Lisetta and Alessio show us how they like to taste their new, freshly pressed olive oil. Since oil can be used uncooked to dress salads, or used as cooking oil, they call the uncooked oil olio crudo (raw oil).

Franco Calafatti knows a great deal about spices but he also loves to experiment. The star of this segment is cinnamon.

This fascinating segment is all about salt: Our spice journey takes us to Sicily, where much of Italy's salt is harvested. Franco talks about how salt is life, salt is gold.

Franco shows us some infused salts that we would never think of off hand. His descriptions are colorful and make us want to try out these delicacies.

Franco is crazy about spices. He draws us into his world, the world of the 7 (not just 5) senses. In his stream of consciousness style, he prepares us for traveling the four corners of the earth to discover all the tastes and fragrances awaiting us.

Marika names some of the delicious fruits available in Italy. In general the fruits themselves are feminine, while the plants on which they grow take the masculine form.

Marika takes us through the vegetables used in Italian cooking. Buon appetito!

Marika shows us the various pots and pans, plates and silverware used every day in Italian kitchens, dining rooms and restaurants.

Melanzane alla Parmigiana, or La parmigiana di melanzane (Eggplant Parmesan) is a classic recipe from the Campania region. Marika shows us how to make it, one step at a time.

Marika prepares the eggplant slices by baking them in the oven—a much lighter way of preparing the eggplant layers than the traditional frying method.

It's time to check the eggplant in the oven. And what about the slices that were a bit too sottili (thin)? Will they have burned? Note that English mostly uses eggplant as a collective noun (in the singular) but Italian, unless referring specifically to a single eggplant, uses the plural le melanzane when referring to eggplant in general, and to the slices themselves.

We've finally reached the last part of this recipe. Now you can make this dish yourself. Don't forget to pre-heat the oven to two hundred and twenty or two hundred and forty degrees (428-464°F). If you happen to have any leftover afterwards, you can safely freeze it. Buon appetito!

Here's a summer recipe that uses simple but good ingredients.

Marika finishes explaining how to make a delicious pasta salad, so you'll be ready to give it a try in your own kitchen. Buon appetito!

Marino shows us how to make "maccaronara" or "spaghetti alla chitarra" (guitar spaghetti), from scratch. This special kind of pasta is from Avellino, near Naples.

Milena is at the supermarket and she shows us some products that are commonly eaten by Italians, such as wine, cheese, milk, eggs and bread. Have fun practicing with Milena!

Pizzeria Brandi is an historic pizzeria in Naples, dating back to the seventeen seventies. Pizza Margherita, named after the Savoy queen Margherita, was invented at the pizzeria in the eighteen eighties.

Raffaele, a producer of extra virgin olive oil from Apulia, tells us about the ancient origins of his olive groves. Many of the trees are centuries old, some are even over a thousand years old, and continue to produce excellent oil.

From Puglia, a description of olive picking the modern way, and some of the rules agricultural business are required to follow, in order to obtain top quality extra virgin olive oil.

The owner of the company Le Grotte di Sileno (The Grottoes of Silenus) continues to walk us through the steps necessary to produce high-quality extra virgin olive oil. Puglia produces more olive oil than any other Italian region.

Even though the tomato is an immigrant in Italy, it has become synonymous with Italian cooking. The soil produced by Vesuvius and the mild climate of the area around Naples and Salerno have allowed the San Marzano tomato to become King.

Patrizia works as an agronomist collaborating with farmers who grow heirloom vegetables of the Campania tradition. She describes a couple of different kinds of tomatoes and what they're typically used for.

Watermelon is another product of this special terrain on the slopes of Vesuvius. In the north, this is called cocomero, but in the south, it's anguria. There are some sensational wines from Vesuvius, too.

This land is not only good for cultivating grapes for wine, but also the special piennolo tomatoes, that keep for several months.