Original subtitles

I'm in a region that I've never been to before.

It's rustic.

It's wild, it's mountainous, it's rough.

And I'm in a part of it that the locals call Little Tibet.

I'm in Abruzzo.

There's my ride.

I believe that the best way to understand

what makes a country and its people unique is through their food.

This is incredible.

Oh, man!

And this is true nowhere more than Italy.

Let’s go and eat.

Okay.

Nice. Do you smell that?

Mm, mm, mm!

Where even the shape of your pasta

and the sauce you serve it with

speaks directly to identity.

-You like it? -I love it.

Oh, my God, it's so good!

And differentiates the character

and history of each region sharply from the next.

It's just not what you expect.

I'm Stanley Tucci.

And I'm exploring the complex connections

between the land, the people, and the food they eat

in order to discover the essence of each region

in the country I love, Italy.

Abruzzo is right in the center of the peninsula,

midway down the calf of the boot,

separated from much of Italy by the Apennines,

an impenetrable mountain range

that forms the backbone of the country.

It's among the least densely populated parts of Italy.

How does this brutal, yet glorious geography

impact upon the people and their food?

I'm starting in a remote mountain village

called Senarica.

It's Sunday.

-How are you doing? -Well.

-Welcome to Senarica. -Grazie.

And Chef Danilo Cortellini

has invited me to a traditional lunch with his family.

Sun is not shy today.

Senarica is small and hidden away,

little influenced by the outside world.

Danilo, however, has been cooking internationally

for 25 years, 12 of those as head chef

at the Italian embassy in London.

Despite his global pedigree, his Mother Lucia

doesn't trust him with today's lunch,

a traditional feast day dish called timballo.

Come on in.

Thank you.

This is my mother, Lucia.

-Hello. -Hello, a pleasure.

Stanley. Stanley.

-The pleasure is mine. -This is Stanley.

-Mom is making crespelle. -Yeah.

We can call them crepes, but she might not like it.

So, let's call it crespelle. Let's call it crespelle.

Because there's a French influence here.

-Right, isn't there? -There is.

If you think about the French invasion,

they arrived here with Napoleon, the French.

-With Napoleon, right. -Yeah, that was Regno d'Italia.

It was the-- the kingdom run by the-- by Napoleon in Italy.

And, um, it's quite easy to spot this is very similar to crepes.

- Sure, yeah. - And then--

- What is it made with? - It's like a crepe

but instead of butter, there's-- there's olive oil.

-Uh-huh. -And instead of milk, there's--

-there's water, so it's lighter. -Okay.

That's why they come out so thin.

Yeah, they're very delicate, yeah, right.

But I like to say better than crepes.

Of course. You can say that, it's alright, go ahead.

So, one of the reasons that I wanted to do this story...

was because my family makes this-- what we call timpano.

It's round, it has a dough on the outside,

almost like a pizza dough kind of like, ish, thing.

Inside is, um, pasta,

and meatballs, and salami, and then baked.

-Baked. -And then, like with this...

-Flipped over. -Flipped.

That sounds like a lot of work.

It was days of work.

How do you make this ragu?

With a little meat.

-Beef? -A little beef, a bit of pork.

-Oh, yes. -It makes it better.

There’s a mix of onion, celery and carrot.

Will you show us how you do it?

Shall we do it together, can I help?

Yes, of course.

A bit of parmesan...

...eggs and milk.

It's egg wash with milk.

By putting a little bit of egg wash in the middle of each layer,

it serves the same purpose as a bit of a soufflé effect.

-Oh, I see. -So, every-- every layer

will rise a little bit

-because of it. -Ah.

Yes, it is sort of French, isn't it?

You can see the influence.

We just don't want to tell the French.

No, no, no, no, don't ever tell the French anything.

The mini-meatballs.

Many places of Italy, we share the concept

of mini meatballs.

Everybody says spaghetti meatballs is not an Italian dish, it's an American.

-But actually, no. -Yeah.

