friends, probably after gorging on campania's other great contribution to the world, pizza. wherever we are, the food of this place can't help but bring us together. thanks for everything, you're amazing. thank you. >> cheers. >> cheers. cheers. cin, cin. [slow piano music] [upbeat music] >> so bologna. i haven't been here for a very long time. very happy to be back. the people of bologna have been hit hard by the covid pandemic. but i've arrived during a brief moment of normality when lockdown has been lifted restaurants are filling up and masks are optional outside. bologna is an ancient university town the oldest in the western world brought to life by students flaunting their youth. this bread is an aphrodisiac. i'm all alone in a hotel. why would i want to do that? this place is rich and its food is famous. some bold souls whisper that it's the best in italy. >> massimo: smell, smell, smell! the smell is unbelievable. i'm stanley tucci. i'm italian on both sides and i'm traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of this country's 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. anger, religion, and death in one pasta. it has everything in it. i'm here to discover why this place is home to the gastronomic superstars of the nation's food... >> nicola: this is made with love. ...and how an obsession with perfection... >> woman: every cut is perfect. ...drives its producers. will you marry me? and people here really know how to wait for the best things in life. >> massimo: slow, slowly, slowly arrive at the point of excellence. >> right. and because they've waited -- >> man: 25 years old. whoa! it really is good. so good! oh my god! i don't have to. so good! it's just one of the most delicious things on earth. [upbeat jazz-style music] for a greedy man this place is the gigantic deli of my dreams. but don't fret, i have the metabolism of a teenager. bologna is the capital of emilia-romagna a wealthy region that straddles italy and is cocooned between the adriatic sea and the apennine mountains. it's a lush land of fertile river valleys stuffed with livestock and billowing soft wheat. no wonder it's also bred one of the world's best chefs. [upbeat swing-style music] buckle up. i know you can only see a blur with glasses but that's me in the car tearing around the roads of modena province in the tender care of massimo bottura a man who likes fast cars, slow food, and michelin stars. he's got three of them. next time do it faster. >> massimo: i love this place. he's taking me behind the scenes at the rosola dairy in zocca which is about 30 miles outside bologna. i'm playing it cool. [stanley groaning enthusiastically] che belle! really! jesus christ! this is where massimo's been coming to get his beloved parmigiano for the past 20 years. oh my god! this is unique. >> massimo: the only parmigiano that can be fire-stamped is from the white cows. >> right. >> this is a very, very small production and extremely high-quality. milk is king in emilia-romagna. the white cows are the bianca modenese breed unique to the valley of the river po that runs through this region. >> massimo: bravo, bravo! emilia-romagna's medieval monks hungry for a long-lasting cheese... it looks like a magic act. ...invented parmigiano. thank god for them. three, two, one, open! oh my god. smell, smell, smell! the smelling is unbelievable. the smell is unbelievable. >> oh my god ! >> massimo: ladies, ladies. that's too much. wow, f...! i mean, yes. gino's up at 5am pouring the morning milk into copper vats massaging the pampered cheeses and running them salt baths that last for 19 days. >> massimo: you have to love the ingredients. you have to caress them. h hi, dear ingredient. hi, parmigiano. both gino and massimo see these cheeses not as mere products, but as precious babies. ones happily that you can eat. what am i gonna do with you? you are just born! >> massimo: this is the cheese of this morning. it's called tosone. taste it, it's unbelievable. it's so good. it's like... it's like mozzarella, no? the back taste of mozzarella but less intense. it's so good. oh my god! five hundred and fifty liters of milk compressed into this. every morning. as demand for milk grew in the 1960s the white cows were nearly forsaken for the more bountiful udders of foreign friesian cows. >> were they almost extinct? >> almost. >> really? >> there were very few left. and how long will you age this? thirty-six months... forty 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. >> in my mind, there was this idea of expressing with one ingredient the slowly aging process in emilia-romagna. actually, the ingredients were two, parmigiano-reggiano and time. >> time. >> time. >> yeah. >> wait, wait. grow slow like a tree, big, deep roots. it just gets more and more