Burt Wolf's Table: Italian Food in America - #211

BURT WOLF:  For hundreds of years, the Italian cities of Florence and Venice have produced some of the finest food in Europe.  We'll learn a few of those recipes, and how those dishes were brought to America.  We'll also find out how the Italian cooks used the Prohibition years in the U.S. to make Italian food the most popular restaurant food in North America.  And we'll discover how they taught us to eat our vegetables.  So join me for Italian food in America, at Burt Wolf's Table.

During the 1880s, a conflict arose between the Italian immigrants to North America and the scientific community.  Researchers began to develop a series of theories about the relationship of what people ate and drank and their overall well-being, and to teach these theories as if they were new scientific truths.

They had some interesting ideas.  They thought that the tomato was poisonous and could actually kill you.  They thought that fruits and vegetables had so much water in them that from a nutritional point of view they were useless; they thought that green vegetables were the worst of all.  They thought garlic was so dangerous it was like a self-inflicted wound.  They were very nervous about you eating different foods at the same time; if you put meatloaf and mashed potatoes and peas and carrots on the same plate and ate them at the same time, it would put too much stress on your digestive system and you would get sick.  Ludicrous stuff.  Imagine a family showing up here in New York City from southern Italy, and the scientists and the government are telling them this stuff about food -- everything they love, and even more important, everything their mother tells them to eat, is now bad for them?  Outrageous.

Well, it's taken a hundred years, and what we've found out is everything that the Italians said was good for you ... is good for you!

When Americans talk about the food of northern Italy, we're usually talking about the cooking of the regional district called Tuscany.  Since the third century BC, Tuscany has been one of the great places for Italian cooking.  And for hundreds of years, the city of Florence has dominated the area.  The cooks of Florence prefer natural dishes without complex preparation.  They want the true flavors of the ingredients to come through, and they want them to come through without disguise.

When ancient Rome fell to the invaders, just about all the good cooking in Europe came to an end, and you don't see it make a comeback until the 1300s.  The big comeback came in Tuscany, and the city of Florence in Italy.  That was also the time where you see the first reemergence of a gourmet society.  It was called the Society of the Cauldron.  It had twelve members; each was a painter or a sculptor, and each had to come up with a new dish for their regular meetings.  Quite a bit of pressure.

You often see beans in their recipes.  Beans are very important in Tuscany.  As a matter of fact, other Italians often refer to Tuscans as "bean-eaters," and they really don't mean it in a nice way.  But if you know about good nutrition, to be skilled in bean cookery is a badge of honor.

This is the Tribeca Film Center in New York City.  On the first floor, there's a restaurant called Tribeca Grill, owned by Robert De Niro, Bill Murray, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and a few other famous eaters.

High ceilings, bare brick walls, and a relaxed, informal atmosphere.  The place has become popular for its seafood, homemade pastas, and a series of dishes with an interesting blend of French, Italian, and Asian influences.  The chef, Don Pintabona, is preparing an escarole and white bean soup.

A little vegetable oil goes into a hot pan; a little Italian bacon called pancetta; sliced onion; two cloves of chopped garlic; chopped carrot, chopped celery.  White beans that have been pre-cooked.  Chicken stock.  And some escarole or swiss chard or even spinach that's been blanched in boiling water for a few minutes and cut up.  A bunch of thyme.  Thirty minutes of cooking, and it's “thyme out” -- freshly ground pepper in.  And it's ready for the bowl.  Don garnishes the soup with a puree of basil, and finally there's a grating of pecorino romano cheese.

Beans are actually the seeds of plants in the legume family.  They're native to America, and were first brought back to Europe probably by Christopher Columbus.  When you're picking out beans in the market, go for the dried variety; they're more flavorful, more nutritious, and firmer than other kinds.

Central Park South is one of New York's most beautiful streets.  It runs along the park from Fifth Avenue to Columbus Circle.  Next to the statue of that famous Italian is one of the city's most famous Italian restaurants.  It's called Sandomenico, and it's owned by Tony May.  The chef is Theo Schoenegger.  One of his classic dishes is a large Roman pasta with fava bean sauce.

A little oil goes into a heated saute pan.  As soon as the oil is hot, in goes a cup of chopped shallots or onion.  That sautes for about two minutes, and a few red peppers get crushed and dropped in.  Three cups of chicken stock.  A little salt and pepper.  On goes the cover, and everything simmers for ten minutes, at which point it's ladled into a blender and followed by some pre-cooked fava beans.  If fava beans aren't available, use lima beans.  The pureed sauce is then strained and held aside.  Some chopped tomato and a few whole pre-cooked beans are sauted in a little oil.  The bean puree is added, and some pre-cooked pasta.  Some pecorino romano cheese, and it's ready to serve.

Mark Twain used to say:  "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute; it'll change."  Sometimes I feel you can take the same approach to the history of nutritional advice.  If there's a scientific group and it's telling you you should or should not eat something, and you don't like the advice, hang on; in a couple of months they'll tell you something new.  My favorite flip-flop in the history of nutrition took place during the first two decades of the 20th century, right here in the U.S.

For centuries, the idea of good eating meant meat and fat.  Then in the early 1900s, researchers discovered vitamins and dietary minerals, and all the rules changed.  Suddenly, fruits and vegetables became good foods.

And that was very important to the Italians in North America.  The Italian immigrants here had a diet that was low in fat, low in meat, and very high in fruits and vegetables.  Magazines that had food columns were suddenly very busy looking for recipes that did a good job with fruit, and especially vegetables.  And the easiest place to find those?  The Italian community.  Within a few years, Italian food became the darling diet of the food reporter.

By the 1920's, Italian food had a status among the middle class; and today it is the most popular ethnic cuisine, and the original force behind our interest in vegetables.

Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family, and was probably first grown in Italy.  The ancient Romans had recipes for it; they used the flowerettes as if they were cauliflower, and the stems as if they were asparagus.  Broccoli is actually an Italian word, and it's used in many languages with very little change, which means that it was the Italians who introduced broccoli to the other countries of Europe.  And it was the Italians who popularized North America, and they did it during the early years of the century, at the exact same time that scientists were discovering the vitamin.  What a break for broccoli!

It's a good source of vitamin A and B, and it has more vitamin C than an equal amount of orange.  Broccoli also has significant amounts of calcium, iron, potassium, and fiber, and there are only forty calories in a full cup.  Make sure the buds on the plant are closed and bright green; if the buds are open or if they start to turn yellow, then it's past its prime.

My favorite story about broccoli deals with the opening of the Suffolk Downs racetrack in Boston, Massachusetts.  Just before the track opened, the Italian gardener who was in charge of the grounds was asked to plant something on the infield that was green and would grow quickly.  His choice was broccoli.  Great color; difficult to walk on.

Il Nido is Italian for "the nest":  a place where you will be protected and well-fed.  And that's a perfect description of one of New York's most respected Northern Italian restaurants.  Cozy, warm atmosphere, constant and professional attention, and great food ... my kind of nest.

Today, the chef, Luigi Campoverde, is preparing a dish of penne pasta with broccoli.  First the pasta goes into a pot of boiling water.  While that's cooking, the sauce is made by heating a little vegetable oil in a saute pan; two cloves of garlic are sliced and added to the pan; a cup or so of broccoli flowerettes go in; a little chicken stock; and a pinch of salt.  All that cooks together for five minutes.  At that point, the pasta is drained from the cooking water and added to the pan with the sauce.

One of the hallmarks of Italian chefs is to add the cooked pasta to the pan of sauce, so the pasta stays warm and it gets a good chance to absorb the sauce.  A minute more cooking to heat everything up; into a serving bowl; some grated pecorino romano cheese on top, and it's finished.  Lots of complex carbohydrates, low in fat.  Good dish.

On January 16th, 1919, the government of the United States passed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.  That amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages.  For years, distilled spirits, wine, and beer were illegal.

NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER:  And then enforcement begins.  In Boston, as in every other city, government agents fight hopelessly against illegal liquor.  These homemade stills are but a few of thousands seized and destroyed.  Other thousands produce millions of gallons, and countless hundreds prosper in the business of bootlegging.

Government men get forty to fifty dollars a week for this.  It's work well done.  Here, as in all 48 states, still and product are discovered and destroyed.  Mash meant for market as bootleg booze is poured into the mud.

BURT WOLF:  Prohibition has come and gone with amazingly little impact on the way we drink in the United States.  But surprisingly, it's had an enormous effect on the way we eat.  Before Prohibition, when people went out to a restaurant, the restaurant served basically English food:  roasts, steaks, and maybe some French recipes adapted for the American market.

When Prohibition arrived, it was impossible for people to go to these restaurants and have a meal with a glass of beer or wine ... unless you went to the Italian neighborhoods and ate in the kitchens associated with the small rooming houses.  For decades, they'd been making their own beer and wine and serving it to the people who lived in the rooming house.  The local authorities more or less overlooked this brewing process and let them do what they wanted.  During Prohibition, the general public realized that they could go into the Italian neighborhoods, eat in these rooming houses, have a great meal and a glass of beer and wine at a low price; and suddenly Italian food became very popular.  As a matter of fact, today Italian restaurants are the most popular restaurants in the United States.  Here's to you.

But Italian recipes were not only for Italian restaurants.  Within a few years, classic Italian dishes began to show up in many other types of restaurants.  French restaurants began to serve pasta until the heading of "spaghetti a la Italiana."  The fashion for having Italian dishes on the menu in restaurants that are not just Italian is still quite popular.

An example of what I mean is the restaurant Adrienne, in the Peninsula Hotel on New York's Fifth Avenue.  One of their signature dishes is halibut with orzo and fennel.  Orzo is a traditionally Italian food.  Here's how the dish is prepared by chef Adam Odegard.

ADAM ODEGARD:  Okay, I'm going to steam the halibut ...

WOLF:  A filet of halibut goes onto a plate and into a steamer for ten minutes.  While that's cooking, a sauce is made.

ODEGARD:  And what I'm going to is I'm going to ... we're going to make a fennel emulsion, very light sauce, and I'm going to take a little bit of butter and a little bit of olive oil.  And we're going to sweat some garlic, chopped garlic.  Some fennel seeds.  Okay.  A bit of onion.  Fennel which has been Julienned.  A little seasoning there, and then we're going to put it on the fire.

WOLF:  The saute pan goes onto the stove and a little Pernod is added; Pernod is an alcohol-based drink with the flavor of licorice.  And finally some chicken stock is added.  While that's cooking, the pasta is made.  This is a very small pasta that looks like a rice; it's called orzo.  Orzo that's been cooked in boiling water goes into a saucepan, followed by the zest of a lemon, some chopped mint, butter, and chicken stock.  A few minutes of heat, and it's ready.  The presentation starts with a few slices of grilled zucchini, then the orzo, the steamed fish, the sauce, and some dried tomatoes.

Here's a second recipe from chef Adam Odegard.  It's a perfect example of how he takes a simple recipe and executes it with great technique.  It's a pan-roasted loin of beef.  The loin of beef is about the leanest cut; there are only about 180 calories in a three-ounce serving.  Beef is also a good source of iron, zinc, niacin, and vitamin B12.  The recipe starts by taking the loin and sprinkling on some chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.  Then place it into a frying pan that has a light coating of hot oil.  The meat is browned on all sides.  Vegetables are added.  Small pieces of celery go in, some onion, turnip, carrots, asparagus tips, and new potatoes.  Some chopped garlic and rosemary are added.  Five minutes of sauteing.  A little red wine.  Then into a 350-degree-Fahrenheit oven for 20 minutes.  When it comes out, the beef is sliced.  Then the vegetables go onto a serving plate; the beef; and finally the sauce.

Italians have not only influenced the way we eat and drink in America, but they have also played an important role in the hotel business.  One of the great examples is the Mayfair Baglioni in New York.

The Mayfair Baglioni opened in 1925, and quickly became a favorite gathering place for New York society.  The lobby lounge was the place to take tea to see and be seen.  President Franklin Roosevelt's New York City townhouse was just across the street, and he used the Mayfair as an extension of his home, often putting up his own house guests at the hotel.  These days, after a $30 million renovation, the Mayfair Baglioni is still a favorite gathering place, and the guests are just as impressive.  The registry lists the King of Spain, Nancy Reagan, the Dalai Lama, plus just regular folks like Placido Domingo, Sophia Loren, and Mel Gibson.

There are a number of things that make the Mayfair Baglioni special.  First of all, it has an ideal location at 65th Street and Park Avenue.  It sits in a landmark residential area that is extraordinarily charming.  It's half a block from Madison Avenue, which is lined with the finest boutiques in the city, as well as the major art galleries, important museums, and Central Park is just one street away, as is the midtown business district.  Everything in the Central Park area and the mid-city area is within walking distance.

The second major reason for the Mayfair's fame are the Mariottis.  Dario Marioatti has been the general manager of the Mayfair since 1978.  Shortly after taking the post, he moved his family into the hotel in order to be able to oversee its operations on a 24-hour basis.  His wife Gabriella watches out for many of the special details that make life at the Mayfair luxurious.  Dario's first action was to move his office to a space just behind the reception area, so he could see and hear the comings and goings of his guests.

Dario is a perfectionist.  He spends over $100,000 a year on fresh flowers.  When he discovered a pothole out in front of the hotel, he called the city to have it repaired; but they didn't come fast enough, so he got his own street-repair company.  When he wanted to serve tea in the lobby lounge, he made arrangements for Lord Twining, the managing director of Twining's Tea, to come over from London and show everybody how to make a proper cup.  And when the hotel renovation was finished, all of the high tech was on the inside; the new elevators are still operated by white-gloved attendants.

The Mayfair is also the first luxury property in New York to offer its guests unlimited local phone calls at no charge.  For a rental fee, the front desk will give you a pocket-sized cellular telephone that operates within Manhattan and can place and receive calls worldwide.  There's a fitness center with treadmills, stationary bicycles, Lifesteps, Nordic Track, rowing machines, and free weights; personal trainers are available on request.

I like the idea of a personal trainer.  I assume that's somebody you can hire to do your personal training for you so you can go lunch; nice concept.

The hotel also has a putting room; or you can have a putter, golf balls, and a putting machine delivered to your own room, in case you feel the need to putt in private.

(PUTTING)

The Mayfair has established a pillow bank.  They have sixteen different designs; my favorite is the Full-Body Pillow.  You can pick out any design you want, have as many of them as you want.  Once you've made your choice, the information goes into the computer, and when you return to the Mayfair, all of the pillows are laid out on your bed.

The world-famous Le Cirque restaurant is located in the Mayfair.  And if you're staying in your room because you have the sniffles and you feel the need to be mothered, the Mayfair will send you a bowl of hot chicken soup.  And in keeping with the hotel's attention to detail, that chicken soup is offered in various ethnic versions.

The Mayfair is like home ... a gentle, all-providing home, with the feeling of a great family residence.  And yet it's right in the middle of New York City.

The Italian city of Venice is actually made up of 118 little islands that sit in the center of a lagoon.  The islands are connected with about 400 bridges, and the only way to get around town is by boat; and it's been that way since the last years of the fifth century.  That was the time when a group of people headed over to these islands in the hope of escaping from an invading army that was ravaging the mainland.

Venice was in an ideal location to handle seaborne trade, and by the ninth century it was a major commercial center.  By the 1200s, Venice was the strongest sea power in Europe, and in virtual control of the major trade routes between Europe and Asia.  The influence of Asia and the Middle East on Venice can be seen in its architecture, art, cultural traditions, and its food.

The city of Venice sat right smack in the middle of the trade routes that brought rare spices from Asia and the Middle East to Europe.  As a result of the easy availability of those spices, plus exotic foods brought in from far-away places, and the great local ingredients, the cooking of Venice became quite spectacular.

Remi is the Italian word for the oars that are used to row boats, like the boats that are painted on the walls of the restaurant Remi in New York.  The mural depicts the Italian city of Venice, which is also the basis for the recipes created by owner-chef Francesco Antonucci.  A lover of seafood and pasta, he combines the two in a dish of tagliolini pasta and squid.

A little oil goes into a hot pan, followed by a chopped onion, some minced garlic, and thinly- sliced squid.  That's cooked and stirred for five minutes.  A splash of white wine, two chopped tomatoes, and some fresh herbs.  Francesco likes to use oregano, parsley, and thyme.  The sauce gets transferred to a saucepan, where it cooks for fifteen minutes.  Fresh pasta is cooked, drained, placed onto a serving dish, topped with the squid sauce, a few slices of pecorino romano cheese, a few more herbs, and it's ready to go.  Good taste and nice nutritional balance, too:  complex carbohydrates from the pasta and vegetables, and protein from the squid, all rather low in fat.

In most of the countries that border on the Mediterranean Sea, squid is a traditional seafood.  Even today, many Americans who are familiar with squad know it by its Italian name, calamari; and they usually had their first taste of it in an Italian restaurant.

Virtually all of the squid used in the United States comes from the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of California.  It's an excellent source of low-fat protein, and you find squid in most supermarkets; usually it's cleaned and ready to go right into your recipe, but every once in a while a little bit of extra prep is necessary, though not very much.

Inside the squid is a thin transparent bone.  It's important to remove this.  Just pull it out; usually it comes out in one easy motion.  Then check inside to make sure that you got all of it.  Then peel off any skin that's still on the outside; that should also come off very easily.

Then slice the squid or keep it whole, according to the recipe that you're going to use.  But don't forget about the tentacles.  Some of the best flavor is right there, so chop them up and get them in the pot.

The Chinese have been making something like ice cream for about 5,000 years, but it was the Italians who introduced ice cream to Europe, and eventually to the general public in North America.  The ancient Romans loved ice cream.  They would take a runner and send him up into the mountains to get ice, bring it back to town, mix it with crushed fruit and cream, and ended up with something that was a pretty good facsimile to what we have today.

Of course, the story of ice cream in ancient Rome followed a rocky road.  If you came back from the mountains and the ice had already melted, the emperor executed you.  Ha ha ... you think the Domino guys are in a hurry!

George Washington had an ice-cream-making machine, and Thomas Jefferson had his own recipe for it.  But it was up to the Italian immigrants to North America to make it the big deal that it is today.

The first advertisement in the United States for commercially-produced ice cream appeared on May 12th, 1777, in a New York City newspaper.  The manufacturer was an Italian named Philip Lenzi.  Over 200 years have passed since then, and Italians have continued to maintain an important position in the development of quality ice cream.  From Sedutto's in New York City to Ghiardelli in San Francisco, Italians have continued to garnish their just desserts.

The great migration of Italians to the United States that took place in the late 1800s took place only a few years after the unification of Italy into a single nation.  The immigrants arriving in the U.S. still thought of themselves as coming from a specific region as opposed to a nation.  And accordingly, they cooked the dishes of their old neighborhood, using their old neighborhood ingredients.

One of the classics is Bologna's rice and walnut cake.  Here's how it's prepared by chef John Halligan at New York's Righa Royal Hotel.

Milk, sugar, and medium-grain rice are simmered together for a few minutes, until the milk is absorbed, at which point the mixture is poured into a bowl.  A half-cup of walnuts are added, a little butter, candied fruit, lemon zest, and three eggs.  The batter goes into a cake pan, and the cake pan goes into a 400-degree-Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes.  When it comes out, the cake gets a light dusting of confectioner's sugar and a fresh strawberry.

That's part of the story of Italian food in America.  Please join us next time as we travel around the world looking for things that taste good.  I'm Burt Wolf.

Origins: The Sweets of Milan - #126

Every place in the world has a series of things that give that spot a special character... and make it different from every other place.  When you look at the ORIGINS of these things, you often end up with a better appreciation of the territory -- and that makes it a lot more interesting to visit.  And sometimes, these ORIGINS help us understand why we live the way we do.

The province of Lombardia, at the base of the Alpine mountain range, forms the center of Italy’s northern border.  Lombardia got its name from the Lombards, a German tribe that invaded Italy in the 500s.  And invasion has been a serious problem for the area ever since.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the 700s Charlemagne came into the neighborhood and set himself up as king.  Then Barbarossa arrived and sacked the place.  In the 1500s the French took over, followed by the Austrians, and then the Spanish.  Then a second period of domination by the French under Napoleon and finally a second period of domination by the Austrians.  Lombardia didn’t actually become part of Italy until 1859.  A difficult history in terms of power and politics but very tasty in terms of what each of the invaders brought to the Lombardian plate.

Today, Lombardia is the third-richest province in Europe, and Milan, its regional capital, is the country’s financial center.  Milan is well-known as a focus for banking, communications, fashion, and publishing.  But it’s also the heart of an important agricultural area, and the source of some of Italy’s best cooking.

The Spanish arrived in the middle of the 1500s and during their two hundred years of rule they introduced rice-growing to northern Italy, along with the recipe which eventually became risotto.  The Spanish also imported saffron.  Together these two ingredients produce Risotto alla Milanese, one of the most traditional dishes of the city.  The Spanish also brought in Cassoela, a dish of braised pork, sausages and cabbage.  The Milanese consider Cassoela as one of their great comfort foods.

The Austrians took over from the Spanish in the early 1700s, and you can see their influence in a dish like Costoletta Milanese, a pounded and breaded veal chop with the bone in, sautéed in butter.  Very similar to the schnitzel dishes of Austria and Germany.

And when the French House of Savoy took a turn in the kitchen they left their Brioche recipe with the Italian bakers.

The Milanese took the pastries of France and Austria and invented a shop that is a combination bakery, pastry shop, candy store and coffee bar.  And they’re one of the great pleasures for both local residents and visitors.

And in response to the mid-day rush of a modern commercial center, the Milanese have adopted the sandwich, which they’ve modified to meet their own idea of what a quick lunch should be.

Other classic recipes from Milan include Minestrone alla Milanese, a vegetable soup that has become a favorite throughout Italy...

Osso Buco alla Milanese, braised veal shank cooked with garlic, parsley, and lemon zest...

Bollito Misto, a collection of boiled meats and one of the great winter dishes.

Polenta, made from corn meal, is Italy’s answer to grits.  It’s served as a soft mush or dried and cut into blocks, and then sautéed.

The cows of Lombardia give excellent milk which is used to make butter, which is in turn used as for much of the cooking instead of oil.  The local dairy farmers also produce a wide selection of cheeses; their most famous is a fresh Gorgonzola.

Those are some of the traditional dishes for the cooks of Milan, and the place to get the ingredients for those recipes is an area around the Via Spadari, and the Via Victor Hugo.  This is one of the best market districts in the world.

And this is Antonio Piccinardi.  In Italy he’s well known for his books and magazine articles on food and wine, including a recent guide to the restaurants of Italy.

BURT WOLF:  What a place!

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  This one is the oldest place in Milano.  It’s more than one century old.  People from Czechoslovakia came here, opened the shop more than a hundred years ago.  It was a small shop and now it’s the biggest one.

BURT WOLF:  Lots of prepared foods; ready to eat.

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  Beautiful salmon...

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Fresh salmon... That’s octopus.

BURT WOLF:  Octopus!

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  A big octopus.  They are very, very tender now.

BURT WOLF:  And a Russian salad?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  A Russian salad, yes.

BURT WOLF:  Is this before or after the Revolution?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  After the Revolution.

BURT WOLF:  After the revolution.  And truffles!

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Truffles, yes, that is in season now.

BURT WOLF:  520,000 Lira...?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Yes.  For a kilo.

BURT WOLF:  That’s $1,500 a pound!

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  Why would somebody pay $1,500 a pound?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Because they are crazy, I think.  Because that’s a lot of money.

BURT WOLF:  At $1,500 a pound, whether I’m crazy or not, I want to be able to judge the quality.  How do you judge the quality of a truffle?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Well, first of all, the perfume; it’s the most important.  And then the scale; you see the size, the big size, they are kind of round.  And these ones, more expensive, come from Piedmont, Alba.

BURT WOLF:  Alba.  So it’s the size...

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  The size...

BURT WOLF:  ...the smoothness...

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  ...the smoothness...

BURT WOLF:  Could we get a smell?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Yes, of course.

BURT WOLF:  Do they charge for a smell?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  No, no.

BURT WOLF:  First smell is free?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI: (orders truffle in Italian)

BURT WOLF:  Okay... Very intense perfume.

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  It’s about three dollars worth of smell now.

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Yes, it’s enough now.  Otherwise it’ll be more expensive.

BURT WOLF:  What are those called?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  Alkikinger.

BURT WOLF:  Alkikinger.

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  It is a kind of seed and fruit together.

BURT WOLF:  Let’s just show people what that’s like.  May I have one of those?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  (Requests alkikinger in Italian)

BURT WOLF:  I want to show everyone what this is like.  Okay.  This is somewhere between a grape and cherry...?

ANTONIO PICCINARDI:  A grape and cherry, yes.

BURT WOLF:  See?  Very unusual.  Very good.  I only did this so you could see it.

Italy is famous for its sweets, both its confections and pastries, and there are historical reasons for this notoriety, reasons that go back for almost a thousand years.

For thousands of years, honey was the primary sweetening in the human diet.  And during those years, it became a symbol for goodness and purity.  For centuries, honey lived its sweet life without competition.  And then, in the 11th century, things began to change.  Sugar arrived from the east, and western food has never been the same.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  We know that for at least 2,000 years sugar has been in use in both the Near East and the Far East.  And the Arabs brought it to Sicily and Spain during the 700s.  But nobody in Europe really paid much attention to sugar until the time of the Crusades.  The Crusaders got a really good look at the stuff in Tripoli and very soon thereafter it was being imported to Europe by the traders in Venice.  But for over four hundred years, it was rare, it was expensive, it was used only as a spice or a medicine, and only by the very rich.

Nevertheless, from the very beginning of its use in Europe, we can document an increase in the number of recipes using sugar.  Our sweet tooth had begun to grow.  And when sugar production got started in the Caribbean, the sugar business took off.  Suddenly there was a clear increase in the use of sugar in place of honey.  As sugar became more and more available, and at a lower and lower price, the general public began to use it as much as possible.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Sugar made them feel that they were eating like a king.  And sugar became an important item of international trade, which was never the case with honey.  Sugar was big business, and it was a sweet deal for the governments that taxed it.  Sugar became the first luxury to end up as a mainstay in the diet of an entire continent.

But even in the early years when sugar was coming into Europe as a rare and expensive spice, the Italians were developing pastry and candy recipes that used sugar as the sweetening agent.  The Italians also began to develop an international reputation for their skill with sugar.  They were so well thought of in this area that up until the last century it was the custom for wealthy households to employ Italian pastry cooks and confectioners along with their French chefs.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Many of the early European specialists in pastry and confectionery were from northern Italy.  They had learned about sugar from the Arabs who were living in Sicily and from the Crusaders who brought it back here in the 1100s.  They also had easy access to the spices that were coming in through Venice.  One of the earliest recorded examples of their skills deals with a recipe for a cake called Panettone.  There are lots of stories about how Panettone got started but the most popular is set here in Milan in 1490.

A young nobleman falls in love with the daughter of a baker named Toni.  To impress the girl’s father, the young man disguises himself as a baker’s assistant and goes to work in Toni’s bake shop.  While he’s there, he invents a sweet, delicate, dome-shaped yeast bread made of flour, eggs, milk, butter, raisins and candied fruit.  The cake becomes wildly popular and people come to the bakery from far and wide to buy what is called Pan de Toni, which translates into English as “Toni’s bread.”  The young man becomes a hero to the father, the marriage takes place, and everyone lives happily ever after.

For many years Panettone was a traditional Christmas gift given by the businessmen of Milan to their employees.  Today it is a favorite cake throughout Italy and eaten throughout the year.

And there are a number of other Italian pastries that are developing an international audience.  In addition to Panettone there is Pandoro, Panforte, Torrone and the cookies of Sienna.  And each comes with their own folklore.

Pandoro, which means “the bread of gold,” originated in the city of Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet.  Some historians believe that in the 1400s, when the Venetian Republic was using recipes to display their wealth and power, Pandoro got started as a cake that was covered in gold leaf.  During the 1700s, when Venice was not doing as well, Pandoro evolved into a Christmas cake in the shape of a tree with a powdered sugar star on top.  It’s a rich cake made with eggs, butter and sugar.  Today it’s no longer confined to the Christmas season and often comes to the table as a dessert stuffed with ice cream, topped with fruit, or drizzled with a rum sauce.

Next is Panforte -- made from candied fruits -- mostly orange and lemon -- almonds, spices and honey.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The story of Panforte got started in a nunnery in Siena.  In order to take a census of the local population the head of the nunnery asked everybody in the neighborhood to bring in a cake made from spices and honey.  The nuns liked the result, made it an annual event and eventually the recipe became standardized into what we now call Panforte.  The most popular version is called Margherita and was first produced in 1879 to mark a state visit of Queen Margherita of Savoy to the town of Siena.  I’ll bet you didn’t know any of that.  And I hope it improves your appreciation of Panforte.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Just about everything on the Italian menu comes with a story.  One of the most unusual is the tale of Torrone.  On October 24th 1441, Bianca Maria Visconti married Francesco Sforza.  These two came from the most important families in Milan and the wedding was a major social event.  The bride’s dowry contained an extraordinary collection of things -- including the city of Cremona just outside of Milan.  I love that.  “Marry my daughter and I will give you this nice little city as a wedding gift.”  The mind boggles.  So Sforza gets Cremona, and the bakers of the city commemorate the event by making a candy in the shape of the tower.  Actually the tower’s considerably bigger than this, this is just a scale model.  It’s made from almonds, and honey and whipped egg whites that have been baked for hours.

Big hit at the wedding.  And the guests who had come from all over Europe began asking for samples of the Torrone to take back home.  These days the tower is somewhat modified in form, looks more like the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, but the confection is more popular than ever.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The Italians are also master cookie bakers.  It seems that during the middle ages when the monks were in the monasteries transcribing illuminated manuscripts, they were taking regular breaks from their drawing boards to work on cookie recipes.  Can you believe that?  And many of those recipes still exist and are produced by bakeries.  They’re usually placed in rather elaborate packages and are actually available around the world.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  I tell you, those monasteries offered some great meal plans.  The Benedictines developed Benedictine.  The Chartreusians developed Chartreuse.  The Cistercians had one of the great wine businesses in the world.  And the guys here in Italy were developing cookie recipes.  No wonder every time I see a contemporary painting of a monk in a monastery he looks particularly well fed.

In the area of sweets, two that stand out are the Colomba and the filled Easter eggs.

The Colomba is a yeast cake made with butter, egg yolks, milk, sugar, orange peel, and almonds.  It has a soft and delicate texture, a golden crust, it always comes in the shape of a dove, and has been associated with Easter for many centuries.  It is a traditional dessert at Easter time.

The Colomba is said to have originated as a result of the Battle of Legnano, which took place just after Easter in 1176.  Things were not going well for the Milanese as they defended their city against an attack by Barbarosa... until  three doves flew out of a nearby church.  The birds appear to have flown an air-support mission that dropped bad luck on Barbarosa and delivered victory to the Milanese.  The cake reminds Milan of this triumph.

Filled candied eggs are another Easter tradition in Italy.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Easter is a celebration of rebirth.  The rebirth of the sun.  The rebirth of the growing season.  The rebirth of Christ.  The egg is a symbol of rebirth and when it is filled with a sweet surprise it is also a symbol of the sweet surprise of resurrection and the sweet surprise of everlasting life.

