02x03 - Umbria

[bunniefuu]

- Umbria,

il cuore verde d'Italia.

It means it's the
green heart of Italy.

Not a jealous heart
but a fertile one.

Arriving in early
fall, I chart a course

through Umbria's ancient
forests and misty mountains.

This is Italy before the Romans,

a place where families
live close to the land,

a land of saintly legends,

impossibly perched
hilltop towns,

and rustic cuisine.

Wow.

Stop filming and just eat it.

Cheers.

I'm Stanley Tucci.

I'm Italian on both sides,

and I'm traveling across Italy

to discover how the food

in each of this
country's 20 regions

is as unique as the
people and their past.

- Umbrian food isn't about
expensive restaurants

or tricky techniques.

It's all about the
skill and hard work

that goes into producing its
precious raw ingredients,

from innovative farmers...

To noble hunters.

And let's not forget the
chefs and butchers preserving

the traditional ways to cook
these treasures of the land.

Si.

And a note for any
vegetarians watching:

Umbrians eat a lot of
meat, particularly pork...

Like, a lot of it,
huge amounts of it.

- Mmm!

- I surrender... to the pork.

Umbria is named after the Umbri,

one of Italy's most
ancient peoples.

Their landlocked homeland

is right in the
middle of the country.

Bordered on the west by its
more glamorous neighbor,

Tuscany, it's often overlooked.

But while the landscape
here is similar,

the culture is very different...

Less fancy, if you will.

And I hear the locals
like it that way.

They're like
flames, aren't they?

I'm heading deep into the heart

of Sagrantino territory,

Umbria's luscious,
world-renowned red wine,

to meet a man who fell in
love with this rustic region

over 25 years ago.

We're going to meet Big George,

in Italian, known as Giorgione.

He's a chef and restauranteur

who lives at one with nature

on a secluded farm
outside Montefalco

with an assortment of animals,

including the porcine
pride of Umbria.

- Good morning!

- Oh, look, wine grapes.

Only the best for
pigs around here.

- Ow!

- In addition to wearing
all his other hats,

this rural Renaissance man
also, somehow, finds time

to host one of Italy's
best-loved cookery shows.

"E Cucina" takes in all aspects

of Giorgione's life on the farm.

But the heart of the
action takes place here,

in this very kitchen.

- On the menu ismaialino
cooked in porchetta style.

But instead of the
rolled loin of pork,

we have a whole piglet,
and nothing goes to waste.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Oh, nice. Yeah.

- So this is the
lining that's inside,

that's lining all the organs?

- I'm beginning to feel like
a guest on Giorgione's show,

not the other way around.

The piglet goes into this
giant wood-fired oven

for 2 1/2 hours.

- Per favore.

- The beauty of slow
cooking in a sealed oven

is, once that door is shut,

there's not really
much more you can do

but sit back...

Eh?

- And wait.

- Cheers.

As the lovely
Sagrantino opens up,

so does my new friend.

- Si, si.

- Si.

- Yeah.

Stanley, look there.
- Yes.

Two hours have flown by,

and the moment we've been
waiting for is upon us.

- Et voilà.

- Maialino alla Giorgione.

It's pork with pork inside
and pork on top and pork...

It's a lot of pork.

Whoa.

- And a moment.

- Okay.

- Oh, yeah.

- Okay.

- Mm.
- That's too much.

- Eh?

This is...

Giorgione's loving preparation

of the very best
fresh ingredients

and the alchemy of the
slow cook of the wood fire

have turned this dish

into something really
quite spectacular.

Mmm.

- My God. Oh, my God.

- Nom, nom, nom!

- It's so good.

- Mmm!

- Si, perfetto.

You should stop filming
and just eat it.

I surrender.

Literally, I
surrender... to the pork.

- Like 5 million others
who come here each year,

my journey has brought
me to the mecca

that is Assisi

to pay homage to
Umbria's most famous

and still vitally
relevant saint, Francis.

Approaching the stunning
13th-century basilica,

I remember the first time

I came here as a young
kid with my parents.

