All language subtitles for Italy Unpacked Series 2 2of3 A Home Away From Rome HDTV x264 AAC MVGroup org

'I'm Andrew Graham-Dixon
and I'm an art historian.'

We're in the basement
of Italian history.

'And I'm Giorgio Locatelli
and I'm a chef.'

Untuosa, unctuous.

'We are both passionate about
my homeland, Italy.'

Come on, everybody!
Let's go!

The rich flavour and classic dishes
of this land are in my culinary DNA.

Pasta will be hanging.

And this country's rich
layers of art

and history have captivated me
since childhood.

It actually brings out the naked
body all the more.

In this series, we'll be travelling
all the way down

the west coast of the
country from top to toe.

Stepping off the tourist track
wherever we go. This is so Italian.

I want to show off some of my
country's most surprising food.

It's hot.

Often most born out of necessity
but leaving a legacy that's still

shaping Italian modern cuisine
around the world.

And the art too, is fantastic.

Exotic, deeply rooted in history.

This week we're in beautiful Lazio
and unlike many visitors,

we're going to ignore its famous
capital city, Rome,

and focus on the amazing legacy

of those who took refuge here from
the cauldron of Rome life.

We'll be trying incredibly
diverse dishes

from the banqueting halls of the
glutton popes to the peasant kitchen,

where nothing gets wasted.

This programme contains scenes which
some viewers may find upsetting.

For centuries, Lazio has been a land
where dramatic stories have unfolded

and you can still read them in the
region's art and architecture.

It's a rich and very generous land,

where for us, not all roads
lead to Rome.

I think a lot of people think
of Lazio as being a football team.

They don't even realise that
it's a...

You know, it's an entire province

full of wonderful things to see,
wonderful things to eat.

One thing that you must always
remember is, like...

that here is where the Romans
invented

the idea of the weekend.

So here is dotted with absolutely
beautiful places where people

retire from the cosmopolitan...

Yeah. ..you know...

triggering malice of the town.
The idea... Yeah.

So it's lovely to be in Lazio, with
this tree cover, the woods.

In fact, we are on our way to a
place that I've...

Well, I've quite, for a long time,
wanted you to see... Right.

..which is this beautiful garden.

I think it's my favourite garden in
the world. Really?

Because, Andrew, you know
I am only interested in gardens

that grow things that I can cook.
I think...

I think you'll be
interested in this garden anyway.

Fantastic. It's our first stop. OK.

This is the Palazzo d'Este in
Tivoli.

In the 16th century, it became home
to a cardinal, who despite his

high clerical status, had a rather
troubled relationship

with Rome and the Vatican.

So, Giorgio, we are rubbing the
sleep from our eyes,

it's horribly early in the morning

but if you want to see the
Villa d'Este

without throngs, throngs
of tourists,

this is the only time to come.

It's half past seven in the morning,

they'll actually be arriving fairly
soon, believe it or not.

This is the garden of
Cardinal Ippolito d'Este,

the son of Lucrezia Borgia

and a very disappointed man.

He tried to be elected pope
five times. Wow.

This garden contains...
Well, not a little surprise

but quite big one.

Vieni con me.

It's starting, Giorgio.

When the garden was finished
he simply said...

"Let there be water!"

All of you people in Tivoli, well,
you'll just have to suffer drought.

You know, he took a third of the
town's water supply for his garden.

So that he could thrill
and surprise visiting dignitaries.

So you think I'm not good enough to
be pope?

See what I can do!

How it turned from that little
wiggling thing. Look at that!

The power it's got in that.

That is incredible.

The style of this garden is
called mannerism.

The art of the surprise, the
conceit, the extravagant gesture.

I think water is a great
symbol for mannerism

because in mannerist art, things are
always turning into other things.

Faces are turning into rocks,
rocks are turning into faces,

dragons are turning into lions.

Water is always changing its shape.

It's the perfect expression
of a culture that's... I think it

lies at the origin of the modern
culture of the spectacle.

It looked quite dull when we arrived,
didn't it?

But now, look. It's just moving
completely.

The whole thing has just come alive.

Look, it's wonderful!
The water's reached the light.

So when the water reaches the light
it becomes like a sparkler.

And of course, you know, it's kind
of obvious

but it's a huge symbol of potency.

Oh, it's such a beauty.

How many litres of water

do you think this garden pumps out
every day?

This is still the original
16th century hydraulic system

and they're still using it. Yeah.

We wonder at the fact that the
Victorian sewage system

has survived until now. Yeah.

This is 300 years before that!

Cardinal d'Este might have been
bitter about Rome in his own time,

but his garden was directly
inspired by the ancient Romans'

legendary prowess with water and
hydraulic engineering.

To me, these gardens must have
helped him in taking his mind

off his failure to become a pope
and to show off his power.

I think maybe, even a sweet revenge.

Guardi che bello. Don't fall.

It's very slippery, Giorgio.

That is fantastic.

Control of water, I think is...

