dis aprodesiac. this food is famous. some bold souls whisper that it's the best in italy. smell, smell, smell, the smelling is unbelievable. i'm stanley tucci. i'm italian on both sides and i'm traveling italy to discover how the food in each of this country's 20 regions is as unique as the people and the past. anger, religion and death. >> yes. >> it has everything in it. i'm here to discover why this place is home to the gastrono, ma'am i gastronomic, and how it drives its producers. will you marry me? and people here really know how to wait for the best things in life. slow, slowly arrive at the point of excellence. and because they have waited -- >> 25 years. >> whoa, really is good. oh, good. >> this is one of the most delicious things on earth. ♪ ♪ for a greedy man, this place is the gigantic deli of my dreams. don't fret. i have the metabolism of a teenager. bologna is the capital of a wealthy region that straddles italy and it's cocooned between the adriatic sea. it's a lush land of fertile river valleys. no wonder it's also bred one of the world's best chefs. buckle up. i know you can only see a blur with glasses, but that's me in the car tearing around the roads of massimo, a man who likes fast cars. >> i love this place. >> he's taking me behind the scenes of the dairy in soka outside bologna. i'm playing it cool. whoa! jesus christ! this is where massimo has been coming to get his beloved parmigiano the past 20 years. >> this is unique, the only parmigiano can be fire stamped from the white cows. >> this is a very, very small production and extremely high quality. >> milk is king here. the white cows are the breed unique to the valley of the river that runs through this region. >> bravo, bravo. >> >> >> 3, 2, 1. open! >> now, now, now, the smelling is unbelievable. the smell is unbelievable. >> oh, my god! >> mama mia. love this one. >> that's too much. >> wow. [ bleep ]. i mean, yes. >> gino is up at 5:00 a.m. pouring the morning milk into copper vats, massaging the cheeses and running them salt baths that last for 19 days. >> you have to love the ingredients. you have to correct them. i love parmigiano. >> they see these cheeses not as mere products, but as precious babies. ones happily you can eat. >> what i'm going to do with you, you are just born. this is the cheese of this morning. it's called tozone. >> unbelievable, it's so good. >> like mozzarella, no? >> it's so good. oh, my god. >> 550 liters of milk compressed into this every morning. >> as demand formic grew in the 1960s, the white cows were nearly forsaken for other cows. >> they were extinct. >> how long will you age this? >> 36 months, 40 and 50. >> one of massimo's iconic dishes is five ages of parmigiano which as the name suggests is a love letter to this cheese. >> to my mind, there was this idea of expressing with one ingredient the slowly aging process. actually the ingredients were to parmigiano and time. >> time? >> time. wait, wait, grow slow like a tree. >> it gets more and more intense. >> more and more pleasure. >> the people here have perfected the aging process to create iconic products from simple quality ingredients and nothing is wasted. gino will use the liquid from this parmigiano process to produce fresh ricotta. >> when the meal is coming up, it will be ready. >> if you're feeling hungry already, you may want to close your eyes at this point. >> that's awful. >> i know. >> oh, my god. it's so fresh that you can taste the grass and herbs the cows have eaten. >> it's so good. warm. it makes you feel like you're a child. mama mia. >> i've never had it like that. this is genius. put that in my car. thank you so much. massimo is whisk me back to the hotel on the outskirts of moderna cast amaery a luigia named after his mother. because of the pandemic his team led by canadian chef jessica have gotten used to cooking outside. >> the ricotta in there, is burning with pizza oven and aggressive cooking for this crunchiness on top. >> with ingredients this good, simplicity is key. local wood is piled high in the hot oven, and the ricotta is tucked away roasting for just a few minutes to crisp up while the flat breads cook in the circular flints in the oven door. >> then we're going to add a little bit of vinegar, some honey that we produce here. >> a little bit of fire and that's it. >> you trained with massimo. were you trained italian? >> no, in the kitchen. i learned from the cooks. i was saying bad words the first months. >> this is elder flower vinegar. >> look at that. oh, with the balsamic. oh, come on. >> this is the crunchy part of the lasagna. >> that everybody fights over, yeah. >> yeah. >> that's beautiful, beautiful. oh, my god. >> you can't stop eating. it's almost a dessert, huh? >> the vinegar with the honey. oh, wow, wow, that's delicious. you forget you're making a television show. what was i doing here? antibacterial or moisturizing body wash? definitely moisturizer! antibacterial can i have both? new dove care & protect body wash eliminates 99% of bacteria and moisturizes for hours two for one! can i keep it? new dove care & protect, zero compromise! wealth is your first big investment. can i keep it? worth is a partner to help share the load. wealth is saving a little extra. worth is knowing it's never too late to start - or too early. ♪ ♪ wealth helps you retire. worth is knowing