Being an art teacher,
my dad wanted our family

to see the 28 frescoes inside

that tell the legend
of Saint Francis.

And to help me, quietly,
navigate the story today

is local historian
Matteo Grandi.

- Probably, this is the most
iconic one, the most famous.

You know, he had an incredible
connection with the nature.

Probably he was the
first environmentalist

of the history of the church.

- But I remember the first
time I came here, I was 12,

but we didn't have
this opportunity

to have it just to
ourselves, I mean...

- Just for us.
- Yeah, it's incredible.

I feel very lucky.

Legend has it that Saint Francis

renounced his privileged life

to instead walking penniless

among the poor folk
of rural Umbria.

He was devoted to
all God's creatures.

And where better to
preach his message

than in the green
heart of Italy?

Because of his
connection with nature,

is he, like, the
quintessential saint of Umbria?

- Yes, Umbria is really
connected to nature, you know?

- Yeah.
- Umbria is nature.

And that's why he's so
representative of Umbria.

- I could stay in here all day,

but it seems Matteo's
mind has wandered.

- Which is your favorite food?

- Mm, it's hard to say.

I do like salami.

In Italy, it's never long

until someone talks about food.

But here in Umbria,
everything comes back to pork.

You could say it's
like a religion,

not with its roots in
the saints of Assisi

but out here

in the forest primeval.

Today is hunt day,

and I've been invited to tag
along by Claudia Ferracchiato.

Wow.

We're hunting boar, but
looking at this spread,

it's a wonder there
are any left out there.

Claudia's hunting group

is the first all-female
huntingsquadra in Italy.

But they're letting me
and a few other fellows

in on the action today.

We have to be very quiet.

I guess because the boars

must have really good hearing.

And we're just waiting
for the okay to go down...

to try to k*ll them.

People are starting
to move forward.

I think we're on the
way. Can you hear me?

The boar can't.

The hunters set out in groups

and take up positions
in the valley below.

Claudia, who is six months
pregnant, by the way,

and I will oversee
the proceedings

from a suitable vantage point.

- Wild boar have roamed
the Umbrian forests

and been a core part
of the diet here

for thousands of years.

Long both revered and feared,

today they have no
natural predators,

and the population
has to be controlled.

- My God.

- Now, I'm under no illusion

where all that
salami comes from.

- But witnessing
that shot firsthand

really brings home the reality
of our carnivorous ways.

- This boar will have
to be hung for 28 days

before it's ready for the pot.

But luckily for us,
Giuseppina, Claudia's mom,

and her brigade

have been working
away on another beast,

following a family recipe
for wild boar ragu.

The local boar is full of flavor

thanks to its foraged
diet of roots, acorns,

and even truffles.

But to be at its best,

the meat first needs a slow cook

with herbs, lemon, and vinegar.

Then Giuseppina whizzes
it up in a blender

before adding it
to a tomato sauce

with salty green olives,

which is the perfect complement

to the boar's richness.

- Si.

Thanks to Claudia's hunting

and the traditional
culinary skills

that Giuseppina will
soon be passing down

to her grandchild,

no one is going hungry today.

- That's perfect.

- These two generations
of Umbrian women

are a force of nature.

And they do their ancestors
and the boar proud.

I'd like to make a toast.

Stop. I'm gonna
make a toast to you.

Thank you so much,
Claudia, for taking us...

I'm not gonna say it in Italian.

Inglese, okay?

Thank you so much for
taking us on the hunt today

and all of you, for it
was a great experience.

And congratulations, yeah.

- Grazie.
- Cheers.

Thank you, thank
you. Thank you.

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you. Cheers.

The ragu is rich and comforting

and tastes all the better
after a day out in the woods.

I think if Umbria
itself had a flavor,

this dish would be it.

- Thank you.

- I'm swapping Umbria's
majestic forests

for the achingly beautiful

mountainous backdrop of Norcia.

This medieval city is blessed

with panoramic views
of snowcapped peaks.

But it's a place torn apart
by the volatile fault line

that runs beneath it.

A series of
disastrous earthquakes

have battered Norcia.

The most recent, in 2016,
demolished the city center.