The next part of Italy’s sweet life deals with chocolate... a subject that has more to do with matters of the flesh than of the soul.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Chocolate is a New World food that was first shown to Europeans when the Mexican emperor Montezuma gave a sample to the Spanish explorer Cortez.  When it got back to Spain it was held as a court secret for over a hundred years inside the royal household and the churches.  Until a group of traveling monks got their hands on some of it and brought it back to Italy, where it was mixed with sugar and spice and everything nice that was being imported by the traders in Venice.

Chocolate in the form of candy became an important part of Italian confection.  It shows up in a number of famous forms.  Two of the most popular are Baci and Gianduiotti.  Gianduiotti is a mixture of chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, and hazelnuts and it’s always presented in this distinct shape.  It was introduced in 1852 in the northern Italian city of Torino in the district of Piedmont.  The chocolate is named after Gian d’la duja, a symbol of the struggle for freedom and independence that was fought in the Piedmont at the end of the 1700s.

Baci is the Italian word for “kisses,” and it has been applied to this candy since 1907.  Young Giovanni Buitoni had been sent by his family to set up a candy factory in Perugia. Luisa Spagnoli was the product developer.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  They fell in love but were forced to keep their relationship a secret.  They exchanged their messages of love by wrapping notes in the chocolate samples that they sent up and back between them.  Today Baci contains a message of love in every package to commemorate that relationship.

The final chapter in the book of Italian sweets contains the biscotti, the amaretti and the cantuccini.

The baking of biscotti in Italy became important during the 1600s when the Venetian navy began searching for foods that would not go bad at sea.  They realized that dried cookies would be perfect and set up a Biscotti Procurement Office.  I would have liked to have worked there.  During the 1800s the manufacturers widened their audience, in more ways than one, by marketing their biscotti to the upper classes.  They designed all of their packaging to attract the rich and famous.  Biscotti, by the way, is not the Italian word for “biscuit;” it means “twice baked.”

Amaretti are light, crisp confections made from egg whites, sugar and the ground kernels of apricots.  They were invented in 1789 to surprise the Bishop of Milan, who was surprising the people of Saronna with a surprise visit.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Cantuccini are almond cookies that were originally developed in Tuscany but are now popular all over Italy.  Like biscotti they are twice-baked.  You take cantuccini dough and you roll it out into a tube, bake it, take it out of the oven, then slice it along the diagonal to get little disks like this.  They’re laid out on a tray and baked a second time.  Biscotti and cantuccini tend to come to the table at the end of a meal to be taken with coffee or dipped into sweet wine.

This is Milan’s Hotel Principe di Savoia.  It opened in 1927 and was designed as a new type of hotel.  There had been luxury hotels for tourists, and there had been efficient hotels for business travelers.  But the Principe was the first hotel designed to meet the needs of the traveling business executive in surroundings that were luxurious.

Today the Principe di Savoia is part of ITT Sheraton’s Luxury Collection, and the original objectives are still being pursued.  The main bar looks like the winter gardens that were popular at the turn of the century -- a courtyard enclosed by a dome of glass.  The Cafe Doney, serving pastries and an afternoon tea.  The Galleria Restaurant, for more formal dining.  These environments worked in the 1920s and they still work.

The executive chef is Romano Resen and today he’s making two of the traditional desserts of Milan.  The first is a sweet soft custard known as Zabaglione.

Romano starts by putting five egg yolks into a copper bowl.  Five heaping tablespoons of sugar are added.  Then three ounces of sweet Marsala wine.  Those ingredients are mixed together, at which point the bowl is set over a saucepan of simmering, not boiling, water.  You don’t want to cook the eggs; you just want to heat the mixture as you whisk it into a custard.  That will take about twenty minutes.  When it’s ready, it is served in a cup with some soft cookies for dipping.  The cookies are called Savoiardi, and they are like small ladyfingers.  An alternative way of presenting the zabaglione is to take a slice of the Italian cake known as Panettone, cover it with strawberries, pour the zabaglione on top and heat all of that under a broiler for two minutes.  It’s hot stuff.

The second recipe is for Tiramisu, a layering of custard and cake that has been moistened with rum and espresso coffee.

The recipe starts with three egg yolks going into a mixing bowl, along with two tablespoons of sugar.  Then a half teaspoon of vanilla extract, and the juice of half a lemon and a tablespoon of rum.  The rum is optional.  But a half cup of the creamy soft Italian cheese known as mascarpone is not.  This is the key to the dish.  Whisk those ingredients together.  Then blend in a cup of whipped cream and two egg whites that have been whipped until they stand in peaks.  Be gentle when you whisk in the egg whites, you don’t want to beat out the air that you just beat in.  A piece of sponge cake or a slice of the Italian cake known as Pandoro is sliced into a square that is about two inches by two inches and one inch deep.  That’s sliced in half and one piece is set into a mold.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Now, if you don’t have a square pastry form like this, you can take a tuna can, cut out the top and the bottom, wash it carefully and use that to make the form.

Then a mixture is made from some espresso coffee, a little sugar and some Marsala wine.  That’s painted onto the cake.  A layer of the egg mixture goes onto the cake.  Then another layer of the cake.  A quick paint job with the coffee mixture.  And a final layer of the egg custard.  Then an hour in the refrigerator to harden things up.  At which point a light dusting of cocoa powder goes on.  The frame comes off.  And a garnish of chocolate goes on.  Or is that my grandmother’s brooch?  No, just chocolate with a little gold on top.  Well -- that’s it.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well, that’s a look at some of the traditional foods of Milan and the sweet life of Italy -- please join us next time as we travel around the world.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Origins: The Food of Rome - #123

Every place in the world has a series of things that give that spot a special character... and make it different from every other place.  When you look at the ORIGINS of these things, you often end up with a better appreciation of the territory -- and that makes it a lot more interesting to visit.  And sometimes, these ORIGINS help us understand why we live the way we do.

There are a number of legends that tell the story of how Rome was founded.  The most popular, though perhaps not the most accurate, is the tale of the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, the offspring of a local princess named Silvia, and Mars, the god of war.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Silvia was a member of the Vestal Virgins, so her pregnancy at the very minimum can be viewed as a conflict of interest.  It was also a source of embarrassment to her uncle the king, who was not particularly interested in having a couple of kids around who might challenge his right to the throne.  So he put them both into a basket and sent them down the river.  When the basket got stuck on a mud bank the children’s cries attracted a she-wolf who cared for them and fed them and raised them.  And when they eventually grew up, they founded the city of Rome.

The city is now punctuated with works of art commemorating the valiant efforts of the wolf.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  I always love it when the wolf gets a compassionate role.

Whatever its true origins, what we do know is that ancient Roman civilization covered a time period that lasted over a thousand years.  With Rome itself starting out as a small agricultural community, and eventually becoming the capital of an empire that controlled most of what is now Western Europe, England, the Middle East and North Africa.  And in the process, evolving from a self-sufficient village that produced almost everything that its inhabitants ate and drank, into a magnificent city that imported its foods from around the world.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Much of what we know about the eating and drinking of ancient Rome, we learned from a man named Marcus Apicius.  He lived during the first century A.D. and was quite a character.  He attended many of the great banquets, organized a few of his own, invented recipes and demonstrated his cooking skills to his friends.  He may have come up with the original idea for force-feeding geese in order to increase the size of their liver.  In which case, foie gras, which we normally associate with the French, was actually the invention of an ancient Roman.  We know about ancient Rome from his accounts, but Marcus was no accountant.  He was not in touch with his personal finances, and at one point went into shock when he discovered that he had spent so much of his money that he was going to have to cut back on his lifestyle.  The idea of downsizing really didn’t appeal to him, and so he committed suicide.  A big price to pay for not balancing your checkbook.

On the other hand, you have the Emperor Trajan.  One nice thing about being emperor, or a member of the U.S. Congress, is that you can do your big spending from the nation’s checkbook and not really worry about balancing it.  Emperor Trajan was the ruler of Rome from 98 to 117 A.D., and the story of his military skill is illustrated on his column, which is made up of seventeen marble drums that run up to a height of 175 feet.  It stands in the heart of Rome.  Tall deeds on a tall monument.  A bronze statue of Trajan stood on the top until the middle of the 1500’s, when the Pope replaced it with the statue of St. Peter -- which is still up there.

Trajan’s master builder was Apollodoro of Damascus.  Apollodoro was responsible for Trajan’s forum... and for the covered market that stood behind it.  It was put up in the year 109 A.D., and was a very original idea for the time.  An early shopping mall and very successful, especially when you consider the fact that it was all food, wine and flowers.  Not a single shoe store.  It contained 150 different shops set out on a semicircular plan.  There are six floors to the complex and it goes up for over a hundred feet.

The bottom floor was given to shops that sold fruits, vegetables and flowers.  Many different types of vegetables were part of the Roman diet.  Asparagus was a big deal.  So were carrots, and cabbages, onions, leeks, and lots of leafy greens.  Many of the vegetables were served as a first course.  Lentils and chickpeas were important and used as the basis for soups.  And mushrooms were a great favorite.  Fruits were often presented as dessert.  There were apples, berries, plums, cherries, figs, dates, grapes, and my personal favorite... watermelon.  Peaches were brought in from Persia and apricots from Armenia.  There was also a wide range of nuts.  Olives had a dual role, as an appetizer at the beginning of a meal and  as a dessert at the end.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The second floor was given over to dealers in olive oil and wine.  Most of the wine came from the area that is now Italy, but they also imported wines from Germany, and Spain, and Greece.  The wines of ancient Rome were pretty strong and usually cut with water.  The standard proportions were one part wine to three parts water.  They had a wine that they served at the beginning of a meal called Mulsum... it was wine mixed with honey.  They also served a sweet wine at the end of the meal.  It was made from grapes that were allowed to dry on the vine -- what we would call today a late harvest wine.  They made beer, but most people thought that beer was medicine or just too common to serve to people of good taste.

The third and fourth levels of Trajan’s Market offered spices and gastronomic items considered to be luxuries.  The ancient Romans appear to have had a great interest in spices.  One reason may have been the need to cover the taste of food that had become, shall we say, overripe as a result of the lack of refrigeration.  They may also have needed intense flavors.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  A great deal of lead was used in the ancient Roman cooking equipment, in the pipes that brought them their water, and in the make-up that they used.  As a result, almost everybody in ancient Rome suffered from some level of lead poisoning.  Three of the most common symptoms of lead poisoning are an inability to taste flavor, a general loss of appetite and a metallic taste in your mouth almost all of the time.  The ancient Romans may have needed intense spices just to taste anything at all.

The top floor had large tanks that displayed both fresh- and salt-water seafoods.  The highest price paid for any food was always paid out for fish and shellfish, usually two or three times what they would pay for pork or lamb.  The Romans just loved the stuff from the sea.  Wealthy families kept their own fish ponds, and there was a big business in fish breeding.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The ancient Romans liked meat but most of it came from pigs, goats and sheep.  Cattle were considered as animals for commerce not cooking.  And besides, the work that they did made their meat tough.  There was lots of wild game and poultry, and hens were raised for their eggs.  As a matter of fact, an egg dish was the most common first course at an ancient Roman meal.

The kitchen of the average ancient Roman family was rather limited in terms of size and equipment.  A rectangle of bricks, set against one wall, was the oven and range.  If the family could afford it, they burned charcoal rather than wood because charcoal gave off less smoke than firewood.  A couple of holes in the top of the oven would hold the pots and pans that were made of ceramic or bronze.  There were also grills that look just like the grills that we use today.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And in every Roman kitchen a jar of garum.  Garum was a seasoning sauce that was used in most of the recipes in ancient Rome.  It was used pretty much the way we see soy sauce being used in the Chinese community today.  It was made in commercial garum factories, there were different levels of quality and different prices.  But the basic preparation technique was always pretty much the same.  You took a big jar and put in alternating layers of salt and seafood.  And you took the jar out in the sun, and let it sit there for a couple of months until everything turned into a nice, thick sauce.  Doesn’t that sound yummy?  Well, don’t laugh.  Anthropologists have discovered that the demand for garum was so great, that the manufacturers produced a variety without shellfish that was considered kosher and sold only to the Jewish community.

When dinner was served in ancient Rome, and it was presented in the proper environment, the room was known as a triclinium.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  I wanted to show you a real restoration, but I ran into three problems.  First of all, a good restoration is very hard to come by, and the two that there are are under the control of the Italian government --  which was my second problem.  In 1990, the Italian government, like many other governments around the world, was running out of money.  Word came down from the top to find new sources of income.  And one of those sources was a charge that they made to television crews for filming inside their national monuments.  The guy I spoke to from the Italian government wanted 5,000 U.S. dollars for two hours of taping, PLUS a $25,000 deposit, in case I did anything to ruin his ruin.  But the third problem was the one that really got me.  While I was recovering from the shock of this news, I called a friend of mine who is a producer here in Rome.  I asked him, “Is there any way around these fees and deposits?”  And he told me that for the past two years, he has been trying to get his deposit back.  So... let me show you this photograph that I borrowed from a friend.

The table with the food was in the center.  Beds were arranged around three sides of the table.  Three people would stretch out on each bed facing the food.  If there were more than nine people, more beds would come in.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Each person would lie on their left side, holding a plate with their food in their left hand and eating it with their right hand.  The food was chosen to be something that could be eaten out of hand, usually cut into bite-size pieces, or something that could be taken with a spoon.  Knives were never brought to the table... much too aggressive... and the fork hadn’t been invented yet.

Rome is still a great place for good eating and drinking and you can see modern Rome’s love of gastronomy all over town.

The Campo de’ Fiori is in the southern part of Rome’s historic district.  Campo de’ Fiori means “field of flowers,” and during the Middle Ages that’s what was here.  But by the 1500s the district had become the heart of Rome.  In the center of the square is the statue of Giordano Bruno, who was executed in the year 1600.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  At the time, the official word from the church was that the earth was the center of the universe and everything in the sky moved around us.  It was an ego thing.  Poor Bruno, he was only interested in the scientific aspects of the universe and really wasn’t getting the macho message from the monks.  His experiments led him to the belief that, in fact, the sun was the center of the universe and the earth actually moved around the sun.  Well, let me tell you, this was an unacceptable belief.  And worse than just believing it, Bruno was going around and telling that to other people.  Clearly, this man was a heretic.  And the monks burned him at the stake.

Today his statue is at the center of the Campo and one of Rome’s great markets moves around him.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  In most ancient societies everybody ate and drank pretty much the same things.  Of course the rich had a lot more of whatever it was than the poor.  But in ancient Rome, perhaps for the first time, that began to change.  Because the Roman Empire was so huge and in contact with so many different parts of the world, the people of ancient Rome who had the money were able to choose from an extraordinary variety of foods.  Foods that were just not available to people who didn’t have the money.  But they were not just interested in variety, they were fascinated by quality.  And they would spend an enormous amount of time, money and effort getting the best of everything.

When Marcus Apicius heard that the shrimp off the coast of Libya were superior to those available in Rome, he outfitted a ship and sailed off to check it out.  When he got there and found that the shrimp were no better than what he was already using, he turned around and headed back without making a purchase.

And that desire for the “best of class” is still very much part of the attitude of the modern Roman food lover.  One of the first things that you learn as a traveling eater is that almost every town has a special interest in certain foods.  Those same foods may be available in other cities but not at the same level of quality.  And not subject to the same level of interest on the part of the local public.  In New York they would be bagels, pastrami, steak and cheesecake.  In Paris it would be pastry, wine, and chocolate.  Here in Rome, it’s bread, particularly in the form of pizza, ice cream, and coffee.

The place to try “best of class” bread and pizza is the Antico Forno at the edge of Campo de’ Fiori.

For ice cream it’s Gioletti.

And for the best thick chocolate ice cream with a whipped cream topping... the Tartuffo at Tre Scalini in the Piazza Navona.

And almost everyone seems to agree that the best cup of espresso is at Santo Eustachio.

If you would like a little Roman street atmosphere to go along with your coffee, you might take a seat at the Gran Caffe Doney at the Via Veneto.  This was the center of the life that film director Federico Fellini presented in his 1959 movie, La Dolce Vita -- “the sweet life.”  Things have quieted down a bit since then, but the life around here is still pretty sweet, and its been that way since the beginning of the century.

The Caffe Doney is actually built into a hotel called the Excelsior, which opened in 1906.  It still has the elegance and attention to detail that was part of its original plan.  Mario Miconi is the general manager of the Excelsior, but he first joined the staff as a pageboy in 1948. Over the years he has put together a collection of interesting memorabilia that relates to the dining room service that was standard for the early days of this century.

MARIO MICONI:  We have many different items to eat the asparagus.  And I took the one that gives me more sensation... it’s very nice... it’s very easy to use... you see, it’s unbelievable.  It’s been done, and this is like, uh, a jewelry piece.  You can use this.  It’s very, very elegant...

BURT WOLF:  I like the asparagus holder.  I want to take one of those with me when I go out to dinner.

MARIO MICONI:  Could be... remember it’s also for the cigar... you see, sometimes these things... really, I don’t... I mean you have the imagination here brings you... I don’t know.  But so all these things always show the way that a waiter or the server, any server couldn’t take, never with the hands anything.  So the one thing that amazed me more than the others is this one.  I mean... it’s very, very, very nice.  I think it’s very polite because when I take this it’s marvelous.

BURT WOLF:  It’s to hold a chicken leg...

MARIO MICONI:  To hold a chicken leg...you see...

BURT WOLF:  But you don’t touch it with your hands...

MARIO MICONI:  So you don’t touch, this was done by the waiters.  It’s very easy to understand, it’s very easy to put it.  But you see that both ways, you eat with your hands but you don’t touch the chicken.  But sometimes now it’s even better to touch the chicken leg because it gives you more taste, but this is very nice.

The hotel has a widely respected restaurant called “La Cupola,” which is keeping up the tradition of “the sweet life.”  But even in ancient Rome you had to finish your main course before you got the sweets.  Which seems only fair if the main course is Bucatini alla Amatraciana.

Chef Vittorio Saccone starts by putting a quarter of a pound of bucatini into a quart of boiling water and adding a touch of salt.  Bucatini is a round dried pasta, like a spaghetti, but hollow down the center like a thin straw.  He stirs the bucatini into the water until it’s completely submerged.

Then he starts on the sauce.  Two tablespoons of olive oil go into a sauté pan to warm up.  A quarter of a cup’s worth of onion is minced and added in.  A pinch of hot dried pepper goes in.  A half cup’s worth of cured pork is cut into bite-size pieces and added to the pan.  You can use pancetta, which is available in most Italian markets, or you can just use bacon.

A few minutes of cooking and a half cup of white wine is added.  Then ten cherry tomatoes are sliced in half and their seeds are pressed out.  Then they’re cut into small slices and added to the pan.  A little stirring.  A touch of salt.  Two minutes of cooking.  The pasta is drained away from the water and added to the sauce.  A few flips to mix everything together.  A little grated Parmesan cheese.  Then a little grated Pecorino Romano cheese and the bucatini is ready to serve.

And for dessert, Chef Saccone is going to make a Romana Sambuca Cheese Cake.  Four cups of flour are mounded up.  Eight ounces of butter go into the center of the flour, followed by three eggs.  A cup of sugar is sprinkled onto the flour, and all of that is blended together by hand into a soft dough.  That goes into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to harden up so it will be easier to work with.

When it comes out, the dough is placed on a floured surface.  It gets a little flour on its own surface and is rolled out to a thickness of a quarter of an inch.  It’s fitted into a round cake pan that’s about one-and-a-half inches deep and nine inches in diameter.  Next, two cups of ricotta cheese go into a mixing bowl; then two cups of dried fruit pieces.  A cup of sugar, and a half cup of Romana Sambuca, which is an anise-flavored drink.  All that’s mixed together until you have a batter-like consistency.  That should take about two minutes of mixing with a wooden spoon.

The dough-lined pan returns... and gets a light coating of pastry cream, an optional procedure.  Then strips of sponge cake are placed on top of the pastry cream to form a base.  The ricotta filling goes in and gets smoothed out on top.  The remaining dough is rolled out, floured, and cut into strips about a half an inch wide and twelve inches long.  Vittorio cuts ten of them, which are used to make a lattice-work on top of the cake.  A wash is made from a beaten egg and painted on top.

Then into a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven for twenty minutes.  When the cake comes out of the oven it’s allowed to cool.  Then it’s taken out of the pan, given a dusting of powdered sugar, and it’s ready to serve.

When the ancient Romans first started making wine, their feel for the craft, in terms of taste, was not very good.  But the good feeling that they got from drinking it kept them highly interested.  To help the flavor along, they often mixed their wine with honey, or herbs and spices, or all of the above.  One result is that the ancient Romans developed a taste for beverages that were sweet and had an herbal flavor.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Much of the time their herbal drinks were considered more in the area of medicine, than in gastronomy, but that was often the case with wines and spirits that had been given an herbal flavor.  Over the centuries one of the spirits with an herbal flavor that had a medical claim to fame and was very popular, was the digestif,  something you drank after dinner to help you with your digestion.  And one of the most popular flavors was based on anise, a flavor that many people associate with licorice.

The ancient Egyptians knew about anise, and so did the ancient Greeks.  The ancient Romans often ended their banquets with anise-flavored cakes, pointing out that anise was a valuable aid to good digestion.  Roman weddings usually included an anise cake for dessert.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Even today, candied almonds with an anise flavored coating are part of weddings in France and Italy.  One scholarly source tells us that at the end of an ancient Roman battle, the generals would give anise flavored candies to their successful troops.  Now, that doesn’t strike me as a really great gift after a battle, but maybe there were little prizes in the boxes.  You know, you never know about these things.  The point is that for thousands of years people have associated the flavor of anise, spirits, good luck, good fortune, the end of a good battle or the end of a good meal.

At this point, the Romans have distilled all of that into a drink called Romana Sambuca.  They drink it after dinner.  They put it into espresso.  Sometimes they even top off the coffee with whipped cream, ending up with a sweet anise-flavored drink that they call Caffe Romana.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  For thousands of years people have believed that certain plants had vital forces and critical energies.  The more unusual the shape and color of the plant, the more powerful these energies.  And the way to get to these force fields was to capture the aroma of the plant... and the way to do that was to burn the plant and capture the smoke... in Latin it was called per fumus... in English we call it perfume.  And one of the most powerful forces came from the anise plant.

Look at that.  An after-dinner drink and a little aromatherapy, all at the same time.  What a combination!  And as if that were not enough, it appears that Romana Sambuca can improve your luck.

WOMAN:  Yes, let’s have a toast with three coffee beans; one for wealth, one for health, and one for love.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  What can I tell you?  It’s Rome.  They have been running great dinner parties for twenty-eight hundred years and they have been in the tourist business since the 13th Century.  They want you to have a good time.  And I want you to have a good time.  And if you have had a good time ...I hope you will join us next time as we travel around the world looking at the ORIGINS of the things that surround us.  From Rome, I’m Burt Wolf.

Origins: Rome - #106

Every place in the world has a series of things that give that spot a special character... and make it different from every other place.  When you look at the ORIGINS of these things, you often end up with a better appreciation of the territory -- and that makes it a lot more interesting to visit.  And sometimes, these ORIGINS help us understand why we live the way we do.

In contrast to New York as The Big Apple, Rome has been called The Big Lasagna, and it’s a perfect description.  Like lasagna, Rome is all about layers -- layers that could easily stand on their own, and yet being together in the same pot has made the entire dish more interesting.

This particular pot is resting in the middle of the Italian peninsula, about fifteen miles inland from the west coast.  Archeologists have found traces of an ancient Roman settlement that dates back to 1200 BC, but most historians like to date the beginning of “real times Roman” as the eighth century before the birth of Christ.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  For me, there are five distinct layers to Rome: the first is made up of the ruins and restorations of ancient Rome.  Stuff that’s been at the bottom of the pot for over two thousand years.

Next come the remains of early Christian Rome: buildings that started out as Pagan temples and ended up as some of the earliest Christian churches... works of art that tell the great stories of Christianity.

The third layer is Renaissance Rome --  the extraordinary rebirth of culture that took Europe out of the Middle Ages.  This was the time of Michelangelo, and Raphael.

Then came a period known as the Baroque.  The word “baroque” comes from the Portuguese and means “uneven stone.”  The movement grew as part of the reaction to the Protestant Reformation.  It was designed to restore the power of Rome and the Catholic church.  In Rome itself, some of the greatest examples of the Baroque are the works of Bernini.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And finally I see an ingredient that’s not so much a layer as it as a light dusting on top.  Sometimes it’s like grated cheese ... a little bit salty and demanding.  Other times it’s quite sweet and light like powdered sugar.

It got started in the mid-fifties and is called La Dolce Vita, which means “the sweet life,” and it’s a reference to the lifestyle that was developing in Rome.

In order to understand why a particular dish tastes the way it does, it’s very helpful to have a recipe.  The first ingredient in this Big Lasagna recipe is Ancient Rome.

The Forum was the political, religious, and commercial center of ancient Rome.  As I wandered through the ruins, my guidebook told me of the great structures that stood here some 2,000 years ago.  The Forum was built under the direction of Julius Caesar.  That pile of broken stones... that was the spot where triumphant generals stood when they returned home.  That clump of weeds... the very location of the magnificent House of the Vestal Virgins.  And those columns... the Temple of Saturn.  I can see it all in my mind’s eye.  With my regular glasses, however, the place looks like it needs some serious attention.

Next, the quintessential visual symbol of Rome: The Coliseum.  It was built as a stadium in the first century and held over 50,000 spectators.  It was the center for the contests between the gladiators.  At one point in its history, the building became a source of marble for the local construction companies and it was stripped of its facade.  Some ruins are more ruined than others.

That is The Pantheon.  It is probably in better shape than any other ancient Roman building.  It was built in 27 BC as a temple to all the Roman gods.  Kind of a mutual fund approach to pagan religion.  You spread your veneration over a large group of deities and you reduce your risk of missing out on the powerful one.  The Pantheon seems to have survived the centuries because it was turned into a church in the 600s.  It is set on the lowest point in Rome and was subject to regular flooding.  If you look up you will see the dome of the structure which is bigger than the one on St. Peter’s.  The hole in the center is the only source of light.  Unfortunately it is also the source of water whenever it rains.

The next layer of Rome began to emerge right around the time of the birth of Christ.  One of the most interesting churches in Rome is the Basilica of San Clemente.  My guide is Father Paul Lawlor, who was born in Ireland but is now coordinating the restoration activities of the church.

FATHER PAUL LAWLOR:  Really to explain this you have to understand that San Clemente lies in a valley between two of the hills of Rome.  On this side you’ve got the Celian Hill, on this side the Appian Hill.  And over the centuries the street level rose.  So it was necessary to fill in the lower buildings in order to build a new structure.  And so the buildings underneath were filled in and preserved.

So here we have the center of the, uh, the ground floor which seems to be part of a structure which was built some time in the fourth century before Christ.  One of the few places in Rome where you can see one of the buildings destroyed in the Great Fire of 64.  The building we think then was covered over by the gardens of Nero and then after the death of Nero the whole place was turned into a games area.  The games area was the center of which was the Coliseum and then this building here was part of the same structure.  And it’s a building which goes up something like three stories high.  Here we’re on the ground floor, so this was street level in the fourth century.

So now we’re here on the fourth century level.  And this is where the Christians built a basilica sometime at the end of the fourth century.  And we’ve got records of this church going right up to the twelfth century, but between those periods -- the fourth century and the twelfth century -- every century added something to this building.  From the columns that you see, the mosaic floor -- very simple, typical of the sixth century when they’re reusing marble, to the paintings.  A whole series of paintings, particularly from the eleventh century when they’re trying to show the importance of the papacy.  Gregory VII had been exiled, and they’re trying to show that the papacy had its own importance.

BURT WOLF:  And the column?

FATHER PAUL LAWLOR:  The column itself there is from going back to the fourth century basilica, but again, it’s been reused.  If you look at the different columns, you can see they’re all different.  They come from different structures.

BURT WOLF:  The ecology of architecture.

FATHER PAUL LAWLOR:  Exactly, exactly.  They’re reusing and recycling, and thus particularly true of the mosaic pavement.  You can no longer bring in the red marble from Egypt, the green marble from Greece.  You take it from some other building and reuse it.  So even on the same level you’ve got a whole series of layers of material.

And here we’re at the twelfth century level, the twelfth century basilica.  So again the street level is rising, the lower building becomes dark, damp, damaged by war and is filled in.  And this basilica is built in the twelfth century.  And I suppose one of the great works of art of the Middle Ages we’ve got here in the mosaic.  The mosaic which represents the tree of life.  You’ve got the cross at the center, you see it there planted in the ground and this great tree comes out from the base of the cross.  The tree representing the church, the inscription tells us.  And then you’ve got all these little scenes of daily life of women looking after sheep and goats, feeding chickens, men also as shepherds, hunting scenes, everything being involved in this great tree and everything being brought back up to heaven.  So it’s a powerful, powerful mosaic. 

What’s interesting is, is that if you look at the floor, you see on the floor a design which is laid out by the Cosmoti, this great family of marble workers.  They had learned how to cut columns into slices, like cutting up salami, you know?  And laying out this beautiful pattern, and if you look at the pattern it’s like, again, it weaves in and out like a tree stretching right through the church.  Again, it’s a cross made at the same time as the mosaic, perhaps a reflection of the cross in the mosaic.  But now, by coming in to the church we’re involved, as it were, in the branches of this tree which this time is rooted in the altar.  And the sacrifice of Christ of course on the altar which gave life to this new tree of life which stretches right throughout the church.  It’s a magnificent idea.

BURT WOLF:   You see all the levels of the church in this one room.

FATHER PAUL LAWLOR:  That’s right.  Everything is represented from the early Christian world right through to the twelfth century, then the Renaissance and then the Baroque world right up to our own time.

BURT WOLF:   And still being used...

FATHER PAUL LAWLOR:  And still being used today.

To continue along with the idea of the layers of Rome, a perfect example of how the Renaissance layer was placed on top of everything that went before, is the Capitoline Hill.  It was originally the site of a pair of pre-Christian temples honoring Jupiter and Juno.  But in 1538 it became the home of Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio.  You approach the plaza by walking up a long, gently inclined ramp -- perfect for a grand imperial entrance to Rome, which was Michelangelo’s purpose.  The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was coming to town.  The Emperor would be greeted by two statues of Castor and Pollux, the twin heroes of classical mythology.  And in the center of the Campidoglio, he would be confronted by a magnificent statue of Marcus Aurelius, set on an impressive pedestal.  The statue is no longer there, but the pedestal is -- proving once again that even when the politician is gone, his platform remains.  On two sides of the piazza are museums storing ancient Roman artifacts.  The third building is the Senatorial Palace, which to this day is used by the local government of Rome for the storage of ancient ideas on how the city should be governed.

To explore the next layer of the lasagna of Rome, the Baroque, I turned to Ilaria Barberini.  She is the descendent of a powerful Roman family that included Pope Urban VIII, the man who commissioned the Barberini Palace and the Piazza Barberini.  The family crest is illustrated with three bees as a symbol of how hard the Barberini work.  Ilaria is certainly a perfect example.  She’s part of a cultural association called Citta Nascosta, which means “the hidden city.”  It’s made up of a group of instructors who are specialists in guiding people to the most famous parts of Rome, as well as the more unusual areas.  She’s taking me to see a perfect example of the Baroque style that consumed Rome during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  This is Palazzo Colona that was first built at the time of Pope Martino Quinto who was Pope in Rome from 1417 until 1431.  The palace was then rebuilt in 1730.  This is the gallery which was created to collect paintings and furnitures.  The gallery was created because they need to show the power and the importance and the prestige of the family and it was a very typical thing that powerful families used to do in 16- and 1700s.  And it was easy for the families connected to the pope, or connected with the pope, to buy important artistic treasures.