It stems from, uh, something that we do.

Well, in America, everything did get bigger,

and saucier, and meatier, and--

because there was more.

You had so much meat, you had a lot of bread,

you had a lot of wheat, so everything

became bigger, and that's why Italian-American cuisine

is so distinctly different from Italian cuisine.

How many layers are in here?

10, 11, 12.

-It depends on the tray. -It depends.

Till we get to...

Top of the tray, or we finish the ingredients.

-Yeah. -Depends.

Then-- then you stop.

-Are we closing this timballo? -Yes, yes.

This is a case when we stop because we reach the top.

Yes, I see that.

We can make another one, but maybe later--

-later tonight. -Well, it's a bit--

the show's not that long, I'm afraid.

The crew is incredibly grateful,

as this timballo is destined to become their lunch.

But first, it must cook, then rest,

a process that takes just shy of two hours,

whereas Lucia made this timballo earlier today.

It's now ready to serve, but not before a moment of pure suspense.

Are you nervous?

A little bit. Yeah, I must say.

That's not like you.

We're about to flip this.

The moment of truth. Ready, steady?

Yes.

-OK. -Ready?

- Ole. - It's okay.

-Don't just say it's okay. -Ahh, yeah!

-No? -Ohh!

It's more than okay.

What do you think?

Delicious and well cooked.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

That's great.

Here we go. The timballo is ready.

- The heavy timballo. - It's a heavy timballo.

But I didn't drop it.

Danilo's wife, Gaia, daughter Mia, and father Pietro

join us at the table.

Papa.

Do you like timballo?

-No. -Not so much.

- She doesn't like timballo? - No.

- No? Alright. - Not much, yet.

- Yet. - Shall I slice?

Let's eat.

Oh, yeah.

-Who likes the corner? -To the head of the family.

Okay, here we go.

- I'm sorry. - Here we go!

Eh...

-That's for you. -Oh! Grazie.

-That's a big one. -That's huge, yes, thank you.

That's the half portion here.

Just eat the mini-meatballs.

Wow.

-Good? -So good.

Whoa. This is incredible.

The butter and tomato together is so sweet.

- This is delicious. - Mm.

Delicious.

Tell me, when you were young,

what was it like around here?

It was full of people, 300-400 people...

yes, the village was all full.

The road... cars started arriving in 1964.

Before then there was only a mule track.

-Really? '64? -Yes, from there...

Yes, there was that road over there, we walked in and walked out.

As kids, we were free range.

We'd go out in the morning,

to the countryside, nests, pastures, sheep

playing in the countryside is how we’d spend our days.

Si.

That Senarica could only be reached by foot

until the mid-1960s is not unusual in this region.

You liked the timballo, didn't you?

She's eating it! She's eating it! Wow!

New influences don't easily reach cut-off places,

but perhaps that increases their impact when they do.

That is amazing.

You really like it?

I'm-- I'm serious.

But what might be the purest form

of Abruzzesi cuisine?

For that, I'm heading somewhere even more sparsely populated.

Senarica sits at the edge

of the region's largest National Park, Gran Sasso.

The expansive landscape is dominated by Corno Grande,

the highest peak in the Apennines.

It doesn't look like Italy.

It's a very, very unusual, uh, landscape, beautiful landscape.

It's vast and peaceful.

Save for the hordes of motorcycle enthusiasts,

drawn here by the views and an iconic barbecue joint

called Ristoro Mucciante.

Good morning.

Stanley.

-Nice to meet you, I’m Rodolfo. -How are you doing?

-Good, thanks. -Do you like it?

I’ve never seen a place like this in Italy.

I'm here to meet food and motor journalist

Cristina Bachetti.

She says this is the place to experience

Abruzzo's ultimate culinary rite of passage.

Good morning.

-Hi, Cristina. -Stanley.

Are you my guide today?

I come here by motorbike, because I'm a biker.

I’m from Abruzzo, and this is the most

wonderful place to come by motorbike.

