The fine white mold that forms on the cheese helps give it its characteristic flavor, but it is also painstakingly scraped off each round. Before the high-altitude pastures are ready for grazing, humans take advantage of the snow and the trails.

Here and there in the small villages of the valley, there are interesting frescos hearalding back to earlier times. Two local recipes are offered: stuffed curly cabbage leaves and Taragna polenta, a kind of cornmeal with the addition of buckwheat.

In the Brembana Valley, the river reigns supreme. In fact, there is still a functioning water mill for grinding corn, as well as people passionate about maintaining centuries-old traditions.

We meet some very charming donkeys and hear about how Francantonio and his sons developed a passion for them.

The ancient via Priula leads us to the mountains where we visit a herbal laboratory, in which flowers and plants are transformed into beauty products using historical recipes.

We move on to Valtorta a spot where cheese is king. Here, they produce a special little cylindrical cheese called an agrì, exclusive to this spot. In fact, Slow Food, an organization that's become international but which began in Italy, has it as one of its special products.

Giovanna, a resident of Campania, explains how tomato puree is made, and then preserved in glass jars.

Antonio Cannavacciuolo shows us how to make a very elegant pasta dish with zucchini and fish. The cooking video is an ad for Voiello pasta, in this case mezze maniche which means "short sleeves."

Antonino is in the kitchen with Michele from Eboli preparing a pasta dish with provola, eggplant and red mullet.

Today Antonino cooks special, grooved spaghetti, with garlic, oil and hot peppers. It's a classic pasta recipe, but our chef adds some extra ingredients to give it a different twist.

Antonino shares a new and easy recipe with grape or cherry tomatoes, buffalo stracciatella, and shrimp. But what makes the dish special is the special pasta: Penne with ridges both inside and out.

Antonino has a visitor from Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast, who brings in some of the world-famous Sorrento lemons. They prepare whole-wheat spaghetti with a simple sauce featuring lemon rind and bottarga (salted fish roe).

Arianna explains, in simple Italian, and step by step, her own personal recipe for a pasta dish: Farfalle Primavera. Farfalle is a type of pasta shaped like a farfalla (butterfly). Primavera is the season between winter and summer.

Arianna, born and raised in Tuscany, will make panzanella, one of her favorite dishes. The main ingredient is quite humble: stale bread!

Arianna prepares the ingredients for the panzanella and stresses that this recipe is easily adaptable to personal tastes. You can't really go wrong. It's also a great recipe for anyone to make while vacationing in Italy, since it's so simple.