BURT WOLF:  If you got it, show it.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Mmm hmm.  Yeah.  And so, we can start and see the rooms that lead to the great ballroom which is the big room -- a very beautiful one.

So in this room, as in all the other rooms, it’s full of beautiful paintings, but this is a particular painting.  It’s very famous and important.  And this painting is very famous because it gives you the idea of reality.  You really can feel, you know, the bread, the man that is eating, the beans... It’s called the Mangia Fagioli in Italian, that means “the bean eater.”

BURT WOLF:  Bean eater.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  This is the new style that starts in the 1600s.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes.  This is new style.  It’s realism -- naturalism.  We can see the bread, the red wine, the man that’s sitting.  We feel immediacy, reality.  And we can also see the difference with that painting there that it belongs to the end of the fifteenth century.

BURT WOLF:  Very stylized.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes, yes.

BURT WOLF:  Unrealistic.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  And this is the average person.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes.  There’s a big difference.

BURT WOLF:  And it’s a painting that makes you hungry...

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  ...which is the mark of true art.

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes!

We are entering now in the big ballroom, the real gallery and it’s, you know, it’s amazing.  They say that it’s even bigger than the one that is in Versailles.  And here we can find one of the best examples of Roman Baroque.  We have all the elements.  We have the colored marbles, we have those kind of living frescos very rich in action.  And so we see the will to glorify the power of the family, to give importance to the family.  And then we have all those golden stuccos and all the statues around the gallery, the paintings...

BURT WOLF:   What do they actually do in this room?

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Well they... the room was built to collect paintings actually at the middle of the 1600s.  But they also danced in it, they had big balls and that’s...

BURT WOLF:   A little roller-blading was nice...

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes, a little roller-blading...

BURT WOLF:   Field hockey... tennis...

ILARIA BARBERINI:  Yes, exactly... tennis... they played sports...

BURT WOLF:   You need a room like this... I understand completely...

The enormously grand style of the Baroque period grew out of a reaction to the Protestant Reformation.  Four hundred years later, as a reaction to the poverty and darkness of the Second World War, Rome came up with La Dolce Vita.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  But instead of being presented in the traditional Roman art forms of painting, sculpture and architecture, La Dolce Vita was brought to us in film.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The master of the form was Fellini, and during the 1950’s he showed us what was happening in Rome as wealth and power returned to the city.  But the sweet life was also captured by still photographers.

For hundreds of years the Catholic Church offered something called an indulgence.  It was a very simple program.  You did something nice for your soul or the church or your fellow man and the church gave you a nice letter of reference for your afterlife.  One of the things you could do to pick up an indulgence was to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  It was a difficult trip, but people were doing it all the time.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Then one day at the end of the 13th century, Pope Boniface VIII was sitting around trying to figure out how he was going to replenish the bank accounts of the church when he came up with a great idea.  He decided to make the year 1300 a Jubilee Holy Year and offer an indulgence to anyone who came to Rome and visited the shrines of St. Peter and St. Paul -- the same kind of indulgence that you would have gotten had you gone all the way to the Middle East.  Well, this may have turned out to be the most important bonus mile program of all time.  During that single year of 1300, over two million people took advantage of the offer and came to Rome.  It was big business for this town.  And so successful that they held the program over for over two hundred years, making Rome the single most important tourist attraction in the western world.

Today tourism in Italy is a bigger business than ever.  Over fifty million tourists come to Italy each year, and they spend billions of dollars.

The most famous streets for shopping in Rome are at the base of the Spanish Steps... the international fashion houses... the great Italian tailors... the jewelry makers.  And although there are plenty of restaurants in the area, it can be tough to find good food at a good price.  A notable exception is the restaurant Il Cantinone, on the Via Vittoria.  Charming... unpretentious... inexpensive.  It’s run by the brothers Zucca, and it serves the specialties of the island of Sardinia -- like Carta de Musica, thin crisp bread named after the ancient paper on which music was printed... or tiny Sardinian pasta in a tomato sauce... ravioli stuffed with cheese and vegetables... grilled squid... grilled cheese with honey... and a knockout selection of Sardinian cookies.

Another favorite spot for me in Rome is the restaurant Piperno.  It was originally opened in 1860 by Pacifico Piperno, a master chef whose specialty was Jewish cooking.  At the time, this area was the center of the Jewish Ghetto.  These days, the restaurant has an excellent table of appetizers, but my favorite meal at Piperno begins with artichokes cooked in what is called “the Jewish style,” followed by a bowl of chickpea and pasta soup.  And to finish off, an espresso laced with Romana Sambuca and a dollop of whipped cream.

Da Vincenzo is a neighborhood restaurant, virtually unknown to tourists, and even to many Romans who don’t live or work in this particular neighborhood.  It’s one of the few restaurants in Rome that still caters to the old tradition of Gnocchi Thursday.  Gnocchi is a pasta made from potatoes and flour, and for some reason that I have been unable to discover, there are a group of restaurants that make it every Thursday.  Also worth trying at Da’ Vincenzo is a sautéed veal dish called saltimbocca, which means “jump in your mouth.”  And for dessert, panna cotta, a custard flan which in this case is served with fresh berries.  I recommend this place to you, but I don't want you to tell anybody else about it, okay?

Water... soaring up from beneath the earth.  A spring has always had a mystical quality, offering an opportunity to be cleansed and rejuvenated.  It’s an ancient and universal symbol of life and rebirth.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  For thousands of years a natural spring was considered to be a sacred place.  The perfect spot to build a shrine.  And for good reason.  The idea of pure water as a life giving force is not only poetic... it’s practical.  People can live for a couple of months without food... but a couple of weeks without water and life begins to disappear.  So when someone came across fresh, clear, pure water just coming up out of the earth, they knew that they had reached a special place and they honored it.

Ancient civilizations, including the Greeks, planted gardens and built shrines around their springs.  When the builders started to use basins and reservoirs to display and transport the waters, the springs became fountains.  The Romans developed a purely decorative form of fountain that eventually ended up as a monumental sculpture.  The early Christians placed fountains in their basilica as a symbol and a source of purification.  During the Middle Ages, the fountains moved into the courtyards of the monasteries.  But it was in Italy, during the Renaissance, that the fountain took on a form that was dominated by staggering, immense, virtually gargantuan sculpture.  And Rome is the place with the most extraordinary examples of this art.

This is the Piazza Navona, which takes its long, narrow shape from an ancient Roman stadium that once stood here.  There are three fountains in the Piazza Navona, but the most important one is the Fountain of the Rivers.  It was designed by Bernini, who was a great architect of the Baroque period.  The work was finished in 1651, and represents four rivers from four corners of the world: the Danube from Europe, the Ganges from Asia, the Rio de la Plata for the Americas, and the Nile for Africa.  The head of the Nile is covered to show that the source of the Nile was not known at the time the fountain was built.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  When Bernini designed this fountain he was in competition with another architect of the time named Borromini.  Borromini designed the front of the St. Agnese Church which is right in front of Bernini’s fountain.

Tourist guides like to tell you that the statues of the Nile and the Plate are holding up their hands in a defensive position in order to protect themselves from the Borromini building -- which they expect to fall on them!

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The truth of the matter is that the church was built a few years after the fountain, but maybe Bernini had seen the plans and knew what was coming.  At any rate, their rivalry is still in evidence.

The most famous fountain in Rome is probably the Trevi Fountain.  During the year 19 BC, thirteen miles of canal were built to bring water into the city, and this is the spot where the water arrived.  The figure in the center represents the ocean, and he is being drawn across the waters by two sea horses and two sea gods.  In the 1959 film, La Dolce Vita, Anita Ekberg took a little dip in these waters, and the place became even more famous.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the middle of the 1600’s Pope Urban VIII began building a fountain here.  He used money that he collected from a tax on wine, which proved to be extraordinarily unpopular.  He ended up being accused of trying to turn wine into water.  He had to give up the tax and his plans for the fountains.  It did get built, however, about a hundred years later by a local sculptor named Nicola Salvi.  Local folklore has it that if you stand in front of the fountain, facing away, and throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, you will someday return to Rome and your wish will be granted.

[Somebody yells in Italian off-camera as Burt’s coin hits him...]

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA) :  Piace, I’m sorry, sorry.  Terribly sorry.  So much for that wish... for my next wish, I wish that you will join us next time as we travel around the world, looking at the ORIGINS of the things that surround us.  From Rome, I’m Burt Wolf.

Origins: Milan - #104

Every place in the world has a series of things that give that spot a special character... and make it different from every other place.  When you look at the ORIGINS of these things, you often end up with a better appreciation of the territory -- and that makes it a lot more interesting to visit.  And sometimes, these ORIGINS help us understand why we live the way we do.

Milan has been an important city for well over 2,000 years. It was a significant political and commercial center for the Roman Empire, and it has maintained that position ever since.  The name Milan comes from an ancient word meaning “the center of the plain.”  It’s a reference to the fact that Milan was built in the middle of the Po Valley plain, a crossing point for a number of roads that came down out of the Alps and connected to the commercial trade routes in what is now Italy. 

Today, Milan is an industrial powerhouse. It is the financial and commercial center of Italy, a focus for electronics, publishing, television, textiles, international trade-fairs and fashion. This is the fashion center of the world.

But why?

OTTAVIO MISSONI:  It is very easy why -- Milano is Milano!

True, but Milan became the fashion center of Europe right after the Second World War.  Americans were the only people with enough money to buy good clothes, and they wanted things that were easy to wear and not expensive.  Paris wanted to stay with the costly stuff.  Italy saw their chance and started making fashionable clothes at half the price of the French.  And they were able to keep pace with the... changing fashions.

The commercial tone for the city of Milan was set all the way back in the Middle Ages.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the 300s a bishop by  the name of Ambrose was also governor of Milan. He was a talented administrator with a very clear idea of how things should be done.  He built a strong and powerful administration with one major objective:  to get rich.  He also didn’t think much of the idea of separating church and state.  He felt he had to control everything that was going on in the government and everything that was going on in the church.  And clearly that was okay to the people of Milan because today he is known as Saint Ambrose, and he is the patron saint of the city.

The church of Sant’Ambrogio was originally founded in the year 379 and is an excellent example of medieval architecture.  Saint Ambrose felt that acquiring wealth during your lifetime was not only acceptable in heaven, but if you spent some of your money on good works for the church you might even end up with superior accommodations in the afterlife... a thought which led the wealthiest families of Milan to put up the money for the construction of some splendid churches and some magnificent religious art.  It made good business sense -- put a little aside now and enjoy it later.  It was sort of a pension plan for Paradise.

As I travel around the world, I have come to realize that each city has at least two levels.  One is out in the open, and made available to the tourists.  It’s easy to find.

The other city is usually just a few streets away.  It’s not on the tourist maps because the residents want it for themselves.

The surface stuff is easy.  Most tourists stop by at the Duomo.  It’s Milan’s great Gothic cathedral and the third largest church in Europe.  They started building it in the middle of the 1300s and, as you can see, they’re still working on it.  Over 700 years and they are still trying to finish off the punch list.  There are 135 pinnacles and over 2,000 marble statues.  The local guides claim that the French stole the design for The Statue of Liberty from the one on the front there.  Hmm.  Could be.

Tourists pop into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. It was built in 1865 and it is one of the earliest buildings to use a system of holding glass in place with cast iron. It was the prototype for the covered malls of the 20th century.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Most visitors also stop by for a look at Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of  “The Last Supper.”  Let me save you a little trouble here. There are usually long lines in front, when you get in front of the painting they move you along quickly.  And most important, when Leonardo was working on this painting, he was experimenting with a new form of paint.  A form of paint that did not work out so well, and the picture has been disappearing ever since.  Now, it’s thirty feet long and fifteen feet high and that’s impressive. But if you are interested in seeing the detail of the painting, you’re probably better off buying a color postcard from the guy who’s working out in front here.  You can look at it as long as you want and really see what’s going on.  So much for the stuff that’s on the tourist map of Milan.  Now let me give you an insight to the other Milan -- the Milan of the people who live here and love it.

This is Via Monte Napoleone, and every day it attracts thousands of tourists looking for something with a designer label.  But if you’re looking for great design without a label, let me suggest a short detour.

Just 100 yards down a side street at Via Gesu Number 5 is the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi.  It’s a 16th century Italian palazzo, filled with authentic furnishings and objects from the Renaissance.  During the middle of the 1800s, two brothers, Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi decided that they wanted to live in a place that was just like a noble family’s household during the Renaissance.  This is what they built.  It’s open to the public and it’s the real thing.

DR. LUCIA DINA:  It was built personally by the two brothers, they superintended all of the work of the building, restoration, furnishings...

Dr. Lucia Dina is a specialist in Italian Renaissance art, and she’s guiding us through the building.

DR. LUCIA DINA:  For example, here we have an arch which was built in the nineteenth century and it was in the Renaissance style... you see the classical round arch and the two columns, but then, what they did was they inserted those two medallions you see.  Those are authentic.  They were made in the fifteenth century and they were bought by the two brothers in the antique market.  So instead of just putting them on the wall, they really gave them life again and they framed it in and out.  And they personally designed the arch and setting of all the things inside here.

BURT WOLF:  But they weren’t architects, they were lawyers.

DR. LUCIA DINA:  Exactly, yes, they were not, they had not a degree in architecture, but they were very good at drawings and they were very passionate of art.  So here we are in Fausto’s bedroom and this is his bed.  It was made in northern Italy in sixteenth century.  Quite comfortable.

BURT WOLF:  But the pillow is square...

DR. LUCIA DINA:  Yes that’s the way it was actually.  And it was actually a part of an altar which was then transformed into a bed.  So it’s really a work of art.  You can see Christ’s ascent to Calvary.  You can see it was something which belonged to a church actually.  And I know this room is a bit gloomy...

BURT WOLF:  Yes, gloomy is a good word...

DR. LUCIA DINA:  Isn’t it?

BURT WOLF:  Like a mausoleum.

DR. LUCIA DINA:  It is, it is.  Actually we wanted to preserve it like this with the same atmosphere because it was the taste of the nineteenth century, sort of romantic, dark, gloomy taste.  But we must not think that Fausto was a gloomy person, he was a very lively person.  He was a bachelor.  He had many girlfriends, so...

BURT WOLF:  Girlfriends that would come to this bedroom?

DR. LUCIA DINA:  They were supposed to do so, yes...

BURT WOLF:  Just checking, just checking...

DR. LUCIA DINA:  Maybe they liked it like this, I think it’s not really the taste for us...

BURT WOLF:  It sure is.

DR. LUCIA DINA:  You have to enter this different taste.

And this is the bathroom.  This was Fausto’s private bathroom, and it was not only the tub, but also the shower.

BURT WOLF:  This was his tub?

DR. LUCIA DINA:  Yes, this was his tub.  And on the ceiling, you can see that one of the roses was actually made of iron and it was the shower.

BURT WOLF:  Wow!

DR. LUCIA DINA:  It was a very modern invention for that time.  And the inspiration came from a very famous painting which is now kept in Brera, the Museum of Brera in Milan, it was made by Piero della Francesca in the fifteenth century, and when the brothers saw the painting they thought it was a good model for their shower and tub.  So this is how the whole thing came out.

So this is the Arms and Armors Gallery.  It was very fashionable in that time to recreate the classical Armors Gallery with all the antique art and armor.

BURT WOLF:  Just a room with all your family’s armor...

DR. LUCIA DINA:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  That’s wonderful.  Is that an authentic piece?

DR. LUCIA DINA:  Yes, it is.

BURT WOLF:  Ah ha.  So during the Renaissance you had to be very careful about your weight.  You couldn’t just gain a couple of extra pounds and go into the tailor and say “Hey, Tony, would you let it out, I put on a little weight at lunch!”  I guess you could let it out, but it would cost you a fortune.

Bagatti Valsecchi is a little family place.  For a big-budget production, take a look at Castello Sfozesco.

Castello Sfozesco is a huge fortified castle and the 15th century home of the Sforza family.  The most famous of the clan was Francesco, a mercenary who became the Duke of Milan, and would duke it out with anybody if the money was right.  An iron hand in an iron glove.  Today the old homestead is a museum with paintings, sculpture, and craftswork. What most visitors to the Castello don’t see is one of the world’s great collections of antique musical instruments, and its just down the hall.

MARC BELLASAI:  Well this is a harpsichord that was probably built in 1571.  It’s almost entirely the original instrument...

Marc Bellassai is a Fulbright Scholar working at the Castello, and studying the history of Italian music.

MARC BELLASSAI: The museum has given us permission this morning to play it.  I’ve tuned it and I’ve even found a chair from the same period that I can sit in...

BURT WOLF:  Oh... it’s a nice matching set... this little sign says “don’t touch,” but it’s not for us.  Go ahead.

MARC BELLASAI:  Okay let me open up the lid here.  Now, Italian harpsichords from this period were actually two instruments in one.  The inner instrument, which is the real part, the business end, and the outer case, which you can see here is decorated in gilt leather from the 1500s.

BURT WOLF:  Oh!

MARC BELLASAI:  And, uh, here let’s give it a spin.

BURT WOLF:  Before piano bars, were there harpsichord bars?

MARC BELLASAI:  This is the Renaissance harpsichord bar and while we’re here I’ve got another wonderful instrument to show you.  Here this is an organ built in Naples around the beginning of the nineteenth century.  And it’s got a very peculiar tuning system which I’ll show you in a minute.  But first there’s a small detail -- uh, you’re collecting those...

BURT WOLF:  Yes, “don’t touch.”  Part of my collection.

MARC BELLASAI:  Since electricity costs a lot in Milan, uh, you’ll have to work the bellows.  It’s very simple.  It’s not too strenuous.  You can leave your jacket on.  When you push the one down all the way to the bottom...

BURT WOLF:  Push this one down...

MARC BELLASAI:  All the way down, go ahead...

BURT WOLF:  Okay...

MARC BELLASAI:  To the bottom... now when it gets up to halfway, you let it go, push this one down...

BURT WOLF:  This is the halfway mark...so when that gets to halfway, then I push this one down... okay.

MARC BELLASAI:  That’s so the organ doesn’t go “ugh” in the middle of what I’m playing.

BURT WOLF:  I want to talk to my agent about this before we do any more.  All right let’s go...let’s go.

MARC BELLASAI:  Okay, here’s the same piece that I played before. 

BURT WOLF:  You get tipped for this or it’s just a regular set fee?

The antique instrument collection at Castello is only a small part of what Milan has to offer in terms of music.  This is the church of Saint Maurizio.  It was built in 1503 as part of a Benedictine convent. The community of 99 nuns came from the aristocratic families of Milan. They had the walls decorated with frescos that depicted scenes from the Bible, as well as pictures of the countryside. The landscapes brought the outside world into the convent and showed the women places that they were no longer allowed to visit. The organ was commissioned by the nuns under a contract that guaranteed that it would be bigger than any other in Milan.  It has been restored and once again presents the sounds of the Renaissance.  Dr. Alessandro Boccardi is an authority on Milanese music, and is demonstrating the instrument’s range.

Milan is also the home of the most famous opera house in the world, Teatro alla Scala.  It was built on the site of an old church called Santa Maria della Scala, “Saint Mary of the Steps,” and that is the origin of the theater’s name.

BURT WOLF:   You can start whenever you’re ready...    

La Scala opened in 1778 with a work written by Antonio Salieri.  He was the court composer in Vienna, and the teacher of Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt.  But in the end, he will probably be remembered as the bad guy who tried to kill Mozart in the film Amadeus.  Such is the power of the media.

La Scala was the home field for the great composers of Italian opera -- Verdi, Donizetti and Bellini. Puccini used La Scala for the presentation of La Boheme, Tosca, Tourandot, and Madame Butterfly. In 1920 Arturo Toscaninni became the artistic director of La Scala and during a period of reconstruction he took the orchestra on tour to North America. That gave La Scala an international reputation.

Attached to the main theater is a museum that contains an extensive collection of objects relating to the history of Italian opera.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The first Italian opera was presented in 1594.  It had grown out of the little musical spectacles that were being presented in the homes of the aristocracy to mark an important occasion: something like a birth, or a wedding, or a royal visit.  Eventually they became full-blown drama set to music. They also moved out of the homes and into the public theater at which point they became more varied, more dramatic, and more violent.

The opera season at La Scala runs for six months and starts each year on the 7th of December, which is the birthday of St. Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan. Getting a ticket through the box office is almost impossible. But if a visit to La Scala is your dream, you might consider the services of the baggarini.  The baggarini are highly specialized dealers who traffic in opera tickets. They pay students to stand on line at the box office, often for days at a time. The tickets that are purchased by the students are turned over to the dealers, who resell them for between two and five times the original price. That dog, by the way, is a special guide dog.  If you give him the code word, he will lead you to his master, who will sell you a ticket.  An easier system, however, is to consult with the concierge at a good hotel, who can usually direct you to the services of the baggarini.  But don’t say I didn’t warn you about the price!

In 1987 the Four Seasons group purchased an 18th century palazzo in the most fashionable district of Milan, and started converting it into a small hotel.  As the construction got underway the workmen discovered columns that looked considerably older than the palazzo.  Then a fresco showed up that was clearly from the Renaissance. Within days, they realized that beneath the palazzo was a complete cloister that had belonged to a convent founded in 1428.  The original plans for the building were given up. A new design was made and based on the ancient structure. The cloister became the center of the hotel.  The lobby is the original chapel.  The public and private rooms surround a garden that was modeled on 15th century period drawings.

Everything about the hotel is quiet and restful and the nuns would have enjoyed that aspect.  But they were an order that avoided the comforts of life, so there’s no telling how they would have responded to one of the most luxurious properties in Italy.  Twenty-four hour room service. Twenty-four hour concierge service. A staff devoted to comforting their guests. A restaurant that has become a favorite of local food lovers as well as the residents of the hotel.  It’s quite possible that the nuns might have none of this. On the other hand, Saint Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, was into the good life and he would have loved it. Especially the cooking.

This is executive chef Sergio Mei, and he’s preparing a traditional Milanese dish that he’s adapted for the home kitchen --minestrone alla Milanese, the vegetable soup of Milan.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Let me show you what’s in this recipe:  onions, leeks, celery, carrots, potatoes, green beans, fava beans, savoy cabbage, zucchini, spinach, parsley, tomatoes, tomato sauce, rice and at the end, parmesan cheese.

And here’s what happens to them.  First, a little olive oil goes into a large sauté pan or stock pot.  As soon as the oil is hot, in goes a cup of chopped onion... a cup of chopped leek... a cup of chopped celery... two cups of chopped carrots... two cups of chopped cabbage (if you can get Savoy cabbage it’s best but any cabbage will do).  Then two cups of fava beans go in... followed by one cup of green beans that have been cut into small pieces.  Next, two cups’ worth of potatoes that have been peeled and diced.  A little stirring.  Then one cup of cubed zucchini, a cup of chopped spinach and a half cup of tomato sauce. A little more stirring. The in go six cups of warm chicken broth.  All that simmers for five minutes, at which point two cups of rice go in... a little salt... more stirring and fifteen minutes more of simmering with the cover off.

While that’s cooking, two tablespoons of rosemary are sautéed in an ounce of olive oil and then added to the soup. Then a quarter cup of chopped parsley and a half cup of grated parmesan cheese go in. A quick taste --

BURT WOLF:   Fantastico!

-- and it’s ready to serve.

Sergio’s second recipe is for chicken in a citrus sauce. A little salt goes onto a chicken that has been cut in half and had all of the bones removed expect for those in the legs. When I do this dish at home I will probably use boneless chicken breasts with the skin on.  Life in the kitchen should be as easy as possible.  A few grinds of fresh pepper go on.  A few sprigs of rosemary.  Some sliced garlic.  Some slices of shallot, and a little oil.  The chicken marinates for a moment in those ingredients while a half ounce of olive oil heats up in a sauté pan. The chicken goes in with the marinade ingredients and cooks on one side for five minutes or until the skin has begun to crisp. Then it’s turned over and gets five more minutes of cooking. Two ounces of pine nuts are added. A little white wine... a hit of red wine vinegar... the juices of a lemon, the juices of an orange and three tablespoons of chicken broth are added. Two tablespoons of raisins.  Five minutes of simmering, and it’s into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for ten minutes. When it comes out, the chicken is removed from the pan and a sauce is made by adding a little chicken stock and scraping the pan drippings into it. Then the chicken is sliced... placed onto a serving plate with some polenta and topped with the sauce.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well, that’s a quick look at the Italian city of Milan -- world famous for business and fashion -- but when you get to know the place, you find out that it’s just as important in terms of history, art, music, and great food.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Burt Wolf's Menu: Campania, Italy - #110

The Italian region of Campania has some of the most beautiful landscape in Europe.  Its resort village of Positano is world famous for its picturesque charm. And the entire district is the birthplace of what most North Americans consider their favorite Italian foods.  It’s also home to a group of extraordinary wines.  So join me in Campania, Italy for BURT WOLF’S MENU.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The province of Campania is situated on the southwest coast of the Italian peninsula.  During the 800s B.C., the ancient Greeks settled in here, and by the first century A.D. everybody who was anybody in the Roman Empire wanted to have a vacation home around here.  The style of the place was a mixture -- a little bit of the Hamptons on Long Island, some Malibu beach from just outside Los Angeles, and a light dusting of Aspen, Colorado. Virgil had a place here, Horace, Ovid, even Cicero -- and the traffic from Rome on the weekends was murder. 

But the area was not just a spot for holidays.  The main city of the province was Naples and from the very beginning of its history it was a major port.  If you were going to do business, or make war in the ancient world, controlling Naples was a primary objective.  The Romans hung on for a few centuries, but when Rome fell, so did the fortunes of the region of Campania. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The German tribes came through and sacked everything.  Then the Moslem Saracens came up from the eastern Mediterranean.  Next were the Norman Knights.  They were passing through the neighborhood on the way home from their Crusades in the Holy Land.  When they got a good look at the land around the Bay of Naples, well, there was no going home for those boys. 

After a while the Normans lost control and the Germans of the Holy Roman Empire took over.  The French had a crack at running the place.  Spain controlled the area for a time, through the great power of the Bourbons. And the Austrians ruled for a while through the Hapsburgs. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  For over 3,000 years, Campania was just a pawn to foreign powers, but all that changed in the mid-1800’s when Garibaldi united the districts of this peninsula into modern Italy. Of course, more foreigners come here than ever before, but they are no longer tyrants, just tourists.

Both the ancient Greeks and the Romans were impressed with the quality of Campania’s soil.  It was an ideal place for growing fruits and vegetables, and olive trees produced excellent olive oil.  The hills were planted with vineyards that yielded highly respected wines.  The climate was mild enough for the planting of citrus crops and the growing season lasted all year long.  At about 600 A.D., water buffaloes were brought here from India and today great herds of their descendants are used to produce the finest mozzarella cheese.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  For just about a thousand years, foreign rulers made Campania a difficult environment for the average person.  So when the chance arose for them to immigrate to North America, many of them did so.  During the period from 1880 to 1920 over four million Campaniase moved to the United States and Canada. But unlike the groups that moved before them, they flatly refused to change the way they ate in the old country.  As a result, today, when we think about Italian food, most of the time we are thinking about food that comes from the area areound Naples.

Let’s start with pasta.  When you talk about pasta there are two basic types.  There is fresh pasta, traditionally made every day at home, usually flat, a specialty of the northern part of the country, and until very recently, not very common in North America.  Then there is dry pasta, produced in factories, and hard and round instead of flat and soft. This is the specialty of the southern part of Italy. Its most common form is spaghetti and it has become as basic to the diet of North Americans as hamburgers and hot dogs.  The factories of Campania have been producing dried pasta in the form of spaghetti, or in one of its variations, since the 1400’s. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Now if you think spaghetti is a major contribution to North American eating habits, as Jimmy Durante used to say, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Naples has an extraordinary reputation for great ice cream, and it was an immigrant to the United States from Naples, one Philip Lenzi who ran the first advertisement for ice cream made in a factory.  It was in a New York newspaper, and the year was 1777.  So:  before Breyers, before Sealtest, before Haagen Daaz, before Ben or Jerry, there was Lenzi. But as they say in television -- don’t go away, there’s more!  It was from Naples that North America received its first pizza delivery.

The word pizza means “pie,” and in one form or another it has been part of the diet of people in the near east and around the Mediterranean for thousands of years.  The pizza of Campania is descended from an ancient Roman breakfast which was made up of a flat piece of baked dough, with an assortment of toppings.  It had a raised edge so you could eat it easily by hand and not lose any of the topping.  When we use the word pizza in North America we are usually talking about the pizza of the Campanian city of Naples. It can be presented in a size that is big enough to give a course to a number of eaters at a dinner, or as a meal in itself for a single person.  In Naples there are two pizzas that are considered authentic, and truly appreciated by everyone. Pizza Napoletana, made with tomatoes and garlic and oregano... and what appears to be the hometown favorite, Pizza Margherita, containing tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil. Though sometimes there is an addition of oregano, or parsley.  The essential aspect of the Margherita is that the three major ingredients represent the colors of the Italian flag:  green, white, and red.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Now, this pizza comes along with a story.  It’s the story of a local pizza baker named Raffaelo Esposito. One day Raffaelo gets a call that the visiting King Umberto I wants him to come over and bake a pizza so he can have a taste of this local specialty. Raffaelo grabs all of his gear and his ingredients and heads over to the king’s apartment.  He bakes him a pizza, but he only uses ingredients that are the colors of the Italian flag.  And then, for extra points, he names it after the King’s wife, Queen Margherita of Savoy. Great shot.

Just around the corner from Naples is the town of Positano.  Positano clings to a semi-circle of cliffs that rise up from a cove in the Mediterranean.  The name probably comes from Poseidon, who was the ancient Greek god of the sea. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Positano has a long and interesting history.  During the ninth century it was one of the cities of the Amalfi Republic, and very powerful. A group of them actually got together and wrote the first laws covering the sea.  During the tenth century, Positano became a major trading center, and eventually did so much business with the Middle East that many of the merchants here became extraordinarily wealthy. A lot of that trade was done in the spice business. But when steamships came along in the 1800’s, business, and life, pretty much passed Positano by.  There were eight thousand residents at the time, and six thousand of them decided to get up and look for work in New York City -- many of them settling into buildings on Manhattan’s Columbus Avenue.  Now, for many years I lived and worked on Columbus Avenue, so I feel very comfortable and at home in Positano.

Positano is a excellent example of the picture-perfect Italian fishing village that has decided to welcome a limited number of English speaking tourists.  As you come into Positano there is only one street and it only goes one way.  Which is to say that all roads in Positano lead out, and once you are out all roads lead in.  Sounds confusing, and it is.  The waterfront has the required display of beach chairs and cafes.  There’s a shop that for over 30 years has been making sandals while you wait... which seems a long time to wait...  There is a vendor who is famous for pottery with a particular style that is associated with the Amalfi coast, and dozens of small boutiques that appear to be selling the same clothing.  Actually they are not the same, they are just all representative of a local fashion.  There’s also a shop that can show you the latest Big Town vogue. Positano’s geographic position places it just across the bay from a location of considerable importance in classic literature. In the ancient Greek story of the Odyssey, the hero describes the challenges of his journey in the following words:  “The first adventures that we had to overcome awaited us on the Isle of Sirens.  These are nymphs who sing so infatuatingly that they bewitch everyone who listens to them.  They sit on the green shore and sing their magic music.  Whosoever lets himself be enticed across to them will meet his end.”