I think it's hard for us to
understand.

Now, any of us can turn on a tap.

But, you know, you go back to the
16th century, it's a lot of water...

You got a bucket to get the water.

Yeah, or go to the well and travel
with the donkey, you know?

To have water like that is such
a symbol of your power.

Look at this guy. What is he doing?

Buongiorno.

Every day, they start from the top
and they clean all the way down,

because every level must work,

because you receive enough water to
be constant flow all the way through.

So, if one of the mouth is shut,
or two mouth are shut, or there is

a problem, then it will start to
overflow and it loses its effect.

How does it feel, Giorgio?
It's brilliant.

I feel like I'm
working on this big project

and getting it all working as well.

No, no, no.

Sorry, Giorgio. I didn't get a job.

Grazie, buono lavoro.
Buono giornata. Ciao. Ciao.

What I love about the garden is...

..it's designed like the set
of an opera.

But you stand in it and where you're
allowed to stand, you know...

This is a position of power.
Only a few people would be
allowed here. Right.

You know, the lower
cardinals down there,

the members of the court
on level three.

You really feel like you're

looking down on the rest
of the world from up here,

with Ippolito d'Este.
He clearly wanted to look down
on everyone else.

And you say to everybody, "Look
at me. Look what I'm able to do.

"Look what I am...
what I'm capable of. "

Very Lazio.

Said from the outside of Rome, but
in the direction of Rome, eh? Power.

There's always that black
hole of Rome over there.

You always know that.
Struggle for power.

Like, standing over Rome,
isn't it? I think it's like...

How... What's the Italian
expression?

Ah, thank you.

Lazio's history may be full of
stories about wealth and power,

like that of Cardinal d'Este,

but the food of this region is
mainly made up of simple dishes.

Often made with ingredients that
people anywhere else may throw away.

Like the coda alla vaccinara,
the oxtail stew.

This is our first meal in Lazio
so I could not, you know,

ignore what is the great tradition
that they have in this region,

which is the quinto quarto.
Quinto quarto,

so the fifth fourth.
The fifth quarter.

The offal makes up more than
a quarter of the carcass

in terms of weight,
with the snout, the tripe,

the tongue and, in this case,
the tail.

Coda alla vaccinara is possibly
one of the most representative

dishes of this region.

It is something that comes from
hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

The recipe is really, really simple.

The only problem with this... I'm
sorry to say to you - I know that

you're a very patient man,
but it's going to take three hours.

I can wait, I can wait. So the tail
is being cut down in pieces.

This meat is really muscly
and it's got a lot of tendons

and hard bits. These we're going to
have to melt gently, OK,

when we cook it, so that's why
the cooking time is just so long.

OK, I'm going to start to blanch
the coda for a minute.

OK, now look, all we're going to do
is... I've got a dish there.

While those ones are coming
back to...

What's that sink you're working at?
Look.

THEY LAUGH

There's a lot of vegetables to cut.

What do you want me to do,
wash the celery?

Not wash it,
but take away the leaves. Yeah?

Get rid of all the leaves.
All of the leaves? Yeah.

The vegetables here are exceptional.

Mmm. It's amazing celery, Giorgio.

It's smelling good.
A tiny little bit of white wine.

The sauce becomes rich and untuosa.

Unctuous. Unctuous.

Good word. You didn't put very much,
you just put enough to do it's job.

I put in...
Half a glass? A glass maybe, yeah.

Here we go.

Tomato paste.

And this is a way
I learn how to cook.

I must admit
that with the tomato paste,

it gets a better flavour
kind of thing.

Just a good old squidge.

OK, listen,
now I'm going to put in the onions,

the celery and the carrots.

Cos it's a very traditional thing.

Not many people cook out of this,
outside this region.

So now we've got to
wait for three hours.

That we can't wait for things, this
is incredible, especially with food.

We have come across this
idea that it has to be fast

because we haven't got the time.

But now suddenly, no,
you have to put it in the microwave

and tick-tick-tick, ping!

I'm going to do nothing but I'm just
deciding where to do nothing.

And, actually, you have to do nothing

but I have to keep on watching
what is going on there.

It's not like I'm doing nothing.

I just kind of worry a little bit,
which is part of the recipe.

To worry a little bit about it.

It's an ingredient.
"What you doing?"

I'm worried that it's cooking
properly.

And every now and then, I go
and check it. Can I have a sleep?

No, because then you are asleep,
you are not doing nothing.

ANDREW LAUGHS

You have to be consciously doing
nothing.

Consciously. Consciously.

OK.

I'll give it a go.

The tradition of quinto quarto goes
back to the second century BC,

when the Romans indulged
themselves with extravagant

dishes like fattened goose liver
and figs, crest of swan,

flamingo tongue
and rooster's testicles.

Offaly good, they thought.

But by the 19th century,

offal had been degraded to
poor man's food only.

It's thanks to the vaccinari, the
people who work at the meat market,

that we have this fabulous recipe.