why. ♪ ♪ principal. for all it's worth. dana-farber cancer institute discovered the pd-l1 pathway. pd-l1. they changed how the world fights cancer. blocking the pd-l1 protein, lets the immune system attack, attack, attack cancer. pd-l1 transformed, revolutionized, immunotherapy. pd-l1 saved my life. saved my life. saved my life. what we do here at dana-faber, changes lives everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst psst you're good bologna is the poster child for liberal italy. imagine san francisco and you're in the ballpark. the city is famously known as the vat for its rich food. the wise for the university. and for the leftist politics. i've come to meet one of the leaders of the sardine's movement. that's a rebel alliance. not something bad that happens after eating oily fish. he's an accidental political hero, and he loves food. ciao. nice to meet you. the sardines mobilized when right wing politician matteo campaigned here in the winter of 2019 during regional elections for the league, an anti-immigration populist party. >> it was last move, and sardine i can sardineia was launching a campaign. we say, you better be like saldinia. in italy we say big crowd is like sardines. we wanted all the people like 6,000 people to be on the middle of the square. and finally 20,000 people came. >> 20,000 people showed up. >> and the crowd, it's the most famous picture of the day. >> it created a movement. >> yes, it was the south to the far north. and since then saldini lost the election. >> will you go into politics? >> i don't think so because i dress like a normal guy. my hair is disaster. >> i can't help thinking that this dashing italian is too modest. let's eat something. it's lunchtime and he knows the best deli in town, so i'm saying nothing. oh, my god. if one goes to heaven, this is probably it. all right, let's go get some. we're homing in on the cold cuts. >> mozzarella. >> one can't have too much in this life. this city has been a multi cultural melting pot. this finally ground pork sausage definitely has german influence cooked into it. >> 200 grams. which is a lot. i'm starving, you're starving, too. >> spiked with pepper corns and pistachios, it is beautifully bejeweled with white polka dots from pigs throats. back in the 17th century it became one of the earliest protected products with an official decree from the church, outlining the recipe and ingredients. [ speaking foreign language ] >> this dates back to the 15th century. >> really? >> you could buy wine, but not food. it was only to meet people. they play cards. >> so good. that's so good. it's what gave birth to baloney, american baloney. it is also known as bologna sausage, hence the slightly mangled translation that we have in the states, baloney. give me the original any day. it's so silky, garlicky, and sweet. i love it. food and politics go hand in hand for mattia and sardines. they represented the most vulnerable during the pandemic. the remarkable morgan is the founder of these people's kitchens. >> ciao. >> oh, wow. [ speaking foreign language ] >> fresh egg pasta made from soft wheat is a great specialty in this region. these tortellina, famously named venus's bellybutton, have been feeding them for over 500 years. [ speaking foreign language ] >> food and love combine as volunteers take super market donations and whip them up into little parcels of joy. the smell is incredible. [ speaking foreign language ] >> demand has doubled since the covid pandemic. and communal tables where guests normally eat together, lonely retirees, refugees, and the unemployed rubbing shoulders have been replaced with daily take-outs for 500 people. and you are? >> elsa. >> elsa. [ speaking foreign language ] >> it makes everything better. it's the key to good health. this is a saving grace. [singing in korean] ♪another day will return♪ [singing in korean] ♪like nothing ever happened♪ ♪ ♪ [singing in korean] ♪li♪ and a little bit ofned♪ chicken fried ♪ ♪ cold beer on a friday night ♪ ♪ a pair of jeans that fit just right ♪ ♪ and the radio up ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. are you managing your diabetes... ...using fingersticks? with the new freestyle libre 2 system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose with a painless, one-second scan. and now with optional alarms, you can choose to be notified if you go too high or too low. and for those who qualify, the freestyle libre 2 system is now covered by medicare. ask your doctor for a prescription. you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestyle libre 2 dot u.s. ♪ hmmm... where to go today? la? vegas? no, the desert. let's listen to this. louder. take these guys? i mean, there's room. maybe next time, fellas. now we're talking. alright. let's. go. meet jeff. in his life, he's been to the bottom of the ocean. the tops of mountains. the er... twice. and all the places this guy runs off to. like jeff's, a life well lived should continue at home. home instead offers customized services from personal care to memory care, so older adults can stay home, stay safe, and stay happy. home instead. to us, it's personal. ciao. >> nice to meet you. >> you have such good taste in clothing. >> i'm on the trail of another gastronomic superstar of the region. they make balsamic vinegar from grapes from modena. this isn't any old