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And so Ulysses had himself tied to the mast, and his ears stuffed with wax so he could sail safely by the Sirens.  Legend has it that those islands out there are the very same islands that Ulysses was talking about.  They’re right opposite Positano.  For many years they belonged to the Sersale family, whose family has been in this neighborhood for over 900 years.  They’re still in view of the Sersales, who have taken up residence on the mainland. 

This is their home and it is called Le Sirenuse which means... The Sirens.  Actually their home is a series of apartments in the center of these buildings.  Very slowly and very carefully, since 1953, they have been adding additional rooms and turning the property into a beautiful resort. There are 60 rooms, all of which face out on the sea.  The entire property really has the feeling of a large family home in which you have been given your own living area.  The furnishings are mostly the property of the family and the public rooms are set up as small individual areas so that you always have a sense of privacy.  The pool... the outdoor bar... the terrace dining room... all look out on the sea.  These days it’s run by Antonio Sersale, whose love of good food has led him to open a cooking school in the hotel.  A school that is devoted to preserving and teaching the classical and traditional dishes of Neapolitan cookery. Today Antonio and Chef Alfonso Mazzacano are instructing their students in the proper preparation of Neapolitan meatloaf.  My kind of dish.

The chef is making two loaves, but I’m going to give you a recipe for one.  Start by placing five slices of white bread into a bowl and letting them soak in a quarter of a cup of milk.  The bread sits together with the milk for a few moments, at which point the milk is squeezed out and the bread is torn up and added to two pounds of ground beef.  Two tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese are added, some salt and pepper, a quarter cup of chopped parsley, a clove of chopped garlic, and three eggs.  All those ingredients get mixed together.

ANTONIO SERSALE:   Very important to mix it with your hands, making sure that all the ingredients are blended in together; really nothing better than your hands to mix the meat together.

The mixture sits aside for a moment while the chef makes a flat omelet with two eggs.  While the omelet is cooking, the chef makes two flat discs out of the beef mixture... they’re about an inch thick.  A few thin slices of ham go on.  A few slices of mozzarella cheese.  Then the omelet.  The meat is rolled up to make a tube with the ham, mozzarella and omelet in the center.  Sometimes the chef puts a towel around the cylinder to help shape it.  Then the loaf is given a light coating of flour and sauteed in some oil for a minute or two on each side to give it a golden brown outside color.  Then into a heat-proof pan and into a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for an hour.  When it comes out, it’s ready to serve.

ANTONIO SERSALE:   There is a variation on this preparation, insofar as that if you do not want the meatloaf to fry in oil, you can place it in silver foil that has been slightly oiled and then place it in the oven.

Either way, it’s sliced and served with potatoes, string beans and tomatoes. 

The second recipe from Le Sirenuse is not being prepared for the cooking school.  It’s just lunch for me, Antonio and the chef, and it is pasta with olives and capers. The chef starts by heating a sauté pan and then adding in a little olive oil.  As soon as the oil is hot, in go three anchovy fillets.  Standard stuff.  The same type of anchovy fillet that you would find in any North American market.  The anchovies are stirred around and broken up in order to flavor the oil.  Then two cloves of minced garlic are added, plus a pinch of crushed dried red pepper.  Those ingredients cook for a moment at which point they are joined by a half cup of black olives, and a half cup of green olives, both pitted and sliced.  Next in... two teaspoons of capers, a tablespoon of oregano, a tablespoon of minced fresh parsley and a quarter cup of chopped fresh basil.  A minute of cooking and stirring and a cup of canned Italian plum tomatoes are added with their juices.  That is the basic sauce and it simmers for about five minutes.  Meanwhile, four quarts of water are brought to the boil. Then in goes a pound of linguini pasta.  The pasta cooks for between six and ten minutes, until it is just done, but you can still feel a distinct firmness.  The only way to know when it’s ready is to keep tasting it.

ANTONIO SERSALE:   In the south of Italy, people like their pasta al dente; they want to be able to feel its crunchiness, and, in fact, when they sit to the table, the first fifteen minutes of conversation are dedicated to how well the pasta is cooked.

When the pasta is ready, it is drained from the water and goes into the sauce to be coated.  A few flips.  A little stirring.  A final addition of about a quarter of a cup of chopped basil and it’s ready to go onto the plate.

Positano is right next to Pompeii and Herculaneum and a number of other leading archeological sites of Italy.  Two thousand years ago this was a very important spot in the ancient Roman Empire.  It was part of the largest metropolis on the west coast of Italy, busy and growing.  The volcanic Mount Vesuvius had always stood nearby but the people who had the job of predicting the future by looking at the entrails of animals told everybody that Vesuvius was asleep, and not to worry.  Well, those guys should have used those chicken livers to make pate.  On the 24th of August, 79 A.D., Vesuvius blew its stack. Pliny the Younger, a writer of the time, described the event as a blast that sent flaming lava and hot earth into a cone that rose up into the sky for some 50,000 feet.  The hot gases and ash that came down into the towns suffocated the inhabitants and buried the area under more than 20 feet of debris. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   The buildings lay hidden until the 1700’s when they were rediscovered, and archeological research like the one here is still going on.  We’re learning more and more about the way the ancient Romans lived, especially about the way they ate.  One of the most amazing buildings belonged to a guy who was a saucemaker.  He produced something like ketchup, and it was used pretty much the way we use ketchup in the United States and Canada today.  Or in the way the Japanese use soy sauce. It was called “Garum,” and the recipe appears to be to take a lot of fish and a lot of salt salt and some spices and throw it into a barrel, and leave the barrel in the sun for a couple of months.  When historians have tried to reproduce this dish, they found something that was very salty and kind of unattractive. But they have an explanation of why the Romans might have loved it.  The Romans cooked in pots that contained lots of lead, so a lot of them had lead poisoning. One of the symptoms of lead poisoning is an inability to taste salt. So they added more and more salt to their diet. Some of the historians also believe that lead poisoning was also a reason for some of the bizarre behavior in the Roman empire.  A good reason to watch out for lead in our own diets.

The Greeks and Romans and just about everyone else who has lived in or visited this part of the world has been impressed with the local wine.  Campania is one of the world’s oldest regions for the production of wine.  Historians tell us that the ancient Greeks planted vineyards here, and there is clear evidence that the ancient Romans produced some of their best wines in the soil of Campania.  Part of the reason that the soil is so productive is that it is filled with nutrient-rich volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius. I guess every volcanic cloud has a silver lining.

The ancient Romans had some favorite grape varieties from the area, too.  One was called Aglianico. The Romans had called this grape Vitis Hellenica meaning “Greek Vine.” Another variety was called Fiano.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  For years the it was thought that the Fiano grape was extinct.  Then in 1952 a local wine expert by the name of Antonio Mastroberardino discovered a small group of them growing wild.  He decided that what he was gonna do was bring them back to the quality that had made them famous during the time of the ancient Romans. 

The Mastroberardino family started making wine in the 1500’s.  By the 1700’s they were cellaring wines and today they are the most important winemaking family in southern Italy.  Antonio and his sons, Piero and Carlo, are the present generation.  In spite of the 400 years of winemaking tradition in the household, everyone is extremely interested in developing the most advanced technology for their production. And because their winery is really relatively small, the family has been able to do some interesting things.  It’s an ideal place to follow the more advanced methods for making wine.  Carlo conducts the tour.

CARLO MASTROBERARDINO:  Basically when the, when the grapes arrive, they are thrown into this vat, and from here they arrive to the crushing machine. 

BURT WOLF:   So the grapes come from the field here --

CARLO MASTROBERARDINO:  (over)  That’s right --

BURT WOLF:   -- and they’re dumped right in, and then they are pushed along and crushed.  The stems are separated out, and they go away --

CARLO MASTROBERARDINO:  What happens with the stems is that we collect them and we bring them back to the vineyards, because they’re an excellent natural fertilizer. ... The next step of the process is pressing.  What we have here is four soft horizontal presses.  As you can see, there are quite too many for a small winery like ours.  However, the reason for having them is the fact that we don’t like to press different juices one on top of the other at any part of this process; we like to keep separating all of the aromas and the flavors of the different juices.  Therefore, one press is, for the whole time of the harvest time, is going to be working on the juice that we use to make the wine Fiano.  The second one is only working for the juice that we need to make the wine Greco; the third one, for Lacryma Christi, and then, the fourth press is used only for the Aglianico juice, which is the juice that we use for our red wine, Taurasi. ... After pre-filtering, the juice, which at this point is left without the skins, goes to the second filtering machine, which is a more selective one.  As you can see, this is the output of a lot of solid particles that were left in the juice from the vineyard and that now are being taken away.  And you can see the difference, which is amazing enough, in these two glasses.  This juice is prior filtering, this is after filtering.

BURT WOLF:   Amazing.  ... The wood is a natural way of drawing things out of the wine that you don’t want in it --

CARLO MASTROBERARDINO:  Basically, yes --

BURT WOLF:   -- and putting flavors in.

CARLO MASTROBERARDINO:  That’s right, that’s right.  Now the wines are made, fermentations are completed, and the red wines arrive to the wooden casks, made of Slavonian oak, where they do their time of maturation in wood.  We use Slavonian oak casks for our big reds, Taurasi and Lacryma Christi red, as you can see on this side.  Instead, on this side, you see some concrete vats, which are not really used anymore, but they’re kept because they represent a moment of our history.  In fact, they were built right after World War II.  And they were built because the original casks were destroyed by the German army as they were leaving this area.  They didn’t want to leave any type of food or beverage to the enemy, the American army, and therefore they came here and they shot into the barrels.  After the war, we had to start working again right away.  There were no barrel makers, there was no money in the company, and therefore the concrete vats were the only escapeway to start working again.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   These days Mastroberardino is using these ancient grape varieties to produce some of the finest wine in Italy.  You know, in a time when we are losing many of our agricultural species, and farmers are being forced to choose from a smaller and smaller gene pool, it’s really nice to see someone preserving our ancient agricultural heritage.

In the center of the Italian town of Avellino is the Church of the Oblate, and opposite, a narrow side street without a sign.  But the serious eaters of the neighborhood know precisely where it is because the street is home to a locally famous restaurant, Antica Trattoria Martella.  The restaurant has made its reputation by presenting the traditional home recipes of the region.  And I think the reason there’s no street sign is that the locals want to keep the place a secret.  Today the chef, Joey della Bruna, is preparing Steak Pizzaiola.  The recipe begins by slicing off a steak that is about one inch thick and then trimming away the fat.  A little oil goes into a non-stick pan and as soon as it’s hot in goes the steak.  Two minutes of pan frying on one side, then over it goes for two minutes of pan frying on the other.  A pinch of salt and then off to a warm plate to wait, while the sauce is made.  I like Joey’s system for keeping the steak warm.  He puts a heat-proof plate over a pot of simmering water.  That’s it.  The dish stays warm but not so hot as to continue cooking the steak.

The sauce is made by pouring out the oil that was used to pan-fry the steak and pouring in a little new oil.  Some chopped garlic is added, and a cup of cherry tomatoes that have been cut in half.  If cherry tomatoes aren’t in your market you can use any good quality fresh tomatoes or some good quality canned tomatoes.  The tomatoes are pressed with a spoon to release their juices, at which point a little oregano goes in... some fresh basil... a little more stirring and five minutes of cooking with the cover on.  Then the steak goes into the sauce, the cover goes back on and there’s a final three minutes of cooking. That’s it.  The steak goes onto the serving plate and the sauce on top.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well, that’s my report from the Italian region of Campania.  Whenever I think about it, I’m going to remember that it is from this area that North America got ice cream, pizza and spaghetti.  But I’m also going to remember that it is the home of Mount Vesuvius, that extraordinary volcano.  And as they say in the neighborhood... lava or leave it.   I can’t believe I said that.  Please join me next time; I’m Burt Wolf.

Burt Wolf's Menu: Piedmont, Italy - #108

The Piedmont of Italy... at the foothills of the Alps.... It’s the land of the truffle-hunting dog... discovering white truffles worth more than their weight in gold.  This the place where vermouth was invented and where some of the great wines of Italy are still produced.  And wherever you find good wine, you usually find good food -- and that is clearly the case in Piedmont.  So join me in Piedmont, Italy for BURT WOLF’S MENU.

The Piedmont district of Italy is in the northwest corner of the country, bordering with both France and Switzerland, at the edge of the Alpine mountain range.  The word Piedmont translates into English as “foot of the mountain”, which is an excellent description of the terrain.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   During the 1500's, Turino, the capital city of the Piedmont, was also the capital city of the Kingdom of Savoy.  Savoy was an independent dukedom that ended up battling most of its neighbors in order to survive.  In those days, in addition to whatever else it is you did for a living, you were also a soldier.  This was a tough neighborhood and it toughened up the people who lived in it.  The mountains and the military shaped the mentality. The result is the people of Piedmont have ended up with a serious devotion to hard work in tough times, but it’s also balanced by a love of a good time.  And very often, that good time is found in good food and good wine.  In moderation, of course.

The Po and Tanaro rivers flow through Piedmont creating a fertile plain... a plain that has produced crops of the highest quality for thousands of years.  Barley, wheat, rye, and oats... some of our most ancient crops are grown here and used to produce excellent breads.  Corn is ground into meal and used to make Polenta. Polenta is an ancient corn pudding that for centuries was the food of the rural poor.

There are apples... pears... grapes and wonderful pomegranates.  Walnuts.  Chestnuts... and the famous hazelnuts of Alba.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   The area is also famous for its rice.  During the 1780’s Thomas Jefferson was bouncing around Europe making friends and drumming up business for the newly formed United States of America.  Like most gentlemen farmers of the time, he was always on the lookout for something new and valuable to bring back to his land in the U.S.  As he passed through the Piedmont area of Italy, he began to collect local samples of the seed rice.  It was already famous as the best rice in Europe.  He took those samples back to North America and made a valuable contribution to our rice industry.  To say, um, “took” the rice isn’t totally accurate, though.  What Jefferson did was “smuggle” the rice.  The farmers of the Piedmont already knew how valuable their seed rice was and had passed a group of laws preventing its removal from the area. 

The cooking of Piedmont is often similar to the type of cooking that you’d find in the Alpine areas of France and Switzerland.  The older recipes took the heat that was being generated in the hearth to warm the home and gave it an additional role as the fire for cooking.  Roasting on spits... long slow cooking in big pots that hold the heat.  It is the cooking of mountain families. Cooking that is filling and healthful for the lifestyle of the people who created it.  The cows that graze up and down from the Alpine meadows produce some excellent milk that is used to make some of Italy’s finest butter and cheese.  Dense and flavorful fontina cheese is used to make one of the most traditional dishes of Piedmont.  It’s called fonduta. Fontina is melted and mixed with butter, milk, egg yolks, and white pepper.  On top, a layer of thinly sliced white truffles.  It is served in individual plates and eaten like a soup.  Another specialty of Piedmont is called bagna calda which literally means “hot bath.”  Olive oil, butter and chopped garlic are heated together in a sauce pan.  Chopped anchovies and salt are added and the mixture is served in small individual bowls that are kept warm over heaters or candles.  Slices of raw vegetables -- carrot, artichoke, celery, sweet pepper, and cauliflower, are brought to the table, dipped into the hot oil and eaten as a first course.

Bollito misto is beef, chicken, and ham cooked together and served with vegetables and dipping sauces.  And when it comes to sweets, Piedmont is unbeatable. Baci di dama means “lady kisses”. They are little cookie sandwiches made of nuts and chocolate.  Tiny triangles of hazelnut chocolate called Gianduiotto.  The torrone of Alba, a hazelnut and honey nougat.  Cookies called brut e bon, which means “ugly and good”.  I can’t spot the ugly but I can sure taste the good.  Chocolate truffles that got their name because when they were first made, they reminded everyone of the local fungi that grow wild in the forest.  Panna cotta, a cream and caramel pudding.  And those are only the sweets I can remember without checking my notes.  The most famous food of Piedmont, however, is the white truffle.  Often called “tartufo d’Alba” because they come from the area around the town of Alba. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Truffles are usually described as a fungi or a form of mushroom. But unlike any other form of mushroom, truffles grow completely underground.  They start forming during the summer and are ready for eating during October or November.  The trick, of course, is to find one.  The truffles of Piedmont are found by truffle-hunting dogs that are trained at the the truffle-hunting dog university of Italy. The place really exists.  And the dogs and the truffles are worth a fortune.   

The dogs have learned to pick up the scent of the truffle and lead their masters to the spot in which they are growing. The hunting is done at night, for a number of reasons.  The aroma of the truffle is stronger.  Also, the dogs are not distracted by other visual signs. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   And, though no one really likes to talk about it, the darkness hides the location of the truffles from poachers who might come along and steal the harvest. The truffles tend to grow in the same places almost every year, and the hunters don’t want anybody to know about it.  They also go out with tiny flashlights that only shed a little bit of light...no need to shed too much light on this subject.

Dario Renaldi is a one of Italy’s most skillful truffle hunters. Actually, Dario should be called a truffle “gatherer”... the hunting is really done by his dog Lea.

[Truffle hunt; DARIO RENALDI whispers in Italian]

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  That’s really impressive -- a dog that can find truffles!  But you know, what I would really like is a dog that could find the matching sock to my pair!  I wanna go “Fetch!  Fetch!!”  That would really be extraordinary. 

The truffles of Alba like to grow in the same soil that hosts the great vineyards of the area... Vineyards that produce the wonderful Barolo and Barbaresco wines. Now you would think that that would be great for the vineyard owner, but it’s not.  You need lots of rain during the late summer to have top-quality truffles, but lots of rain during the late summer can damage the grape harvest.  White truffles are almost always served raw... sliced paper-thin and dropped on top of a pasta or a risotto or the local cheese fonduta, or just a green salad.  They have an extraordinary affinity with cheese.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The Italian composer Rossini loved white truffles so much that eventually his name became associated with dishes that contain them.  If you see something on a menu with the word Rossini next to it, it means that when the dish was originally introduced, it probably contained white truffles.

Neive is a small, picturesque Piedmont hill-town that looks the way a Piedmont hill-town would look if it was built by a set director in Hollywood.  A main street with structures that have been standing on it for hundreds of years.  An ancient church.  And a good restaurant. The restaurant is called La Contea, and it’s owned by Claudia and Tonino Verro, a husband-and-wife team who do the cooking for the restaurant, and run a small inn that’s part of the establishment.  Today Tonino is preparing a red wine risotto.  He starts by heating a large frying pan; this one has a diameter of twelve inches.  As soon as it’s hot, in goes three tablespoons of olive oil, three tablespoons of chopped rosemary, which Tonino stores in oil, and three tablespoons of chopped garlic which Tonino also stores in oil.  If you’re going to use this technique of keeping your herbs in oil, make sure that you keep the bottle in the refrigerator.  Next in ... a half cup each of chopped onion, chopped celery and chopped carrot.  Cook and stir those ingredients together for a few minutes.  Then add the rice... four cups of standard long grain will work fine.  Two more minutes of cooking and Tonino starts to add some of the local Barolo wine.  The central technique to this recipe is to add the liquid to the rice a little at a time, allowing it to be absorbed before the addition of the next batch of liquid. The two liquids being used in this particular dish are red wine and chicken broth.  But if you wanted to do it just with the broth, you’d still end up with a fine rice dish.  Wine and broth are alternated until the dish is finished, which takes about twenty minutes.  When the rice is ready, a little grated parmesan cheese is sprinkled onto the serving plate.  Then the rice, a few slices of local white truffle, and you’re on the “rice track” to a great meal.

For the second recipe here at La Contea, Tonino and his wife Claudia will be working together as a team.  And they’re preparing a dish of braised beef with vegetables.

The recipe starts with two bottles of red wine being poured into a big pot.  Then a rump roast of beef goes in. Coarsely chopped celery.  Cloves of garlic that have been sliced in half with the peel left on.  Carrots cut into rounds.  Slices of onions are added.  Rosemary.  Bay leaves.  Cumin.  And cloves.  They make sure that the beef is fully submerged in wine, vegetables and spices and then they let it stand in the refrigerator for twelve to twenty-four hours.  When the marinating time is over, a large sauté pan is heated.  In goes a little oil.  About a half cup of rosemary.  Then a little cooking.  Garlic cloves, crushed in their skins, are stirred in.  Then some sliced onion, carrot and celery. 

The meat comes out of the marinade and goes into the sauté pan, where it is browned on all sides.  That takes about ten minutes.  Then the vegetables from the marinade go on top.  Two cups of wine from the marinade are added and the beef is cooked for another ten minutes.  At that point the meat is transferred from the sauté pan to a large roasting pan.  More vegetables from the marinade go on top and it’s into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for two and a half to three hours.  Every half hour during the cooking time the meat is basted with the pan juices and the pan is checked to make sure that there is still liquid inside.  When the beef is ready it comes out of the oven to rest for fifteen minutes.  That will let the juices in the meat settle down and make it easier to slice.  While the meat is resting the roasted vegetables are taken out of the pan and pureed.   The recipe is plated by putting down some polenta, followed by a slice of the meat.  A little of the sauce from the pan drippings.  A tablespoon of chopped red onion. Some parsley. And the always extremely optional slice of white truffle.

Piedmont is also one of the world’s great regions for the production of wine, and the greatest wines of the Piedmont come from the land around the town of Alba.  The most highly prized is Barolo.  To be called a Barolo, the wine must be made from grapes grown in a small, clearly defined area.  The variety of grape must be a Nebbiolo, and the wine must have spent at least three years in a wooden cask.  It’s a rich and full-bodied wine.  Two of the most famous producers of Barolo are Marcello and Bruno Ceretto.  As a matter of fact, they are often referred to as “the Barolo Brothers”. Barolo comes with a lot of tradition.  Tradition that often has more to do with what people liked in the past rather than what we enjoy today. The old Barolos would often overpower the flavor of the food that they were served with.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the 1960’s, the Cerettos decided to lighten things up, to start making a Barolo that reflected the flavors of the soil, and the natural tastes of the grape.  They wanted to avoid the oakiness and tannins that came from unnecessarily long aging in the oak barrels.  So what they did is they reduced the amount of time that the grape juice and the grape skins stayed together after the grapes were crushed.  They reduced the amount of time that the wine stayed in the oak barrels.  But they increased the amount of time that the wine rested in the bottles.  And that proved to be a more gentle form of aging.  Always a good idea.  The result is a Barolo that is lighter and has a lot more of the natural flavor of the Nebbiolo grape.

The Nebbiolo grape is also used to produce Barbaresco, which is the second great wine of the Piedmont.  Wine professionals often point out that even though Barolo and Barbaresco start out with the same grape variety, they are clearly different by the time they get to the glass. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   They are both wines with great strength and power, but the Barolo is a bit more massive -- kind of like the characters that Arnold Schwarzenegger plays.  And the Barbaresco a bit more stylish, kind of like the characters that Clint Eastwood plays.  But having either of those guys on your side is a great idea, or either of those wines on your table. 

The southernmost districts of Piedmont produce the Dolcetto grape.  It is used to make a dark red wine that has a light body and is called Dolcetto d’ Alba. Dolcetto is the wine that is taken to the table everyday by the families of the Piedmont.  One additional grape of the Piedmont that is of considerable importance is the Arneis, which is used to produce Arneis Blange, a straw-colored wine that has a slight spritz.  Once the Ceretto brothers began rethinking the approach to winemaking that had dominated their home town for thousands of years they began to see other things that could be improved.  They were among the first families in the region to own the estates that produced their grapes, and that gave them a real shot at controlling quality. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   They began to concentrate on making wine that would go well with the traditional foods of the Italian diet -- the pastas, the grilled meats, fish and poultry, vegetables, salads, even the desserts.  I think it is a giant step in the right direction.

As Piedmont towns go... Treiso is tiny.  If you blink while you are passing through it, you will miss it. Which would be a shame, because Treiso is home to an interesting restaurant called Tornavento.  Tornavento means weathervane, and in this case it will point you to a restaurant with a very contemporary look. Open and bright, with a wonderful attention to detail. It is owned by Leila Gobino and Marco Serra and they are reworking the traditional recipes of the region. Today Marco is going to start his menu with a recipe for pasta with a meat sauce.  Two tablespoons of olive oil go into a heated sauce pan.  Then two tablespoons of butter.  A sprig of rosemary, a bay leaf, a clove of garlic, a cup of chopped carrot, a cup of chopped onion, and a cup of chopped celery.  All that is stirred and cooked together for about five minutes.  At which point two cups of ground chuck go in.  The beef is browned for a few minutes... a little salt goes in... and then a cup of red wine.  Everything is cooked and stirred until the wine is completely absorbed by the meat.  Then three cups of pureed tomatoes and their juices go in.  Plus two cups of boiling water.  All that simmers together for an hour.  Then the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs come out and a half cup portion of the sauce goes into a saute pan.  A half cup of sauce is considered a proper portion for a single serving.  The general rule of thumb is that a pound of pasta will give six first course servings.  A pinch of butter is added to finish off the dish.  The sauce is kept warm while the pasta is cooked... drained... and added to the sauce.  A few tablespoons of the water that the pasta was cooked in... some freshly grated Parmesiano cheese and the pasta is ready to plate.

For dessert Marco is making a cake that is very traditional for Piedmont... it is based on the locally grown hazelnuts.  He starts by taking the bowl of an electric mixer and putting in one and half cups of ground hazelnuts.  The nuts were ground in a standard food processor.  Next one cup of white sugar... one cup of cake flour and a teaspoon of baking soda.  A half cup of unsalted butter is added.  Then seven eggs are separated and the yolks go into the dry ingredients. The bowl goes onto the mixer.  The paddle attachment goes on and all of the ingredients are mixed together.  That forms the basic batter which is then spread out into a lightly buttered round cake pan that has a nine inch diameter and a depth of about one inch.  A few hits on a flat work surface to get out any air holes and it is ready to go into a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes.  When it comes out, Marco runs a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake.  Then he flips it over onto a plate and then back... so it ends up top down.  You could also use a loose bottomed tart pan... which would make the flip a little easier.  Powdered sugar on top and the cake is finished.  Marco adds a few tablespoons of Zabaglione sauce to an individual slice just before it comes to the table.

The Cinzano family came from a small village in Piedmont called Pecetto. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Pecetto has a long history of growing vines that are used in the making of medical infusions and elixirs, and for over 500 years Cinzano has been involved in this craft.  The original family’s land holdings in the area were so large, that on many of the old maps the area is actually described as “the Cinzano region”.

During the 1780’s a drink came into fashion that was known as vermouth. And soon the Cinzanos began to experiment with a series of formulas for their own version of what is basically a flavored wine.  By the middle of the 1880’s Cinzano Vermouth had become quite popular and was already being exported to other countries.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   When the Cinzanos started their business, Italy had not yet been united into Italy.  The Cinzanos were actually living in the Kingdom of Savoy.  The King at the time was named Charles Albert and he was interested in starting a business for the production of high quality wine.  He was particularly interested in something with bubbles.  He wanted to stop drinking French Champagne and start drinking some of his own stuff. 

The king took part of his royal land holdings south of Turino and set up a winery.  The facility was called Santa Vittoria and the king asked Francesco Cinzano to go there and help with the work.  Francesco was soon producing top quality vermouth and a sparkling wine based on the Muscato grape that grew nearby. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   They called their sparkling wine Asti Spumante, and it became famous as kind of a  “champagne on a budget”.  It was the drink for celebrations with millions of Italians who had immigrated to North America.  But as the Italian community moved up from settlers to socialites, so did Asti. The winemakers were able to take advantage of a series of new production techniques to balance the natural sugar in the grape and end up with a drink that’s good before meals and with desserts. Francesco soon realized that he was in a position to build a large international clientele.  

That’s a portrait of Francesco Cinzano.  He organized a group of salesmen to represent his products around the world.  That’s a photograph from 1863 of two of his first representatives, the Carpaneto Brothers.  Lots of sibling rivalry.  The standing Carpaneto is using this photo op to sneak a look at his brother’s sales notes.  That’s Giuseppe Lampiano. He traveled for the Cinzanos from 1878 to 1922.  Giuseppe was very skillful at fitting in with the locals while introducing them to the joys of his drinks. The most important of which was Vermouth.  A vermouth is basically a wine that has been fortified to the strength of a sherry by the addition of alcohol and sweetened and flavored by the addition of carmelized sugar, herbs and spices.  Vermouth making goes all the way back to the Middle Ages when wine that had begun to turn sour was reflavored with honey and various herbs to bring back a positive taste. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  One of the most common flavoring agents was wormwood.  The German word for wormwood is vermuth, and that is where the modern word “vermouth” comes from.  In Italy the idea of a flavored wine all by itself became popular, and eventually a large industry developed with its own source of good wine.  These days there are basically three types of vermouth on the market. 

There is a dry white, a sweet white, and a sweet red.  The dry white is nice with a little ice or club soda as a before dinner drink.  The sweet white is usually served by itself with a little ice, also as a before meals drink.  The sweet red is best known as an ingredient in various cocktails, like the Manhattan. The most famous role for the dry white is as the flavoring addition to the martini, which thanks to James Bond is probably the most famous cocktail in the world.  The traditional Martini cocktail is four or five parts of dry gin to one part dry vermouth.  Bond used vodka instead of gin... and he shook, rather than stirred.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well, that’s our report from the Piedmont region of Italy... good people, good food, good wine, good-bye.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Burt Wolf's Menu: Show-Siena, Italy - #101

For over a thousand years, Siena has been a center of Italian civilization.  It’s the place to take a look at the landscapes behind the great paintings of the Renaissance... to taste the foods that are basic to the nation’s history... to discover the real story behind the wines of Chianti.  And see a horse race that’s been going on for 700 years.  So join me in Siena, Italy for BURT WOLF’S MENU.

During the past 3,000 years hundreds of different ethnic groups have immigrated to the peninsula that is presently called Italy.  Each immigration made some contribution to the cooking of the land but there were three groups that set the foundations which eventually became what we now call Italian cooking. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The three groups were the Greeks, the Saracens, and the Etruscans. The Greeks and the Saracens influenced the cooking of the south.  The Greeks arrived during the time of ancient Greece and set the base for all southern cooking.  The Saracens popped in around 700 A.D. and superimposed a whole bunch of ideas on top of the Greek base. The north was controlled by the Etruscans.  Nobody’s exactly sure when the Etruscans arrived or where they came from, but the general theory is they came from somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean area, and they arrived somewhere in the 1300s B.C., so they were here very early.  They controlled the north, and the center of the area which they controlled eventually became known as Tuscany.

Tuscany is the heartland of Italy, the very center of its culture and tradition, both artistically and gastronomically.  Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, all came from Tuscany.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   The great food writer Waverly Root believed that the heartland of a country, the place where the national essence has existed longest, was the place that spoke the purest form of the national language and cooked the purest form of the national diet, and they did that cooking in the simplest way.  No fuss, no frills.  He gave a couple of examples.  Touraine speaks the purest French and is famous for its roasted meats.  Castille speaks the purest Spanish and is famous for... its roasted meats.  Tuscany also seems to conform to the idea.   Most authorities believe that Tuscany speaks the purest Italian, and it’s also famous for its roasted, and in this case, also grilled meats.