-It’s perfect for bikers. -It is perfect.

There are bends, straight roads which give you the views.

Panorama, si, si.

Beautiful.

-What are we eating? -Arrosticini, obviously.

Ristoro Mucciante makes the best ones in Abruzzo.

I'm not just saying that because Rodolfo is here,

but everyone knows this,

all over the region and all over Italy.

So we absolutely must eat arrosticini. You must try them.

-Let's eat. -Sure.

-Shall I get some arrosticini? -Yes, let's go.

This is and always has been sheep country.

For centuries, these elevated plains

were home to a custom known as the transumanza,

where shepherds based down in Puglia

would drive their flocks over 150 miles north to graze here.

The less fortunate animals became arrosticini.

Si.

-What do I do? -Like this.

Arrosticini are simply skewers of cubed mutton.

The shepherds' tradition of grilling the meat

in the open air continues to this day.

-Altogether? -Altogether for the moment.

Here?

- Si. - Oh, wow.

Do you do this at home?

Yes, I have a smaller one at home, a little one.

In Milan?

Yes. You can do it in Milan too.

The air is not the same there though.

-They turn out better here. -Yes, our air is special.

Take a look around you. Isn't it marvelous?

I know, I know.

So this is an ancient tradition?

Yes, from the transumanza in order to preserve the mutton better.

But when was this?

Transumanza has existed forever

but now as time goes on, there are increasingly fewer sheep

because it’s a quite a demanding job.

There used to be 60 or 70,000 sheep here.

In June, they’d come up here until September or October

and then they’d go back down.

In the 17th century, over 4 million sheep

summered on this lush mountain plateau.

Used for meat, milk, and wool, they generated huge wealth for this area.

Everyone had sheep.

So the economy was based on sheep.

Cheese, ricotta...

mutton, lamb... arrosticini.

Let's go.

Oh, yeah.

Fantastic.

It's the fat.

Now let's do this.

We separate them from each other.

-The part that isn't cooked. -That's it.

The fire is very hot. The charcoal is roasting.

-Salt? -You have to put a lot on it,

because mutton has to be salted well.

I'll show you how it's done.

My God.

Just a little.

You might not smell great when you leave here

but you'll leave happy, for sure.

Should we take them off, boss?

I think so.

Well, let's eat.

I’m starting with the arrosticini.

- Cheers. - Cheers.

- Cheers. - Cheers.

This is so good. Everything.

Super.

Mutton Arrosticini,

Si?

which you cooked and are delicious.

Perfect.

-They need a little salt. -A little extra salt.

A pinch more.

- Delicious -Delicious.

Delicious.

So your family... were shepherds,

and you're s shepherd too?

-I am. -So you’re still a shepherd?

My grandfather, he decided to build a little hut here.

He started with a little grill.

He just started like that.

He was open for those three months,

June, July, and August.

Then in September he’d go back down to Puglia with the transumanza.

Towards the end of the 70s, they filmed a western.

-Here? -Yes.

And they built a saloon.

When they finished filming all the scenes,

they were supposed to dismantle this building and take it away.

So my father struck an agreement with the director

and he got them to leave this hut here.

It's great that there's a saloon in the middle of Abruzzo.

Yeah, it's really like in America.

-It's strange. -It's strange, yes, yes.

How many of these does one person eat?

An average person eats

10 to 15.

Really?

Then the champions arrive...

-30 or 40. -30 or 40.

No!

I eat 30 or 40.

- No! - Si.

-Thank you. -Cheers.

Cin cin.

Such rustic food,

forged from Abruzzo's shepherding roots,

seems appropriate fuel in this vast, unchanged landscape.

Yet this region doesn't always lend itself to preserving traditions.

Located at the bottom of dramatic slopes

in a lush valley, Villa San Sebastiano

is found at the westernmost edge of Abruzzo,

and is known for a tragic natural disaster.

On September 5th, 1955, a landslide wiped away the village.