vinegar. this is black gold. so, is it your family that is -- >> it is actually my family. they are 17. >> what year is that? >> 1605. >> more than 500 years. >> 3500 years. >> that's incredible. yes, they have been making vinegar since 1605, when the may flower was in sunday school. the nature of the region's grapes led to the happy accident of balsamic vinegar. they turn more easily into vinegar than fine wine. i keep hearing it's a trait. you take something that isn't quite what it should be and turn it into something special. >> it becomes even super special. >> all right. let's go look at them. >> please follow. >> but we're not heading down to a damp wine cellar. we're heading upstairs to an attic, the traditional place for aging vinegars so they are exposed to changing temperatures. >> we are actually in the heart of the most ancient collection of cask that we've got. >> this is from 1600? >> the older the better because balsamic vinegar, we heat up slowly. the heater the better. the family never throw away the old cask. this is from 350 years ago. you find balance with the taste. >> a very artisanal method. that is actually moving vinegar from the second to the first cask. >> straight from the film of pinocchio's dad is playing the vinegar master. red, yes. >> there is one thing that's always been around. setting down the cask for a newborn baby, when a person will get married. >> i love that. >> let's drink for the taste. >> enough of the history. ready to try. i'm thirsty for vinegar. >> you can taste it on a spoon. the flavor -- in your mouth. >> ooh, that's good. >> here you taste the king of vinegars, 25 years old. imagine to get one liter of this, you need to start from 100 frozen grapes. >> look at that. oh, my god. >> more intensity. >> whoa. salt and sweet. i remember when it really became -- started to become very popular, and people were using it on everything. on actually too many things. >> never too many. [ laughter ] ♪ >> traditional balsamic vinegar is one of the staggering 44 protected food products in emelia romana. this place has more regions than any other in italy. how are they effortlessly producing all these delicacies, parmigiano, balsamic vinegar and prosciutto? to find out i'm heading outside the hills to meet my friend massimo again. what do you have? and his wife laura gilmore who runs their incredible restaurant. >> many different ingredients come out of what you have available. >> right. >> in your backyard. >> right. to discover the secrets of why this area is famously known as food valley. the river is the longest in italy and its fertile flood plane has made this region an agricultural power house. the extraordinary food valley lies between the poe river in the north and the mountains of the south. >> that's modena down in the valley. we have that behind us. when you look at a place like palma, the reason they're aged so well is the cross wind flows all the way down into the valley. the valley then heads out to the adriatic sea and it creates this microclimate. >> it's about the fog. >> poe fog. >> oh, fog, thanks to you. >> the fog and humidity makes a difference in all this. the humidity that comes from the -- that protects from south is cool, but not too cool. hot summer, cold winter and create the perfect microclimate in emelia romana. >> even the region's pasta is explained by this climate which means soft wheat can grow here, a different breed from the dry durham wheat of the south. >> if you don't believe in god, you believe in tortellini. it's like a religion. >> true. massimo grew up in modena and is obsessive about the foods that shaped his childhood. >> if you check my blood, there's balsamic vinegar. the summer, the vinegar is alive. >> right. >> and in the winter goes to bed and stays there and relax for six months till the spring is coming and it's getting to life again, and again and again, and again. slow, slowly, slowly arrive at the point of excellence. >> so the food can only be made here because of this incredible alchemy because of its climate. i promise to never complain about fog again. ♪people have ideas♪ ♪ideas are all around♪ ♪you watch them, bag them, ride them into town♪ ♪and yet for every big idea that rose to wild acclaim♪ ♪there are so many more, that never found their fame.♪ ♪and some might seem bizarre to you,♪ ♪and some are only for a few...♪ ♪but many are small businesses that simply lack the tool♪ ♪to find excited people who will stop and say 'that's cool'♪ ♪there's an idea for everyone♪ ♪and you'll love yours, she'll love hers too♪ ♪these two get served up coffee, 'cause they adore the brew♪ ♪if you're the type who needs to cruise,♪ ♪or likes your bags in vivid hues,♪ ♪behold, it's there.♪ ♪these bikers got some new headwear.♪ ♪small businesses and people - make connections so profound♪ ♪and all 'cause personalized ads help good ideas get found.