Steak Florentine is a perfect example of the Tuscan style.  A thick slice of steak is salted and goes onto the grill.  As it reaches the desired point of doneness, a little more salt and some pepper is mixed together with olive oil.  The mixing is done with a sprig of rosemary.  The mixture is brushed onto the steak, and that’s it.  At home, Tuscans love simple food, prepared without complication.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Every time the people of wealth began to move toward a more elaborate foodstyle, the government would pass new and more restrictive laws to prevent it.  They were reshaping their food pyramid into an obelisk.  The people of Tuscany have always avoided excess, and they have an old saying that expresses that attitude:  “We were better off when we were worse off,”

During the 1500’s many new foods were brought back to Italy from the New World, including the tomato.  But it took over 200 years for the Italians to turn the tomato into what it is today.  And even with all those years, they were still the first Europeans to really consider the tomato as an edible part of their general diet.  Lucky for all of us that they did.  Different foods had different levels of success in different parts of Italy.  The tomato is the star in southern Italy but not so in the north... especially in the region of Tuscany.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The New World food that had the most influence in Tuscany was the bean.  The people of Tuscany have so many bean recipes and eat so many beans that they are sometimes called mangiafagioli, “the bean eaters.”  Now, that’s not meant as a compliment but I disagree.  Once you have tasted the bean recipes of Tuscany, to be called a mangiafagioli is a compliment, especially if you know anything about good nutrition.

This is the Tuscan city of Siena.  It is an excellent example of a city that conducted itself as an independent state, what’s called a city-state. It was this form of government that dominated the history of Tuscany for hundreds of years.  It is a city of contrast.  The city symbol is black and white.  The black represents the ancient mysteries of the town’s history, the white stands for the purity of the Virgin Mary.  Most of the buildings are made of a warm rose-colored brick, but the Cathedral is in stark stripes of black and white. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Many Italian writers have described Siena as a feminine and romantic place.  And yet, most of its history is about battles and sieges.  A lot of that warring took place with external enemies, like the dukes of Florence, and the Kings of Spain.  But a lot of it also took place right here between neighborhoods.  Historically, Siena has been divided into 17 districts, called contrade.  They were like independent cities within the big city, and there was lots of rivalry between them.  For hundreds of years, that rivalry expressed itself in physical combat.  Then in the 1200’s the city introduced a competitive horserace, in the hope that that would do away with some of the physical violence.  That race is still held every summer, it’s called the Palio, and it’s become world famous. 

Each neighborhood appoints a captain. Horses and riders are selected and the race is run around a circular plaza in the city center which is called the Piazza del Campo. The ritual around the event is extraordinary. 

The Palazza Pubblico was built in 1310, and it’s the town hall. It contains the State Archives that present a pictorial history of Siena through a series of ancient works of art.  One room contains a famous painting called The Effects Of Good And Bad Government.  It was painted in 1338 by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.  The wise old man and the organized world mark the good government. Bad government is a desert created by evil powers. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  I bought some of post cards of The Effects Of Good And Bad Government and I am going to send them to some people I know in Washington D.C   Just something for them to think about.

And that is Siena’s Cathedral. Its construction was started in the year 1220, and it is an amazing piece of work.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  When it comes to food, Siena has all of the traditional dishes of Tuscany, but its greatest strength is in sweets.  The Saracens brought sugar to Italy and about ten minutes later, Siena had a sweet tooth. 

Its most famous example is Panforte, which means “strong bread.”  Panforte is a medieval spiced bread made from candied orange peel, lemons, almonds, hazelnuts, sugar and honey. It is made by a number of bakeries in Siena and shipped to Italian communities throughout the world. Perhaps the most famous baker of panforte is Nanini, who also has a number of retail shops throughout the town. I have eaten Panforte in Siena, New York, San Francisco, London, and Sydney, Australia.  Wherever there is an Italian community, there is Panforte.  And right next to the Panforte are Ricciarelli, little cookies that are made from almonds, eggwhite and sugar.

In the year 1314 Cardinal Riccardo Petroni ordered the construction of a Carthusian Monastery on the outskirts of the city of Siena.  The well was dug, the tower constructed and the cloister built around them.  During the Renaissance a series of galleries were added along the sides of the courtyard.  Outside the central buildings the monks set up their vineyards so they could produce wine for their services and their table.  Olive trees were planted for olives and olive oil.  Gardens were installed to produce the fruits and vegetables needed to feed the residents. Herbs were cultivated for both medical and gastronomic use.  And for hundreds of years these buildings and the lands around them functioned as an important Monastery. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   By the 20th Century, many of  the monasterial aspects of the property had disappeared, and many of the buildings had fallen into a state of disrepair.  Then in 1969 the Grossi family purchased the property with the intention of turning it into their family home.  Well, it seemed like a really good idea at the time, but as they got into the work they discovered that it was a much bigger idea than anyone had anticipated.   They did eventually restore the monastery, but not as their family home.

Instead of a home, it became a hotel, an extraordinary hotel, called CERTOSA DI MAGGIANO. And it is run by a Grossi daughter named Margherita.

MARGHERITA GROSSI:  In 1969 when we bought it, it was completely destroyed and abandoned.  And when we entered here, all the main cloister was closed.  You had no idea where the swimming pool is; it was all closed.  The main courtyard, completely closed.  But they decided to ride into this adventure and they decided -- they started working, and works went on for five years, continuously, without never stopping.  And then they realized that it was too large.  And one part they divided all into small flats and apartments in order to rent it as a residence.  Then that formula didn’t work at all, and so my mother thought, “Okay, we have such a large room, the boys and girls are to grow up, maybe they want to leave Siena, we can open some rooms to the guests.  And we turned it into a hotel practically immediately.

Across from the 800-year-old courtyard is a large library and game room.  The main dining room has a ancient chandelier and a collection of dishes designed by the architect who rebuilt the monastery.  Breakfast is served in the room that was originally the monks’ kitchen.  There’s a long open gallery that looks out on the swimming pool, and seems to be the ideal spot for lunch during the summer months.  There are only 17 rooms, and two staff members for each. Quite a place to stay in. And just as interesting to eat in.  Today its chef, Vanni Dal Pan, is making a pasta with a chicken sauce.  He starts by heating a sauté pan, adding a little olive oil, a pound of ground chicken, and a little salt and pepper.  The meat is stirred and cooked until it is brown, about four minutes.  Then in goes a cup of chopped vegetables.  It’s a third each of carrot, onion and celery.  That cooks for five minutes.  At which point Vanni adds a half cup of wine.

VANNI DAL PAN:  We put the white wine because we have white meat in the pan.  In case we had beef or other kinds of meat, we’d have to put red wine.

BURT WOLF:   Gotcha.

Next a cup of chopped tomatoes, a bay leaf, a sprig of fresh rosemary, or a half teaspoon of dried, and finally two cups of chicken broth.

VANNI DAL PAN:  And then we let it cook for one hour, one hour and a half, until the tomato gets melted, you know, makes altogether with the sauce.  And we are ready to address our noodles.

While the sauce is cooking the pasta is prepared.  Now, Vanni makes his own fresh pasta because Italian chefs and home cooks of distinction do that sort of thing.  But I want you to know that there are many decent and honest people who are valuable members of the community and actually buy fresh pasta already made.  And I, for one, support their freedom of choice.  When the pasta is ready it goes into a pot of boiling water and cooks for a few minutes.  Then it’s drained from the water and goes into the sauce... with a little of the water it was cooked in.  The bay leaf comes out... and the sauce and the pasta are mixed together. Some freshly grated parmesan cheese is added and the dish is ready to serve.

The first time I visited Certosa and Vanni cooked for me, the meal that he made started with that pasta, then a wonderful dish of chicken with mustard sauce, and for dessert he served this pear tart. And it was that meal that made me want to cook with him.  So, here is his pear tart.  A pear is peeled, cored, quartered and cut into thin slices.  The pear slices are sautéed in two tablespoons of butter until the edges start to turn brown... that’s about four minutes.  Then in goes a quarter cup of red wine.  Two minutes of cooking and the pears are set aside to cool.  A standard pie dough is rolled out... and used to line an individual-sized tart pan.  If you use one with a removable bottom, in the end, life will be easier.  A nine-ince diameter pan also simplifies things.  Two tablespoons of pastry cream are smoothed out onto the dough.  A piece of pound cake about a half inch thick is cut into a round that will fit into the center of the tart and placed on top of the pastry cream.  The pear slices go onto the pound cake.  A second piece of dough is rolled out and made into a top crust.  A little of the extra dough is cut into small heart shapes and placed on top for decoration.  Finally a beaten egg is painted on, to give a deep color to the finished pie and a crispness to the crust.  Twelve minutes in a 350 degree oven and the tart is ready.  A little plum sauce goes onto a plate... the tart... a scoop of peach ice cream and a dusting of powdered sugar.  While we’re looking at this tart I would like to remind all of us that there are no good foods and there are no bad foods.  There are only inappropriate amounts.  A half portion of this will be just fine.

Starting just below the city of Florence and running south to just above the city of Siena is an ancient district known as Chianti. For centuries the people of Florence battled against the citizens of Siena for control of this area.  During the 1300’s the Florentines organized the Chianti League which brought the small cities of Chianti into a buffer zone designed to give Florence a shield against the regular attacks of the Sienese troops.  As you drive through Chianti, along the road that connects Siena to Florence, you can still see the fortified castles and villages on the hilltops.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   In the end, Chianti’s fame as a location for battles may be short-lived in comparison to its fame as a location for bottles -- bottles of wine, that is.  We know that the ancient Etruscans made wine here as early as the ninth century B.C.  And when the Romans popped in a bit later, they considered it an important wine-producing area, too.  The local farmers by 700 A.D. were actually making a wine that they called Chianti.  And when  Cosimo dei Medici of Florence, finally defeated the Sienese armies in a famous battle of 1555, the local farmers could forget about making war and concentrate on making wine, and within a few years were exporting excellent vintages.

For many years the wicker-covered bottle of Chianti set on a red and white checked tablecloth was the symbol of the neighborhood Italian restaurant in North America.  As more and more neighborhood Italian restauants opened, Chianti produced more and more wine, until the district was on the verge of destroying its reputation for quality. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  At which point the government decided to come in and solve the problems.  So the government made some rules.  Still problems.  So the government made some more rules.  But there were still problems.  So the government made some more rules, and by the 1970’s, you had some great rules, but it was almost impossible to make great wine.  So some of the wine producers in Chianti who were interested in quality decided to take matters into their own hands, or feet, as the case may be, and just make wine. 

As a general rule a bottle of Chianti that is marked Chianti Classico Riserva will be considerably better than one that is not.  And there are a whole series of wines that are made in Chianti that are excellent but do not carry the government label of Chianti.  The winemakers describe them as nome di fantasia, which means “wines with fantasy names,” and many of them are actually the best wines of Chianti.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And so, I would like to propose a small toast to the English philospher John Locke, who said that in many cases, not all, but many... the government that governs least is the government that governs best.

One of the winemakers who decided to make the very best wine possible was Fabrizio Bianchi.  Fabrizio’s family is famous in the textile business, and he has been an active member of the firm for many years.  As a matter of fact, he’s the President.  But he has always believed that the same skills that are used to blend together various colors and textures into fabrics would lend themselves to making great wine.  And so in 1962 he purchased an estate in Tuscany, just north of Siena, and decided to try and prove his point.  It’s quite a place.  The main building is a villa from the 1700’s... there are almost 200 acres of vineyards... a road built by the ancient Romans... stands of cypress, and an orchard of olive trees.  The property was known as Monsanto after the district that it occupied.  Today, Monsanto is known as the name of one of the most respected wines to come out of the Chianti region. 

But in addition to the story of wine, there is also an unusual story of love.  Just after she graduated from the University of Milano law school, Fabrizio’s daughter Laura realized that she preferred fermentation to litigation. So she came down to work in the family winery.  She also fell in love with the son of another winemaker in the neighborhood.  When they began to talk about getting married they decided that the real test of their relationship would be to try and produce a wine together, a wine that they both liked.  When they finally finished making their wine, Laura felt that the wine would be perfect for drinking at a wedding and yet it would have the capacity to age well for a long time.  And that was enough for her to say “yes”.  Today Laura is taking me on a tour of her vineyards and I am taking the next generation of Bianchi winemakers for a little fresh air.

LAURA BIANCHI:  ...and we are doing harvest, and we have to decide if it’s ready to pick. 

BURT WOLF:   How do you decide when it’s ready to pick?

LAURA BIANCHI:  Well, there is a scientific system; we use this instrument.  We take some berries, and the juice [is] put here... we close, we look inside, and this says how much sugar there is inside of the branch, and so how much alcohol there will be in the wine.

BURT WOLF:    Oh yes, I see a dark line across the numbers.

LAURA BIANCHI:  Right.

BURT WOLF:   How much alcohol do you usually like?

LAURA BIANCHI:  Uh, thirteen, thirteen-point-five.

BURT WOLF:   Lots of science.

LAURA BIANCHI:  Yeah.  But there is also another, simple method.  We take some berries, the same berries -- [pops grape into her mouth]  Just ready to pick.

BURT WOLF:   (Laughing)  I could learn that system!  Wonderful.

All too often people who are serious about wine forget that wine is not really made for professional tasting but as something for families to drink with meals.  Fortunately, that is a concept which is never lost in the Monsanto Villa.  Laura’s mother Julianna is a great cook and today she is preparing a traditional Tuscan soup called Ribollita. She starts her preparation by mincing half a red onion.  Then a leek is cut into small pieces.  If leeks are not easily available you can substitute a white onion.  The leek and the onion go into a stock pot followed by a quarter of a cup of olive oil.  The ingredients are stirred together and the pot goes over a medium flame.  That cooks for a few minutes while a carrot is cut into small cubes and added to the pot.  Then a cup of chopped celery goes in.  A cup of chopped cabbage.  In this case it is Savoy cabbage and if you can get that in your market... great.  It adds an authentic flavor to the dish.  Next a cup of chopped Swiss chard or spinach.  A cup of zucchini that’s been cut into small pieces.  A peeled, cubed potato.  Five minutes of cooking and stirring and in go two cups of pureed tomatoes.  While that’s simmering three cups of precooked white beans are pureed and added in. Finally, a little salt and pepper and  water.  Add enough water to cover the vegetables and then add the same amount of water again.  Three hours of simmering over a low flame and the ribollita is ready.  However, since ribollita mean “reboiled,” the dish is usually not served until the next day.  At which point, a bread with a hard crust is cut into slices and used to line the bottom of a serving bowl.  The soup is reboiled and ladled over the bread and a few drops of oil are drizzled on top.  This is Tuscan home cooking at its best.

For a second course, Juliana is making a spinach dumpling called strozzapreti.  Four cups of fresh spinach are cooked in boiling water, after which all the water is squeezed out, and the spinach coarsely chopped. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  This piece of equipment is called a mezzaluna.  It means “half-moon,” and the name is chosen because of the shape.  It’s used instead of a chef’s knife to do chopping, and it’s done either straight up and down or in a rocking motion.  So if you’re afraid to use a large chef’s knife, you feel it’s inconvenient, this is a great substitution.

Next the spinach goes into a sauce pan where it is heated and stirred and dried out a little more.  Then the spinach is transferred to a bowl and a cup of ricotta cheese is blended in.  A quarter of a cup of flour... one egg yolk... are added, plus a quarter of a cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese.  A little nutmeg and a lot of mixing.  When all the ingredients are well blended, the mixture is formed into little cylinders that are about one inch in diameter and about three inches in length.  The shaping is done on a well-floured board.  When all the mixture has been formed, the cylinders are gently set into boiling water.  They will start out by sinking to the bottom but after about two minutes of cooking they will come up to the top.  At which point they are fully cooked.  Then they come out of the water and go onto a serving plate.  Three are considered a proper serving for one person.  A little tomato sauce goes on top, followed by a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well, that’s our report from Tuscany -- a three thousand year history of great food and wine.  I hope you’ll join us next time as we travel around the world looking for good things to eat and the reasons why people eat them.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Gatherings & Celebrations: Easter in Florence - #120

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  This is the city of Florence, and I have come here to celebrate Easter.  Now, there are thousands of cities around the world in which Easter is celebrated, but I have chosen Florence because this city has a very special historical relationship with Easter.

The ancient Etruscans settled in this area about two thousand five hundred years ago, but the official date for the founding of Florence is usually given as 59 B.C. That was the year that the Romans built an old soldier’s retirement home on a patch of land that is now the very center of the city.  For the next thousand years or so, the region was a minor agricultural community, but in the 11th Century things began to pick up.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   Unfortunately, during the 11 and 1200’s the wealthy guilds and powerful families became extremely competitive. They also got into the bad habit of expressing that rivalry by murdering each other.  Not good for the general commercial climate.  And so a new form of competition had to evolve, and that became  “business”  -- still very competitive but a lot better than murdering each other in the street.  Over the next hundred years or so, the old challenge, “My Sword Is Bigger Than Your Sword,” slowly became “My After-Tax Earnings Are Considerably More Substantial Than Your After-Tax Earnings.” And that evolved into the most acceptable  form of challenge, which was “My Basilica Is Better Than Your Basilica.”  Slowly, military might gave way to artistic competition.  And it was that artistic competition that was responsible for a lot of  the great art during the Renaissance.  By the 1300s Florence was the richest and most artistic city in Europe.

The works of Donatello, Brunelleschi, Fra Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, the magnificent paintings, the frescos, the sculptures, the extraordinary architecture of Renaissance Florence all came into being as the result of the unusual relationship among the City Council, the church, and the business community.  The City Council or the clergy would decide on a specific undertaking.  The City Council would raise the funds for the project by setting up a tax.  Then the council would give a particular guild or commercial organization the responsibility for executing some aspect of the project.  One group might be responsible for the doors. Some other association would be given the roof.  The council also gave the guild most of the money for the project. The guild would hold a competition for the best artist with the best idea.  The guild would then coordinate with the Cathedral’s Office Of Works in order to get the task done properly.  The Cathedral’s Office Of Works was set up over 700 years ago and it’s still doing its job.

It was the guild devoted to items of luxury that took care of the world famous doors on the Baptistery.  A guild also oversaw the creation of Brunelleschi’s dome on top of the cathedral.  This unusual relationship involving the church, the trade associations, the aristocratic families, and the artists produced some of the most powerful graphic images of the Christian tradition.  The pictures that come to mind when we think about almost every story in both the Old and New Testament Bibles are images that were originally created by artists working in Florence.  And that makes it an ideal place to take a look at the gatherings and celebrations, rituals and recipes of Easter.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Most ancient societies that had a barren winter and a rebirth in the spring also had some kind of a celebration to mark the return of the growing season.  The ancient Greek goddess of agriculture had a daughter.  During a period each year that daughter was held in captivity.  When she was released, and only then, did the growing season begin.  The idea of the resurrection of a beloved child as a mark for the return of spring goes back to our earliest information about religion.  Easter is part of that tradition but it also has many of its roots in the Jewish holiday of Passover.

An equinox is a 24-hour period when the length of the day’s sunlight is the same as the length of the day’s darkness.  There are two of them each year.  One in the fall and one in the spring.   Passover is held on the night of the spring equinox.  It reminds the Jews of their escape from slavery, and their passage out of Egypt. It tells the story of the last of the Plagues, which struck down the first-born of the Egyptians but “passed over” the children of the Jews. The passover meal is a meal that brings together lamb, which is a symbol of the nomadic life, with yeast-free bread, which  is a symbol of agriculture. It makes a unity.  The Last Supper, which begins the Easter feast, was originally a Passover meal, attended by Jesus and his twelve disciples.

Timothy Verdon is an American priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence. He’S also a Yale-trained art historian and very knowledgeable about the art of Florence.

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:   In this room,  the dining hall, the refectory of the Benedictine Nuns of Sant Apollonia, Andrea Del Castanio painted  the meal... the last meal, the last supper of Jesus Christ.

BURT WOLF:  This was actually the room in which they ate three times a day, and were confronted with that painting.

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:  Exactly... and when they ate, they sat at tables arranged around the room exactly as you see the table arranged here.   So that, for example, on the inside of the table, where we're standing, in the middle of the room, no one sat.  Just as there you see almost everyone seated on the far side of the table. When Castanio put Judas, the apostle who betrayed Christ, on the wrong side of the table, it was a way of clearly identifying him and a way of suggesting that these women, like all human beings in any form of social relationship, also had to be aware of the possibility of coming over to that “wrong side of the table,” of betraying the common life symbolized in the food they took together.

BURT WOLF:  They're using real bread in the painting as opposed to unleavened bread which would have actually been at that Passover meal.

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:  That's right.  The use of real bread is part of an effort to strike a balance between the evocation of a liturgy, whether Jewish or Christian, and on the other hand, the convincing presentation of something that looked like the actual meal that the Benedictine Sisters are taking in this room.

BURT WOLF:  And always reminding us,  “are we committed... do we believe?”

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:  I think that is the underlying question. You know, when people enter upon a life of formal and demanding commitment it is, as it is for all men and women in whatever their commitments may be, the recurrent and even daily question: can I get through this day without betraying what I have committed myself to do?

BURT WOLF:  On every level. 

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:  On every level, whether you're a  husband, a wife, a parent, a priest, a nun... can I get through today without betraying what I am committed to?

The gatherings, celebrations, and rituals that make up the Easter feast in Florence take five days.  It starts on Holy Thursday and continues through to Easter Monday. 

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:  On Good Friday, the day of Christ’s death, the altars are stripped in all the churches, and fires are put out in all the churches.  The next time there will be a lighted candle will be in the dark of night between Saturday and Sunday, preceding the new light of Christ’s resurrection.  And in Florence it’s very dramatic, because we do it in the vast cathedral under the fourteenth-century vaults.  As far as one can get from the altar, a fire is lit, a kind of bonfire.  The bishop and all of the clergy come from the altar to this fire in a completely darkened church.  At the fire, the bishop blesses a monumental candle -- often it’s about six feet high -- which symbolizes Christ, which symbolizes the column of fire that led the people of Israel through the Red Sea, through the desert and to their safety.  And at that point, the bishop takes fire from the bonfire, on a wick, and illuminates the new Easter candle.

SINGER:  “Lumin Christi...”

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:  “Lumin Christi.”  The light of Christ.  And the deacon then carries the column of fire, the light of Christ, the candle symbolizing the risen Christ.  At that point, other assistants -- acolytes -- using wicks, take flame from the single flame of the candle and begin to light the candles of the faithful in the church.  The faithful each have a candle in hand, and as the great candle proceeds down the nave of the church, in the hands of each believing man and woman, this light takes shape, this light comes alive.  So that by the time the deacon brings the great candle, the pascal candle to the altar, the entire church is a kind of ocean of points of light drawn from the single light, which is Christ.

On Sunday morning, a grand procession of people dressed in period costumes fills the streets of Florence. 

Pairs of white oxen drag a wagon through the streets of Florence until they reach the front of the Cathedral.  The wagon is nicknamed the “Big Old Bum” because of the way it teeters into the piazza.  The cart that is being used today was originally built in 1764.  It is a pyramid set on top of a box and covered with decorations.

At about 10 o’clock, the fire arrives at the Cathedral. The fire was struck from three flints in a nearby church.  The flints are said to have come from the Holy Sepulcher, the tomb of Christ.  They’re reputed to have been given as a reward to Pazzino de’ Pazzi for having been the first knight to scale the walls of Jerusalem during a Crusade in the Fourteenth Century.  The Pazzi were a powerful Florentine family at the time. They instituted this ceremony, which has taken place in front of the Cathedral for six hundred years.

A wire stretches along the central nave of the church starting at the top of a column that is standing in front of the Easter Candle.  A rocket in the shape of a dove is attached to the wire.

FATHER TIMOTHY VERDUN:  The explosion of the cart is fully heard inside the cathedral, where at the same time, bells, both the great bells of Giotto’s Campanile, the bell tower, and about fifty smaller bells -- cowbells, altar bells, bells of every kind are being rung, and the explosion coming in from outside, the rocket shafts of light passing in front of the door, the smoke rolling into the cathedral, and the joyous cacophony in the cathedral itself are a spectacular expression of the jubilation of the church of believers before the event of Christ’s resurrection.

There’s some very powerful symbolism here.  The dove came out of the darkness and brought light in the form of the fireworks.  The thunder of the fireworks is a symbol of Christ breaking out of His tomb.  The thunder leads to rain,  the symbol of the baptism.  Fire and water, dark into light, silence into noise, death into life.

The ritual that takes place in the Cathedral of Florence is for people who believe that Christ meant that he would continue to be present in the world, to be eaten as bread and drunk as wine in the course of a sacred meal.  This ceremony, called The Eucharist, is the most meaning-filled food ritual ever devised. It is literally sharing the life of God by eating His flesh and drinking His blood.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  One of the ways to understand the message of this celebration is to take a look at the simple acts of eating and drinking.  We must eat and drink in order to stay alive.  The food exists outside us.  We must find it and bring it inside.  It’s a very simple way of learning that there are things outside ourselves that we must discover and bring inside in order to survive.  And that is one of the central messages of the Eucharist, the communion. God becomes food.  We eat the food and become one with God.  Because bread and wine are used in the communion, they are the most important foods of the meal.  But there are other foods on the Easter table that also have the sense of the holiday. 

This is the kitchen of the Villa di Capezzana, a wine and olive estate just outside of Florence.  It’s the home of Count Ugo Contini Bonacossi and his family.  Countess Lisa and her chef are preparing their traditional Easter dinner.

The Easter Lamb is a very important element in the meal. It recalls the Passover lamb, which was originally the animal sacrificed in the Temple of Jerusalem.  The lamb is also a reference to Christ, who was the “Lamb of God” and Himself became the sacrifice, in order to take away the sins of the world.  Lamb will often come to the Easter table in the form of a roast. It is the main course of the meal and can be very elaborate -- or very simple -- in its presentation.

A leg of lamb which has been cut into chunks is dredged in flour.  It goes into a roasting pan with a little oil, slices of leek and garlic, and sprigs of fresh rosemary.

A little seasoning... the lamb gets browned on all sides... a cup of white wine.  Then into a 450-degree Fahrenheit oven for an hour.  Along with the lamb comes a dish that is made by sauteing some pancetta, fresh garlic and peas.   After about five minutes of cooking, a cup of chicken broth is added.  The cover goes on for ten more minutes of cooking.  The peas are a local sign that spring has arrived.

The main course of the meal is served to Count Ugo and his family from a single dish, as opposed to having individual plates brought to each place.  It symbolizes the central unity of the family, from which each individual person -- or in this case, portion -- is derived.

The dessert at Villa di Capezzana is La Colomba, a sweet bread presented in the shape of a dove.  For tens of thousands of years the dove has been a symbol of the return of spring and for almost the last two thousand years, a sign of the Holy Spirit of Christianity.  In Italy, La Colomba has became an almost essential part of the foods of Easter.  Countess Lisa serves it with a Zabaglione sauce.

Then there is Pan de Ramerino.  It’s Italy’s Hot Cross Bun.  Originally a Florentine specialty, it was made on Holy Thursday and eaten on Good Friday. It is baked with raisins and rosemary, and has a shiny top which is sometimes marked with a cross. Rosemary is a sign of spring and sacred to the Virgin Mary.  Rosemary is also a symbol of remembrance.  The bun says, “Remember the meaning of Easter”.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Of all of the gatherings and celebrations in the Christian tradition, none is more clearly associated with wine than Easter.  At the Last Supper, which was the very beginning of the Easter tradition, Christ made the association between wine and his blood.  And in doing so, he made wine an essential element in the rituals of the Catholic church. 

The Romans had developed vineyards throughout Western Europe, so it was not difficult for the early Christians to find wine for their services.  However, with the fall of Rome the cultivation of the vineyards in many places became the responsibility of the Church.  The church kept the skills of winemaking alive through the Dark Ages.  Many monasteries acquired large properties and developed new winemaking technology.  Local royalty could donate valuable vineyards in exchange for continual remembrance in the prayers of the monks.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the Middle Ages the church was part of the feudal system and had extensive land holdings.  Like other feudal landlords, they collected rent  from the people who lived on their land.  Often that rent was paid in the form of wine.   They liked wine, because unlike most agricultural products, wine lasted a long time and, in some cases, even improved with aging.  The monks would teach people who lived on the land how to grow grapes and how to make wine, and take a portion of the vintage in exchange.  There were also wealthy landowners who just gave wine to the church in the hope of someday receiving “celestial privileges.”

When Spanish explorers headed for the New World, members of the clergy were part of the expedition and they established vineyards in the earliest Spanish colonies.  The original vineyards of California and South America were the work of Catholic missionaries.

All of the wines served by Count Ugo are wines that were made at his family winery, Tenuta Di Capezzana.  To call this a family winery is about as descriptive as you can get.  His son Filippo is an agricultural economist who looks after the vineyards.  His daughter, Benedetta, handles the public relations.  Her husband is a designer who designed the labels for the new wine.  Countess Lisa oversees the property and the daughter Beatrice is in charge of sales.

This is the earliest written document dealing with Capezzana.  It is a lease in which the local Church of Saint Peter rents the lands of Capezzana to a farmer named Petruccio.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  In exchange for the use of the land, the church got half the wine, half the olives and half the olive oil produced on the land.  It was a good deal for both parties.  The date of the document is 16 December in the year 804.  During the Middle Ages, the wines of Capezzana were exported to England by the Di Medici family, a group that clearly knew a good thing when they saw it.  The vineyards are up in the hills, about fifteen miles west of Florence.  The area is surrounded by the Chianti region, but the wines of Capezzana are produced under a different set of regulations.

In 1716 The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo de Medici III, marked off this district as special; its wines are similar to Chianti but wine authorities describe Capezzana as more refined.  Today Capezzana produces several outstanding red wines, but it is renowned for its Villa Di Capezzana Carmignano and Carmignano Riserva.   Wine authorities believe that their elegant smoothness comes from the addition of wine that is made from a grape called Cabernet Sauvignon.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  We couldn’t really talk about the foods of Easter without talking about the Easter Bunny; not actually part of the meal but essential to the celebration. Originally the Easter Bunny was the Easter hare, an animal sacred to the moon.  And for centuries people talked about “the hare in the moon,” not the “man in the moon.”  Next time you see a full moon, take a look; I think you’ll be able to spot the outlines of a hare.   A hare is a highly productive animal and associated with fertility, and for many centuries it was used to show the power of life returning from the darkness, like the moon.

During the last few hundred years the hare has turned into the Easter Bunny, usually made of chocolate and carrying an egg, which can also be made of chocolate.  As a matter of fact, the Italians have really gotten into the business of the chocolate Easter Egg.  Many people have them made to order, with a specially-chosen gift in the center.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The egg yolk is a symbol for the sun; the rabbit is a symbol for the moon.  When you see the rabbit and the egg together, you see the sun and the moon together.  It’s an example of out age-old desire for unity:  Sun and moon, day and night, life and death, the rebirth of spring and the rebirth of Christ.  In one form or another, the egg is always part of the Easter meal and it takes on its ancient symbolism as a wish for eternal life.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  That’s a brief look at the gathering and celebration, rituals and recipes that are part of Easter in Florence.  Like most holidays, it marks a series of passages -- darkness into light, winter into spring, death into life.  Because food is so essential to our life, it is a powerful symbol for any celebration that deals with rebirth or return of the growing season.  The religion may change, but the message is the same:  life, in one form or another, will always have the power to renew itself.  Thank you for joining me; I’m Burt Wolf.

