>> "Modern Pioneering" is funded by... Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food, offering degrees in culinary arts, artisanal food, baking, beverages, and more... ♪ ...Sullivan Catskills, a destination for long walks, casting a line, paddling a stream, and farm-to-table cuisine, located 90 minutes from Manhattan -- SullivanCatskills.com... also in part by contributions from the following... and by the support of generous individuals.

A complete list is available at APTonline.org.

♪ >> Tuscany, Italy, the land of dreams, where wine and olive oil flow freely and life slows down to appreciate them.

Almost 4 million people are tucked into these grids of grapevines and sun-kissed hills thick with cypress trees and its traditional dishes topped with cheeses and the perfume of truffles that have nourished generations of hardworking families who work this land.

Oh, my gosh.

It's a place where the culture, the food, and the adventure are all part of the same, beautiful, rambling meal.

>> I'm Georgia Pellegrini, a food explorer and author.

Oh, yeah.

I'm on a quest to discover today's masters -- the unsung heroes who are making the best that their own two hands can produce.

>> It is a family secret.

>> So many skills of our past are not being practiced today.

>> There you go!

>> And modern conveniences are driving a wedge between ourselves and the most rewarding things we can do as humans.

Getting your hands dirty.

Come along with me as I discover and celebrate the people who are showing us how to slow down and get back to our roots, because, to me, self-sufficiency is the greatest adventure on Earth.

♪ ♪ Italy is one of the top food destinations in the world, from high-end cuisine to homespun dishes made by grandmothers, but it all starts in the fields and farms, many of which are in Tuscany.

The Italians are true artisans and, for generations, have passed down culinary traditions.

I'm here to tap into my own Italian heritage and learn from two of Tuscany's working villas -- Tenuta Torciano and Corzano e Paterno.

>> Come in here.

>> I want to learn from the experts whose everyday lives are steeped in tradition.

[ Glasses ting ] I'll be diving into as many of the classic Italian ingredients as I can, from their legendary truffle to the homemade pasta, wines, and cheeses.

I'm starting off at Tenuta Torciano, a winery situated in the heart of Tuscany, 30 minutes from Florence.

It was founded in 1720 and has been owned by the same Tuscan family for over three centuries and 13 generations.

Their traditions of living off the land have been carried on for hundreds of years, most recently by my host, Luigi Giachi.

Before I even think about wine tasting, he's taking me to hunt one of the most intoxicating foods of all -- the truffle.

That's a beautiful... Tenuta Torciano is home to all kinds of truffles in the middle of a forest of 700 trees managed by a coppicing technique, which is a traditional method of woodland management that creates ideal conditions for truffles.

What do you think it is about truffles that people love so much?

They have a bit of magic to them, don't you think?

Yeah.

And are these all different kinds?

>> Absolutely, yes.

>> So they all grow here, all different kinds?

>> Yes, yes.

Absolutely.

Yes.

>> Wow!

300 years?

>> Yes.

>> Wow.

That's amazing.

The best way to find truffles is with truffle-hunting dogs.

[ Dogs barking ] And around here, they're the ones who know this land better than anyone.

And you train them for truffle hunting?

>> Yes.

Agatha e Kiko.

>> Hi, Kiko.

Hi, Agatha.

Are you gonna go find some gold?

They're already searching.

Yeah.

They find one?

[ Gasps ] >> [ Speaking indistinctly ] >> Look at you.

[ Gasps ] Oh, yeah.

You're excited.

>> Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

>> That's a big one.

>> [ Speaking Italian ] Eh?

>> Oh, incredible.

>> Oh, my gosh.

That smells so good.

>> Oh.

[ Speaking Italian ] >> Oh, look how excited he is.

[ Laughs ] >> [ Speaking Italian ] >> He wants more.

So, there's certain conditions that the truffle likes, right?

Yeah.

It's really a great mystery.

And perhaps that gives them their magic.

It makes them mysterious and in demand, and the mystique around them I think comes from the mystery of it all, right?

Yeah?

>> Wherever.

>> In everything.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

>> Wherever you want.

>> Yeah.

Hi.

What is that?

So, you dig around because you don't know the size, so you don't want to cut into it, is that right?

>> Yes.

>> What'd you find?

Oh, that's beautiful.

[ Sniffs ] Smells so good.

Sort of has a sweetness and an earthiness to it.

>> Sí.

>> Oh, wow, you're really digging!

[ Laughter ] >> Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo.

>> You can see that they're really in their element.