They were paid in leftovers
of the animals, which they

ingeniously turn into a
coda alla vaccinara dish.

After three hours of a bit
of worrying and a bit of waiting,

it's finally ready.

See all the vegetables are almost
gone. Beautiful.

Use your hand, use your hand!
Pick this, take the bone.

Just, you know, the bone between
your fingers like that and then...

You should suck the meat.
It'll soon come out.

You suck at it like that.

It's just hot, man.

Hello.
I'm not giving you any of my food.

I've been waiting three hours
for this

so you can just sit and wait, mate.

Wow.

I like all the jelly bits.

When you get close to the knuckle,
you get those jelly bits.

All the nerves and the tendons
and they are on the tail.

Can you imagine? The tail has got...

It's absolutely really
fibrous muscle.

This recipe releases it.

That's why you have to cook it long
time and low temperature.

It really melts away and that's
what'll give you that glutinous bit.

It's glutinous, it's unctuous.
Unctuous, yeah.

It's sticky and meaty.

Mmm. That is...

That is delicious. It's really good.

To the quinto quarto. Si. To
the fifth quarter, grazie.

Mmm.

The fountains of Villa d'Este
told the story of one man's
troubled relationship

with Rome, but the complications
between city

and region date
back as far as Rome itself,

to the ancient civilisation that
was here before,

that of the Etruscans.

It's a nice road, this one,
don't you think?

Not only nice, it's unbelievably
beautiful too. Yeah.

Look at that yellow.

It feels like a really primeval
landscape and it's still grown

with, I think, what the Etruscans
first cultivated, which was...

spelt, do you call it? Spelt, yeah,
spelt. Spelt is in English.

It's called farro in Italian. Farro.

This part of Italy, in a sense,
it's slightly forgotten or it's the

land of things that
have been forgotten.

There's an aqueduct that
looks like it's been

abandoned for several centuries
and we're on our way to

explore the remains of a largely
forgotten people, the Etruscans.

We're at Tarquinia,

one of the coastal centres of the
ancient Etruscan civilisation,

about 80km north of Rome.

The Etruscans had a rich
and varied culture

and were thriving well before Rome
became a dominant power.

Their story begins
around the seventh century BC.

On the surface, if you compare this
site to Roman ruins,

you could be a little bit
underwhelmed.

Who were the Etruscans?

We don't actually know that
much about them,

their texts do not survive.

We do know there were a lot of them

because there are 6,000 of these
tombs in the hills.

It's dark and cool.

This is spectacular.

Oh, look.

How beautiful.

You see this guy? He's got
a catapult. That's a sling.

So he's hunting the birds.

I love these birds.

And, Andrew, look at these.

Look, the guys just pushed
the other guys down the...

I think he's climbing up the rock
and he's diving.

That's beautiful, the diving figure.

Look, he's got a little smile
on his face.

That, to me, looks almost like
Egyptian, isn't it?

Yes, all the figures
seen in profile. Yes.

Especially that figure on the right.

I love that figure of the diver.

Do you know, the diver?
Yes, fantastic.

I found these wall paintings really
fascinating and even touching.

I'm happy we came here.

But there are some other beautiful
frescos that we should really see.

Spectacular colours.

Here are the people whose tomb
it is.

The dancer is dancing to the
music of the flute.

Wearing a diaphanous,
see through dress.

Dancing, holding an amphora on her
head in the centre of the room.

These scenes of Bacchic revelries -
drinking wine, dancing.

Just one line, look at it,
it's perfect.

A modern cemetery, there is
a lot of gloom.

This is more like,
so beautiful. It's a celebration.

Dancing and singing that seems to
accompany them into death.

All these birds and fish.
Like a dolphin, it looks like.

You don't find these in
Ancient Greek art, the dolphins

and the birds. That's Etruscan.
This shows the influence of Greece.

They have Cult of Dionysus,
which becomes the Cult of Bacchus.

All these different
levels of history.

I mean, Christ takes on the same...

You know, the blood of Christ
that saves us,

that comes from the blood
of the wine of Bacchus, Dionysus.

So there's these layers of meaning
that continue through

thousands of years in Italy.

We've just come down here, we're
in the basement of Italian history.

This is where it all kind of started.

Curiously, a man defecating,

complete with the end product so to
speak. Yes, the end product midway.

Maybe he suffered from constipation
in real life, so in the

afterlife he's going to

defecate copiously through
all eternity.

Let's hope so.

There's 6,000 of these tombs!

Hey, Andrew, we're not going to go
and see all of them, are we?

They've only excavated about 150.

It's going to take them 600 years to
dig up the lot at this rate.

Eventually, in 264 BC, this rather
wonderful Etruscan civilisation

crumbled under
the assault of the Roman invaders

and was absorbed into the culture
of their conquerors.

Before moving on, I think
it's time for a little break.

We are in Ariccia, where they do
the best porchetta in Italy

and I know that Andrew is a big fan.