Four were killed, dozens more were injured.

The villagers had two options.

They had to decide whether to leave or to rebuild.

They chose the latter.

Starting with the church.

Then, the next most important thing.

The communal bread oven that had fed them for centuries.

Chef Lucia Tellone looks after it today.

-Shall we start? -Yes.

All right, let's put all the flour into the bowl.

Go on, put some in the middle and just pour the water in.

It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect.

This was the central hub for socializing,

-everything revolved around bread. -This place?

Because each family used to come here and bake 10 loaves.

This place helped to rebuild the community

after the landslide, but gradually, convenience culture

meant that those traditional methods fell out of favor.

Eventually, the bread oven closed,

taking the social heart of the village with it,

until Lucia came along.

But it had been closed for about 35 years.

So, nobody was baking bread anymore.

How many years?

-35. -Really?

-When did this all start? -Four years ago.

When I turned it on again for the first time,

nobody was coming to make bread, to bake it.

So, I'd ask people around, "Why don't you come and bake your bread?"

And all the people would answer me,

"Because we don't know how to make bread."

So, that was the real problem, not knowing how to make it.

In Italy?

Because today everybody's comfy.

There are shops, yeah.

But from the shop the next day it's not that good.

This one, it can even last 10 days.

But it won’t because you eat it sooner. Because it's delicious.

Shall I help you?

Okay.

Plunge them in.

Start from the bottom.

Dig down, down, down. Well done.

Lucia resolved to teach the village

to bake again, and it turns out that the children are her best students.

Seeing something that grows in your hands,

it’s amazing.

Especially for children, seeing something come together

that they made themselves, it’s an immense satisfaction.

To have children here

gives you a sense of community.

So I feel enriched in spirit,

not in money, but in spirit.

Si.

-Everyone else, are we done? -Yeah. Yes.

I'm almost there.

This flour

where is it from? Is it from here?

This is not zero-kilometer, it’s zero-centimeter,

because I have an uncle who produces it.

It's solina wheat.

It's right here.

It's also called "mountain wheat".

From the mountains?

"Mountain" because it can even grow at 1400 meters.

It's very sturdy.

I find it’s a symbol of Abruzzo because Abruzzo people are sturdy

and so is the wheat.

They don't just bake bread.

This local ancient grain also gets made into pan pizzas.

You need to oil your hands, or else it will all stick to them.

What does it mean?

What does it mean?

Look, here, I do this and it doesn’t stick. See?

And now you gotta go wash your hands.

-Quick. -This one's yours.

What's in there?

So, in here it’s 50% water

and 50% extra virgin olive oil.

When you bake pizza in an oven like this one,

heat will pull the moisture from the dough and it will turn out very crunchy.

Too crunchy, right?

But this way, water gets absorbed by the heat,

but the dough stays soft.

Lucia lights the bread oven once a week,

on a Saturday, and the community

gathers to cook and share lunch.

Everybody brings something.

-A community. -A community.

A big family.

Okay.

Whoa.

Onion.

- Mm! - Okay.

Are you all hungry?

This is the most anticipated time. Pizza time.

- Yes! - Mm-hmm, si.

One of the most anticipated times.

By involving the children,

I'm certain I'm leaving something to them.

I'm sure they'll know how to make bread in the future.

They see me lighting the fire, making it...

so they’ll be able to do it too.

I think. I hope.

The bread oven feels as relevant now as ever,

providing warmth, nourishment, and community to the locals.

But the food that has really put Abruzzo on the world map

isn't a staple, it's an indulgence.

Though isolated, sugar and spices

were brought to Abruzzo by the trade routes

that connected Italy to Asia.

Years ago, the town of Sulmona was an important stop on the spice trail,

being strategically located between the port of Pescara and Rome.

The people of this remote provincial town

met this influx of luxurious produce with real flair...

creating what are probably Europe's first ever candies...

sugar-coated almonds.

Known as confetti.

