscany'’s
fabulous coastline.

I'’ve come 50 miles
west of Florence

to the city of Livorno.

In the late 16th Century,
the Medici family

turned it into one of the
great trading ports of Italy,

where Tuscany
welcomed the world.

Chef Fabio Picchi is never
happier than when he's here,

with friends, and the prospect
of a good meal on the horizon.

During the Renaissance,

migrants were actively
encouraged to settle in Livorno

and its reputation
as a free-thinking

big-hearted city by the sea...

[TUCCI] Oh yeah, nice.

Drew people from across
Europe and beyond.

In the town center,

is a tiny place called
Torteria Da Gagarin.

It opened in 1959 and
sells just one thing.

Known as "the cake",

it'’s a pancake made
from chickpea flour.

The torteria is a
local institution,

serving up "the cake" in, what
else, a huge hunk of bread.

[TUCCI] This is
good, I like this.

It's absolutely delicious.

And he says that he makes
it because he loves it.

He makes it at home but he
can't make it as good as this.

[FABIO] Yeah.

After that little appetizer,

we head up to the house
of one of Fabio'’s friends

in the hills above the town.

He'’s gathered together
the ingredients

for a Livornese classic.

He's making a fish stew.

- This is a fake Cacciucco.
- It's a fake.

I need to keep my voice down
so the neighbors don'’t hear

but if you'’re not from Livorno,

you'’re not supposed
to be making this stew.

[TUCCI] There's always this,
sort of, battle between

whether you're from here or
from there, or from there.

Whatever you're making. Right?

You can make the same thing but
you can't call it the thing.

It is maybe a little
bit different.

[CHOPPING]

Cacciucco is a rich fish stew
that dates back over 500 years.

It was the way
Livorno'’s fishermen

would use up whatever they
hadn'’t sold that day.

This is an imperial cacciucco.

He's using this
really beautiful fish,

he's also using lobster which
is not a 'poor' fish, obviously.

So, he's taking this
and amping it up a bit.

Like so many Italian dishes,

the base of Fabio'’s stew
is the trusty tomato.

It'’s hard to imagine Italian
cuisine without tomatoes

but scholars only
date their arrival

to that fortuitous
Medici marriage

to Spanish nobility
in the 1540s.

Here in Livorno though...

Sweet.

Legend says that the tomato
was brought by newcomers

fleeing oppression.

Tomatoes were a
popular ingredient

among the Jews of
Southern Europe.

Unless you want.

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

As the incredible
smell drifts outside,

Fabio'’s friends
take their seats.

The density of that
flavor is just...

[TUCCI] Wow.

[APPLAUSE]

Fabio may not be from Livorno

but he can definitely
cook a cacciucco.

These are ingredients rooted

in both the poor
fishing community

and in Livorno's immigrant past.

It's a part of Tuscany's
history on a plate.

And Fabio's not finished.

In true Tuscan tradition,

creativity is everything
and nothing goes to waste,

so he whips up a whole second
course with the leftover sauce.

You have all the
flavors of the sea,

otherwise what would
you do with that?

Beautiful.

A sauce that he had left,
it only makes sense.

It's the best, best
thing in the world.

[SPEAKS ITALIAN]

Cheers.

I feel very lucky that my
parents followed their hearts

and moved us across the world

for a year when
we were just kids.

I saw how the food of both
rich and poor came together

in this corner of Italy that'’s
like nowhere on Earth...

Wow

and nearly 50 years later,

I still keep coming
back for more.