Six years on, locals are still
debating how best to rebuild

without changing the
town's historic character.

Still standing amongst
the rubble, however,

is one tradition

that's been synonymous
with Norcia for centuries.

And of all the pork
joints in all the towns,

this one reigns supreme.

Last night, I thought
I was all porked out,

but my mouth is
watering already.

Oh, oh, oh. Okay.

Mmm. That's so good.

- Si.

- Mmm. Mmm.

- Literally some
of the best... Wow.

So you can see why they would
be called donkey's ba*ls.

You have to use your imagination

for the rest of the...

Rest of the package.

Putting innuendo to one side,

the salami here
really is incredible.

The combination of wild
herbs from the forest

and the fresh mountain air
takes it all to another level.

I've got to meet the maker.

Maestro Pepe...
That's him on the sign

manning the sausage machine...

Is the last
truenorcino standing.

- Legend has it that
during the Renaissance,

the master porksmiths of
Norcia were so skilled

with the knife that on occasion,

they were even called
upon to operate on humans.

And they've been revered
ever since for their craft

and warrior-like work ethic.

But today the butchers here

are struggling to
recruit futurenorcini.

- Mm.

- No? No, no, no.

I leave Pepe to
get back to work.

Mind you, he never actually
stopped the whole time

I've been here.

And I'm left hoping he
finds a worthy apprentice.

Maestro Pepe's dilemma is
echoed throughout the forests

and vales of Umbria.

And it seems as if
the whole region

is at a crossroads between
its proud ancient traditions

and the pressures
of the modern world.

What's that?

Everything dings these
days, doesn't it?

Everything.

Everything has to have a bell.

- Nice to meet you. I'm Carlo.

- Nice to meet you too.

- Please.
- Thank you.

- I want to show you my valley.

- But some Umbrians, like
farmer Carlo Caporicci,

believe there is a way

to combine this region's
past with the present,

to fuse the best of the old
with the best of the new.

This place is
incredibly beautiful.

- Eh.

- So this is all the
trees you planted?

'Cause you have, like...
- Yeah.

These are 20, 21 years old.

- Each of these
trees holds a secret.

What you see here laid
out in a perfect grid

is a truffle plantation.

Yes, black truffles that
are farmed, not foraged.

- 30 or so years
ago, not many people

had ever really heard of
this Umbrian ingredient.

But now Carlo can barely
keep up with the demand,

and neither can Mother Nature.

So he's come up with a solution.

- Let's go.

To create the ideal conditions
for truffles to grow,

Carlo has a special technique

for treating each
acorn he plants.

You take the nut, a little
bit of the truffle...

- Right. With this?

- Okay.
- We put inside the ground.

- A year in the pot,

in the ground it goes,

five years of Umbrian sunshine

and some rain,
and there you are.

Truffles on tap.

I wonder if this would
work in my backyard.

- To showcase the flavor
of all these truffles,

Carlo and his daughter
Alice opened a restaurant

right here on the farm.

It's her skill and
innovation in the kitchen

that brings out the best
of each season's bounty.

- Mmm, mmm.

Like most young Umbrians,

Alice moved away in her 20s

in search of opportunity
and new ideas,

first going to
London, then Rome.

- Si, yeah.

- Alice combines

the distinctly
Umbrian food tradition

with a more modern sensibility.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Si.

- Earthy and sweet, yeah.

The addition of
beetroot is inspired,

but nothing upstages the
true star of the show...

A mountain of truffle.

And now here it comes,

a fitting finale

in celebration of Carlo, Alice,

the future of the truffle,

and possibly the future
of Umbrian cuisine.

- Yeah.

- Wait.

Wow. Yeah.

- Mm.
- Si.

- As for Carlo's black truffle,

it tastes woody,
nutty, and luxurious.

You'd never know it was
farmed, not foraged.

- Wow.

- Hello.

- How are you?
- Good. Nice to see you.

- Ah, chocolate.
- For the kids.

- Everybody say
it's for the kids.

- We know we can buy these
Baci chocolates everywhere

and anywhere these days,

but this is their
hometown, Perugia.

