[ speaking foreign language ] umbrian food isn t about expensive restaurants or tricky techniques. it s all about the skill and hard work that goes into producing its precious raw ingredients. from innovative farmers to noble hunters. and let s not forget the chefs and butchers preserving the traditional ways of cooking. and a note for any vegetarians watching. umbrians eat a lot of meat, like particularly pork. like a lot of it. huge amounts of it. i surrender. to the pork. umbria is named after the umry, one of italy s most ancient peoples. their landlocked homeland is right in the middle of the country. bordered on the west by its more glamorous neighbor tuscany, it s often overlooked. but while the landscape here is similar, the culture is very different. less fancy, if you will. and i hear the locals like it that way. they re like flames, aren t they? i m heading deep into the heart of sagrantino territory, umbria s luscious wrld-renowned red wine, to meet a man
umbria. [ speaking foreign language ] it means it s the green heart of italy. not a jealous heart, but a fertile one. arriving in early fall, i chart a course through umbria s ancient forests and misty mountains. this is italy before the romans, a place where families lived close to the land, a land of saintly legends, impossibly perched hilltop towns and rustic cuisine. wow. stop filming and just eat it. cheers. i m stanley tucci. i m italian on both sides and i m travel across italy to discover how the food in each of this country s 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past.
Paul iii hit perugia where it really hurt. you have to know that one of the most popular foods in umbria and perugia are the salumi. prosciutto and salami. all those things. what did the pope do? he said okay, in umbria they use salt. now i will put a tax on the salt. it s crazy. it s crazy. the salt tax was the last straw. perugia declared war on the pope. you about the papal army crushed the insurgents in these very streets and the pope built a fortress smack in the middle of the town to show the people who was boss. but that didn t stop the perugians. their spirit of resistance lived on with a cunning culinary plan to rebel against their oppressor. matteo s taking me to one of his favorite hangouts, la prosciuteria. it s a new take on the traditional bo tegga. and among their bounty is
[ speaking foreign language ]. oh, look. wine grapes, only the best for pigs around here. carlotta. umbria. [ speaking foreign language ] in addition to wearing all his other hats this rural renaissance man also somehow finds time to host one of italy s best loved cookery shows. il cucina takes in all aspects of giorgio and his life on the farm. but the heart of the action takes place here in this very kitchen. on the menu is maialino cooked
It s incredibly rich soil here. it s really beautiful. this is a perfect example right here. you can see all that gorgeous soil that they ve just tilled. my time in umbria is almost over, but i can t leave without visiting a certain farm on the tuscan border. my friends colin and livia firth have a home here, and livia s twin brothers have had a st. francis-like epiphany, leaving their old lives behind to do something very special with a plot of land next door. sale. together, twin. sale. welcome. come through, come through. how beautiful. so i haven t seen you guys. last time was like 3 1/2 years ago. we change our life, basically.