intense-- more and more... more pleasure. the people here have perfected the aging process to create from simple-quality ingredients and nothing is wasted. gino will use the liquid whey from this parmigiano-making process to produce fresh ricotta. when the milk is coming up, it's ready. if you're feeling hungry already, you may want to close your eyes at this point. >> prego. >> i'll go for this one. >> massimo: i know, i know. >> stanley: no. oh my god! it's so fresh that you can taste the grass and herbs the cows have eaten. it's so good! >> warm, just baked. >> mmm. it makes you feel like you're a child. >> mamma mia. >> e una bomba. e una bomba, it's a bomb! i've never had ricotta like that. no, never. this is... jesus. put that in my car. >> thank you so much! >> no problem. [car engine whirring] massimo is whisking me back to the country home and art hotel of the botturas on the outskirts of modena, casa maria luigia named after his mother. because of the pandemic, his team led by canadian chef, jessica, have gotten used to cooking outside. >> massimo: the ricotta we had this morning is going in there. >> stanley: a pizza oven? >> massimo: a wood-burning pizza oven and we have aggressive cooking to give it 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 flat breads cook in these traditional circular flints at the oven door. >> massimo: then we're gonna add a little bit of vinegar some honey that we produce here in maria luigia >> jessica:...and a little bit of fire and that's it. you trained with massimo. did you speak italian before? >> no, i learned it here. >> wow! >> in the kitchen. >> that's incredibly brave. i was learning from the cooks so i was pretty much saying bad words for the first six months. so this is the elder flower vinegar? look how crusty and beautiful it is. jesus, look at that. almost ready to taste it. oh with the balsamic. >> stanley: oh come on. >> massimo: this is like the crunchy part of the lasagne. it's exactly the same. >> stanley: that everybody fights over. >> massimo: yeah. that's beautiful, beautiful. mmm, oh my god! [massimo laughing] it's so good. you can't stop eating this kind of stuff. >> massimo: it's almost a dessert. >> stanley: the vinegar with the honey... oh wow! wow! that's delicious. you forget that you're making a television show and you're like, "what's that guy doing here?" stanly tucci is brought to you by expedia. and get sought-after recipes from all over italy. "i wish i'd bought an even thinner tv, found a lighter light beer, or had an even smarter smartphone." do you think any of us will look back on our lives and regret the things we didn't buy? or the places we didn't go? ♪ i'd go the whole wide world ♪ ♪ i'd go the whole wide world ♪ it was a tragedy. with knockoff batteries, little miss cupcake never stood a chance. until, energizer ultimate lithium. who wants a cupcake? the number one longest-lasting aa battery. yay! case closed. ♪ ♪ agent, you've got a greys problem. new one-twist hair color by l'oreal men expert... to activate twist, shake, apply and rinse. what? you've never seen a man dye his hair before? in five minutes, undetectable grey coverage. boom. new one-twist hair color by l'oreal men expert. ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things. make an impression that lasts with hgtv home by sherwin williams infinity. now more durable to resist scuffs, scratches, and stains. this springfest, find your inspiration at lowe's. ♪ ♪ bologna is the poster child for liberal italy. imagine san francisco and you're in the ballpark. the city is famously known as the fat for its rich food... the wise for the university... and the red for its leftist politics. i've come to meet mattia santori, one of the leaders of the sardines movement. that's a rebel alliance by the way not something bad that happens after eating too much oily fish. he's an accidental political hero and he loves food. >> ciao. >> hi stanley. >> nice to meet you. >> ciao. matteo salvini! the sardines mobilized when right-wing politician, matteo salvini, campaigned here in the winter of 2019 during regional elections for the league, an anti-immigration populist party. salvini is kind of a donald trump, a little donald trump in italy and it was last november and salvini was launching the campaign in emilia-romagna from bologna. so we said, "let's organize something different" and we found the trick was sardines. so we said, "you better be like salvini or like sardines." sardines because in italy, we say to be crowded like sardines. >> right. >> so we wanted all the people like 6,000 people to be on the middle of the square. >> mattia: and finally 20,000 people came... >> 20,000 people showed up? >> ...on that night. yeah. >> stanley: jesus. >> mattia: and the picture of the square crowd was the