ANNOUNCER:  The history, folklore, recipes and other information presented in this series is available in a companion book... with over three hundred and fifty pages, explaining the rituals that mark the passages of our lives.  It includes one hundred and fifty color photographs and one hundred recipes.  A copy of BURT WOLF’S GATHERINGS AND CELEBRATIONS may be ordered for $39.95, which includes postage and handling.  The number is 1-800-424-9090.

Gatherings & Celebrations: A Family's Sunday Dinner in Friuli, Italy - #105

The district that covers the northeastern corner of Italy is known as Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.  The ancient Romans had a major outpost in the area.  At one point, after Attila The Hun helped bring down the Roman Empire, he spent a few years in the neighborhood perfecting his title as “the Scourge of God.”  He was followed by the Venetians and then the Austrians.

Agriculture has always been the primary occupation of the area.  It’s famous for asparagus, corn, fruit and wine.  Much of the region runs along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and the markets are well-supplied with seafood.  Melting snow in the mountains drains down into the sea and changes the salt and mineral content of the water.  And that’s had a positive effect on the types and flavors of the local seafood.  Some of the most tender and tastiest fish and shellfish have come from the northern part of the Adriatic Sea.  The mountains that cover over forty percent of the district add trout.  Cattle are kept on the mountain farms and a number of local cheeses are made from the milk.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  This has not been an easy place to live.  It requires a firm and strong constitution, and an appreciation and understanding of nature.  There’s a stoic attitude here that I often see in small farm communities.  In a way they’re saying:  “If this is the best land that the Almighty will give us, then we will use all our might to grow the best stuff on it that we can.”  The food that comes from an area like this is regional farm food; it’s simple and robust.  And you rarely find it in restaurants because it’s really home cooking.

And that’s why we came to Friuli -- to take a look at a traditional Sunday family meal.  Everything that goes on looks very simple -- but everything is also packed with ancient meaning.

This is Livio Felluga.  He is the fourth generation of his family to be producing wine.  He’s considered to be one of the fathers of Italian winemaking.  When the Italian government was choosing the wines for the heads of state that came to the Economic Summit in Venice, they served Livio’s whites.

Friuli has a long history of producing wine.  We don’t know how long, but they were exporting wine to ancient Greece and Rome and that was over two thousand years ago.  The soil of Friuli is a mixture that appears to be ideal for the development of vineyards.  But it’s a soft and crumbly soil and can easily slide off the hillsides during the winter rains.  The growers had to terrace the land to keep it together.  It’s expensive to maintain and it keeps the yields very low.  On the other hand, it can keep the quality very high.  The Livio Felluga vineyards are located in the areas that produce the best grapes.  Air currents come down from the Alps in one part of the region, and up from the Adriatic Sea in the other.  The climate is mild and breezy.  The growers call it “natural air conditioning.”  It lowers the temperature in the vineyards.  The lower temperature gives the grapes extra time so they can ripen slowly.  The slow ripening helps the grapes develop more flavor.  But the real key is the unique relationship between the vines and the soil of Friuli.

PHILLIP DI BELARDINO:  So in order really to make a great wine, you need a vine that is highly stressed.  It has to struggle to live, and the only way you get that is by planting it in poor soil.

This is Phillip di Belardino.  He comes from a family that imported European wines to the U.S. for many decades.

PHILLIP DI BELARDINO:  ...and the more the vine struggles, the better the outcome of the final wines.

BURT WOLF:   So rich soil is no good.

PHILLIP DI BELARDINO:  Exactly.  It’s only good for, say, potatoes or corn, but for the vine, the vine needs poor soil.  In fact, there’s a saying in this part of Italy, in Friuli, where the vine says, “The poorer the place you put me, the richer I’ll make you.”

BURT WOLF:   Oh, that’s great.

PHILLIP DI BELARDINO:  Isn’t that terrific?

The Livio Felluga vineyards cover almost four hundred acres of Friulian countryside and it is a family business...  with all the family members involved.  And they have agreed to let us come in and report on their Sunday family meal.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The Sunday Family Meal takes place on what most western societies describe as a “day of rest.”  The idea of resting every seventh day is ancient.  We know that it goes back at least as far as the Old Testament Bible with the story of God resting on the seventh day of creation.  But I’m not sure that our present Sundays are actually days of rest.  The word “rest” is properly used to describe a body that is not in motion, standing still, not doing anything.  And I think our modern, industrialized society has changed the meaning of the word “rest.”  These days you can undertake the most extraordinary levels of activity, with great strain and stress, so long as you are doing something that you want to do, as opposed to doing something that someone else wants you to do, in exchange for money. 

Right now it’s Saturday and the Felluga household has begun preparations for their Sunday Family Lunch.  The opening team in the kitchen consists of Leda, who has been the family cook for at least two generations of Fellugas... Livio’s daughter, Elda, and a ringer who’s been brought in from out of town.  A festive meal of any size usually requires lots of hands to prepare, which fits right in with the fact that the meal was designed to bring people together, so everyone could “pitch in.” This is a meal where creativity is very important.  A festive family meal is a gathering that is the opposite of the passive entertainments of modern life.  Everyone here is making something and taking part.

One of the keys to a feast, maxi or mini, is making that particular meal different. And the Sunday Family Meal is no exception.  It must distinguish itself from everyday meals.  It must be a proper meal, with as many traditional aspects as possible and with as many family members as can be brought together.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The menu for a Sunday Family Meal must stand out and be different from the foods that are eaten during the week.  Usually a family will have a set of specific recipes that they consider to be their “house specialties,” and that’s what they want on Sunday.   Why a particular recipe is, or is not, “acceptable” on a Sunday is usually a function of the history of the specific family, and the culture that they are living in at the time.  In my own family at a Sunday Family Meal, we can have a baked potato, or a mashed potato or even a boiled potato, but not French fries.  My guess is that the fast food industry has taken over the French fry, and it looks a little strange at a Sunday Family Meal.

The first course of the meal is a vegetable-barley soup.  Carrots are peeled and chopped into small pieces.  The ends of leeks are cut off and chopped into small pieces.  You end up with about two cups of carrots and four cups of leeks, which are carefully washed.  They go into a stockpot, along with two tablespoons of olive oil.  A couple of cups of chicken stock go in.  Everything simmers for about ten minutes.  At that point a cup of uncooked barley goes in for thirty minutes of simmering; the pot remains uncovered.  Finally, two cups of chopped chard and a cup of diced zucchini are stirred in.  Fifteen more minutes of cooking and the soup’s ready.  It goes into a tureen, and when it is finally served, it gets a light garnish of parmesan cheese.

The second course is gnocchi, which, quite frankly, is a potato dumpling presented as a pasta course.  The recipe starts with the preparation of an asparagus sauce.  Three tablespoons of oil go into a saute pan, plus three ounces of butter.  As soon as the oil and butter are hot, in go about three cups of asparagus tips.  They’re sauteed for about ten minutes.  Leda is using white asparagus, and if you can find it in North America, drop me a card -- I’ve been looking for it for years!  I am going to make it at home with green asparagus.  Then a half cup of white wine is poured in.  The pan is shaken, not stirred.  A half-inch slice of cooked ham is cut into small cubes.  It ends up being about a cup’s worth, and it’s added to the asparagus.  Then a cup of chicken stock and a little white pepper.  The heat’s turned down to a simmer, and the asparagus sauce cooks for twenty minutes. 

During that time, the gnocchi is made.  Eight potatoes have been boiled until they are tender.  Cold water is used to cool them down so you can handle them.  At that point they are peeled, cut into quarters, and pressed through a potato ricer.  If you don’t have a potato ricer, you can use a sieve or a strainer.  Do not use a food processor; it can easily turn a perfectly nice potato into wallpaper paste.  What you want to end up with is a ring of fluffy potato.  Two whole eggs go into the center and are mixed together with the potato.  Then a half pound of flour is kneaded in to make a potato dough.  The dough, which is the consistency of a standard pastry dough, is rolled out into cylinders that are about ten inches long and an inch in diameter.   Half-inch slices are cut off the cylinder and then rolled over the surface of a sieve.  Some of them are rolled over the tines of a fork.  In both cases, what you are doing is adding texture to the surface of the dough.  The texture acts as a crease that holds onto the sauce.  The gnocchi goes into a pot of boiling water.  After about a minute of cooking they rise up to the top, which is a signal that they are done.  The gnocchi is drained and added to the sauce.  A little tossing... a little turning... a little grated parmesan cheese.  And that’s what you’ve got.

The main course is a chicken dish that began twenty-four hours ago when the chicken was cut up into parts and marinated in white wine with rosemary and sage.  The actual cooking starts with some olive oil going into a hot saute pan, followed by the chicken parts, which are spread out in one layer.  The herbs from the marinade are added, and the chicken is browned on all sides.   Then a touch of salt... a cup of white wine... and another minute of sauteeing.  The chicken is turned out into a baking pan... and four onions that have been peeled and cut into quarters are added.  The pan goes into a 375 degree oven for twenty minutes.  And now everything is ready for the table.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  How the table is set is also kind of important.  Special meals, particularly those served at home, have symbols of togetherness and separation.  Actually, the table does a wonderful job of marking the territory. It can only seat a certain number of people. If you are seated at the table, you are part of The Group.  If you are not, you are not.  You can look around and quickly see who has made the team.  Actually, it’s Sunday morning and the cooking’s still going on, so we won’t be aware of the final cut until lunch starts.  But if you watch the table being set, you can see how the game is gonna go.

The table is set to reinforce the ideas of being together and separate at the same time.  “I’m an individual but within a family.”  Instead of single placemats which might be the norm for weekday meals, the Sunday Family Meal gets one big tablecloth.  But on that one big tablecloth that holds everything and everyone together on one field, there are individual place settings, with individual dishes, individual knives, forks, spoons and glasses.  Individual, but clearly part of a group.  The Sunday Meal is also made special by the use of things that are your “Sunday Best.”  Almost all the implements used at the meal are not the ones that are used during the week.  Special table linens, dishes, flatware, glasses.  The best is out in use.  And the entire meal is being served in the special dining room, not on the kitchen table, which is where meals are served during the week. 

In the Felluga family the Sunday Lunch is given by Livio and Bruna Felluga.  They are the oldest members of this part of the family.  One way that the meal is used is to keep Livio and Bruna in touch with the family, but it is also a way that Grandpa and Grandma can help the other members of the family stay in touch with each other.

There are sixteen people at lunch:  Grandfather Livio, Grandmother Bruna, their three sons, their daughter, two daughters-in-law,  their seven grandchildren, and me.

The young children re-establish their friendship in a very physical way.  The older kids stand around in a small group re-establishing their relationship with words; almost no physical contact. The adults are the most formal.  It seems that the older we get, the more distance we keep between us.  The way we eat illustrates the point:  children often take their meals on benches; everybody’s right up close.  As we get a little older, we move to individual chairs, still next to each other, but now there’s more space between us.  Eventually we find ourselves at the end of the table with arms on our chairs as the final element of separation. 

There appears to be no assigned seating at this meal and no preset starting time, and yet... there is clearly some force in operation.  Grandfather Livio is the only person who is completely sure of where he sits -- it’s at the head of the table.  And when he takes his seat, it’s the official beginning of the meal.  At that point, everybody chooses their seat in relationship to Livio.

For millions of years when we sat down to eat, we sat around a fire.  For most of us, those fires are gone, but we remember them as a center for the meal when we light our tables with candles.  The candles cast a flattering light on the table and the diners, and because they are no longer really necessary for light, they’re a luxury.  A meal lit by candlelight is always special.  The candles only burn for a short time.  They’re in front of you for a while, burning brightly, and then they’re gone.  At a meal like this, they might remind everyone how brief a time the family is together and to enjoy the warmth while it’s available.

This is also a meal where children in many cultures actually learn to speak.  Sociologists believe that when young children are at a family meal like this they’re in a situation that makes it easier and more rewarding to understand the use of language.  The child pays attention, listens carefully.  Notices the context in which language is used.   They see people ask for things and get them.  The child begins to comprehend the raw power of a phrase like, “May I please have some more cookies, Grandma?”

Since this is a winemaking family, the selection and presentation of the wine is of some importance.  Wine is a complicated thing to make, and you must understand a substantial amount of sophisticated technology in order to produce agood wine. It’s something that does not happen by accident. It’s the result of civilized and controlling behavior.  A fermented alcoholic beverage like wine is thought to be nourishing and nurturing and is therefore presented at the dinner table, but it’s kept separate.  It stands in a very distinct and tall glass, which sits just outside the boundary of the regular place setting.  Wine is a very important symbol for sharing.  Even when almost everything comes to the table as an individual serving, the wine will still come in either a single bottle or a decanter, and is divided in front of the family.  It reminds everyone of their common starting point.  The wine, like the family, may end up in individual containers, but it all came out of the same source.

Truly informal family meals often take place on more than one level.

Bread, like wine, is a product of fermentation, and like wine it is presented at the table in a area that is just outside the diners’ central eating place.  The fermented nutrient of wine goes to the right hand side of the plate; the fermented nutrient of bread to the left.

At family meals, guests can express opinions and feelings that might not be acceptable at more formal gatherings.

After the table portion of the meal is over, the older members of the assembly go off to a special room at the end of the house.  It’s called a fogher.  The word comes from a Latin word that means hearth or center of the home.  It’s a small room with a bench running around the walls.  In the center of the room is an open hearth.  The branches that are burning have been pruned from the family’s vines.  The smoke is carried up and out through a chimney. For centuries this was the architectural heart of the Friulian home.  These days, however, the center of the typical family home is often the cool fire of the television screen.

The final course of the meal, apple streudel, is intended to be served about an hour later.  Letizia, having spent a considerable amount of time and effort helping to prepare the dessert, saw no point in waiting.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  A family meal on a weekly day of rest is a mini-feast, and like any feast it is designed to preserve a memory.  But it can also take on the work of producing a memory, a memory that will be held and valued by this family.  I hope you enjoyed having a Sunday lunch with the Fellugas, and I hope you will join us next time for Gatherings & Celebrations, Rituals & Recipes.  I’m Burt Wolf.  Excuse me.

Gatherings & Celebrations: A Picnic in Abruzzo, Italy - #104

The Abruzzo region of Italy is located to the east of Rome.  Most visitors get to the district by driving through the monumental Apennine mountain range. The highway that connects the western part of central Italy to the east, is relatively new, and it takes you through the highest mountain range in the country.  The tallest peak, The Gran Sasso d’Italia, “the Great Rock of Italy,” is almost 10,000 feet above sea level. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   For thousands of years these mountains acted as a natural barrier.  Rome was in the east, Abruzzo was in the west, and the twain hardly ever met.  The mountains also protected the people of Abruzzo from some of the less attractive developments of modern life.  They allowed them to hang on to their ancient traditions.  The mountains also protected the environment.  In the center of the district is The Abruzzo National Park, over one thousand square miles of the most unspoiled terrain in Europe.

As you travel east to Abruzzo, you eventually come to a hundred-mile-wide strip of flat land that runs along the Adriatic Sea.  The long bands of clean beach have made it one of the country’s most popular seaside resorts.   In much the same way that the geography of Abruzzo is divided between the sea and the mountains, so is the food of Abruzzo.  On one side there are the recipes of the sea -- and on the other, the recipes of the mountains.

Italians love their food and they love to eat it outdoors.  In small towns people will simply carry their tables outside and eat along the street.  During the warm-weather months, country people will do much of their eating in their yards or on their patios.  Italians have an age-old tradition of eating outside, and that’s why we came to Abruzzo.  We want to take a close look at the rituals that are part of the gathering we call “a picnic.”

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   From the very first time I went on a picnic I loved it.  It got me out of the somewhat structured environment of my family home.  It promised Adventure... Freedom.  On a picnic, the rules were suspended.  I could eat lying down on a blanket rather than sitting up in a chair.  I could hold a piece of chicken at the end of my hand rather than the end of a fork.

As I got older, I saw paintings like Manet’s Dejeuner sur l’herbe, “lunch on the grass.”   And films by moviemakers where the informal environment of the picnic was used for, shall we say... more relaxed encounters between men and women.  Hot stuff in a cool place.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   Artists and writers were saying something about the relationship of “picnics and freedom,” and I was getting the message.  Of course, like most of our gatherings and celebrations, a picnic tries to bring together two opposite parts of our life.    We like the idea of leaving the structure of our homes and being One With Nature.   We like the idea of The Wild.

But the moment we get out into nature, the first thing we do is separate ourselves from it.  We mark off our territory with a picnic cloth.  We even hold down the edges of the cloth with boundary stones.     So much for being One With The Great Outdoors.  Then we take advantage of the gastronomic gifts of the countryside by covering the cloth with foods that we cooked in our home.  We carpet the outside with things we made on the inside.  We like to get up close to the wild side of life... and then we like to tame it.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   What we’re actually doing here is trading the discomforts of our more formal dining rooms at home and in restaurants for the pure joy of sharp stones, prickly grass, biting insects and undependable weather.  For me, picnics have come to prove the truth of the old saying... ”A change of aggravation is like a holiday.”

The idea of a picnic being “free and loose” eventually turned into the idea of a picnic being EASY.  When you’ve had a easy time with something, you might describe it by saying, ”Hey -- it was a picnic.”  On the other hand, a difficult experience can be noted as “no picnic.” And quite frankly, the work that goes into making a great picnic is no picnic!

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Burt, this is Rosito of Abruzzi; this is the local market where everybody in the morning buys their fresh food and vegetables.

BURT WOLF:   Every morning!

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  Yes, Burt, every morning...

This is Giulia Raggiunti.  She was born in Abruzzo, and has worked with the regional foods and wines for over twenty years.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Green beans -- fagiolini.  These are two... tomatoes, really... soft.

BURT WOLF:   Very soft.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Very soft, because they’re -- it’s mature for the sauce.

BURT WOLF:   Oh.  Okay, so these two go into the sauce...

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Yes -- and this is for salads.

BURT WOLF:   ...for salads.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Two types of eggplants --

BURT WOLF:   You know, when you see it shaped like this you understand why we call it an eggplant.  But when you see these, it has nothing to do with eggs.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   But in Italian it’s not called like that, so that’s --

BURT WOLF:   It’s called melanzana --

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Melanzana,  which --

BURT WOLF:   -- which has nothing to do with eggs.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   -- nothing to do with eggs. ... This is where you find fresh fish every morning.

BURT WOLF:   I heard that one of the interesting things about the fish in this area is that there’s much less salt in the water; that because it’s the Adriatic Sea, and the Alps are melting up there, the water that comes into the northern part of the Adriatic has less salt.  You end up with a more delicate fish.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   That’s true.

BURT WOLF:   Certainly true in the shrimps.  Ohh, those are wonderful! 

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Pappalina.  Bread ‘em --

BURT WOLF:   Just bread ‘em and deep-fry them. ... I don’t think I can actually go on a picnic without a watermelon.  I’ve always been curious about how to tell what a watermelon was gonna taste like without opening it.  So I once went to a famous watermelon farm in Oregon, and I asked them how you choose it.  Is it the texture on the outside, the color, the softness?  I heard about thumping to listen.  They told me there was only one way:  Cut It.  Eat It.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   (laughing)  That’s the best way!

The word “picnic” was first used to describe a meal where all of the diners brought something to the meal. It could have been food, or drinks, or just money to cover some of the costs of the event. 

BURT WOLF:   We need some olives for the dish we’re gonna do with the chicken...

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Yes, we need some olivinieri...  [saleswoman responds]

Over two thousand years ago the ancient Greeks, who lived just across the water from here, were holding this type of meal.  They were put together by a club and held in a public dining-room.  The public-room aspect was very important.  It took away the idea that someone was the official host. 

BURT WOLF:   And eggs -- we need eggs for the frittata.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:   Yes.  Let me take eggs...

No host meant no need to return the invitation.  You ended up with an obligation free-meal.

BURT WOLF:   All right, what else do we need for our picnic?  Let’s get some breads.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  Okay; what type do you need, Burt?

BURT WOLF:   I don’t know; let’s get a long one and a round one.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  [orders in Italian]  This is the normal bread.

BURT WOLF:   Okay, let’s get a couple of those.  What else?

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  Okay, for the sweet --

BURT WOLF:   Biscotti?

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  Biscotti; this is two types, with almonds and chocolate.

BURT WOLF:   Okay, let’s get some with almonds and some with chocolate.

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  Okay.

BURT WOLF:   (mouth full)  Mmmm.  Mmmmmmmmm!  What’s in here?

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  He said it’s from Abruzzo because it’s typical from almonds.

BURT WOLF:   Almonds; what, sugar? 

GIULIA RAGGIUNTI:  And sugar... oh, that’s white egg... [shop chatter in Italian] ... Okay, Burt -- we’re ready for the picnic. 

BURT WOLF:   Not without the streudel, we’re not.

This is the home of the Cerulli-Irelli family.  They are members of the Casal Thaulero winemakers’ cooperative and great lovers of the regional foods of Abruzzo.  The family cook is Giovanna De Luca and she’s making a recipe called pasta alla Chitarra. 

First the pasta dough is made.  A cup of flour is used for each person and mounded onto a wooden work surface.  Wood is the preferred material for working with pasta because it appears to give the finished dough a softer texture that will hold more of the sauce that comes along with the final dish. 

A hole is made in the center of the flour and one egg is added for each cup of flour.  The eggs are mixed together and the flour is slowly incorporated.  About four minutes of kneading and the dough is ready to be rolled out.  A piece about the size of a half cup is cut off and rolled out on the board.  A little flour goes on to keep the dough from sticking.  When the dough is about an eighth of an inch thick, a strip is cut off and placed on top of a piece of equipment called a chitarra.  It’s really just a wooden frame with a series of wires stretched over it like the strings on a guitar.  The pasta is pressed through the wires, which cuts it into thin strips, ready for the boiling water.  I’m always impressed with advanced high-tech gear like this.  Space Age in the kitchen.

The sauce for the pasta starts with a little oil going into a large saucepan, followed by chunks of oxtail... about two cups’ worth.  You can use oxtail or any meat with lots of bones.  A peeled onion and a carrot are added.  A little salt...  pepper... freshly-grated nutmeg.  The heat goes on and everything cooks for about fifteen minutes, at which point four cups of pureed tomato are added.  The cover goes on and the ingredients simmer for fifteen minutes more.  Then a cup’s worth of tiny, pre-cooked meatballs go in.  As soon as the meatballs are warm, the sauce is ready.   The pasta alla chitarra goes into the pot of boiling water and gets stirred around. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  As a general rule, the more water you use to cook pasta, the better it’s gonna be.  Bring the water to a rolling boil, put all this pasta in at once, put the top on, the water will come back to the boil quickly; thirty seconds of cooking and this pasta’s done.

It’s strained from the water and set into a serving bowl.  The tomato sauce and the meatballs are drawn off from the meat bones and ladled on top of the pasta.  A little mixing.  A little grated parmigiano cheese and the pasta is ready.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  That’s the pasta alla chitarra, ready to go to the table.  But hopefully you have made enough so there will be leftovers, and you can turn those leftovers into an Italian omelet called a frittata, which is a perfect first course for a picnic.

A little oil goes into a non-stick sauté pan and gets heated.  Two cups of leftover pasta and its sauce are cut into one-inch pieces.  Four eggs are beaten into the pasta.  Giovanna is using whole eggs but when I make this dish at home I use eight egg whites instead of the four whole eggs, and the recipe works fine.  The pasta is mixed with the eggs and poured into the pan.  The top goes on for four minutes of cooking over a low to medium heat.  Then the pan is turned over onto a flat surface.  In this case the flat surface is the underside of the cover, but you could also use a large plate.  The omelet is then slid back into the pan and the second side is cooked.  A little more cooking.  Another flip.  And the omelet is finished.

The main course is chicken with olives.  The chicken is cut up into pieces which go into the pan in one layer.  A little salt.  A little pepper.  A clove of garlic, peeled and sliced in half.  A few sprigs of rosemary.   Then a half cup of white wine... followed by a half cup of water.  A quarter of a cup of olive oil goes in, and a cup of black olives.  The pot goes onto the heat and cooks over thin twigs or, back in the kitchen, over a low to medium range heat.  The weather today is so nice that Giovanna is doing as much of the cooking outside as she can.  But I think I’m going to need a heat chart here.  Lemme see... five twigs is low heat. Ten twigs is a medium heat and fifteen twigs is hot stuff.  Hey... this is the way people measured for thousands of years!

And now the dessert: chocolate-covered almonds.  The almonds are toasted.  Water and sugar go into a sauce pan and get heated.  Cocoa is added.  The sugar and cocoa mixture is poured onto the almonds.  Everything is mixed together.  The almonds pick up the coating and are spread out on a lightly-oiled plate to cool.  They are called Sassi d’ Abruzzo, which means the “stones of Abruzzo.” Good stuff.

The foods for the picnic are ready.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   “Picnic” has meant different things at different times and in different places.  The word became popular in London in the early 1800s.  There were clubs, dining clubs, that offered a specific kind of meal called a “subscription” meal.  A member would decide on a menu and post it on the club bulletin board.  Other members would come along and sign their names next to a particular dish.  That meant that the member was coming to the meal, but it also meant that he would be bringing that  dish.  The most famous of these “subscription” meal clubs was called The Picnic Club and it reached the height of its fame in 1802.  Actually, “fame” is a bad choice of words; it was infamous!  The word around London is that The Picnic Club had good meals but bad morals.  All the talk about The Picnic Club, however, brought the word picnic into common use.  Our modern picnic got popular a few years later.  And the reason it did is that it was a break with tradition.   It was different; it was relaxed; it was informal.  But of  course, to break with tradition you have to have the tradition in the first place.  A dining-room at home is essential to your enjoyment of the picnic in the field.

Now a little bit of wild is okay -- but not too much.  People do not enjoy eating in a place where there is any real danger.  We all like to have control of the wild during meal times.  A touch of risk in getting to the picnic spot is acceptable, but the place itself must be secure.  Your idea of the proper place for a picnic, however, has a lot to do with your cultural heritage.

During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, the highest levels of British society polished off their education by taking a Grand Tour of Europe.  When they got to Italy they learned how to eat in the fresh air... al fresco.  But the English took a special approach to dining outside.  They always tried to have their picnic while facing a famous or splendid view.  The late 1700’s and early 1800’s were the years known as the Romantic Period, and a central idea of the Romantic movement was the love of nature.  Wild was wonderful.   But so were old ruins, the ancient remnants of earlier civilizations slowly decaying back to their original wild state.  A truly Romantic idea, if you like that sort of thing.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   In reality, the English wanted their wildness in the distance.  Up close they wanted a big box with everything you could possibly desire for a great picnic.  And they wanted it at top quality.  They wanted their glasses to be crystal, their plates to be porcelain, their flatware to be silver.  They wanted nutmeg graters and pepper grinders and linen napkins.  And nothing was disposable.  When you finished, your servants took them to a nearby river and washed them.

Just down the road from where we’re having this picnic are some of the world’s most important olive groves, producing some of the world’s most famous olive oil.  Olive oil is a very important part of the Italian diet and it has an interesting and symbolic history.

For thousands of years the olive tree has been a part of the most significant celebrations and gatherings that take place in the western world.  The technological skill that is necessary to cultivate an olive tree, make the olive edible and eventually produce olive oil is so complex that the ancient Greeks used “olive knowledge” as the criteria for judging a society.  If a community knew how to produce olives and olive oil they were a developed society.  If they didn’t, they were still in a primitive state.   For many centuries olive harvesting and processing was done by sailors.  Olive harvests take place during the winter, when the weather kept the sailors on shore.  Olive production became their winter work.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   Olive trees can live for hundreds of years.  Very often, the roots go down so deep that even if the tree is cut off, the roots will send up new life.  When people began to realize that olive trees could regenerate themselves,  the olive tree became a symbol of dependability, immortality, and peace.  It began to play a role in ritual.  When there was a lamp that was meant to burn for a long time, it was filled with olive oil.  Whenever a king or queen of Europe had a coronation, they were annointed with olive oil.  Olive oil began to play a role in feeding the soul as well as the body.

Just south of where we are having our picnic is the town of Campobasso, where Colavita olive oil is pressed, and it’s interesting to see the process.  Enrico Colavita’s family has been making olive oil for many generations, and they use a classic method that has been employed by master craftsmen for thousands of years.  The olives come in from the fields and are separated from any plant stems and leaves.  Then they are washed and transported to the press.  The actual pressing is done by three stones that have been shaped into wheels.   Each stone weighs a little over 2,000 pounds.  They roll around, one behind the other, crushing the olives.  They crush both the meat of the olive and the pits into a thick paste.  The paste gets spread out onto discs of hemp.  About three discs are coated, one after the other.  Then they are transferred onto a spindle.  When they have a pile of discs that is about five feet high, they are moved over to a contraption that slowly applies an enormous amount of pressure.  The olive oil and the dark juices of the olive are pressed out.  That mixture goes into a piece of equipment that uses centrifugal force to separate the dark juice from the extra virgin olive oil.  The filtered oil is poured into bottles... and the cork goes in.   Finally, the Colavita emblem is pressed into a wax seal.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):   No doubt about it, the olive has a very significant place in the kitchen.  But I am constantly reminded of its place in our culture.  The story that comes to mind most often is the story of Noah and the flood.  When Noah sent the dove out, it came back  with an olive branch.  That was a very significant signal. It told Noah that the most important tree had survived, and that his society would be reborn. When it comes to foods that are essential to gatherings and celebrations, the olive is right up there with bread and wine.

Which reminds me, there’s an interesting historical relationship between wine and the word “picnic.”  The first time we come across the word “picnic” in print, it’s in a French text dated 1692.  A meal in a restaurant was being described as “picnic style,” and what that meant was that the diners were bringing their own wine to the restaurant.  The wines for our picnic come from right here in Abruzzo.  They were made by Casal Thaulero and brought here by Philip di Belardino. Philip is an authority on the wines of Italy and a great lover of good food, and food history.

PHILIP DiBELARDINO:  In the 1960s, a group of Abruzzo landowners got together to eat some good food, and of course, to drink some good wine, and to talk about life.  Talking about life is the central ingredient in any Italian meal.  Well, eventually the discussion came around to the subject of business.  As you know, being a farmer is difficult, but especially here in Abruzzo.

BURT WOLF:   In other words, it’s no picnic.

PHILIP DiBELARDINO:  Absolutely no picnic.  Well, they realized, Burt, that they had to get their act together in marketing.  They had to join the rest of the wine world... technologically, and also to look at their vineyards in a whole new way and replant everything.  So what they did was they formed a consortium of agricultural producers.  And in this area there’s a castle called Casal Thaulero, which gave the name to the wine.

BURT WOLF:   “Casal Thaulero...”

PHILIP DiBELARDINO:  Thaulero.  It’s not easy to pronounce; that’s why --

BURT WOLF:   It’s easy to drink!

PHILIP DiBELARDINO:  Oh, very easy to drink, but to pronounce, a little more difficult.  That’s why they chose the symbol of the regional park here in Abruzzo, the national park, which is the bear.  So the bear identifies it on every label, so many people say, “Well, give me the wine with the bear on it.”  The bear has a secondary meaning also, is the love and dedication to nature, which they also practice in their vineyard, where they have organic farming.  In fact, we like to say that these are wines at a price you can bear.