♪ if you smell gas, you're too close. leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. ♪ this is the land of pigs, glorious pigs. the beautiful creatures dot the hills of emelia romana, and i've come to the second big city and this place uses pigs for something i can never resist, prosciutto. incredible. i didn't know there were this many pigs in the world. well, there aren't any more. this is a shrine to piggies past. their sacrifice was worth it. and fittingly, for something so heavenly, this ham has something to guard its reputation. [ speaking foreign language ] >> i slipped on this cute outfit to join the ham quality inspectors. even my nostrils are sal vindicating. [ speaking foreign language ] >> salt is the only preservative allowed before the hams are aged at least 14 months. that foggy air wafting around them and doing its magic. [ speaking foreign language ] >> they are skewering the hams to check for quality. [ speaking foreign language ] >> this may seem like the best job in the world, but it's also deadly serious. dna tests are now mandatory to check the pedigree of these pigs because of widespread corruption. back in 2017, a criminal racket was exposed hustling fake prosciutto to pharma. a huge operation by the fraud quad in squad involving phone tapping and under cover surveillance resulted in the ring leaders being jailed and over a million fake hams confiscated. the industry is still reeling from the scandal. >> hello. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you, too. >> i'm meeting an italian journalist who brought the story of the biggest food fraud in the country's history to the nation's tv screens. this is what you see on ham. >> it's what should be protected. >> tell me everything. >> breeders started importing from danish pigs. both the sperm and the pigs. >> why danish pigs? >> they were small piglettes. they breed more meat. they slice more than the normal product. >> under the strict rules of this protected product, the pigs must be of pure italian blood stock. so they were cheating. >> cheating. and also compromising those who are still producing to the rules. >> was it one person in particular who blew the whistle? >> we had a source who approached us. then we started research. >> how many different breeders were doing this? >> dozens of breeders. >> dozens of them? wow. >> yes. >> this is one of the deli owners in the prosciutto farma. i know a fake when i taste one side by side when i taste his premium product? >> the pork here in farma is everything. >> fantastic. >> when they are babies and grow up with this more than the milk. this is all my life. >> your whole life? >> yes. >> so what is this one? >> this is 26. >> 26? >> yes. here you have -- >> this is amazing. >> it's very fat. what makes the taste -- from here, the t-bones. >> oh, yeah. >> here you can taste the fat. here you can taste the meat. >> more nutty. >> exactly. >> he has rustled up a platter. will the danish fake be obvious? >> what do you think this doesn't even look like prosciutto. it's just dry meat. this is made for the people who want to go to the gym. [ speaking foreign language ] >> niccola has a point about fitness fanatics. the lack of physical fat has been a lure of the danish pig prosciutto. >> nothing. >> it's acidy. >> yeah. >> doesn't do it for me. >> they were selling and the people buy. look at this. this is made with love. different than the others. amazing. look at this. >> that's beautiful. >> another planet. ♪ >> as soon as it hits your tongue, it's instantaneous. that's the prosciutto we all know and love. and this is an interloper. when that scandal happened -- well, you can't let the integrity of this disappear. that's one of the most delicious things on earth. ♪ ♪ are you ready to join the duers? those who du more with less asthma. thanks to dupixent. the add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. dupixent isn't for sudden breathing problems. it can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. it's not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. du more with less asthma. talk to your asthma specialist about dupixent. if your financial situation has changed, we may be able to help. after my dvt blood clot... i was uncertain... was another around the corner? or could things take a different turn? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another. ...and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. what's around the corner could be worth waiting for. (vo) ideas exist inside you, ask your doctor about eliquis. electrify you. what's around the corner could be worth waiting for. they grow from our imagination, but they can't be held back. they want to be set free. to make the world more responsible, and even more incredible. ideas start the future, just like that. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. so, i just can't ignore spaghetti bolognaese which this city gave its name to. everyone is convinced that they know what should be in this recipe, so i'm heading east to the birth place of italy's culinary godfather, pelegrino artusi to sniff out its routes. romana joined with the wealthy cities in the 1940s to create the region. in the town, home to the artusi museum, a shrine for a food lover like me. at the end of the 19th century, artusi, a 71-year-old businessman, wrote the first cookery book to unify italy's regional cookeries into a regional national cuisine. artusi's book was a sensational hit and his mailbox was soon ja jambed with recipes for the next edition. oh, my god, literally one of my favorite things in the world. bar barbara asioli is an artisanal cooker in the museum. happily, barbara has invited me to her place to try artusi's version of the first recorded recipe of the famous meat sauce. [ speaking foreign language ] >> it's