most famous picture of the day. >> stanley: and it really created a movement. >> mattia: yeah it was like this from the south to the far north. and since then, salvini? >> finally, he lost the elections. >> yeah. will you go into politics? i don't think so because i... i dress like a normal guy, my hair is a disaster. i can't help thinking that this dashing italian che guevara is too modest. we're gonna eat something but it's lunchtime and he knows the best deli in town. so, i'm saying nothing. >> stanley: oh my god! if one goes to heaven this is probably it. alright let's go get some. we're homing in on the cold cuts. >> mortadella. >> vendor: mortadella? one can't have too much mortadella in this life. this city has always been a multicultural melting pot and this finely-ground pork sausage definitely has some german influences cooked into it. >> two hundred grams. >> two hundred, yeah which is a lot but... i'm starving, you're starving too. i'm starving. spiked with peppercorns and pistachios, mortadella is also beautifully bejeweled with white polka dots of sweet fat from pigs' throats. back in the 17th century mortadella became one of the earliest protected products with an official decree from the church outlining the recipe and ingredients. [italian music] >> mattia: ciao, buongiorno. >> stanley: buongiorno. this osteria dates back to the 15th century. really? you could buy wine but not food. so it was only to meet people. they play cards they talk about politics. >> buon appetito. >> buon appetito. >> so simple, so good. >> cheers, so good. that's so good! mortadella is what gave birth to baloney. >> yeah. >> american baloney doesn't taste like this. mortadella 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 his sardines and they are now volunteering to feed the city's most vulnerable during the pandemic. the remarkable roberto morgantini is the founder of these people's kitchens. ah, ciao, ciao. oh, wow! that's fantastic. fresh egg pasta made from soft wheat is a great speciality in this region. these tortellini rather charmingly nicknamed venus' belly button have been feeding bolognese for over 500 years. food and love combine as volunteers take supermarket donations and whip them up into little parcels of joy. the smell is incredible. 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 takeouts for 500 people. >> volunteer: forty-six! >> and you are? >> elsa. elsa . >> and you are? >> elsa. elsa. good food is something that just makes everything better and it's the key to good health. this is, this is a saving grace. and right now, you'll find everything your lawn and home needs this season. [ food sizzling and happy family chatter ] at great prices for the season. stop by lowe's now, for your happiest spring. (announcer) enough with the calorie counting, carb cutting, diet fatigue, and stress. just taking one golo release capsule with three balanced meals a day has been clinically proven to repair metabolism, optimize insulin levels, and balance the hormones that make weight loss easy. release works with your body, not against it, so you can put dieting behind you and go live your life. head to golo.com now to join the over 2 million people who have found the right way to lose weight and get healthier with golo. [upbeat piano music] >> hello. >> ciao. ciao stanley, nice to meet you. please. you have such good taste in clothing. [laughing] absolutely. i'm on the trail of another gastronomic superstar of the region. the giusti company make traditional balsamic vinegar using grapes from just outside modena. and this isn't just any old vinegar. this is black gold. so, claudio is it your family? yes it's actually my family. we count the generations and they are 17. you're kidding, wow! so what year is that? sixteen zero five. >> more than 400 years. >> for more than 400 years. that's incredible! >> yes, my fellow americans, the giusti family has been making vinegar since 1605 when the mayflower pilgrims were still in sunday school. so, both red and white grapes? both red and white. we've got trebbiano... >> trebbiano. >> san giovese and lambrusco. the nature of the region's grapes led to the happy accident of balsamic vinegar. low in tannins and quick to ferment, they turn more easily into vinegar than fine wine. i keep hearing that it's a trait of emilians that you take something that isn't quite what it should be and turn it into something special. in the end it becomes even super special. >> alright, let's go look at them. >> okay, please follow me. 