Established in 1783,

Confetti Pelino is an institution.

Today, seventh generation candy magnate Mario Pelino

is giving me a tour of the factory.

Incredible.

-This hasn't changed. -Hasn't changed?

It hasn't changed.

-Nothing changes. Nothing. -Si. Nothing--

Nothing changes.

Almonds once grew profusely in the hills surrounding the town.

The original confetti were made of these almonds.

They were toasted and then covered in a sugar shell.

They're being made in the factory today

in a process little altered since the 18th century.

-We are inside the hall. -Mm-hmm?

That is the beginning of the process.

-Okay. -Where they do the peeling

-of the almonds... -Uh-huh?

...the roasting of the almonds, and the selection of the almonds.

So, they go through them by hand?

They do everything by hand, yes.

It's not really industrialized.

- Can we taste? - Yes, yes.

-It's-- it's hot. -Tell me.

-It's hot. -It's hot.

Oh, I see, it's steaming.

-Mm. Oh, yeah. -Questi sono buoni.

-Very nice. -Very good, they are very good.

This is the row of the copper machines

installed by my great-grandfather.

They are very old.

This is the beginning of the history of the Alfonso Pelino factory.

Sugar panning is the technical term

for what happens in these beautiful old machines.

That is a thick solution of sugar.

75% of sucrose and 25% of water.

She puts about five spoons

-of, uh, solution. -Right.

And those inside are the almonds.

The sugar solution is repeatedly ladled

onto the tumbling almonds over the course of a couple of days,

slowly building up the shell one thin layer at a time.

It's at this point a vast array of different flavors

can be added, including the exotic spices

that were passing through here once upon a time.

-Saffron? -No saffron.

That is lemon, I think, the lemon.

Lemon?

What I'm gonna show you now is the copper pan

that is producing the cinnamon candy.

It is a very old product,

because as you know, the cinnamon

-was an important spice. -Yeah.

-Imported from the Middle East. -Right, yeah.

Okay?

-You taste the cinnamon? -Oh, it's delicate.

I like that.

These little candies are an inescapable part

of being Italian.

In the workshop, they're crafted into bouquets and trinkets,

which appear at almost every celebration across the country.

So, I will introduce you now to Marina.

-Mm-hmm. -Because she's the person

-in charge. -Oh, Stanley!

Good morning.

-Good morning, nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

How many do you make a day?

A lot, it depends on the type of flower you have to make.

200, it depends.

-200? -Yes.

They're so beautiful. And then, do people--

people give them as gifts?

- They give it as a gift. - Yeah.

-They take it as a souvenir. -Yeah.

Because they're made only in Sulmona, no other place.

-Nobody else makes them. -Nobody else make it.

They're used for weddings, 'cause I know...

-these are always used... -They are used for weddings.

-...for Italian weddings. -Yes, they are used for.

-In America too, when you're... -In America.

In America, always you-- when you go to an Italian wedding...

-Yes. -...you always get the little.

Bomboniera, a favor, a favor.

Yeah, a favor, yeah.

Confetti over there means totally something different.

-Confetti's... -This is what they throw.

-It's what you throw. -But you know why?

-Why? -Because they came here,

they saw the confetti in different colors,

thrown out of the church in the-- in the ceremonies.

-Oh, really? -At the weddings, they used

-to throw the confetti. -You mean, the-- the candies?

-Yes, outside. -Oh, that's why

-it's called confetti? -Yeah.

That's why it's called confetti.

I always wondered why it was an Italian word.

That's the reason. The reason.

You see how fast she is?

-Si? -You're like a magician.

-May I buy these? -Good morning, of course.

These ones,

and also these ones too.

Being a father to young children,

returning home empty-handed from a visit to a candy factory

is not an option.

Thankfully, the store stocks upward of 50 different flavors,

from cappuccino to champagne,

in a bemusing array of shapes, sizes, and colors.

-May I try one of these? -Sure, go ahead.

