Catena and Agata relax in the garden of Agata's baglio [Sicilian architectural form with buildings arranged around a courtyard]. They're getting ready to cook typical Sicilian dishes that Catena will include in a cookbook she's writing.

Agata and Catena have stopped at the Catania outdoor market to do some food shopping. Catena gets to taste some of the delicious local specialties.

Viviana Varese, winner of the 2011 Gambero Rosso Prize "Best emerging young chef", shows us how to make a tartare of Fassone (Piemontese beef) – an elegant and very tasty dish!

Mario Aprile, president of the Trifolao Association in Piedmont, gives us some tips about the characteristics of white truffles: their growth, the ideal way of storing them and of course some excellent recipes.

Elisa Degan and Gianna Mantovan of Torino provide step by step directions of how to prepare Grilled Sea-Bass Fillets. This fish dish is very simple to prepare and also very delicious.

Gualtiero Marchesi describes both his old and the new versions of Pollo Kiev (Chicken Kiev). Relatively simple and tasty, especially if you like butter!

Being a man of culture as well as an expert chef, Gualtiero Marchesi has found himself being inspired by artists. He talks of dripping food onto a platter, much as Jackson Pollock would drip paint onto a canvas.

Italian cuisine in the fifties reflected both the economic prospering, and the cultural growth of a population that had also begun opening up to new horizons through the birth of tourism.

Various experts talk about their memories of Milan back in the fifties: Sunday morning rituals of getting pastries from the "best," bars, eating big meals twice a day, the cathedral square with its tram and neon lights, and so forth.

Milan, as it became an important center for gastronomy and publishing, relinquished, at the same time, part of its regional identity.

Marchesi talks about how much he learned from just being around great chefs who happened to be relatives, but also how much he learned from books. There are also some interesting opinions about why most great chefs are male!

In Italian families, the role of women has always been one of fundamental importance. Women were able to create wonderful meals with humble ingredients, but as talented as they might have been, their place was in the home, running the family, not travelling abroad learning haute cuisine.

Massimo Montanari, an expert in historical food studies, discusses the role of women in the development of regional cooking.

Marchesi shows us a delicious dessert made from leftover panettone. Panettone is an Italian fruitcake from the Lombardy region that is traditionally served during the Christmas season. Cinepanettoni are comic movies served up during the holidays.

Artist Nanda Vigo, a friend of Gualtiero Marchesi's, tells us what it was like to be an artist back in those days, and how Marchesi was involved.