It also happens to
be where Matteo,

my friendly
historian, hails from.

So who better to show me
around Umbria's capital city?

- This is my city, Perugia.
Perugia is a young city.

It's a city where we
have two universities,

one for Italian people
and one for foreigners.

And it's a city which
is known for jazz.

We have an incredible jazz
festival during the summer.

- This vibrant city is famous
for its independent spirit.

If Umbrians like to do
things their own way,

then Perugians multiply
that by the power of ten.

Long, long ago, when Perugia
was ruled by the pope,

things came to a
head, shall we say.

- What you can
notice on this square

is that the church is facing

the building of the mayor,

and it's not by chance, that.

- And this facing the
government offices...

- Exactly.
- And his hand is on...

- The griffin, which is...
- The griffin.

- Yeah, which is the
symbol of the city.

And that is a message
that the pope want to send

to the people of Perugia,
"Be careful, because"...

- He's silencing.
- That's it.

- We are silencing.
- Hmm.

This standoff reached a
breaking point in 1540

when Pope Paul III hit
Perugia where it really hurt.

- You have to know that one
of the most popular food

in Umbria and in
Perugia are the salumi.

- Yes.
- Prosciutto, salami,

all those things,
you use the salt.

- Yeah.
- What did the pope do?

He said, "Okay, in
Umbria, they use the salt.

Now I will put a
tax on the salt."

- It's crazy.
- It's crazy.

- The salt tax was
the last straw.

Perugia declared
w*r on the pope,

but the papal army
crushed the insurgents

in these very streets, and
the pope built a fortress

smack in the middle of the town

to show the people who was boss.

But that didn't
stop the Perugians.

Their spirit of
resistance lived on

with a cunning culinary plan

to rebel against
their oppressor.

Matteo's taking me to one
of his favorite hangouts,

La Prosciutteria.

It's a new take on
the tradition bottega.

And amongst their bounty

of Umbria's finest
meats and cheeses

is Perugia's secret
weapon in the battle

against the salt tax.

Really?

- Nice.
- Wow.

- Si.

- Mm-hmm.

Buon appetito.

- The nice thing, if you notice,

is that we have a lot
of salt in this plate,

you know, because we have
salami, we have prosciutto,

everything very salty.

And now this kind of
bread is perfect to eat.

- Yeah, 'cause it
doesn't get in the way.

- Exactly.
- It accepts the flavors.

- The little appetizers,
yes, they're delicious.

- That's really rich.

- Yeah, it is.

- Also, there's the
poppy seeds on it.

- Yeah.
- I like that.

- Yeah.

- Cheers.
- Cheers.

- The food is as
good and authentic

as I've had anywhere in Umbria.

But the service and setting
is just a bit cooler.

So how old are you guys?

- Why did you end
up working here?

- Ah.

- Yeah.

- Grazie.
- Grazie.

- Thank you very
much, thank you.

- Grazie mille.
- And thank you.

Having made a good dent

in yet another mound ofsalumi,

it's time to move on from
the hustle and bustle

of modern Umbria and head
back to its ancient heart.

- Of all the
fairy-tale landscapes

I've seen in Umbria,

this one may be the
most breathtaking.

Perched atop a cliff
of volcanic rock,

Orvieto is visible for
miles in every direction.

Its ornate cathedral
reaching up to the heavens

is one of the finest in Italy.

And beneath its dazzling duomo,

Orvieto has even
more stories to tell.

Local chef Valentina
Santanicchio

is on her way to give
me the grand tour,

but I've got time to
try a local delicacy

charmingly calledil
baffo, meaning mustache,

because the strips of
succulent guanciale

resemble one.

Sort of.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- Hello.
- Hi.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you too.
- How are you?

- I'm very well.

- It's a pleasure
to see you here.

- Well, it's a pleasure
to be here. Thank you.

Sorry, my mouth is full.

- Good.

- That's delicious.

- Yeah, it's traditional recipe.

It's done with vinegar and sage.

It's very easy.

It was my grandfather's
breakfast when I was young.

- Really?
- At 9:00.

- Thank you.

