Lorenzo Jovanotti, famous Italian singer-songwriter, celebrates the 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unification, on March 17th, 2011. He delivers best wishes to all Italians, and sings "Fratelli d’Italia" [Brothers of Italy], the Italian national anthem, otherwise known as the "Inno di Mameli" [Hymn of Mameli].

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.

Francesco is in the Province of Avellino and talks to us about one of the Campania Region's most important archaeological sites: the Norman Castle of Avella, destroyed and rebuilt numerous times, but well preserved nonetheless.

The excursion to the Castle of Avella continues and we see the preserved walls of this historic place. Places such as this are common in Campania, thanks to the numerous civilizations that passed through this region in earlier times.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Into the fifties, many Italians would stop at trucker restaurants, knowing they'd eat huge portions for little money. With prosperity, Italians began to search for authentic and higher quality foods. One of Marchesi's signature dishes is the open tortello, a deconstructed filled pasta.

After the war, when eating had to do with survival, tastes started to change and to branch out towards different regions. Now, once again cucina tipica (traditional local cooking) or prodotti tipici (local products) have practically become magic words.

"Starvation gastronomy " describes the humble origins of Italian cuisine. Inventing recipes based on whatever was available in the territory resulted in regional dishes that have become famous today.

Marika and Anna take us to a famous restaurant on the banks of the Tiber River in Rome. Tune in to discover what's so special about it. (It has to do with movies and movie stars.) And... maybe you can guess what pasta dish Anna is going to order!

"Food is culture." What do we mean by this? Cultural historian, Massimo Montanari, and world-famous chef, Gualtiero Marchesi share their views.

Back in the days when people traveled on horseback, Al Biondo Tevere was a convenient rest stop just outside the walls of the city. People would feed and water their horses, and trade what was in their bundles of food with their fellow travelers. Later, it became a proper restaurant and many famous people became regulars, including filmmakers, Pasolini and Bertolucci. Signora Giuseppina shares the story.

Don't miss the last part of Marika and Anna's encounter with Signora Giuseppina of the Trattoria al Biondo Tevere. You'll hear about a 56 year-old fridge, five weddings in one day, and sheep who do gardening.

As a fitting end to this journey into Italian gastronomy, Gualtiero Marchesi shares with us the recipe for one of his most special risottos, using his own innovative techniques while keeping with tradition.

Find out what's so special about the restaurant where Anna and Marika are about to have lunch.