beautiful. for italians, artusi's book, science in the kitchen and the art of eating well, is their second bible. [ speaking foreign language ] >> that's fantastic, yeah, yeah. small? >> small. [ speaking foreign language ] >> i think the thing that's interesting about the recipe is so many chefs have so many different versions. some say use tomato, don't use tomato. use milk, don't use milk, use nutmeg. i don't know if it's too tomatoey. >> the recipe only butter. >> only butter? [ speaking foreign language ] >> in artusi's recipe, delicate meat is cooked at the same time as the chopped vegetables. everything all together? you put big pieces of bacon, you never cook that first? >> no. >> i've never done that. maybe that's why mine isn't so good. >> and flour. and nutmeg. >> but like most cooks in this region, there's only one pasta barbara would consider using, and it ain't spaghetti, folks. >> there you are, my handmade pasta. >> beautiful. >> the local fresh of emilia romana grips the sauce far better than dry southern spaghetti ever kood. could. >> i'm ready. >> you're ready? thank god. don't judge me. i had to wait ten tortuous minutes for it to cook. artusi uses lean meal. this smells incredible. oh, yes, yes, yes. cheers. >> cheers. is that good? >> very good. this is what i have been trying to do at home, but i have never achieved it. now i know how to do it, because of you, yes, yes. >> thank you. >> will you marry me? oh, your husband is here. forget about it. are you managing your diabetes... ...using fingersticks? 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you're filming in 8k. that's cinema quality. so... you can pull photos straight from video. impressive. but will it last a whole trip? you'll have battery all day. and then more. this is different. told you. ♪ it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, told you. jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. i've traveled further into roam magna to the coastal town. this place is where ordinary italians come to play, flirt, and tan by the sea. this is really beautiful. often looked down on by the rich cities of emilia, this is an unpretentious working class playground built on the rubble left by second world war bombs. obviously, i am here to eat. director federico fellini is rimini's most famous son, and it's his films that have given the world the iconic romantic image of italy that persists today and casts italians as a fiery, passionate people driven by their hearts and stomachs. fellini's childhood here in rimini was the inspiration for his unbearably sexy movies. i'm meeting his niece, francesca fellini. >> fellini's autobiographical movie "amarcord" about a young boy growing up in fascist 1930s and the tensions in and out of the home . >> he was very particular about his food so that when he would come here and visit, he would ask -- >> my mother, my sister of federico. >> to cook very specific things. >> of course. he would take the phone and i'm just arriving in a few hours in rimini. i want a -- and my mom, that was great. >> even when he game a world class director, fellini still craved the simple dishes of his hometown. he said life is a combination of magic and pasta. >> federico would adored this kind of place, this kind of restaurant. >> so francesca is taking me to a local place where they still make specialties he loved like cappeletti in brodo, pasta parcels traditionally eaten in broth on christmas day. >> can i introduce you to alessandra, the queen of the pasta in romagna. >> alessandra, it's nice to meet you. >> are you hungry? >> yes. >> cappeletti. >> like a priest's head? >> yes. >> rural romagna was under the control of the papacy for centuries, so it's not surprising that this pasta refers to the catholic cardinals' jaunty hats. >> all the elements are very with extra flavor. >> wow. >> they are good eggs. it's important that is very thin. >> you almost want to be able to see your hand through it, right? >> yes. >> beautiful. oh, i see. >> the priest hats. >> alessandra is also making strozzapreti, or priest choker, a specialty born of necessity and poverty using just water, flour, and a little salt. >> every cut is perfect. >> would choke with this pasta. >> that's funny. >> it has everything in it. revolution, anger, religion, and death. >> and death. >> in a plate of pasta. fantastic. >> cappeletti in broth. you have to try it. >> yes. >> something special. >> oh my god! that's great. >> you have -- >> hopefully we're not going to choke. oh my god, the only reason you would choke on them is if you ate them too fast because they were so good. >> it's really full of emotion. >> yeah, because you used to come here, right? >> yes. >> we're ending the day with an aperitif at a federico haunt, the grand hotel. >> a magician in my life. >> the pasta of romagna demmen straits how ingenious the people of this region are. >> cheers. >> the unique climate, some strict rules, and a few simple quality ingredients are all they need to conjure up a kind of magic. >> bellissimo. >> and create incredible dishes that are famous the world over. so here we are in milan, the fashion and industrial powerhouse. i have only been to milan a few times and always in passing. i never have stayed here long enough to really get a sense of it. the first thing that strikes you about milan is