They love this.

They're born to do this.

>> Absolutely, yes.

>> They're so happy right now.

I'm happy right now.

Ah, look at this.

A little piece of gold in the Tuscan woods.

It's hard to describe the celestial experience of walking underneath the high canopy of Luigi's forest and chasing after our canine companions as they discover truffle after truffle.

♪ While Agatha and Kiko are hard at work and with a few truffles under my belt, I'm feeling right at home with the rhythms of Tuscany.

I'm already thinking about how I'm going to cook up these truffles, and I'll need a little help from the experts.

Pasta is one of the world's most accessible foods, and in Italy, one of the most iconic pasta dishes is simple homemade fresh pasta with shaved truffles.

Before I can taste my truffles on this dreamy dish, I have to make the pasta, and I have the best teachers I could ask for.

>> [ Speaking Italian ] >> So two different flours.

Okay.

So this is more fine?

Zero, zero?

Semolina.

>> Sí.

>> And that's a little bit more coarse.

We're making tagliatelle, long flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettuccine.

Little salt, little egg.

A little olive oil.

I feel really honored that the locals here at Tenuta Torciano have taken me under their wing to teach me how they make it.

These are the experiences I cherish the most when I visit a place.

Ah, you so you make a little well for all of your liquids -- the eggs and the olive oil.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Just a pinch.

>> Sí.

[ Speaking Italian ] >> So, about a tablespoon?

Two tablespoons.

♪ Ah, so you use a fork to break up the yolk and mix it in.

That's interesting.

Okay.

So you're slowly incorporating.

You're bringing in the flour slowly by scraping the sides of this well.

Okay.

Although, it is fun to use your hands, to get your hands in there.

So, you're finishing it with the pastry cutter to bring it all together.

Yeah, your hands get hot.

Yeah.

That helps and keeps things cool when you use the fork or the pastry cutter.

>> Sí.

>> Ah, my truffle-hunting friend is joining us.

>> How is the situation?

>> We're making fresh pasta.

>> Let me see how you do.

>> Okay.

I'm nervous.

I have everybody watching me.

>> Oh, yes.

Like the truffle, is an art, is in each -- this is an art, too.

Easy to learn, easy to do.

[ Sniffs ] Ooh, ooh.

Like, like... Unbelievable.

>> Ah, the perfume!

I can't wait to eat it.

Wow, yeah, it's bouncing right back up.

>> Sí.

>> Okay, so that means it's ready.

Oh, wow.

[ Laughs ] Can see the strands of gluten.

Beautiful.

[ Laughs ] >> [ Speaking Italian ] ♪ >> So, you're folding it and doing zero again.

Alright.

Okay.

Now we're moving on to 1.

>> Uno.

>> It's like the fabric.

Yeah.

We're using the thicker -- Is that for tagliatelle, the thicker one?

Luigi, are you gonna catch it?

[ Laughter ] Ah, that's faster.

Okay.

This is a three-person job, really.

You need a team for making pasta.

I love that.

[ Gasps ] Ah!

Strong but delicate.

Cooking this meal with Luigi in their ancestral home blows any culinary school out of the water.

There's no cookbook, no formal rules.

>> Sí.

Yes.

>> We're following the family's tradition where their signature flavors and homespun techniques make it 100% their own.

Ah.

Wow.

So, you're cutting about a quarter of an inch.

Okay.

>> Bravo.

Bravo, bravo, bravo.

>> The Italian would've been faster.

[ Laughter ] Okay.

So, you're taking the stick, and you run it underneath the whole thing.

Lift it like so.

Oh, my gosh!

Look at that!

How beautiful.

>> [ Speaking Italian ] >> Look at that.

It is a miracle of nature.

And it has as a bit of a more organic look to it.

Oh, how beautiful.

Ah.

Okay, that's a good amount of salt.

I love it.

And then some olive oil.

Beautiful.

And it's really a rolling boil.

Okay.

Drop it right in?

The whole thing?

Okay, so, we're actually making the truffle sauce next to it.

Ah.

The smell.

[ Sniffs ] Ah, look at that beautiful amount of butter.

That's my favorite!

Ah, look at that.

So, very thinly shaved, the truffles.

So, they've only been in for four minutes, five minutes, very quick.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

At most, five.

Oh, look at that.

And it'll cook more a little bit in the truffle butter.

Ah, the smell.

It smells so good.

>> [ Speaking Italian ] >> Wow.

Look at that.