That's Claudio. Ciao, Claudio.
Ciao, Giorgio.

The one that he makes is special.

The thing is, this is
so part of their tradition.

I love the crackling.

Salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary.
Buon appetito. Grazie.

Grazie, grazie. Prego.

Porchetta is another reminder of
the Roman Empire,

since it dates back more
than 2,000 years.

History even tells us that this
was one of Nero's favourite foods.

I mean, this is delicious,
isn't it? Fantastic.

I love it when you get the little
bits of crackling. Yeah.

I also love the temperature,
is perfect. Yeah, that's interesting.

I think of roast pork as something
you eat hot, but it's lovely
just like this.

They cook it and then they let the
temperature naturally drop,

so you have it this kind of lukewarm

and I think that's the best to
get the sweetness.

So, if it's too hot, you lose a bit
of that. So the meat really rests.

That's right, the tenderness,

the juiciness - so important,
so fantastic.

It's something that you don't have
at home because it's impossible

to cook, in that way,
that piece of pig like that.

So you have to have it as a
takeaway food sort of thing.

And this is it,
this is the Italian fast food.

You almost have to cook it, like, in
a baker's oven, I mean, it's so big.
That's what it is.

Something of such a high quality
becomes street food

and that shows you why the Italians
don't have so many McDonald's,

because you have things like this
and it sustains it, you know?

That is a very good point.

If you are a pig,

that's what you want to be,
what you want to become really.

If you're a pig,
this is what you want to become?!

I suggest we take a straw poll
of pigs. Hey, boys!

They're parking next to our car.

You see, this is the typical day.
A little tour outside the door.

Outside the door of the town.

That's a hell of a snack. I mean...

I'll have another one. You'll have
another one? It's very, very good.

The Romans might not have been
the most tolerant civilisation,

but they definitely knew how to eat.

As we have seen, this area
wasn't home just to the Romans.

The Etruscans weren't the only
sophisticated civilisation to

blossom in Lazio under the expanding
shadow of Imperial Rome.

The Prenestini were another
people who flourished

and I'm bringing Giorgio to
Palestrina, once their capital city,

to see a remarkable work of art
from around the second century BC.

So here we are. You get this great
elevator ride...

..up through the ancient ruins of
this Roman foundation.

This is amazing.

So, we're going up in space,
but we're going back in time. Oh.

Now, they call it Palestrina
but that's a medieval name.

In Roman times,
it was called Preneste

but the people from here, if we go
back to the second century BC,

they're not actually part of Rome.
No.

They're part of an independent city
state and they're doing really well.

Their money is built on slavery,

they control a large part of the
territory that goes all the way

down to the sea, they're basically
seafarers and they're merchants,

and they create this whole
town complex.

What we're going to go and see
is something that gives us

a little picture of what Preneste
was like when it was independent.

What is it? It's a
fantastic, really rare, mosaic.

For my money, it's one of the
greatest mosaics in the world.

So, here we are.

GIORGIO LAUGHS

It's big, isn't it? Enormous!

Really big.

Because this is so close to Rome,

they assumed this must be
an ancient Roman mosaic,

but no,
it's not an ancient Roman mosaic.

This is created for the independent
people of Praeneste

and it's made by Greek
artists from Alexandria.

And that's why,
look at the tesserae,

look how small they are
and look how fine the detail is.

Unbelievable.
It looks exactly like a mallard.

You see there, the little duck? Yeah.

You can't be that specific with
Roman-style mosaic

because in the Roman mosaic,
the pieces are much bigger.

It's a Nile scene.
It's a wonderful subject.

It's created about 150 years after
the Greeks had moved into Egypt.

It feels like the river
is coming down with all its goodness.

And then the men come through,
transform whatever it is.

I mean, in a way, we're looking at
it as if it were a painting

because that's how they display it
in the museum,

but that's not how it would
have been experienced.

It would have been on the floor.
And not only was it on the floor,

it would have been part
of a water feature.

So, this would've been probably
under about that much water.

I can't emphasise how rare it is.

The detail are incredible.

Look at the shadow of the boat.

Shadow of the boat -
I hadn't seen that!

I really love the way the artist has
created an abstract idea

of a mass of people.

They are kind of like shadows,
with their swords raised up.

Can you see that black
line going through? Yes.

It's almost like the water is moving,
isn't it? Yep.

That's really vivid there, the way
it's eddying around the rock.

I love this staring eye.

That is a hippo that has been
skewered to death.

It's like a one-off, like so many
of the wonderful things in Lazio.

It's not what you can necessarily
easily put a label on

or put into a package. It's created
for these people

who are now no longer very well
known in Praeneste,

who are allowed their independence,
up to a point, by Rome.

Nothing in Rome of this period
survives that is as fine as this.

That's why we've come here.
OK, I got you!

So, in that sense, although they
lost out to the Romans...

They won. ..they won the art battle.
The thousand years.

Well, now they did,

in that we still have to come here
to see the very best of it.