BURT WOLF:  That’s worse than “no picnic.”  [laughter]

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Casal Thaulero is particularly interested in preserving the habitat of the wild bear.  As a matter of fact, they have donated funds to a number of the parks in California so they can set up exhibitions on bear safety.  And they’ve taught me three very important things about bears and picnics.  First of all, you should always do your cooking at least a hundred yards away from where your campsite is.  Second, bears love fatty foods, especially hamburgers and bacon. A bacon cheese- burger would be the worst.  Third, they strongly suggest that you never sleep in the clothes that you did your in.  They will attract bears and repel lovers.  Amazing.  I learn something new every day.  And if you would like to learn whatever it is that I learn next, please join me next time as we travel around the world looking at Gatherings and Celebrations, Rituals and Recipes.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Rome, Italy - #804

BURT WOLF: In contrast to New York as The Big Apple, Rome has been called The Big Lasagna, and it’s a perfect description. Like lasagna, Rome is all about layers -- layers that could easily stand on their own, and yet being together in the same pot has made the entire dish more interesting.

This particular pot is resting in the middle of the Italian peninsula, about fifteen miles inland from the west coast. Archeologists have found traces of an ancient Roman settlement that dates back to 1200 BC, but most historians like to date the beginning of “real times Roman” as the eighth century before the birth of Christ.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: For me, there are five distinct layers to Rome: the first is made up of the ruins and restorations of ancient Rome. Stuff that’s been at the bottom of the pot for over two thousand years.

BURT WOLF: Next come the remains of early Christian Rome: buildings that started out as Pagan temples and ended up as some of the earliest Christian churches. Works of art that tell the great stories of Christianity.

The third layer is Renaissance Rome -- the extraordinary rebirth of culture that took Europe out of the Middle Ages. This was the time of Michelangelo, and Raphael.

Then came a period known as the Baroque. The word “baroque” comes from the Portuguese and means “uneven stone.” The movement grew as part of the reaction to the Protestant Reformation. It was designed to restore the power of Rome and the Catholic church. In Rome itself, some of the greatest examples of the Baroque are the works of Bernini.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And finally I see an ingredient that’s not so much a layer as it as a light dusting on top. Sometimes it’s like grated cheese ... a little bit salty and demanding. Other times it’s quite sweet and light like powdered sugar.

BURT WOLF: It got started in the mid-fifties and is called La Dolce Vita, which means “the sweet life,” and it’s a reference to the lifestyle that was developing in Rome.

In order to understand why a particular dish tastes the way it does, it’s very helpful to have a recipe. The first ingredient in this Big Lasagna recipe is Ancient Rome.

The Forum was the political, religious, and commercial center of ancient Rome. As I wandered through the ruins, my guidebook told me of the great structures that stood here some 2,000 years ago. The Forum was built under the direction of Julius Caesar. That pile of broken stones... that was the spot where triumphant generals stood when they returned home. That clump of weeds... the very location of the magnificent House of the Vestal Virgins. And those columns... the Temple of Saturn. I can see it all in my mind’s eye. With my regular glasses, however, the place looks like it needs some serious attention.

Next, the quintessential visual symbol of Rome: The Coliseum. It was built as a stadium in the first century and held over 50,000 spectators. It was the center for the contests between the gladiators. At one point in its history, the building became a source of marble for the local construction companies and it was stripped of its facade. Some ruins are more ruined than others.

That is The Pantheon. It is probably in better shape than any other ancient Roman building. It was built in 27 BC as a temple to all the Roman gods. Kind of a mutual fund approach to pagan religion. You spread your veneration over a large group of deities and you reduce your risk of missing out on the powerful one. The Pantheon seems to have survived the centuries because it was turned into a church in the 600s. It’s set on the lowest point in Rome and was subject to regular flooding. If you look up you will see the dome of the structure which is bigger than the one on St. Peter’s. The hole in the center is the only source of light. Unfortunately it is also the source of water whenever it rains.

THE BIG LASAGNA

BURT WOLF: To continue along with the idea of the layers of Rome, a perfect example of how the Renaissance layer was placed on top of everything that went before, is the Capitoline Hill. It was originally the site of a pair of pre-Christian temples honoring Jupiter and Juno. But in 1538 it became the home of Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio. You approach the plaza by walking up a long, gently inclined ramp -- perfect for a grand imperial entrance to Rome, which was Michelangelo’s purpose. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was coming to town. The Emperor would be greeted by two statues of Castor and Pollux, the twin heroes of classical mythology. And in the center of the Campidoglio, he would be confronted by a magnificent statue of Marcus Aurelius, set on an impressive pedestal. The statue is no longer there, but the pedestal is -- proving once again that even when the politician is gone, his platform remains. On two sides of the piazza are museums storing ancient Roman artifacts. The third building is the Senatorial Palace, which to this day is used by the local government of Rome for the storage of ancient ideas on how the city should be governed.

To explore the next layer of the lasagna of Rome, the Baroque, I turned to Ilaria Barberini. She is the descendent of a powerful Roman family that included Pope Urban VIII, the man who commissioned the Barberini Palace and the Piazza Barberini. The family crest is illustrated with three bees as a symbol of how hard the Barberini work. Ilaria is certainly a perfect example. She’s part of a cultural association called Citta Nascosta, which means “the hidden city.” It’s made up of a group of instructors who are specialists in guiding people to the most famous parts of Rome, as well as the more unusual areas. She’s taking me to see a perfect example of the Baroque style that consumed Rome during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.

ILARIA BARBERINI: This is Palazzo Colona that was first built at the time of Pope Martino Quinto who was Pope in Rome from 1417 until 1431. The palace was then rebuilt in 1730. This is the gallery which was created to collect paintings and furnitures. The gallery was created because they need to show the power and the importance and the prestige of the family and it was a very typical thing that powerful families used to do in 16- and 1700s. And it was easy for the families connected to the pope, or connected with the pope, to buy important artistic treasures.

BURT WOLF: If you got it, show it.

ILARIA BARBERINI: Mmm hmm. Yeah. And so, we can start and see the rooms that lead to the great ballroom which is the big room -- a very beautiful one.

So in this room, as in all the other rooms, it’s full of beautiful paintings, but this is a particular painting. It’s very famous and important. And this painting is very famous because it gives you the idea of reality. You really can feel, you know, the bread, the man that is eating, the beans... It’s called the Mangia Fagioli in Italian, that means “the bean eater.”

BURT WOLF: Bean eater.

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes.

BURT WOLF: This is the new style that starts in the 1600s.

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes. This is new style. It’s realism -- naturalism. We can see the bread, the red wine, the man that’s sitting. We feel immediacy, reality. And we can also see the difference with that painting there that it belongs to the end of the fifteenth century.

BURT WOLF: Very stylized.

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes, yes.

BURT WOLF: Unrealistic.

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes.

BURT WOLF: And this is the average person.

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes. There’s a big difference.

BURT WOLF: And it’s a painting that makes you hungry...

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes.

BURT WOLF: ...which is the mark of true art.

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes!

We are entering now in the big ballroom, the real gallery and it’s, you know, it’s amazing. They say that it’s even bigger than the one that is in Versailles. And here we can find one of the best examples of Roman Baroque. We have all the elements. We have the colored marbles, we have those kind of living frescos very rich in action. And so we see the will to glorify the power of the family, to give importance to the family. And then we have all those golden stuccos and all the statues around the gallery, the paintings...

BURT WOLF:  What do they actually do in this room?

ILARIA BARBERINI: Well they... the room was built to collect paintings actually at the middle of the 1600s. But they also danced in it, they had big balls and that’s...

BURT WOLF:  A little roller-blading was nice...

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes, a little roller-blading...

BURT WOLF:  Field hockey... tennis...

ILARIA BARBERINI: Yes, exactly... tennis... they played sports...

BURT WOLF:  You need a room like this... I understand completely...

THE SWEET LIFE

BURT WOLF: The enormously grand style of the Baroque period grew out of a reaction to the Protestant Reformation. Four hundred years later, as a reaction to the poverty and darkness of the Second World War, Rome came up with La Dolce Vita.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: But instead of being presented in the traditional Roman art forms of painting, sculpture and architecture, La Dolce Vita was brought to us in film.

(FLIM CLIP)

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The master of the form was Fellini, and during the 1950’s he showed us what was happening in Rome as wealth and power returned to the city. But the sweet life was also captured by still photographers.

BURT WOLF: The most famous streets for shopping in Rome are at the base of the Spanish Steps... the international fashion houses... the great Italian tailors... the jewelry makers. And although there are plenty of restaurants in the area, it can be tough to find good food at a good price. A notable exception is the restaurant Il Cantinone, on the Via Vittoria. Charming... unpretentious... inexpensive. It’s run by the brothers Zucca, and it serves the specialties of the island of Sardinia -- like Carta de Musica, thin crisp bread named after the ancient paper on which music was printed... or tiny Sardinian pasta in a tomato sauce... ravioli stuffed with cheese and vegetables... grilled squid... grilled cheese with honey... and a knockout selection of Sardinian cookies.

Another favorite spot for me in Rome is the restaurant Piperno. It was originally opened in 1860 by Pacifico Piperno, a master chef whose specialty was Jewish cooking. At the time, this area was the center of the Jewish Ghetto. These days, the restaurant has an excellent table of appetizers, but my favorite meal at Piperno begins with artichokes cooked in what is called “the Jewish style,” followed by a bowl of chickpea and pasta soup. And to finish off, an espresso laced with Romana Sambuca and a dollop of whipped cream.

Da Vincenzo is a neighborhood restaurant, virtually unknown to tourists, and even to many Romans who don’t live or work in this particular neighborhood. It’s one of the few restaurants in Rome that still caters to the old tradition of Gnocchi Thursday. Gnocchi is a pasta made from potatoes and flour, and for some reason that I have been unable to discover, there are a group of restaurants that make it every Thursday. Also worth trying at Da’ Vincenzo is a sautéed veal dish called saltimbocca, which means “jump in your mouth.” And for dessert, panna cotta, a custard flan which in this case is served with fresh berries. I recommend this place to you, but I don't want you to tell anybody else about it, okay?

FIELD OF FLOWERS

The Campo de’ Fiori is in the southern part of Rome’s historic district. Campo de’ Fiori means “field of flowers,” and during the Middle Ages that’s what was here. But by the 1500s the district had become the heart of Rome. In the center of the square is the statue of Giordano Bruno, who was executed in the year 1600.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: At the time, the official word from the church was that the earth was the center of the universe and everything in the sky moved around us. It was an ego thing. Poor Bruno, he was only interested in the scientific aspects of the universe and really wasn’t getting the macho message from the monks. His experiments led him to the belief that, in fact, the sun was the center of the universe and the earth actually moved around the sun. Well, let me tell you, this was an unacceptable belief. And worse than just believing it, Bruno was going around and telling that to other people. Clearly, this man was a heretic. And the monks burned him at the stake.

BURT WOLF: Today his statue is at the center of the Campo and one of Rome’s great markets moves around him.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In most ancient societies everybody ate and drank pretty much the same things. Of course the rich had a lot more of whatever it was than the poor. But in ancient Rome, perhaps for the first time, that began to change. Because the Roman Empire was so huge and in contact with so many different parts of the world, the people of ancient Rome who had the money were able to choose from an extraordinary variety of foods. Foods that were just not available to people who didn’t have the money. But they were not just interested in variety, they were fascinated by quality. And they would spend an enormous amount of time, money and effort getting the best of everything.

BURT WOLF: When Marcus Apicius heard that the shrimp off the coast of Libya were superior to those available in Rome, he outfitted a ship and sailed off to check it out. When he got there and found that the shrimp were no better than what he was already using, he turned around and headed back without making a purchase.

And that desire for the “best of class” is still very much part of the attitude of the modern Roman food lover. One of the first things that you learn as a traveling eater is that almost every town has a special interest in certain foods. Those same foods may be available in other cities but not at the same level of quality. And not subject to the same level of interest on the part of the local public. In New York they would be bagels, pastrami, steak and cheesecake. In Paris it would be pastry, wine, and chocolate. Here in Rome, it’s bread, particularly in the form of pizza, ice cream, and coffee.

The place to try “best of class” bread and pizza is the Antico Forno at the edge of Campo de’ Fiori.

For ice cream it’s Gioletti.

And for the best thick chocolate ice cream with a whipped cream topping... the Tartuffo at Tre Scalini in the Piazza Navona.

And almost everyone seems to agree that the best cup of espresso is at Santo Eustachio.

THE DIGESTIF

BURT WOLF: When the ancient Romans first started making wine, their feel for the craft, in terms of taste, was not very good. But the good feeling that they got from drinking it kept them highly interested. To help the flavor along, they often mixed their wine with honey, or herbs and spices, or all of the above. One result is that the ancient Romans developed a taste for beverages that were sweet and had an herbal flavor.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Much of the time their herbal drinks were considered more in the area of medicine, than in gastronomy, but that was often the case with wines and spirits that had been given an herbal flavor. Over the centuries one of the spirits with an herbal flavor that had a medical claim to fame and was very popular, was the digestif, something you drank after dinner to help you with your digestion. And one of the most popular flavors was based on anise, a flavor that many people associate with licorice.

BURT WOLF: The ancient Egyptians knew about anise, and so did the ancient Greeks. The ancient Romans often ended their banquets with anise-flavored cakes, pointing out that anise was a valuable aid to good digestion. Roman weddings usually included an anise cake for dessert.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Even today, candied almonds with an anise flavored coating are part of weddings in France and Italy. One scholarly source tells us that at the end of an ancient Roman battle, the generals would give anise flavored candies to their successful troops. Now, that doesn’t strike me as a really great gift after a battle, but maybe there were little prizes in the boxes. You know, you never know about these things. The point is that for thousands of years people have associated the flavor of anise, spirits, good luck, good fortune, the end of a good battle or the end of a good meal.

At this point, the Romans have distilled all of that into a drink called Romana Sambuca. They drink it after dinner. They put it into espresso. Sometimes they even top off the coffee with whipped cream, ending up with a sweet anise-flavored drink that they call Caffe Romana.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: For thousands of years people have believed that certain plants had vital forces and critical energies. The more unusual the shape and color of the plant, the more powerful these energies. And the way to get to these force fields was to capture the aroma of the plant... and the way to do that was to burn the plant and capture the smoke... in Latin it was called per fumus... in English we call it perfume. And one of the most powerful forces came from the anise plant.

Look at that. An after-dinner drink and a little aromatherapy, all at the same time. What a combination! 

NATURAL SPRINGS

BURT WOLF: Water... soaring up from beneath the earth. A spring has always had a mystical quality, offering an opportunity to be cleansed and rejuvenated. It’s an ancient and universal symbol of life and rebirth.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: For thousands of years a natural spring was considered to be a sacred place. The perfect spot to build a shrine. And for good reason. The idea of pure water as a life giving force is not only poetic... it’s practical. People can live for a couple of months without food... but a couple of weeks without water and life begins to disappear. So when someone came across fresh, clear, pure water just coming up out of the earth, they knew that they had reached a special place and they honored it.

BURT WOLF: Ancient civilizations, including the Greeks, planted gardens and built shrines around their springs. When the builders started to use basins and reservoirs to display and transport the waters, the springs became fountains. The Romans developed a purely decorative form of fountain that eventually ended up as a monumental sculpture. The early Christians placed fountains in their basilica as a symbol and a source of purification. During the Middle Ages, the fountains moved into the courtyards of the monasteries. But it was in Italy, during the Renaissance, that the fountain took on a form that was dominated by staggering, immense, virtually gargantuan sculpture. And Rome is the place with the most extraordinary examples of this art.

This is the Piazza Navona, which takes its long, narrow shape from an ancient Roman stadium that once stood here. There are three fountains in the Piazza Navona, but the most important one is the Fountain of the Rivers. It was designed by Bernini, who was a great architect of the Baroque period. The work was finished in 1651, and represents four rivers from four corners of the world: the Danube from Europe, the Ganges from Asia, the Rio de la Plata for the Americas, and the Nile for Africa. The head of the Nile is covered to show that the source of the Nile was not known at the time the fountain was built.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: When Bernini designed this fountain he was in competition with another architect of the time named Borromini. Borromini designed the front of the St. Agnese Church which is right in front of Bernini’s fountain.

BURT WOLF: Tourist guides like to tell you that the statues of the Nile and the Plate are holding up their hands in a defensive position in order to protect themselves from the Borromini building -- which they expect to fall on them!

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The truth of the matter is that the church was built a few years after the fountain, but maybe Bernini had seen the plans and knew what was coming. At any rate, their rivalry is still in evidence.

BURT WOLF: The most famous fountain in Rome is probably the Trevi Fountain. During the year 19 BC, thirteen miles of canal were built to bring water into the city, and this is the spot where the water arrived. The figure in the center represents the ocean, and he is being drawn across the waters by two sea horses and two sea gods. In the 1959 film, La Dolce Vita, Anita Ekberg took a little dip in these waters, and the place became even more famous.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During the middle of the 1600’s Pope Urban VIII began building a fountain here. He used money that he collected from a tax on wine, which proved to be extraordinarily unpopular. He ended up being accused of trying to turn wine into water. He had to give up the tax and his plans for the fountains. It did get built, however, about a hundred years later by a local sculptor named Nicola Salvi. Local folklore has it that if you stand in front of the fountain, facing away, and throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, you will someday return to Rome and your wish will be granted...

So much for that wish.. for my next wish, I wish that you will join us next time ON TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’M BURT WOLF.

Travels & Traditions: A Tuscan Harvest, Italy - #708

BURT WOLF: About 3,000 years ago a people known as the Etruscans migrated from Eastern Europe to central Italy and set up a federation of 12 city states.

Today, their old neighborhood is known as Tuscany, and its cities are some of the most famous in Italy. Florence, Pisa and Siena are Tuscan cities.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Etruscans had a highly developed society. Great art and architecture. They also had a strong fleet that traded with the Syrians and the Greeks. They traded in Africa and in Spain. Etruscan tin and copper went out; ivory, precious jewels and textiles came in. But by the beginning of the third century the Roman legions had become so strong that they were able to crush the Etruscans and eventually incorporated all of Etruscan society into the Roman Empire.

BURT WOLF: However, the great cultural traditions of the Etruscans remained in place. It was the citizens of Tuscany who triggered the rebirth of art and architecture that we call the Renaissance. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael---everybody who was anybody in the Renaissance was working in Tuscany. Tuscany is still home to artists and writers who find inspiration in the magnificent landscape and the unusual light.

During the 9th century, the Tuscan hill town of Siena became a major stopping point on the road between Paris and Rome. By the beginning of the 12th century it was a bustling city, producing some of the best wool in Italy, developing a clothing industry and exploiting a small silver mine.

By the end of the 12th century Siena was a commercial and financial center and her growing economic success began to challenge the city of Florence which was only 30 miles to the north. An emotional competition developed between the two cities which eventually led to the Battle of Montaperti in 1260.

Siena won the battle and entered a period of extraordinary power---power which rested in the hands of a small group of influential families. One way the families showed their new-found wealth and influence was the construction of magnificent fortified palaces.

The city’s location on the road to Rome gave it a commercial advantage but it also made it a resting place for pilgrims. If you were on your way to the Vatican from virtually any part of Europe you made a stop in Siena.

The city began building a series of outstanding churches, towers and public squares. And since most of the modern construction has taken place outside the old city, Siena’s character remains relatively unspoiled. Narrow winding streets and ancient buildings give Siena a distinct medieval feeling.

During the past 3,000 years dozens of different ethnic groups have immigrated to the peninsula that is presently called Italy.

And each immigration made a contribution to the cooking of the land but there were three groups that set the foundation which eventually became what we now call Italian cooking.

The three groups were the Greeks, the Saracens, and the Etruscans. The Greeks arrived over 2,000 years ago and set the base for all southern cooking. The Saracens popped in around 700 A.D. and superimposed a whole bunch of ideas on top of the Greek base. The Greeks and the Saracens were the primary influences on the cooking of the south. The north was controlled by the Etruscans and the center of the area which they controlled eventually became known as Tuscany.

When it comes to food, Siena has all of the traditional dishes of Tuscany, but its greatest strength is in its sweets. The Saracens brought sugar to Italy and about ten minutes later, Siena had a sweet tooth.

Its most famous sweet is Panforte, which means “strong bread.” Panforte is a medieval spiced bread made from candied orange peel, lemons, almonds, hazelnuts, sugar and honey. It is made by a number of bakeries in Siena and shipped to Italian communities throughout the world. Perhaps the most famous baker of panforte is Nannini, who also has a number of retail shops throughout the town. Wherever there is an Italian community, there is Panforte. And right next to the Panforte are Ricciarelli, little cookies that are made from almonds, egg whites and sugar.

THE WINES OF TUSCANY

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Starting in the year 1000, Europe saw an enormous increase in its population. And people started moving into the cities. The hot towns were Milan, Venice and Florence. And as more and more people moved into the cities the merchants became wealthier and wealthier. Suddenly there was a large group of people interested in buying good stuff and at the top of their shopping list was wine.

BURT WOLF: By the early 1300's each resident of Florence was on average knocking off a gallon of wine per week with much of that wine coming from the nearby vineyards in Tuscany and the word Chianti was already being used to describe the land between Florence and Siena.

For most of its history Italy was made up of small independent states. Each had its own approach to business with separate currencies, weights and measures. That, plus a mind boggling system of import and export duties made it impossible for Italy to develop an international or even a national market for its wines. And the quality of the wine remained uneven at best.

But during the middle of the 19th century things began to change. The city states became a single nation. Well, at least in theory. The wine producers of Tuscany introduced quality standards and soon developed an international reputation.

Michael Yurch is the president of Sherry-Lehmann in New York City. It’s considered to be one of the world’s great wine stores. He’s also a leading authority on the wines of Italy. I asked Michael to come with me to Tuscany and share his expertise.

MICHAEL YURCH ON CAMERA: Government regulations on wine are both good and bad. It’s a good thing that it guarantees what the wine is made out of. It guarantees where it’s from. How it’s made. And sometimes regulations are bad because I mean if you can imagine a government regulation if you equate wine making with art, if you can imagine a law that told the painter what color to paint with, that’s sort of what we have here in making wine.

This is why 20 or so years ago, some wine makers just totally broke with the government regulations and said we’re going to paint with the colors we want. We’re going to make wine with the grapes that we want. And we’re going to make great wine. And if you don’t want to officially sanction it for us, well, that’s too bad. We’ll just call it table wine, vino de tabla, but we’re going to make the best wine in Italy. And we’re going to show that the government regulations aren’t the be all and end all on how to make wine. And of course. The proof of wine is in the glass, not on the label. Although from a consumer standpoint, the wine regulations do offer a good degree of protection.

BURT WOLF: During the 1970s, Italian winemakers were more interested in quantity than quality. They hit the bottom of the barrel.

MICHAEL YURCH ON CAMERA: Back in the bad old days, these folks are getting 20 or 30 or 40 tons per hectare in some instances. And now, eight is more typical for a good quality table wine, especially here in Italy. The concept of less is more has taken hold to where it’s not good to have so many tons per hectare.

During the summer, the workers come through and examine all the clusters, and they only pick the best ones, and leave the best ones on the vine. This one didn’t make the cut, or literally did make the cut. It’s called “dropping fruit” and what it does… concentrates the grapes that are left. It gives the vine more vigor to pump into the grapes that are remaining.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: How are they?

MICHAEL YURCH ON CAMERA: They’re pretty sweet. Sweet?

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ready for picking. Call me as soon as it’s time to drink.

BURT WOLF: The most important of the traditional grape varieties in Tuscany is the sangiovese. The word comes from a Roman phrase that means the blood of Jupiter.

They also planted grape varieties that were traditional to France like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The winemakers concentrated on the quality of the grapes. And they blended the wine that came from the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot with the wine that came from the sangiovese.

MICHAEL YURCH: Sangiovese been around longer than the Romans and probably longer than the Etruscans. It is the most widely planted red grape in Italy. But here it makes a wine that is firm in acidity, cherry flavors, tea flavors, but most important, it’s a grape that makes a wine that goes well with food.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The old giant Slavonian oak tanks that were used for hundreds of years in Italy were replaced by smaller French oak barrels. Winemakers took the best of the traditional Tuscan techniques for winemaking and added the things they had learned from wine-makers all over the world. The result was a series of wines known as the “Super-Tuscans”. World class wines at world class prices.

TOLAINI

BURT WOLF: Today, one of the new and most forward looking producers of wine in Tuscany is Pierluigi Tolaini, who likes to be called Louie. His vineyard is in the south-west corner of the most important grape growing area in Tuscany.

PIERLUIGI TOLAINI ON CAMERA: We were very poor. The war was over and poverty was everywhere. I was 19 and beginning to see what was ahead for me. So I decided to immigrate to Canada. And then I got a job working on oil rigs as a laborer.

Then I bought a truck to haul water for the drilling rig. I was making money and all I thought I died and gone to heaven. So I bought this little trucking company and I started hauling general freight. And now we are the largest private trucking company in Canada.

So when I left my father had been getting up. As I was walking away I knew he was at the window looking for me. He wanted me to turn around to say goodbye but I never did you know because you know I was thinking you know. I felt sorry for me but I felt sorry for him too. The only son going away with a one way ticket. You know so I kept saying to myself I’ll never be poor again. I’ll never eat polenta again; I’ll never drink bad wine again. And some day I’ll make my own wine.

The trucking business is doing well so I thought that it would be a good time to slow down a bit. And come to Italy and spend more time in Italy and pursue some of the hobbies that I always had.

One I was racing cars and the other was making wine. So first I bought a car, fast car, and I took lessons, how to drive on a track. I enter a couple of races and then I realized that you know at 200 miles an hour my reflexes are not what they used to be. So I decided that if I wanted to die in bed that I should go farming.

So I thought, plant your plants, your trees, your vines, watch them grow, drink wine be with friends.

BURT WOLF: Simple dream.

PIERLUIGI TOLAINI ON CAMERA

Yea it was a simple dream. I choose this area because look at it. That’s one of the best areas. See all those valleys you know they have the sun from sunset to sunrise. And then the heat in this valley stays there. The rocks keep the heat for the night. So this is one of the best zones.

BURT WOLF: Albert Einstein once said that imagination was more important than knowledge. When Louie decided to start a vineyard his winemaking knowledge was almost non-existent, but his imagination was in top form and he kept imagining new ways to do things.

He noticed that bending down to work on the vines exhausted his crews so he invented a tractor that makes their life easer and their work faster.

PIERLUIGI TOLAINI ON CAMERA: The guys they gotta get down here and they’re bend like this all day. So I said what are we gonna do here? So I thought about this thing here. And you know it’s a tractor, a diesel engine. It's all electrostatic. It’s all controlled with the feet so the hands are free to work. What the best thing is they’re sitting down. And they don’t use their backs. So when you’re picking or you are pruning you’re here and the biggest bend you do is this. See? And the productivity is increased about 30%.

BURT WOLF: He also produced a special container that protected the grapes from damage as they were moved from the vineyards to the winery. It also made them easier to move.

When the grapes come in from the fields they go onto a selection table. Any grapes that are not perfect are taken out. Then the stems are removed and they go onto a second selection table. The entire Tolaini family are involved in the sorting of the grapes and they are compulsive about using only the best, and that just one of their many compulsions. The grapes are kept whole which prevents the juices from interacting with the air and that gives the wine a much better flavor. The grapes continue their journey up and into a row of oak fermenting tanks.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The key process in making wine is called fermentation. There is a natural yeast on the outside of the grape. When that yeast comes in contact with the sugar in the grape juice it turns it into carbon dioxide gas which escapes into the air and alcohol which mixes with the juice. The more sugar in the grape, the more alcohol in the wine.

PIERLUIGI TOLAINI ON CAMERA: Taste it. It tastes like a sweet grape juice. Now when it ferments the sweetness go away and become alcohol.

BURT WOLF: The winemaker decides when there has been enough fermentation, at which point the wine goes into oak barrels to age.

After about two years the wine from different barrels are blended together and bottled.

New bottles are placed onto the bottling line. They’re washed and dried and filled with wine. Then the air above the wine is pulled out of the bottle. The cork goes in. The bottle is capped and sealed and labeled. At that point some wines are ready for shipment.

But others continue to gently age in the bottle for another two years. Right after I turned 50 I decided that gentle aging was extremely important.

The history of Tuscan wine has always been about deciding which grape varieties to plant, and how to grow them. Cabernet and merlot are traditional French grape varieties but when they are planted in Tuscany, like so many long term residents of the area, they develop a distinct Tuscan accent.

The consulting wine maker at Tolaini is Michel Rolland, who is one of the world leading authorities on the subject.

MICHAEL ROLLAND ON CAMERA: I’m just giving advices from the vineyard to the cellar, aging, bottling and sometimes drinking. Good grapes are absolutely necessary to make good wine.

MAN ON CAMERA: Sure.

MICHAEL ROLLAND ON CAMERA: In fact, there is not a good winemaker, it is mostly good grapes. I began in Bordeaux, in the lab doing mostly analysis not really giving advices and step by step I change my mind, because the lab was a little bit boring.

At the beginning the enologist was not really tasting the wines, because people was not asking to taste they were making wine like the father was doing wine, and the grandfather was doing wine, and they were asking us to taste only when they can’t think they have a problem in the wine. And so I began to taste the wine and I began to speak and to make a change with the owners and step by step we arrive as the consulting.

BURT WOLF: Pierluigi’s daughter Lia and her sister founded one of the most successful private wine retailers, she also helps her father and she owns a national wine importing company called Banville and Jones. And she makes her own wine.

LIA TOLAINI ON CAMERA: Donna Laura is my winery and I wanted to import a very good Chianti Classico and I couldn’t find one that I believed in that had the right price, so I made one. I buy the fruit from my father and I rent some property nearby here and I use his winery.

So Bramosia is the Chianti Classico. And I had an artist do Venus, Baachus and Cupid on the label together. And this is Ali. Ali is Sangiovese de Toscana and this is named after my daughter. And I have a Chianti coming out this year. I have two boys so I had to do a third wine, an Alteo.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I have to tell you something. Lia and her father are extraordinarily competitive and her father will not even allow her wines in the house, which is why we’re filming down here secretly in the basement.

SUNDAY FAMILY MEAL

BURT WOLF: The harvest is always celebrated with a great meal --- often it’s a family feast on the Sunday after the harvest has been completed.

The idea of having a holy day once a week goes back for thousands of years. It was an Old Testament tradition that was adopted by Christian and Islamic cultures. After spending six days creating the earth and the heavens God rested on the seventh and advised his people that they should do the same. In western societies, Sunday is usually a day of rest, but it can also be a feast day when family and friends come together for a special meal.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The foods that are served at an important family meal must be different from those foods that are considered “everyday” foods. Very often the recipes revolve around something that’s considered a family heirloom. Today, the Tolaini’s are preparing for a big deal meal. And all of the dishes are traditionally Tuscan.

BURT WOLF: The great cooks of Tuscany are devoted to a rustic approach to food. They claim that they are merely adapting and refining traditional farm recipes. But since the farm cooks produce some of the world’s finest bread, oil, beans, cheese and mushrooms, they’ve got a lot to work with.

Julian Niccolini is one of the owners of the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City, which is considered to be one of the finest restaurants in the world. We brought Julian to Tuscany so he could help with the family meal.

JULIAN NICCOLINI ON CAMERA: Here we have bruscetta made with fresh tomato, wonderful garlic, basil and stale bread, but superb olive oil. Next we have another different type of bruscetta, made with fresh herbs, specially basil, parsley, garlic and also some anchovy. Very important, Tuscan olive oil and stale bread.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I like this segment. Julian talks and I eat.