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're exposed to changing temperatures. >> claudio: we actually are in the heart of the most ancient collection of casks that we've got. >> stanley: this says from 1600. in balsamic vinegar, the older the better because balsamic vinegar will eat up slowly the cask. a family will never throw away their old cask. >> claudio: in each of these rows of casks you find your own balance with the taste. it's a very artisanal method that's incredible. >> claudio: with this tool called "ladro," beppe is actually moving some vinegar from the second to the first cask. beppe, straight from his last film as pinocchio's dad, is playing the wise vinegar taster. yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like a ruby red. >> there is one thing always of setting down a cask so it's ready when the person will get married. >> i love that. >> stanley: let's drink, let's taste. i've cracked. enough of the history >> let's try it, let's do it. >> take a spoon. i'm thirsty for vinegar. and you actually taste it on a spoon. this is actually the five gold medals. the flavor is very long in your mouth. [upbeat swing music] ooh. it really is good. and here you tasted the king of balsamic vinegar, twenty-five years old. imagine that to get one liter of this, you need to start from 100 kil so kilos of grapes. wow, look at that! oh my god. people were using it on too many things. traditional ba balsamic vinegar is one of a stagging 44 protected food products in romania. so, how are they effortlessly producing all these famous d delicacies? parmigiano, balsamic vinegar, and prosciutto. what do you have? >> i have some predicts. >> and his wife, laura gilmore, who runs their incredible restaurant. the po river is the longest in italy is its fertile flood plain has made this region an agricultural power dhoups house. the extraordinary valley lies to the south. >> that is modena down in the valley. and we have the ap penines behid us so the reason they ever particular flavor is because crosswind goes all the way down into the valley. and it creates this kind of microclimate. >> all fog. all fog. all fog thanks to you. >> the fog and humidity really makes the difference in all this. the humidity that comes from south is cool but not cool. hot summer, cold winter, and create the perfect microclimate. >> which means soft wheat can grow here, a very different breed from the heat-loving dry durham wheat from the south. >> you understand it's like a religion. >> and nobody's tortellini are as good as your mother's. >> he is obsess ebb about the local foods that shaped his childhood. >> if you check my blood, there is balsamic vinegar. the summer, the vinegar is live. and in winter, goes to bed and stay there and relax for six months till the spring is coming and getting to life, and again and again and again. slow, slow, slowly arrive at the point excellence. >> right. so the food could only be made sheer here because of this incredible alchemy of its unique geography and climate. i promise never to complain about fog, again. tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. oh, marco's pepperoni magnifico. classic and old world pepperoni® on one pizza—and a large is just $9.99?! the phrase “slice of heaven” comes to mind... marco's. pizza lovers get it. ♪ my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 2 system. with a painless, one-second scan i know my glucose numbers without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. take the mystery out of managing your diabetes and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free at freestylelibre.us hi! need new glasses? get 50% off a complete pair at visionworks! how can you see me squinting? i can't! i'm just telling everyone!... hey! for a limited time, get 50% off a complete pair. visionworks. see the difference. make an impression that lasts with hgtv home by sherwin williams infinity. now more durable to resist scuffs, scratches, and stains. this springfest, find your inspiration at lowe's. ♪ ♪ [upbeat jazzy music] >> [slow, upbeat music] >> [pigs oink] this is the land of pig. glorious pigs. the beautiful creatures dot the hills of emilia-romagna and i've come to the second biggest city in the region, parma, where these pigs are used to make something i can never resist... prosciutto. [lively violin music] it's really incredible. i didn't know there were these many pigs in the world. well, there aren't anymore. this is a shrine to piggies past. their sacrifice was worth it. and fittingly, for something so heavenly this ham has its own guardian angels to protect its reputation. i've slipped on this cute outfit to join the ham quality inspectors. even my nostrils are salivating. salt is the only preservative allowed before the hams are aged for at least 14 months with that foggy air wafting around them and doing its magic. they are skewering the hams with one of the tools of their trade, a horse bone, clean and scentless to check for quality . no defects. 