[ Chuckles ] And it's pure, simple ingredients, and that's the beauty of it.

Look at that.

Truffle snowflakes.

[ Chuckles ] Truffle oil!

Because you can't have too many truffles.

Truffle oil.

Amazing.

[ Chuckles ] And I get a fork.

This is my version of heaven.

Look at this.

Got the thinly sliced truffle, this beautiful hand-cut tagliatelle, the aroma, the sweetness, the earthiness.

The moment of truth.

Mmm!

It's all mine.

Okay, yeah.

[ Chuckles ] >> Mmm!

Mmm!

>> This is truly incredible.

It's simple, it's rich, it's earthy, it's sweet.

Yes, true.

We do need wine.

More wine is never a bad thing.

>> Never, never.

>> Thank you so much, Luigi.

Thank you both.

You really have to make friends around here to get this kind of access, but what I wasn't expecting was a lesson in pairing this incredible dish with wine.

Luigi's family has handed down the art of making and producing wine for 13 generations, so there's no better person to learn from than Luigi.

So, now I'm officially your student here.

>> Yes, because... >> Luigi teaches the art of tasting wine in classes all over the world.

Sharing 13 generations of his family's knowledge is where he shines and gets so much joy.

Interesting.

>> [ Sniffs ] >> Ooh, yeah.

>> But, Princess... >> Right.

[ Chuckles ] Okay.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

Ah.

Interesting.

>> [ Sniffing ] [ Sniffing ] >> Mm-hmm.

♪ >> Good?

>> [ Smacks lips ] Really good.

Luigi says, to properly prepare your palate for tasting, you need to commit.

So who am I to tell Luigi no?

>> [ Inhaling sharply ] ♪ Left... [ Sniffing ] Mmm!

Mm?

Mm?

Mmm.

Mm?

Mm, mm, mm, mm.

[ Slurping ] [ Both slurping ] >> At this point, I was just hoping wine wasn't going to come through my nostrils.

[ Chuckles ] Being Luigi's wine student is serious business, but so worth it.

>> [ Claps ] >> Ahh!

>> [ Speaking Italian ] >> [ Laughs ] >> [ Speaking English ] >> No, it's a much better wine.

>> And so tell me... >> I can feel the acid.

I can feel the flavor in my entire mouth, in my throat, in my gums.

Tingling, and all of my gums are tingling.

No.

Yes, that's so interesting.

No, no.

Yeah.

You get the full arc of the wine that way.

We're missing out so much on the flavors.

[ Laughs ] Yes.

Yes, yes.

Yes.

That was very special.

Very, very much so.

♪ Much of the Tuscan countryside had for a long time been abandoned by the farming population for more lucrative and less backbreaking work in the cities.

Only in recent years have people begun the work of restoration.

I'm heading next to learn from another family farm, Corzano e Paterno, run and owned by several generations of the Gelpke-Goldschmidt family.

♪ >> So, from here, you can see most of the farm, the two hills of Corzano, which is here, and Paterno in front.

We have our 700 sheep over there in Paterno, and we have our 50 acres of vineyards over here in Corzano.

>> Wow.

>> And then we have 4,000 olive trees, and they're spread all over the property.

>> I'm meeting Sibilla, who is the daughter of the founder, Wendel.

>> It's a whole ecosystem all by itself.

>> It's wonderful.

Wendel bought the farm in the early 1970s and began the long task of reclaiming the land from decades of neglect.

You're really making the most of this land.

I mean, for a long time, people wanted to go back to cities and get away from this kind of work and... >> Most of the local farmers who used to live here wanted to go to the city, which is why this land was pretty much abandoned.

>> The farm is a typical example of the Tuscan mezzadria farming system, consisting of a manor house, or villa, surrounded by houses for the farming families.

>> This is not an original cellar.

We built this 15 years ago, and it's built underground.

That way, it's easier to keep the temperature constant... >> Mm-hmm.

>> ...warm in winter and cold in the summer.

>> You're sister is the head winemaker?

>> Yeah, she's been making our wine for 15 years now.

>> Sibilla's sister is rare.

She's a woman winemaker, which is hard to come by in these parts.

It's just another way that they are modern pioneers, redefining what it is to bring back the tradition of family-run farming as an art, a craft, and a business.

These barrels are beautiful.

>> Yeah, aren't they?

This is all French oak.

We use these eight or nine years, and after that, they're no good for aging wine anymore because there's a whole layer of wine residue inside them.

>> Mm.