JULIAN NICCOLINI ON CAMERA: Next course we have a wonderful bifstek-a-la-Farentina. Bifstek-a-la-Farentina is basically the best part of the Canina cow which is locally grown in this particular area. We just cook it ten minutes on each side. Just some rosemary, garlic and touch of olive oil and that’s it. That’s the best piece of steak you’re going to have in this particular part of the world.

We always try to grill some wonderful sausages, these are pork sausages, you just grill very simply, again, touch of olive oil, some sage on top, some peppernacino and you’re done. We have a wonderful soup, which is made with faro, olive oil, potato and some mushroom.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Yum, nice.

JULIAN NICCOLINI ON CAMERA: And this is the famous grain that this particular faro is made out of. And it is a staple food of any Tuscan cuisine.

BURT WOLF: People coming together to prepare for a meal can be as important as coming together to eat.

MAN ON CAMERA: Thank you very much.

BURT WOLF: It puts them in a relaxed and informal space. And it lets everyone make a contribution to the meal.

A special meal served at home, always contains symbols of togetherness and separation. Single placemats may be the norm for weekday meals, but a special meal always gets one big tablecloth. And on that tablecloth, which holds everything and everyone together on one field, there are individual place settings, individual dishes, individual glasses, knives, forks and spoons---individual but clearly part of a group.

The family table reinforces the idea of being together in a group, but at the same time it can separate. It gives everyone an opportunity to show that they are a unique individual within the family.

The sharing of wine at a family table is a symbolic act. Since ancient times wine has been presented separately from other food and drink. Even when everything else comes to the table as a single serving, the wine comes in a bottle or a decanter, and it's divided in front of the family, reminding everyone of their common starting point.

PIERLUIGI TOLIANI ON CAMERA: Today is a special occasion and welcome to everybody and thank you for coming.

BURT WOLF: Since many of the members of the Tolaini family are involved in the wine business it is a particularly important part of the meal.

The family meal puts young children in a situation that makes it easier for them to understand how language is used. They see people ask for things and get them. The children begin to understand the raw power of a phrase like, “grandpa, can I please have another cookie?”

The meal started in late afternoon when the sun was strong. It ended as the sun was setting. A reminder of how fast time passes and how important it is to enjoy the warmth of the occasion.

For Travels and Traditions I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Vatican City - #703

BURT WOLF: On October 16th 1978, Karol Wojtyla entered a small room in St Peter’s Basilica, put on a white robe, a short red cape and a white scull cap. A few minutes later he stood at a balcony facing St. Peter’s Square. He had become John Paul II, the 264th

Pope, the spiritual leader of one out of every five people on the planet. As “the Holy Father”, he headed an institution that had outlasted the Roman Empire, encompassed more territory than the lands of Alexander the Great and had a more significant impact on history than the dynasties of Spain, France and England combined. He could influence the behavior of government officials in their anti-rooms, corporations in their boardrooms and private citizens in their bedrooms.

I wanted to know why the Papacy became so important. What it’s been doing for the past 2000 years and what was it going to be doing in the future.

IN THE BEGINNING

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The first thing I learned is that the history of the Papacy is not just the history of the Catholic Church. The story of the Papacy is actually an essential part of the history of the entire world.

BURT WOLF: Christ was a traveling rabbi who preached in Palestine. His life on earth, death and resurrection were seen as having been prophesized in the sacred books of Judaism. His followers were centralized in Jerusalem but within a decade of his death, Christianity began spreading throughout the Middle East. The primary messenger was St. Paul.

Paul was a well-educated Roman citizen who believed that Christ’s message was not only for the Jews. Paul taught that Christianity offered everyone the opportunity to be reconciled with God. Paul was the messenger of the early Church but not the leader.

That was the responsibility of Peter, a fisherman from Galilee who became the spokesman for the Apostles. 

CARL ANDERSON ON CAMERA: To understand the Papacy, I think we have to begin by understanding the Apostles. These are Disciples of Jesus that he chose, and then he commissioned to go out into the world and teach. So essentially, the Papacy is a teaching office. But then Peter has something else.

Peter from the beginning is seen as someone who has received revelation from the Father, and a special commission and authority from the Son. And so he's seen at the beginning as the head of the Church in Jerusalem. He goes to Rome and is seen as the head of the Church in Rome. And this special status is respected from the very beginning. 

BURT WOLF: At the time, Rome was the center of the Empire and had a thriving Jewish population of about 50,000. They were in close touch with the Jews of Palestine and were well aware of the events surrounding Christ.

MONSIGNOR WILLIAM A. KERR ON CAMERA: The Jewish Diaspora had Jewish peoples living all over the Roman Empire, but many had migrated and settled in Rome. There was a strong Jewish community, a section of Rome almost, that was Jewish, and these persons were integrated into the Empire, they were powerful, they were significant. But they were also held in suspicion by the Romans. They became interested early on in what was going on in Jerusalem, they became interested in the Christ, they began to convert to Christianity, and when Peter and Paul came to them, they were welcomed by these people.

They were curious, they wanted to hear what Peter and Paul had to say, but they also wanted to be instructed by them. 

BURT WOLF: Christianity was spreading quickly and the Emperor Nero took notice of both Peter and Paul. He was offended by their teachings and in the middle of the first century had them put to death. But that did little to stop the growth of Christianity. The followers of Christ continued to practice their faith.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: They met in private homes and market places. There was no single individual in charge and many conflicting opinions as to what was the “true” faith. It became increasingly apparent that a more structured approach was necessary. The answer became the Papacy a single bishop carrying on the tradition of St Peter.

VATICAN CITY

BURT WOLF: Today Rome’s Vatican City is the epicenter of the Papacy. With a population of only 550 and a landmass of just over 100 acres, it’s the world’s smallest independent state. It has its own newspaper with an international circulation. Its own book publisher. Its own television network. Its own police force. Its own stamps and a postal service to go along with them.

It also has its own radio station that went on the air in 1931.

ANNOUNCER: The Pope for the first time in the nineteen hundred years Catholicism has sent his voice throughout the world. With this broadcast his Holiness celebrates the ninth anniversary of his coronation as Pope Pius the XI…

BURT WOLF: It was one of the first international stations and was actually built by Marconi who was the inventor of wireless communication.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The world Vatican comes from a Latin word meaning prophecy and during Roman times Vatican Hill was a place where fortune-tellers would offer their advice, for a fee, to the general public.

BURT WOLF: During the first century a racetrack was built nearby and used by the emperor Nero to stage elaborate spectacles. His favorite was killing Christians.

Nero’s circus is gone, replaced by St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican. It was built in 1656 and is almost the same size as the ancient Roman Forum. It’s partially enclosed by two semicircular colonnades. Above the colonnades are statues of saints and martyrs.

The double-colonnades symbolize the outstretched arms of the Church, welcoming and protecting the faithful. It is considered to be one of the worlds finest examples of civic architecture and can hold over 250,000 people.The square is the approach to St. Peter’s Basilica.

ST. PETER’S BASILICA

BURT WOLF: Historians believe that the basilica was built right next to the spot where St. Peter was martyred. As a condemned criminal he was not permitted a normal burial so his remains were secretly recovered and placed in the public necropolis on Vatican Hill.

In 1940, workmen digging below the basilica found a burial chamber that dated to the first century. A small space below the chamber appeared to be the tomb of St. Peter. That belief is supported by an adjacent wall that is covered with the names of pilgrims asking for St. Peter’s help.

CARL ANDERSON ON CAMERA: And then they found something very unusual, or, you might say they didn't find something they expected and that was there were no feet on the skeleton. And you remember, Saint Peter was crucified upside down, so they surmise the easiest way for the Romans to take him down was simply to cut him off at the feet and let the body drop. Peter had chosen a successor, Linus, as the next Bishop of Rome, and it was Linus who took the body, and with colleagues, buried it.

BURT WOLF: At the beginning of the 4th century, Constantine, was the emperor of Rome and believed that a dream with a vision of the cross gave him an important military victory. He converted and made Christianity the official religion of the empire.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Constantine’s conversion may or may not have been heartfelt, but it was definitely part of his big plan, he did everything he could to advance the Christians standing within the Romans and at the same time everything he could to advance his own standing with the Christians.

BURT WOLF: In 323, he ordered the construction of a huge basilica designed to sit directly above the cemetery where the remains of St. Peter were buried.

CARL ANDERSON ON CAMERA: It was a difficult project because number one he wanted to put the altar of the church right over the tomb of St. Peter which meant he had to cover a pagan cemetery which was sacred ground and aristocracy was buried there so very controversial. Secondly it’s on a hillside. He’s got to move tons of earth and third he’s got a stream moving through it. So he’s got to work around the stream. In any event he builds the Basilica but he goes through all of that effort, all of that controversy, because he wants the Basilica over the tomb of St. Peter. Why, because St. Peter is so revered by the early church.

BURT WOLF: Additional churches and monasteries were constructed alongside the basilica, as well as buildings to house and feed the thousands of pilgrims who came to pay tribute to St. Peter. The basilica itself stood up to continual use for 1200 years. 

But during the 1400s it began to disintegrate and a plan was developed for a new structure. Michelangelo built a 16-foot high model of the dome so he could make a series of stress tests. His dome was 137 feet wide and 440 feet above the floor of the basilica. He was an artist, an architect and an engineer.

Work got under way in 1450 but like most construction projects it ran over budget. To help raise the needed funds the Church offered to pray for your well being in the afterlife in exchange for a meaningful donation during your present life. Some people considered this scandalous and it became a major irritant for Martin Luther. Construction on St. Peter’s also ran a little late. The opening dedication took place in 1626---226 years after workers began digging the foundation.

Today St. Peter’s Basilica is the largest Christian church in the world.

THE SISTINE CHAPEL

BURT WOLF: In 1508, Pope Julius II entered his private chapel. Walking next to him was Michelangelo, considered to be one of the greatest artists of the time. The Pope pointed to the ceiling, looked at Michelangelo and said, “Paint it.” Michelangelo spent the next four years of his life standing on a scaffold and painting a fresco. He even made sketches of himself at work.

A fresco is produced by putting fresh plaster on a surface and then painting a picture on the plaster. The artist uses paints that are made from colored powder mixed with water. When the water dries out the powder sets into the plaster. The color becomes a permanent part of the wall or in this case the ceiling. It’s the perfect medium for large murals, but it’s a difficult technique. The painter must work fast, completing a section before the plaster is dry and mistakes cannot be corrected by overpainting. Make a mistake and you must start again with fresh plaster.

The fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is considered to be one of the greatest works of art. It presents events from the Old Testament.

The Popes were good clients for Michelangelo, and Pope Paul III brought him back to paint the west wall of the chapel. He was eighty years old.

Today the Sistine Chapel is the room used by the Sacred College of Cardinals when they meet to elect a new Pope.

PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION

BURT WOLF: On the night of August 10th 1992, a section of the mosaic covering the dome of the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament broke off and fell 400 feet to the floor below. Rainwater had seeped into the ceiling and weakened the glue that held the mosaic chips to the dome. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but a restoration program was needed and it had to begin immediately.

A mosaic is made by taking pieces of colored glass, marble or stone and pasting them onto a surface that has been prepared with glue. The ancient Romans learned the technique from the Greeks and used it to decorate their homes and temples.

By the third century mosaics were being used to present sacred images.

At the time, people were loosing interest in sculpture and the mosaic gradually took over as the most convincing way to picture a religious event.

When the great paintings inside St. Peter’s Basilica began to deteriorate in the 1600s they were recreated in mosaic. But if you didn’t know that and you didn’t look for the tiny stones, you’d think they were paintings.

The restoration program for the dome was undertaken by the Mosaic Studio of the Vatican. Its work dates back to the 1500s and it is considered to be the finest mosaic studio in the world. It also has the largest collection of the stones that are used to produce the works.

The artists have about 30,000 different colors to choose from and there are samples for each color. On the back of each chip is the identification number.

In the next room there are hundreds of bins filled with the tiles that are necessary to make the mosaic. Each number on the samples matches up with the numbers on the bins. Almost all of the tiles where made here in the Vatican mosaic studio. And many are hundreds of years old. 

Some of the tiny chips are stone, some are marble and some are glass. The glass chips are produced in the studio.

Small pieces of glass mixed with chemicals that give it color are fussed together at a temperature of 800 degrees centigrade.

The hot glass is pulled at both ends to produce a filament. A bladed hammer and a wedge of steel are used to cut the filament into the size and shape that the artist wants for a specific spot in the mosaic.

The mosaic on the dome was put in place in 1656 and presents the “The mystery of the Eucharist”.

The only way to work on it was to build a scaffold up to the vault.

Each section of the mosaic that needed repair was copied and coordinated on numbered sheets that were fixed to the vault. When the chips were reattached the bonding glue was made from an ancient recipe that combined marble dust, lime, and flax oil.

The restoration took almost two years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The funding came from The Knights of Columbus in the United States who were attracted to the project because of its cultural and artistic importance and because they felt it stood as a metaphor for life.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: They pointed out that a mosaic is made by placing one stone next to another stone until we have a masterwork and that life is similar. We place one minute next to the next minute until we are the masterwork of the Divine Artist. 

BONIFACE’S BONUS MILES

BURT WOLF: On the 22nd of April, in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII stood on the balcony of the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano and announced the first Jubilee Year. He had gotten the idea from the biblical book of Leviticus which described a jubilee year that took place every fifty years and required that all slaves be freed and all debts paid.

Pope Boniface declared that anyone who came to Rome during the Jubilee Year, confessed their sins and visited St. Peter’s would be pardoned from the temporal punishment that was due as a result of those sins.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: It was like saying to your kid, “You’re forgiven, but you still have to pay the consequences”. Not a free flight but definitely the ultimate bonus miles program. And everybody who could take advantage of the offer came to Rome. During that single year, over a million people visited this city.

BURT WOLF: The Church intended to mark every hundredth year as a Holy Year. But in 1334, the interval was shortened to 33 years, the length of the life of Christ. In 1464 Pope Paul II cut it down to 25 years. The quarter-century spacing has been in use ever since.

A Holy Year begins on the preceding Christmas Eve when the Pope opens the Holy Door, the Porta Santa of St. Peter’s. Traditionally the Pope would used aver hammer to knock down a temporary wall that was erected in front of the door, after that, the door was opened. But there are also special occasions that call for a Holy Year. 1983 was a Holy Year that marked 1,950 years since the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In 1500, the name was changed from Jubilee Year to Holy Year but the offer of forgiveness remained.

BURT WOLF: The visits enhance the image of the Papacy. People discovered the extraordinary buildings that had been commissioned by the Popes. They saw the art that came into being at the command of the Popes. They witnessed the pageantry that honored the saints. And they heard music that was specifically composed to lift the hearts of the faithful. They went back to their homes throughout Europe with a new awareness of the importance of the Papacy. More than any organization in the history of the world the Papacy has promoted tourism and tourism has promoted tolerance and understanding.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In many ways the history of the Papacy is similar to the history of any large institution---you have your good days and your not so good days. Of course in the case of the Papacy you’re looking at centuries not days. Nevertheless, you can look back over its 2000-year history and see that it is clearly the source of some of our greatest achievements.

For Travels & Traditions, I'm Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Trieste, Italy - #113

The city of Trieste sits on the shore of the Adriatic Sea in the northeast corner of Italy.  It’s an Italian city that speaks Italian and eats pasta, but it was part of the Austrian Empire for hundreds of years so it also speaks German and eats sauerkraut. Trieste is a  monument to freedom of religion. A center for music from Puccini to pop. It has a two-thousand-year-old history of great theater, in dozens of different forms.  It’s home to one of the most romantic castles in Italy and the largest grotto in the world.  The city’s Italian heritage makes it romantic, but its Austrian heritage makes you show up on time for your kiss.  Interesting contrasts!  So join me, Burt Wolf, for TRAVELS & TRADITIONS  in Trieste, Italy.  

To the west of the city is the sea, and for the past four thousand years the sea has controlled Trieste’s destiny. Trieste is the most northern port on the Adriatic Sea, and that has made it one of the most important trading centers in Europe.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Sugar and spice and everything nice came up from the Mediterranean and went on to central Europe. The goods from central Europe came down and went out to the ports of the Mediterranean and Africa.

The first people to live in the area that became the city of Trieste settled here about four thousand years ago. They built a walled town on the top of what is now called San Giusto Hill.

About fifty years before the birth of Christ, the ancient Romans took over and eventually built a temple. When Christianity replaced the Paganism of the Romans, the Cathedral of San Giusto was built on top of the Roman temple. Some parts of the cathedral were actually built out of the Roman temple. The door jambs of the main entrance are Roman sculptures cleverly recycled.  Throughout the structure you can see Roman columns and supports that the cathedral builders reused. The present cathedral was constructed during the 1300s, when two churches that stood next to each other were combined. The facing side walls were taken down, and the buildings connected by a new central aisle covered by a ceiling that looks like the keel of a ship, and was probably made by carpenters who were normally working as shipbuilders. There are two beautiful Byzantine-style mosaics from the 1100s which are not easy to see until you place a coin in a box that turns on the spotlights.  Interesting symbolism -- contribute to the church and become enlightened.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): For three hundred years starting in the 13th Century, Trieste was in constant competition with Venice. Trieste had the better port but Venice had the better army.  In order to protect itself from the Venetians, Trieste placed itself under the protection of the kings of Austria.  One of those kings, Charles VI, in 1719 declared Trieste a free-port.  And that’s when things got to be fun. When his daughter Maria Theresa took the throne, she not only continued the policy of  having it a free-port, but in order to attract merchants from all over the world, she guaranteed social equality and religious freedom.

As soon as there were one hundred families sharing the same religion, they were allowed to build their own house of worship. Today the result of this liberal policy can be seen all over Trieste.

The Church of San Spiridione was built in the Byzantine style by the Serbian community. As with all Christian Orthodox churches, the interior is dominated by icons. The structure known as the iconostasis divides the space available to human beings from the space devoted to the divine. Majestic doors allow only the priests to move between the two worlds. The silver- and gold-covered icons depict life on the other side. 

The church of Saint Antonio Nuovo was built in the neoclassic style, which looks back to the architecture of ancient Greek temples. It’s the largest Catholic church in Trieste.

The Evangelical Church was built for the Lutheran community in the Gothic style:  sharp spires... arched windows. It was designed to remind the worshipers of their northern European history.

Trieste is also the home of the second largest synagogue in Europe. Its look is characteristic of Syrian architecture, which is where the original members of the community came from.  The Jewish population of Trieste first established itself here during the 12th Century.

These houses of worship stand as testimony to Maria Theresa’s understanding of religious freedom. She knew that freedom of worship was essential for a society whose economic base was international trade. 

Besides introducing religious freedom, Maria Theresa also directed the city’s architectural renaissance. The area which is now called the Theresian Quarter is an elegant example of 18th Century city planning.  The streets are placed at right angles. Rectangular squares open the space. Canals were cut into the heart of the quarter, making it easier for merchant ships to unload their goods directly into the import houses. The Grand Canal is an excellent example of the form.  By the end of the 1800s the city was so wealthy and so deeply involved in international trade that it was to a great extent Trieste’s labor force and Trieste’s money that built the Suez Canal. 

The Theresian Quarter is also home to one of Trieste’s most unusual shops. Its owner is Primo Rovis, who was one of the most important coffee traders in the world. His hobby is collecting minerals and fossils, which are offered for sale in his store. I asked Primo what fascinated him about these stones and his answer was quite interesting. He said that when we think of nature we usually think about trees and flowers and animals... things that are easy to see. Minerals and fossils are extraordinary examples of nature, but you must dig them out. He likes searching for beauty.

A few blocks south of the Theresian Quarter is The Piazza Unita D’Italia. It was once part of an ancient Roman harbor. Over the centuries it silted up and eventually became one of the largest and most impressive plazas in Europe. At the top of the square the City Hall looks out to the sea.  On the north side is one of the town’s oldest cafes. On the south side is the city’s most historic hotel, the Grand Hotel Duchi D’Aosta. The hotel’s design is meant to give guests the feeling that they are staying in the home of a well-to-do family. 

The original hotel on this site was built in the 1300s and was right on the sea. It was put up to offer a hospitable resting place for merchants arriving on trading vessels, and there’s been a hotel on this site ever since.  In 1805 the cafe on the ground floor became the first gastronomic establishment in Trieste to be open twenty-four hours a day. The citizens of Trieste wanted a place where they could party as long as they liked. Today the area is known as Harry’s Grill.  The bar was designed by the same architect who put up Harry’s Bar in Venice.  The Winter Garden that faces out on the plaza is heated in the winter months, but opens up to the Piazza during the spring and summer.   Across the street is the hotel’s wine cellar. It contains over 30,000 bottles (just in case everybody gets thirsty at the same time).  

The hotel Duchi is presently owned and run by the Benvenuti family. Their insistence on 21st Century technology beneath the hotel’s classical surface is very much the influence of the Austrian tradition. High-touch and high-tech:  the ongoing story of Trieste.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Keeping the city a free-port and guaranteeing religious freedom were very important.  But Maria Theresa’s most unusual effort was integrating the old aristocracy with the new merchants. The counts had the titles but the merchants had the money and money counted.  The question was, how are you going to get these two groups together?  The aristocracy wouldn’t allow the merchants into their homes, and they certainly wouldn’t go to the homes of the merchants.  But it was okay for the children of the aristocracy to meet the children of the merchants in a cafe, and eventually marry the money. Good plan. The dukes got the dough, the countesses got the cash, and the city got some great cafes, some of which are still open. 

Experts consider Trieste to be the world epicenter for great coffee. The Arab world knew about coffee since the 900s. But it only arrived in Europe during the 1600s. The Austrian capital of Vienna became famous for its coffee drinking, but it was the port of Trieste that became famous for bringing the best coffee beans to Vienna. And Trieste is still a center for fine coffee production. A perfect place to look at Trieste’s balancing and blending between the traditions of Italy and those of the Austrian Empire is a coffee company called Illy Caffe. 

 BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The founder of the firm was Francesco Illy, an accountant who had been drafted into the Austrian army during the First World War, and stationed in Trieste.  At the end of the war he decided to stay on here and go into the coffee business. In 1935 his analytical mind led him to the development of the first automatic espresso machine that used compressed air instead of steam. And that was a big deal, because up to that point most of the coffee in Europe had been made by boiling water and coffee together and holding it in a huge urn.  Very often when you got your coffee, it had been sitting in that urn for hours. 

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Italy introduced  the idea of made-to-order coffee and called it “espresso.” The word “espresso” means fast, as in “Federal Espresso.” But in terms of coffee it means “a single cup made for you when you order it.” In the beginning espresso was only made in coffeehouses.  Unfortunately, the early machines used steam, which extracted negative elements from the beans.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Francesco’s system was able to use water at a lower temperature that extracted only the best flavor elements. Just for the record, the ideal temperature for brewing coffee is between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Francesco also came up with a pressurized packing system that helped keep the coffee fresh. These days Illy makes their own special cans... puts in the coffee... takes out the air... and replaces it with inert gas under pressure, which keeps the flavor in the coffee.

At the end of the Second World War, the company was taken over by Francesco’s son Ernesto. Ernesto is one of the leading chemists in Italy and his passion is the science of coffee. He knew that he could make a great cup of espresso, but he wanted to understand the scientific principles that caused the flavor. And he wanted to be able to calibrate those principles so he could produce the same level of excellence every time. The Italian passion for a sensual experience coupled with the Austrian desire for control. 

The traditional system used for purchasing of beans by a coffee roasting company consists of receiving a small sample batch of beans, roasting them, and taste-testing. If you like what you taste in the sample, you order a larger quantity. 

When the shipment arrives from the coffee-growing country, you taste again to make sure that the shipment matches the original sample. Problem is, you are relying on your taste memory of the original sample and a series of tasting notes that you made weeks ago. You try to control as many variables as possible, but it’s difficult and not very scientific. From moment to moment things can affect your sense of taste. 

So Dr.Illy built a multimillion dollar lab and is figuring out how to get DNA fingerprints from coffee beans. They still taste-test the samples, but now they also make a chemical fingerprint for the beans they like. When the main shipment arrives, they take another fingerprint of the beans to make sure that the beans they got are the same as the beans they ordered.

DR. ERNESTO ILLY:  Espresso, contrary to regular coffee, is mainly olfaction; maybe sixty percent is the nose, and only forty percent is the taste.  In regular coffee you have eighty percent taste and only twenty percent olfaction, if the coffee is freshly-brewed.  So the slightest defect is perceivable.  We are trying to understand the complexity of the coffee flavor, which is a cocktail of many hundred components.  And not all the components have the same contribution.  Some are excellent, and they are beautiful, and some are negative, and they are stinking, and they destroy the pleasure.  So we are looking to understand the good components.  So we go back to the green coffee bean, and then we hope to be able to correlate this information with the genetic structure of the plant.  Because if something is in a bean, it has been expressed by a gene that is in the DNA of the plant.  We will be able to understand the excellence of a cup by looking to the DNA and say, “Oh -- the DNA has this and this and this gene, that are the genes of the high quality.”  And so you will have wonderful coffee from the very beginning, on the bean.

Until recently the only way to make a proper cup of espresso was to buy the best beans from a top-quality roasting company... grind them...  carefully measure them into the machine... pat the coffee down with the proper pressure... and send the water through.   For a second cup you cleaned the holder and started the entire process again.  Not the easiest procedure.  Not always done properly by the people behind the counter. And definitely not something that the average person is willing to do at home on a daily basis.  So Illy developed and shared with a number of other coffee companies and coffee machine manufacturers a new way to make espresso. 

ANDREA ILLY / CEO:  Here is the Easy Serving Espresso.  It’s a system made out of pre-ground coffee, already tamped, right dosing [amount of coffee].  And you have just to insert into the machine, and you have your coffee.  It’s as simple as this.  So what happens?  The espresso, which is the quintessential of coffee, and probably the most difficult way to prepare coffee suddenly becomes the easiest way to prepare coffee.  Look at that.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Every day over three million cups of Illy Caffe are served in over sixty different countries. Just another example of Trieste continuing its four thousand year history of international trading. 

The people of Trieste, like almost everyone in Italy and increasing numbers of people all over the world, use espresso as a restful break throughout the day, but they also use it to mark the end of a meal. The food in Trieste, like everything else in this city, is a blend of Italian and Austro-Hungarian influences. The most traditional type of eatery is called a “buffet.” Buffet Da Pepi is a good example. At first it looks like the neighborhood restaurants of Italy, but in Trieste they offer ham baked in a bread crust, hot sausages and sauerkraut. Clearly the influence of Austria.

The next step up is called a Birreria, which translates as “a place to drink beer,” but most of them also serve the traditional foods of Trieste. This is the Birreria Forst... good goulash with bread dumplings, sauerkraut, frankfurters, sacher torte, and apple strudel. Not quite the menu you would expect in a restaurant serving the historic foods of an Italian city. 

If you’re interested in views to dine by, the restaurant at the Hotel Riviera & Maximilian’s is a good spot.  About ten minutes’ drive out of town, it hangs over the only private beach on the coast and offers not only great views but some excellent Triestini food. 

We started with ham that had been baked in a crust of bread... ham that had been smoked... a mild local cheese... and frico, which is a pancake made from cheese, onions and potatoes.  Slices of each of those were served together.  Next was jute, a soup that truly illustrates the marriage between the gastronomic traditions of Austria and Italy. The base is made with beans -- very Italian, but the second major ingredient is sauerkraut.  Other first courses -- pasta with scampi and rice with shrimp.  Trieste is a major seaport, so it’s only natural that second courses start with an extraordinary selection of local fish and shellfish.  Meat dishes feature stinko, which is roasted shinbone of pork with pan-roasted potatoes. The Triestini also love fresh sausages served with grilled vegetables.  A favorite side dish is made from baked potatoes and onions.  There are also three traditional breads. One is a coil of dough filled with nuts, raisins, and chocolate. The second is a dry yeast bread made with lots of eggs, and the third is packed with nuts, raisins and cinnamon.  And of course, espresso at the end.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Coffee appears to stimulate the most creative and artistic parts of the human brain, which may be the reason that Trieste has such a distinguished cultural history. The citizens of this city have a greater dedication to music and theater than any other city in Italy.

This is the city’s Opera House, named after Verdi who for a while lived in Trieste and composed two operas for this theater. The building inherited a theatrical tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. The opera’s history may be old but its technology is up-to-date. The counter of the ticket office contains a computer screen that shows you the seating plan.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The purple indicates annual subscriptions, which will give you a pretty good idea of how devoted the people of Trieste are to their opera.  The white ones have also been taken, and the only ones that are available are the green ones, except for that one, which is about to become my seat.  And the whole system is on the Web, so you can purchase your ticket from just about anywhere in the world.

The most popular theater in Trieste is the Rossetti. It has been used for the presentation of opera, variety shows, the circus, boxing, wrestling, political rallies, which were sometimes difficult to tell from the wrestling and the first showing of a motion picture in Trieste. Stefano Curti is the director of communications.

STEFANO CURTI:  We host a variety of shows that go from drama to plays and musicals and pop concerts.  We work a lot with young people; we have a production of “Pinocchio” made by students aged nine to eleven, and this is in rehearsal now.  Over a third of our audience is under twenty-six, which is absolutely remarkable, if you think that -- We always think that the theatre is in crisis; in this city we have over three thousand students coming to the theatre every week to see the shows that arrive over here.  Tonight we have a pop concert, and it’s a concert from an artist from Venice, Patty Pravo.  She was a very popular artist in the 70s, and she enjoyed a remarkable comeback last year at the San Remo Festival, and we’re gonna have a sold-out night tonight.

We have the home of a very important puppet company, Piccoli di Podrecca, who were a world-famous puppet company in the 40s and 50s.  They travelled all over the world, and they stayed on Broadway for over a year.  And we now have a course for young people, trying to learn the art of making a puppet, of building a puppet.

Before the cultural forces representing Austrian and Italian traditions gave Trieste its social form, there were geographic elements that gave Trieste its physical form. This is the Grotta Gigante, and it is one of the largest caves in the world. Many of the caves near Trieste were inhabited by people coming to this area in prehistoric times and that was probably the case for the higher levels of the grotta. These are the caves of the cavemen.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): This is the largest cavity in the world with a domed vault. St. Peter’s Basilica could actually fit in here.

The grotta has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest cave available to tourists. The two white plastic tubes in the center of the grotta are part of a scientific experiment that is measuring the tides of the earth. It appears that it is not only the sea which rises and falls with the movement of the moon. The earth also expands and contracts with the lunar pull and that pulse is being studied here.   

The Grotta Gigante is one of Trieste’s favorite geographic structures; the castle at Miramare is one of its favorite historical structures. It’s situated on a picturesque point that stretches out into the Adriatic Sea.  The design was taken from the English and Norman castles of the late Renaissance. It’s surrounded by acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. It was built in the middle of the 1800s for Maximillian of Hapsburg, the Archduke of Austria. Maximilian was married to Princess Charlotte, the daughter of King Leopold of Belgium. They were the leading aristocratic lovebirds of the time and represented romantic bliss, but only for a brief period.  In 1864 Maximilian left Trieste to become Emperor of Mexico. Three years later he was executed by Benito Juarez. Charlotte went insane.  A story of tragic love, and one that has touched the hearts of the people of Trieste.  And Trieste has touched me.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The romance of the Italians balancing against the structuralism of the Austrians. Passion and punctuality -- and the best espresso in the world. What else could you ask for? I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief visit to Trieste, and I hope you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I’m Burt Wolf.