The relationship between Rome and
Lazio has been a pretty continuous

drama and that tale will continue in
our next stop - Viterbo.

But before that, we need to pick up
supplies for this evening's supper.

'I want to stop
at the nearby Lake Bolsena,

'to find one of the specialities
of this area.'

Look at that!

This is the fish
that I grew up with.

This is freshwater fish, unbelievable
stuff. Can't remember the name!

This is what I used to fish
when I was little - perch!

OK, grazie.

Eels aren't the only slippery
characters here.

It's also been home to some very
political clerics.

It's very hilly, the
landscape of Lazio.

It constantly opens up to these
beautiful panoramic views.

A landscape full of lakes.

And these hilltop
fortress towns. Mmm.

And we are going to visit one of the
most beautiful of them -

Viterbo.

Viterbo!

Which is principally famous for what
happened there in the Middle Ages,

when, in this land of exiles,
discontents and fantasists,

it became home to the exiled papacy,
the entire papal conclave

who settled there
for about 20 years, 25 years,

in the 13th century,

when Rome became too
uncomfortable for them.

Maybe dangerous, I guess.
Dangerous.

I know one thing...

that the idea of conclave with the
keys was born in Viterbo.

That's what I studied
when I was little.

And they made some
extraordinary decisions, or rather

they failed to make one
extraordinary decision!

Rome wasn't always
a safe place for the clerics.

Back in the 13th century, they had
to flee the city several times

and one of their favourite refuges
was the town of Viterbo -

a town that still looks like a
medieval stage set.

I remember from school
the story of how Viterbo hosted

the longest papal election
in history,

in what became the first conclave.

We are meeting Professor Luciano
Osbat, an expert in papal studies,

who is going to simplify this
extraordinary tale.

During that period, Viterbo was
even called the City of Popes.

It changed the way popes are elected
right up to the present day.

The 19 cardinals were inside here
and they have to elect the pope.

Took long time, a long time.
So, they shut the door first.

They can't take a decision.

Two years and a half goes by,

the people of the city
goes nuts about it.

It's obviously raining in
and it's cold and everything.

This is so Italian,
it's unbelievable! It's so Italian.

Three years to take a decision
and at the end of the day,

it was somebody
else who took the decision!

The idea of the conclave was born
here, the fact that you have

to take somebody, shut him in a
room in order to take a decision.

Because if you leave him to go out

and consult, you will never
get a decision.

This is so Italian!

It's like Macchiavelli
before Macchiavelli.

This is definitely
like so Macchiavellian!

So, trying to disentangle all
the political interests at work

would almost be like trying to
disentangle the different pieces

of spaghetti on a plate. With a lot
of sauce on it! A lot of sauce on it!

The discourse always finishes
with the table!

Before ending the day around the
table with a suitable papal feast,

I'd like to see a fresco that
I've only ever read about.

Where the scale is quite
this...sort of, cosy.

I feel like I'm in a...
It's like a stage set,

you expect Romeo and Juliet to be
kissing on that balcony...

or not getting to kiss.

Wow!

This is the only known work,
bar one,

by a mysterious painter
called Lorenzo di Viterbo.

It's the first time I've seen it.

Absolutely beautiful and
the colour is very light.

I love the way
he has painted this grey cloak,

very difficult in fresco,
because you are really just painting

into wet plaster.

That outline...that is sculptural,
that sense of line.

The scene that's fullest of life,
teeming with life

is this freeze-like depiction of
the marriage of the Virgin

to the aged Joseph. According to
legend, all of these suitors

have come to try to win Mary's hand,
much younger than Joseph,

but she will only marry the one
who brings a stick

that miraculously bursts into leaf.

All of the suitors with their
dry sticks -

can you see them in the background
sort of sticking up in the air?

And broken sticks on the floor.

In fact, see this chap here in red,
is actually snapping his stick

across his knee in frustration,

so there are all
the frustrated suitors.

That guy with the green
shirt on the left, look at his face.

He is incredible. He looks really
like he's looking at the Virgin Mary.

You know, I've missed out!

So, these were done in 1472.

It's this moment where you can
really see

what people really looked like.
It's high realism.

The faces of the people
are incredible.

You could meet those
faces in the streets now.

It's said that these are actual
portraits of 15th century people

from Viterbo and I think they have
the actuality that you believe them.

I mean, the chap with the grin,

you know, he's definitely a real
person. You couldn't make him up!

Andrew doesn't know it, but I've been
doing some research too

and I found a cookbook written
by the chef of Pope Martin V.

I'm taking him to a wonderful
medieval kitchen

in the Corte della Maesta to cook
him a meal fit for a pope.

I make you a starter, a pie

and a dessert!

What's in the mystery bag?

I'm going to cook you something
you'll love. Look what I got you!

Errrrhhhh!

In the past, it was kind of a real,
real speciality.

The pope used to eat these.
And is this in an old recipe?

This is an old recipe that
I got from this book.