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 di parma. a huge operation by the fraud squad involving phone tapping and undercover surveillance resulted in the ringleaders being jailed and over a million fake hams confiscated. the industry is still reeling from the scandal. >> alessia. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you too. i'm meeting alessia cerantola, 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 every ham. it is what should be protected. tell me everything. breeders started importing sperm from danish pigs. >> the sperm and the pigs? >> both the sperm and the pigs. why the danish pigs? the first is that they produce more piglets and the second reason is that they produce more meat. more meat. so breeders have larger margins of profit. a dop product costs at least twice more than a normal product. under the strict rules of this protected product, the pigs must be of pure italian bloodstock. >> so, they were just cheating. >> just cheating... >> yeah. >> yes. and also compromising those who are still producing according to traditional rules. was there one person in particular who blew the whistle? we had a source who approached us with the documents. then we started our research. how many different breeders were doing this? dozens of breeders were involved. dozens of them? >> wow. >> yes. [upbeat music] nicola salvadori is one of parma's gourmet deli owners and a prosciutto di parma obsessive. but will i, a devoted foodie, know a fake when i taste one side by side with his premium product? >> nicola: for me it's like a religion, it's not like a job. because the pork here in parma is everything. >> stanley: fantastic! when we are babies we grow up with this more than the milk. this is all my life. >> your whole life? >> yeah. so, what is this one? this is 26. >> twenty-six. >> months, yeah. here you have fiocco and here you have the culatello. this is amazing. this is my favorite part because it's very fat. we'll mix the taste of both. it's incredible. >> here... >> yeah. >> ...near to the two bones. >> okay. >> oh yeah. >> here you can taste the fat. >> yeah. >> here, you can taste the meat. >> it's more nutty. >> yeah, exactly. >> il fiocco. >> fiocco. nicola has rustled up a platter of the two proscuitti. but will the danish fake be obvious? so, what do you think? this doesn't even look like prosciutto. no. it's just dry meat. yeah. this is made for the people who want to go to the gym and grow up muscles. nicola has a point about the tastes of fitness fanatics. the lack of visible fat has definitely been part of the allure of this danish pig prosciutto. nothing. >> it's acidy. >> yeah. it doesn't do it for me though. i can't believe that's what they were selling. and the people buying. this is incredible. look at this. this is made with love. it's different than the others, it's amazing. look at this. >> that's beautiful. >> another planet. [italian accordion plays] as soon as it hits your tongue, >> it's instantaneous. >> butter on the tongue. that's the prosciutto that we all know and love and this is an interloper. when that scandal happened... >> disgusted. >> ...you were disgusted by it. because you can't let the integrity of this disappear because that's just one of the most delicious things on earth. [piano plays jazz tune] ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things. make an impression that lasts with hgtv home by sherwin williams infinity. now more durable to resist scuffs, scratches, and stains. this springfest, find your inspiration at lowe's. ♪ ♪ [lively music] so, i just can't ignore spaghetti bolognese any longer. the dish that this city of bologna famously gave it's name to. everyone is convinced that they know what should be in this recipe. so i'm heading east to the birthplace of italy's culinary godfather, pellegrino artusi to sniff out it's roots. rural romagna joined with the wealthy cities of emilia in the 1940s to create the region. and the town of forlimpopoli is home to the artusi museum... a shrine for a food lover like me. [cheerful piano tune] at the end of the 19th century artusi, a 71-year-old businessman, wrote the first cookery book to unify italy's regional specialities into a cohesive national cuisine. mmm. artusi's book was a sensational hit and his mailbox was soon jammed with recipe suggestions for the next edition. squid ink risotto. oh my god, literally one of my favorite things in the world. barbara asioli is an artusi disciple who assists in the cookery classes here at the museum. let's go! and happily, barbara's invited me to her place to try artusi's version of bolognese ragu, the first recorded recipe of the famous meat sauce. >> barbara: it's similar but it's different. welcome to my house, mr tucci. it's beautiful. for italians, artusi's book "science in the kitchen and the art of eating