And just like that,
Valentina whisks me away,

leading me downwards
like Alice in Wonderland

into a labyrinth of
tunnels and caves.

- We have to go down.
- Down?

- Down, down.

- Down, down, down.

But unlike Alice, it's not
a rabbit we've come to meet

but another small animal

that the people here have
dined on for centuries.

- Here we are.

- Incredible.
- Yes.

This is the house of pigeon,
my favorite pigeon, you know?

- Your favorite pigeon?
- After, you'll know why.

- Yes, yes. We're
gonna taste it, yeah.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

What we're looking at here
are, in fact, dovecotes

carved into the walls
by the Etruscans

who founded Orvieto
over 2,000 years ago.

Wow.

Encouraging pigeons to nest here

gave the early townsfolk a
source of nutritious meat

without having to stray
outside the city walls.

They could just come and go,

but this is where
they would roost?

- Yes.

- Well, when would
they eat the pigeon?

What stage in the pigeon's life?

- Usually when they are ready
to fly, when they were...

- When they're babies.

- Yeah, babies. The
babies are for food.

- For food. Right.

Today pigeon is still
an Orvietan staple.

Braised, it's one of the
town's signature dishes,

and any self-respecting local

can recite the recipe backwards.

But at the restaurant
Valentina's run since 2016,

she's pioneered a new approach.

- We are here with a pigeon.
- Yes.

- Poor pigeon. That is so nice.
- Yeah.

- Cut in this way.

- Because pigeon can be tough,

Valentina cooks
the bird two ways,

ensuring it's moist
and flavorful.

Half the pigeon is
braised traditionally,

and the other borrows
from far and wide.

So you never trained as a chef?

- Never. It's something
that is my blood, I think.

I studied for... as accountant.

That is very useful for my
job but not for cooking.

- Yeah.

- This is the breast.
- Beautiful.

- And I put in the
soya sauce marinade.

Marinade?

- Yeah, marinade. You
put it in the soy sauce.

- Yeah. And then to
cook in sous vide,

that is modern
technique to cooking.

- Yes, to make it moist.

- And it's just easy.
This is the easy part.

For the legs...

- Nice.

Just like most
time-honored dishes,

no part of the
pigeon goes to waste.

- This is... has to
cook all together

in this pan with
olive oil, and then...

- The heart and the liver.
- Yeah, it's very bloody.

- Tutto.
- Yeah, tutto.

- Everything. And go down.

- The kidneys, the liver,
the heart, everything.

Yeah.

It's like you
k*lled someone, yes.

- Yeah, someone.

- Carrots, onion, thyme,
and celery go into the pot.

Then it all needs to cook low
and slow for up to four hours

to make it meltingly tender.

Luckily, Valentina was
up with the lark today

and started this one earlier.

- Okay.

- Wow.

Thank God for the Etruscans.

- I've always said that, yeah.
- Right, right.

- I mean, come on.
That's so good.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

The sous vide breast now gets
what they call a reverse sear

in a little butter
to crisp up the skin.

- Yes.

- Oh!

Wow.

- Okay.

Come on.

- Oh, I love that.

Wow. Grazie.
Thank you so much.

Incredible amount of history in
that little bowl right there.

And then a piece of
it with something new.

You know, it's so
delicious and nutritious.

- Thank you.
- It's really good.

- Thank you.

- It's incredibly
rich soil here.

It's really beautiful.

It's a perfect
example right here.

We can see all that gorgeous
soil that they've just tilled.

My time in Umbria
is almost over,

but I can't leave without
visiting a certain farm

on the Tuscan border.

My friends Colin and Livia
Firth have a home here,

and Livia's twin brothers

have had a Saint
Francis-like epiphany,

leaving their old careers
behind to do something

very special with a
plot of land next door.

Stanley.

- Together, the twins.

Ciao. Ciao. Welcome.

- Come through, come through.

- How beautiful. So I
haven't seen you guys.

Last time, it was,
like, 3 1/2 years ago.

- We changed our
life, basically.

- You totally changed your life.

- Ah, totally. I was
doing your job, actually.

- I know! And you were living...
Were you living in Rome?