It's that one from papal cuisine.

A cook of Martino Quinto.

Martino Quarto - fourth -
when he died,

on his tomb they wrote,
"Gaudent Anguillas.

"Qui mortus hic giacet quasi
mortorear exorbitant eas..."

"Here lay the guy who died because
he ate too many eels!"

Does it actually say that on his
tomb? On his tomb. Imagine that.

They are still extremely alive.

They have to be and this is
one of the quality of this fish.

You can make it travel
quite a long time,

compared to other fishes,
and it's still alive.

That means that you, we...have got
to kill them.

I kill them!

They're really slimy!
So I'm going to show you

a little trick with fig leaves.

What are they for? For, sort of,
descaling the eel? That's right.

This is to make it easier to handle
the eel? To handle it, yeah.

That's it! The eel is dead.
What are you doing now?

We're going to take the skin off.
It's not going to be that easy.

HE GAGS

OK, you want to try to do one? I'd
love to. Come on. OK. Can I pull it?

Yes. Vai.

OK? Now you go. Pull it!

ANDREW GROANS

It's difficult to...keep my grip.
Come on!

Bravo! Yeah!
GIORGIO LAUGHS

I've peeled an eel!

I show quite a lot of promise, don't
I, as a sous chef? Yes.

I think the emphasis is on promise.

It's time to start.

There are so many herbs and spices

that I have to carefully put
together.

Although it's complicated,

I want to try to stick to the
original recipe as much as possible.

The dishes require such meticulous
and time-consuming preparation

that I'm not surprised that they
have been largely forgotten.

You really need time and an army
of people to make it happen.

A leaf of sage between two slices
of eel.

As strange as it might sound,

the top of the meat pie has to be
covered with sugar.

And, of course, there is still
the dessert to come.

How long have you been cooking?!

You've been cooking for a long time.

I've been reading in the garden,
I've fallen asleep twice, erm...

Andrew it's a papal dinner, it takes
time! No, I appreciate it.

There was no conception of fast food
at this time,

there was no fast food as such.
Well, no, absolutely.

Andrew, here we are...after hours of
slaving away for you!

ANDREW SIGHS

An eel...fit for a pope.

This is my first taste of eel.

It's very delicate.

Really delicious!

Such a subtle flesh that it takes
the flavour of the sage.

With a little crispiness,
I should add.

Those recipes sort of almost
look like they are made

for the chef to justify his wages.

Almost...they invented recipes that
required 15 sous chefs,

so that they can then justify the
fact they've got 15 sous chefs.

Yes. Otherwise, if they had a little
kitchen, they were nobody,

while if they have big kitchen
and a big army of people,

then they were big chefs.

The thing that puzzles me about this
dish is that it's very delicious

and I could eat lots and lots
and lots of it,

but I really don't see how you could
eat so much of that that you'd die.
HE LAUGHS

I mean, Martin IV must have had
some kind of eel appetite.

Mmm! Well, I'm finished.

I want to eat the pie!

I choose this because it actually
says in here...

.."Fit to eat...per l'inglese."
"Per l'inglese."

"English visitors to the papal
court shall be served pie." Yes.

The cook was also...kind of,
in a way, he was a diplomat.

The cook to the pope must have been
a really powerful man.

Absolutely! People of a...
quite influence.

So what's unusual about this recipe?

It's got meat but it's sweet,
it's got sugar on top.

What's the meat? You can use beef,
you can use chicken,

or also you can use birds,
because at that time, you know,

wild birds would be always kind
of...available. So what did you use?

I used chicken and...veal.

I love the smell.

GIORGIO LAUGHS
It's unusual!

Unusual for modern taste,
but it's really nice.

It's delicious!

This is real medieval cooking,
you know,

where the sugar has the same
importance as salt.

And where, you know...

It's rich food.

I mean, it feels like...a rich
person's food. It really does.

Do you want me to get you
the dessert? Yes!

You know, people kind of think,

"Oh, they used to love spice because
they get to cover up the bad smell."

No! They used a lot of spice

because spice would come from
foreign countries.

And to have a lot of spice in your
food means you are extremely rich.

Sugar starts to be commercialised.

The clerics were the biggest buyer.

OK. There we are.

Kind of pancakes, they've got no
flour, no nothing else, just eggs.

Mmm! Yeah.

It's very nice. The only thing
I would say,

is that after the pie...it's a bit
similar, the taste. That's right.

Some of the things coming on again.
That's right, I think there is that
little flavour.

But this is completely sweet.
How many courses?

The banquet was, you know, 18, 20,
22 courses easy.

You know, there are one or two
medieval paintings

of the circles of Dante's Hell.
Yeah.

And in the gluttons' section,

there are always a lot of men of
the cloth, ecclesiastic types.

They've got these huge bellies and
now I understand...why. Pie.

THEY LAUGH
Cheers!

Well, I enjoyed cooking
the papal dinner,

but it's definitely something that
I wouldn't put on my restaurant menu.