well" is their second bible . >> that's fantastic. >> 1952. yeah. >> small? >> small and.. . a quarter onion, and half a carrot. i have to take my glasses off. and we chop. small. i think the thing that's interesting about the recipe is that so many chefs have so many different versions of this. some people say you can use tomato, no you don't use tomato, use milk, you don't use milk, you use nutmeg. it shouldn't be too tomatoey, that's for sure. i don't think. although my mother makes it tomatoey and it's pretty delicious. there isn't tomato sauce in here. >> no tomato sauce? >> no. >> this recipe, only butter. >> only butter? in artusi's recipe the meat, delicate veal and salty bacon, are cooked at the same time as the chopped vegetables. >> everything all together? >> yes. so you just put big pieces of bacon in like that. >> you don't cook that first? >> no. i've never done that. maybe that's why mine isn't so good. and i add flour and pifrmg of nutmeg. but like most cooks in this region, there's only one pasta barbara would consider using and it ain't spaghetti, folks. here are my tagliatelle, handmade pasta. beautiful. the local, fresh tagliatelle of emilia-romagna grips the sauce far better than dried, southern spaghetti ever could. parmigiano reggiano, aged 24 months. >> i'm ready. >> you're ready? >> yeah. >> oh, thank god. don't judge me. i've had to wait 10 torturous minutes for it to cook. >> enjoy it. >> oh, thank you. artusi uses lean veal so it's a much quicker ragu to make than a modern, slow-cooked beef bolognese. oh, bello. it's smells incredible. >> oh yes, yes, yes. cheers. >> cheers. is it good? very good. so good! this is what i've been trying to do... at home... but i have never achieved it. now i know how to do it >> because of you, yes. >> thank you. will you marry me? oh, your husband's here, forget about it. [jazzy piano music] (elevator ding) ♪ (energetic music) ♪ ♪ ♪ (camera shutters) be ready for any arena in the all-new lx 600. ♪ ♪ ♪ oh, here we go ♪ ok. ♪ ♪ ♪ hands to the sky, ♪ ♪ show me that you're mine ♪ come seek the royal caribbean ♪ ♪ your happiest spring starts at lowe's. experience all the deals at springfest. lowe's. home to any budget. home to any possibility. one of my favorite supplements is qunol turmeric. turmeric helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. unlike regular turmeric supplements qunol's superior absorption helps me get the full benefits of turmeric. the brand i trust is qunol. hi! need new glasses? get 50% off a complete pair at visionworks! how can you see me squinting? i can't! i'm just telling everyone!... hey! for a limited time, get 50% off a complete pair. visionworks. see the difference. i earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through chase with chase freedom unlimited. i earn 5% on our cabin. hello cashback! hello, kevin hart! earn big time with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. ♪ i've traveled further into romania to the coastal town of rimini. 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 many of his dreamily surreal and unbearably sexy movies. i'm meeting his niece, francesca fellini. >> fellini's autobiographical movie "amarcord" about a young boy growing up in fascist 1930s rimini. 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 say, and i'm just arriving in a few hours in rimini. and my mom would say, that was great. >> even when he game a world-famous director, fellini still craved the simple dishes of his hometown. he said life is a combination of magic and pasta. >> federico would adore 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, 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 hat? >> 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 poor, eggs, 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 little plate of pasta. fantastic. >> cappeletti in broth. you have to try it. >> yes. >> something special. >> oh my god! that's great. >> you have to try also -- >> 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. >> really full of emotion. >> yes, because you used to come here, right? >> we're ending the day with an aperitif at fellini's favorite haunt, the grand hotel. >> i consider federico my magician, a magician in my life. >> the past of romagna demonstrates 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. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. i'm isa soares live in ukraine. for weeks ukrainians have been trapped in mariupol, a city under siege by russian forces. now, after several failed attempts, some civilians have been able to evacuate. i'm alison kosik in new york. i'll have our other top stories including coronavirus cases holding relatively steady despite china's zero covid strategy. now beijing is closing one of its top theme parks due to the