Delicate little treats like confetti

are the last product you'd expect to come out of this wild region.

Generally, Abruzzo has a reputation

for being tough to live in,

due to its very rugged landscape.

Its craggy Adriatic coast being no exception.

Head east of Sulmona, go as far as you can,

and you hit a 24-mile stretch of treacherous shoreline

punctuated by jagged rocks.

This is known as the Trabocchi Coast

because of these distinctive wooden fishing platforms,

that use a complex system of winches

to hoist fishing nets up and down.

-I’ll stop after this turn. -Yes.

What about the other one?

No, just this one.

Chef Gianluca Di Bucchianico

runs a restaurant on one of these trabocchi

and he has agreed to show me the ropes, quite literally.

This is a very old kind of fishing.

It was done by farmers and many had trabocchi.

It needs to go under.

Why not on a boat?

Because they didn't know how to swim,

our ancestors who built them.

And they didn't have the knowledge of the sea, of the wind.

And, being farmers.

they started building trabocchi.

The product of desperation, these amazing platforms were built

by peasants facing famine, a last-ditch attempt

to pull what protein they could from the sea.

A history that's reflected in Gianluca's menu.

Firstly, I'll explain our culinary inspirations.

As traboccos were owned by farmers

our cuisine is full of produce from the land.

It's because it came from the farmers.

So, we're making this dish, a really inspiring dish,

because we're bringing together the land...

sheep from the transumanza, which passed nearby,

-with fish. -Oh, yes.

So, we've made lamb torcinello.

“Torcinello,” what does that mean?

Offal chopped thinly,

and then encased in intestine.

Okay.

The torcinello, or mutton offal,

is served with prawns, a little liquid from their roe,

and a reduction of the region's eminent red wine,

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

Wow.

You're an artist.

-Bonne Appetit. -Come here.

Who's got that-- give me that-- get over here.

You got it? I want to eat this right here.

Oh, man. Oh, man!

Who would put lamb intestines-- I know it sounds gross...

coupled with shrimp and two different--

like an emulsification of-- oh, sorry.

Mountains and sea… sea and mountains.

-How do you say it? -Sea and mountains.

The second antipasto

is a pancotto, or bread soup,

inspired by Gianluca's ancestors.

Is this the bread inside?

It's marinated in the tomato.

Like gazpacho,

-like a liquid salad. -Right.

Is this a shrimp?

-It's a prawn. -A prawn.

-What's this? -It’s a slipper lobster.

A squid.

This is orange tomato.

-Is this zucchini? -Yes, zucchini.

Dried olive.

Powdered fig leaf.

Bonne Appetit, Stanley.

Thanks.

Bravo.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

This was inspired by the afternoon snack

I had as a child.

We’d pick tomatoes from the garden

then rub them into bread,

and we'd eat those everyday

with oil, salt and a bit of sugar.

My grandparents were from Calabria.

My grandmother made something with...

-The old bread, stale bread. -Okay.

It was “fiscotto,” meaning biscuit.

It would go in the oven

on a low temperature,

for two hours.

-Until it became a bit crunchy. -It was sweet.

-Caramelized. -Yes.

This would be with soup, with tomatoes, with everything.

Memories from childhood

make us feel like children again and dream.

Si.

It's what makes us happy.

Si.

With his restaurant not yet open for service,

Gianluca is going to join me at the table for some pasta.

A simple spaghetti with olive oil,

garlic, and sweet chili pepper,

elevated by the addition of lobster extract.

It's pretty here, isn't it?

Silence.

Only the sea.

Perfect.

I want to die now.

No.

-There you go. -Thank you, chef.

Bonne Appetit.

Oh, wow.

It's a simple dish.

Simple, but different.

So this life for you,

-was this a dream? -Yes.

It's always been my dream.

It's hard because the trabocco is inaccessible.

And to bring food, the fish and clean the restaurant,

I leave home at 8am

and I'm back home by 2am every day.

But it must be beautiful.

Yes, it's fantastic.

