One thing that has made Gualtiero Marchesi become such a great in modern Italian cuisine has been his ability to create new dishes by rearranging, in an innovative way, traditional dishes of every region of Italy, each different in taste and quality.

We learn how and when rice was introduced into Italy. It first appeared in the fourteen hundreds, brought to Lombardy from Spain; and to Sicily from the Arabic world.

The video weaves together Marchesi recounting a story about his first love when he was twelve, and a critic discussing Artusi and Marchesi's debt to popular cuisine.

Water, earth, fish, animals, rice: these were the fundamental elements of Italian cuisine in the pre-war and war years, elements that profoundly influenced the culinary creations of one of the most famous chefs in Italy, Gualtiero Marchesi.

Pre-war and wartime cooking, when fuel for cooking was in short supply, made raw recipes come to the fore.

Gualtiero Marchesi recalls the early years of his friendship with Aldo Calvi, when the would hunt and fish together along the Po.

Gualtiero Marchesi recalls his childhood, living along the banks of the River Po. His memories are as diverse as milking cows and seeing German bombers taking out bridges.

Adriano finishes showing us how to make "spaghetti alla carbonara." Ingredients for 4 servings: 500 grams of pasta, 300 grams of bacon cubes, 4 eggs, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese, and parsley.

Pasta alla carbonara is a characteristic dish from Lazio, and more specifically, from Rome. It's made with "humble" ingredients but that doesn't prevent it from being wonderfully tasty, and a favorite with pasta lovers everywhere. This is the Adriano's own version.

Our famous chef talks about the town where he spent much of his childhood, San Zenone al Po, where two rivers meet, and where flooding has always been part of life.

World famous chef, Gualtiero Marchesi talks about his career, his search for a total cuisine, an authentic cuisine.

Terre d'acqua means water-lands. We are talking about the once marshy area which has now become the fertile Po valley. Gualtiero Marchesi is considered to be the founder of the new Italian cuisine, and is perhaps the best known Italian chef in the world. He begins telling us his story.

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.

This episode is about a specialty from Colonnata, a little village above Carrara, where marble is quarried. It's pork lard, which may not sound very appetizing but is beloved by Italians all over the peninsula. A little goes a long way, but savored with typical unsalted Tuscan bread, it is pretty special. And marble plays an important part.

This is the story of an Italian, who haveing been brought up on a dairy farm, travels the world, ending up in Australia, only to return to Italy with some new ideas about the cheese he wants to create.

The bread from Altamura (in Apulia) is very famous among Italian bread connoisseurs. Beppe di Gesù, our host in this segment, comes from a long line of bakers. Breadmaking is so special that it's called l'arte bianca (the white art), because of the color of the flour.

Federica continues working on the dough, adding various ingredients, and making sure that the dough "meshes" without breaking apart. Finally she will shape the dough into the form of a dove.

If you have ever wondered how to make the traditional Easter bread called la Colomba (the dove), in the shape of a dove, the head of a Turin pastry shop invites us into his laboratory-kitchen where Federica gives us detailed instructions as she demonstrates the first phase. Key is il lievito madre (sourdough starter).

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.

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.