>> So, at that point, we usually turn them into plant pots or tables or chairs, and the wines stay in here for 12 to 24 months, depending on the wine.

♪ >> Wendel pursued many of the old methods of farming.

At one point, Wendel had been told that grazing sheep was one of the best methods of clearing the derelict fields.

He asked a Sardinian shepherd to organize the purchase of 50 or so milk sheep.

Since the sheep had to be milked, Wendel then made his attempts at cheese production in his kitchen.

Local legend has it that he made the best Pecorino in the region.

>> Come in.

>> Oh, wow.

>> This is our dairy.

>> I can smell the sheep.

[ Chuckles ] >> Yeah, you can smell the ricotta in the air, can't you?

Come in here.

And that's the cauldron where they make the ricotta, and the ricotta is made with the whey that comes away from the cheese when you make the cheese.

The holes are there so that the liquid can come out the whey.

>> It's draining.

>> And then you collect the whey, and then you boil it up at the end of the morning, and that's how they make ricotta.

So, these are still warm.

These will be delivered to restaurants in Florence tomorrow morning.

>> Really?

>> And they're only good for a week because we don't have any preservatives in them, so they have to use them quickly.

And our sheep only eat things that we grow on the farm and organic, so we make sure that we want to know that -- >> So it's all grass.

>> It's all grass, yeah -- grass, and we make all the grains that they eat, as well.

So, our blue cheese is made by adding penicillin mold to the curd when we break it up, and over the first month, it needs to be pierced every week with a big needle so that the penicillin has oxygen.

>> Why is the blue cheese covered in foil?

>> The second month, it is wrapped in foil to keep the humidity at the optimum point for the molds to develop.

So, this is a very special cheese that we make.

It's called Buccia di Rospo, which means "skin of the frog."

>> [ Chuckles ] Okay.

>> And it's called that because we were trying to make a normal Pecorino, and they got the recipe slightly wrong, so these really wrinkly, ugly cheeses came out.

>> So this is unique to this place.

>> Yes.

>> I love it.

It's sort of beautiful, though, too.

And what's the interior?

Is it... >> It's creamy inside, so it tastes a bit like a ripe Camembert.

>> Mm.

>> And the rind is nutty.

>> Mm, I love that.

What a wonderful combination.

>> Well, you'll be trying it.

>> Oh, good.

I can't wait.

Let's try some.

This looks amazing.

We're going to make the most of the cheese.

The best way to do that is pairing it with good wine.

>> First, we'll start with some wine.

This is your first wine of today.

It's our only white wine.

So, you start it with our freshest cheese, and then, after that, you have a classic Pecorino.

After that, you have a cheese that we call "toad skin," which is the ugly but delicious one, and then, last, you have our blue cheese.

We put that last on the plate because, after you try the blue cheese, it's really hard to taste anything else.

>> I could eat a lot of this.

>> And here's our olive oil from our 4,000 trees.

>> A little dollop.

[ Chuckles ] Mmm.

With the olive oil, it's incredible.

Has a little bit of bite mixed with that creaminess.

>> So, here you have your next wine.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> This is the Sangiovese 100%.

>> Okay.

>> And aged for two years in the wooden barrels that we saw down in the cellar.

>> I'm excited about this "toad skin."

Mmm!

Oh, that's so good.

The rind has this funkiness to it and a chew and then that gooey, creamy inside.

Oh, it's heaven.

It's perfect with the wine.

♪ In a world where we've increasingly lost touch with manual literacy, one thing that's clear is some families are pioneering ways to hold on to it.

A villa was once a true country escape, a place that was seasonal, where people could transition from city to country.

Today, in a technology-driven world, it's become so much more.

It's a place where you can get dirt under your fingernails and reconnect with those natural instincts that make us human and allow us to reach our fullest potential.

After a day of truffle hunting, pasta and cheese making, it's the kind of place where you come alive again.

♪ ♪ >> To learn more about the topics featured on this episode, log on to GeorgiaPellegrini.com or follow along on Georgia's Facebook and Instagram pages for weekly "Modern Pioneering" adventures, tips, and recipes.

"Modern Pioneering" is funded by... Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food, offering degrees in culinary arts, artisanal food, baking, beverages, and more... ♪ ...Sullivan Catskills, a destination for long walks, casting a line, paddling a stream, and farm-to-table cuisine, located 90 minutes from Manhattan -- SullivanCatskills.com... also in part by contributions from the following... and by the support of generous individuals.

A complete list is available at APTonline.org.

♪