-I'm happy. -No, I'm the happy one.

Trabocchi are incredible inventions,

part madness, part genius,

not unlike serving shrimp with mutton.

This ingenuity defines the Abruzzesi spirit,

and there's further proof of it out in the wildest pocket

of this region.

Like many other villages across Abruzzo,

the hamlet of Castrovalva has been hit hard

by population decline.

It sits surrounded by mountains,

a long journey inland from the coast.

I'm heading up above the village with Chef Davide Nanni.

-Gorgeous. -Do you like it?

Yeah.

Beautiful.

You're at peace with the world here.

Si. Si.

Let’s get the equipment out, Stanley.

I need a hand.

Davide is going to make the defining dish of his childhood.

-Where? -Yes, there.

A recipe that evokes Abruzzo perhaps like no other,

pecora al cotturo, or mutton stew.

Did you come here when you were young?

I grew up here. I know these mountains by heart.

I came to the countryside with my grandfather

so the sheep could graze.

Okay.

This recipe originates from Abruzzo.

It's a very old recipe.

I think it's even more traditional than arrosticini.

This recipe originates from the transumanza times

because when the shepherds were traveling,

there was probably some sheep that,

during the transumanza, would hurt itself,

so when this happened

they had to get rid of it and they made this dish.

It's a gorgeous meat. That color.

Well, we treat these animals very well.

Just as my grandfather did.

And my love for nature and

the mountains comes from him.

He taught me these simple things,

a simple life, respecting others,

but most of all respecting nature.

Despite its natural beauty, the population has long been in freefall.

The economy was left in tatters by the Second World War.

That, combined with the challenging topography

and a series of devastating earthquakes

prompted many to leave.

And you worked in London and America?

Yes, I’ve worked in different places around the world, but if I'm honest, Stan,

I came back here at the time

when I’d started to feel more alone in the world

than in this village of 15 inhabitants.

I always appreciated the simple life.

Living in a big city was really difficult for me.

Davide emigrated from here

like many before him,

but he's back permanently.

Normally, everyone leaves for the American dream, right?

Because America is where you strike it rich,

where the opportunities lie.

So, at a certain point, I said, "Let's try."

But I always remember him saying,

“Remember, Grandson, your America can be right here.”

So I had to go to America to understand where my home was.

I came back here and I learned to be happy.

I understand.

So, after you've sautéed the onion and celery,

you sauté the mutton

and add all the aromatic herbs.

Oh, look at that. Mm.

-What herbs are they? -There's bay, rosemary and sage.

Okay.

We add good amount of red wine, or white wine,

but the shepherds used red wine.

Because in Abruzzo,

Montepulciano wine was much more common.

I'll let you try it now.

Cheers, Stan.

Thank you.

Wow.

-Did you make this? -My dad did.

It's all natural.

Do you like it?

Yeah. Really, yeah.

After simmering for about an hour and a half,

the mutton stew is ready.

Beautiful.

Shall we go to the shade?

Ah, yeah. Si.

Mm.

It's good, right?

It's amazing.

When you cook outside on the fire,

it's always better.

Always, it's the best, in my opinion.

That's right, Stan.

This recipe for me means history.

It's a memory of...

Even this day with you,

I want to dedicate it to my grandfather

who was a very important person for me.

I know.

When I speak about my grandfather...

Sorry.

No, no. It's okay.

Thank you.

It's been a really wonderful day.

It's been a wonderful day for me too.

Thank you.

Now I love Abruzzo

because you're here.

Come to visit us again whenever you want.

Abruzzo has a lot of recipes.

-Si. Cheers. -Cheers.

-To your grandfather. -Thank you.

All throughout Italy I've met so many people

who emigrate only to return.

Like Davide, they're drawn back

by Italy's unparalleled food culture,

and compelled to write its next chapter.

I can understand the appeal that Abruzzo has.

Isolated from external influences

by its uncompromising geography,

and a cuisine that is robust and pure.