That was certainly
quite an unusual taste,

not entirely unlike the next
stop on our journey.

Not far from Viterbo in these
beautiful hills

another man created his own refuge

from the political machinations
of Rome.

Often called the Park of Monsters,

Bomarzo dates back to the
16th century like Villa D'Este.

Its creator was the eccentric,
disenchanted,

mercenary aristocrat
Count Vicino Orsini.

The sculptures here are grotesque
and disturbing,

the outward expression of Vicino's
inner despondency

at a life of disappointment.

So...
GIORGIO SPEAKS ITALIAN

Fantastic!

It's attached to a sphinx
and what it says is,

"Enter this garden with your eyes
wide open and your mouths closed

"and then you'll appreciate that
in this place

"you will find another seven wonders
of the world."

That's right. Let's go and find them.
Let's go and find them.

Of course, the sphinx introduces
you to the garden,

a sphinx is a symbol of mystery.

Vicino Orsini was a rather
melancholic military man.

He'd been off to the wars,

fought with the French against
the Holy Roman Emperor,

picking the wrong side, and ended
up in jail for three years.

By the look of the sculptures,

he really must have been wounded
by life.

Look at that!
ANDREW LAUGHS

It's really something!

This garden was completely lost
and forgotten,

overgrown until the 1940s,

when Salvador Dali, who else,
rediscovered it.

Dali immediately thought, "Oh, this
is surrealism before surrealism."

This figure that seems to be a man
is actually a woman,

being seemingly ripped in half
by this giant.

This was a stone that was here?
They didn't bring this here?

No, it's carved from the stone.

That was here? There was a massive
stone like that

and then they are coming - Bam! Bam!
Bam! - and just carve it out. Yeah.

That is exceptional.
It's really amazing!

We don't even know the names
of the artists.

All created between 1552 and 1583
near Rome. Hmm.

So, Michelangelo is still alive,

he's the founder of this extreme
mannerist style.

Some people even think
that Michelangelo may have played
a part in designing these things.

It definitely looks like one of those
Michelangelo sculptures.

Look at the muscles, how they are
really well defined.

I think maybe...maybe this garden

is meant to be a kind of allegory
of his tormented tempestuous life.

You know, if you go through the
garden, you'll see that you come

from one struggle to another.
You move through this sort of
dark garden.

The 16th century was a period of
huge turmoil in Europe

with the Protestant Reformation

dealing a major blow to the
Roman Catholic Church.

European politics were dominated
by religious conflict.

I can see why, in 1557, Count Orsini
retreated here,

away from the power games of Rome

and all those wars that he never
wanted to fight.

The elephant! Isn't it fantastic?

I think it's a reference to Hannibal
and his army. Annibale.

But it's also a reference
to Orsini's son -

the elephant's got a dead soldier
in his trunk.

And I think Orsini's son died in
1573,

which was when this part of the
garden was built.

So classical references but also
personal references.

That's Pegasus, Andrew.
Cavallo Alato.

Beautiful! I love it with the
backlight and the trees coming down.

The mythology says that when Pegasus
touches earth, water spurts out

and so this is a big fountain.

It must have been fun when it was
all working.

I kept my favourite of the garden's
conceits, the Leaning House,
for last.

For me, it's still got Vicino's
feelings of pain and powerlessness,

but here it's as if he's laughing
in the dark.

I feel like the building is falling
on me. Yeah.

GIORGIO WHIMPERS

Oh! Oh!

It feels VERY strange!

It's almost like your brain
doesn't register properly,

something is wrong with it.

And it's weird, cos you look out
and you see mostly the sky.

You don't actually see the garden.
Si, because you look up.

What?! Ahh! Are you looking up?

THEY LAUGH

It's really good, isn't it?
It's amazing!

Orsino...towards the end
of his life,

he felt that everything was wrong
in the world.

So there are these symbols of
everything being wrong.

Like, in art, you see these images
where everybody is upside down

to indicate the topsy-turvy
nature of existence. Hmm.

And I think this tower...

This tower was created to design...
It's meant to convey Orsino's sense

that everything in the world is
awry, it's not working properly.

Either that or he just employed
an architect from Pisa! From Pisa!

THEY LAUGH

The last leg of our trip takes us
further away from Rome,

towards the coast of Lazio's
southern border with Campania.

This was also a place with
architectural ambitions,

but here it's not just a villa.

400 years after the park of Bomarzo,

one man built not a villa
or a garden, but a city.

We're in Latina, Benito Mussolini's
urban planning dream
designed in the '30s.

Latina is a statement of a new dream
of Italy that the Fascists had.

Look at this! That's Fascio Romano.
But can you imagine in Berlin

leaving a huge metal sculpture of
a swastika?! This belongs to the
Italian from the Roman times,

then the Fascists used it.

Look at the square.

You know, it's like a statement of
the new dream of Italy

that the Fascists had,
which is to modernize it.