- Yes.
- You were living in Rome.

And you were living in...

- Between London and Milan,
kind of fashion entrepreneur,

playing the big manager...
- Yes.

- And now became a farmer.

- This is no run-of-the-mill
farm, though.

The twins have a passion
for sustainability

and love to experiment

by cross-pollinating
long-forgotten varieties

to create supercharged
new vegetables.

- So taking a flower from
a tomato, which is good,

but it's not really
resistant to climate change,

to the summer, it
was 45 degrees...

- Yeah, yeah.
- And just go to another plant

who's got these tomatoes

which are really resistant
and crossed them.

And as an example,
this is what came out.

- Oh, my God, look
at that color.

- This is a mix
between a black one

and, actually, this one.

And this one is
much more resistant

than this one, and it's sweeter.

- To the heat.
- To the heat.

- That's good.

What began as a childhood dream

has evolved into a
very real 60-acre farm

and extensive seed library.

- We start cultivating

all these wild kind of mustard,
wasabi, edible flowers.

- Oh, wow, yeah.

I love that you can eat that.

- And you guys eat meat.
I mean, you're not...

- Of course. We didn't
turn vegetarian for this.

You know, in Umbria, it's...
- Well, in Umbria,

if you don't love your
meat, you better move.

- Exactly, you better move.

- I have to stand up.
My knees are k*lling me.

- Yeah, me too. I
mean, we squat a lot.

- Yeah, I know, I know.
- But we're getting much older.

- If I were 40, I could
squat a little longer.

Alessandro and Nicola's
inventory now extends

to over 1,000 varieties
of fruit and vegetables.

But keeping this many
different plants healthy

without using any
pesticides is no easy feat.

What was the word before
that... You developed a word.

- "Agriconcura," which
come from agricultura,

which is agriculture...
- Right.

- But curais that using of care.

So it's agri with care.

That actually then pays
you back with that taste,

with those colors,
with those consistency.

- Yeah.

The twins' nurturing philosophy

doesn't just apply to
plants but to people too.

There's a sense of community
and a family feel on the farm.

- Stanley, we're gonna start
picking up some ingredients

for our lunch.

We're gonna get some aubergine.

- Lookit, it's an ostrich egg.

- It's called dragon
egg, actually,

and we got this

because they've got a very
special, special taste.

They don't get soggy.

I put them on the fire
like that, burn them a bit,

then cut them in half,
and with a spoon.

Like a little dessert.

- Farm in-house chef Davide
is fanning the flames

to make one of the
specials of the day,

eggplant caviar.

Pulled straight from the ground

and simply pricked with a knife,

these are going to be delicious.

While they roast, it's time
to start the pasta course.

This is aglione?

- This is one of
my favorite things.

- Agliois garlic, right?
- Yes.

- Aglione, big garlic.

And that's that.

All right, go ahead, put it in.

The Tuscans next
door like to claim

this mellow-tasting
garlic as their own.

But don't tell that
to the Umbrians.

Its classic partner
is a simplepassata

made from tomatoes harvested
just a few weeks ago.

Thick enough to hang
on to the sauce,

these pici are the perfect
pasta to go with it.

Oh, look at that.
Oh, gorgeous.

- Now you see why they
call it eggplant caviar.

- What is that, tarragon?
- Tarragon.

The secret ingredient is
a bit of Davide's fingers.

- A little touch of
humanity in there, yes.

- If you happen to
have a bruschetta...

- Oddly enough, we do.

More salt.

- More salt?
- No.

- Stanley, would
you mind helping me?

- Of course, yes.

Go, eat, eat, eat, eat.

Mangia, mangia.
Pass those down.

This rustic open-air feast...

Wait, I need a fork.

Umbria's answer to fine dining.

Guys, this is incredible.

The twins and this farm...

- Buon appetito.

Buon appetito.

- Really encapsulate
Italy's green heart

and its strong
independent culture,

cherishing the past while
embracing the future,

always on their own terms.

And given that,

you have to agree
with Big George:

viva l'Umbria,

viva la cucina Italiana,

e viva noi.