A geometrical plan. A geometrical
plan, you know, all worked out.

I sort of get it, but
I just don't feel it.

To me, it feels like a stage-set
version of an ideal city,

not really something that
believes in itself.

I mean, these columns...
The whole thing feels very
sort of brittle and crumbly,

insubstantial, almost like the
Fascist regime itself.

Maybe I'm just looking at it with
the hindsight of we know
what happened to Fascism. Yeah.

Buongiorno. Ciao. Ciao.

But we've really come here to see
something

that perfectly represents
Mussolini's idea of his new Italy.

Here we are, here we are.
Here we are. La sala comunale.

This is Mussolini's Sistine Chapel.

I've never seen these.

It's brilliant, isn't it?

He has a fantastic name the artist,
Duilio Cambellotti!

And this is his masterpiece.

And look, it's got everything!

From that side there, I'll read it
for you, you don't need to be an art
historian to do this.

Look, that's the working people,
old Italy.

That's the malaria swamps that have
been completely cleared,

all flat and all arable,

with little houses dotted around

so that everybody owns their little
plot of land,

because that's what he promised
everybody.

And there's Mussolini's town.
That's right.

With the streets designed like
a cobweb. Yes.

And here you have... Those guys with
the helmet, those are the people who
worked...not army.

Well, Cambellotti was a big fan of
William Morris.

It was all about getting back to
nature.

It was about unalienated labour.
He hated the idea of people
working in factories.

They should be working with their
hands. There's even a hand that's
full of soil.

I love the way the clouds are sort
of exploding on the horizon.

He was a real idealist, Cambellotti,
he managed to persuade himself

that Mussolini was a kind of saviour
of Italy

and that this was really a form of
benevolent socialism.

And he thought that Mussolini
was giving power, giving Italy back
to the humble poor Italian people.

This is what's proposed.

A vision of order and purity.

This is actually Latina as it was in
Mussolini's imagination.

That's what all apparatus was
made of. The propaganda!
The propaganda was like...

You know, remember the Nazis and the
Fascists were very good at their
propaganda.

Very good at giving this message out.

"This is all for you."
Unifying them.

Luckily, Mussolini was overthrown
in 1945.

I can't imagine Italy covered
in replicas of Latina.

For me, this isn't one of Lazio's
hidden gems,

definitely not a place you'd swap
Rome for.

Well, we are at the end of our
fascinating journey around Lazio,

but there's just time to stop
for one last view of this
breathtaking landscape.

Do you think that we have missed
out not going to Rome? No.

And...if you look over there,

well, if you squint, you can see
St Peter's,

which reminds me that, in a sense,

this has been a little bit of
a perverse journey.

They say all roads lead to Rome

and we have deliberately taken the
opposite view where all roads must
lead away from Rome,

because we wanted to explore Lazio -

the area that lives, as it were,

and has always lived
in the shadow of Rome.

I suppose if I'm trying to think of
the one thing that holds all of the
art that we've seen together,

perhaps it is the fact that it was
all created away from Rome.

Tivoli created by a cardinal who
didn't make it in Rome.

Bomarzo created by a man
who'd failed in the great
power struggles in Rome.

Even, in a sense, the Etruscans,
their tombs.

The Etruscans are a people
who now live in the shadow
of the ancient Romans.

Many people have never heard of
them, they're almost like a
civilisation in the shadow of Rome.

So, I think when you come out
to Lazio,

you discover, so to speak,
those who've been left behind,
those who failed.

What is most amazing, especially
travelling around with you,

we saw these statements in art
for the rich people

and, you know, all we got on the
food is only the food of the poor.

The food of the rich has disappeared.

When we tried to make a recipe
of the papal dinner,

it was so complicated, so time
wasting and so many ingredients.

Peel an eel! Peel an eel.
GIORGIO LAUGHS

You know, so laborious all the work.

And, obviously, the world hasn't got
no more time for that.

This is the produce, this is the land
that talks.

Here's the Quinto Quarto. Also the
porchetta, which is like, so simple.

Porchetta is... It just comes
out the oven and he slices it,

put it in-between two slices of
bread and there you've got the
rosemary, pork and - badabing!

These are the things that are still
representative for the region.

And the art that we've been looking
at and the gardens and so on,

in a sense they're also
the underdog.

They're still made by
powerful people,

but they're made by powerful people
on hard times.

I do think that Lazio is a wonderful
place, I really do, and I think it
is worth coming here.

It is worth actually, deliberately,
avoiding Rome.

What was your favourite piece of art
if I had to put you on the spot?

I was really touched, you know,
when we went to the catacombs.

The Etruscans? Yeah, there was a
moment there, you know, that was
really beautiful.

It felt really like we were back...
in common with them.

Here's to Lazio.

And we're going to finish the whole
journey without having gone to Rome.
GIORGIO LAUGHS

No, now the best part
of our journey comes.

We're going into Mezzogiorno now,
man! Are you ready?
THEY LAUGH

Andiamo.