Il formaggio (cheese) is rarely missing from an Italian kitchen. This video takes us to the mountains north of Bergamo where the Monaci family has kept the family cheese-making tradition going, beginning in the stable where the cows are taken care of during the colder months.

Lo stracchino is a soft, mild but flavorful cheese that's spreadable, and we find it in supermarkets all over Italy. But the kind Francesca's family produces in the mountains, with traditional tools, is on a whole other level. Why is this cheese called stracchino? There is a fascinating reason. Watch the video.

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.

Everything you need to know about buying a used car! Join Francesca as she talks to the dealer, and get up to speed on your automobile vocabulary.

Francesca finds a note on the windshield of her car. Her driving instructor has to explain that it's not a note, but a parking ticket.

We follow Francesca along to a riding stable for lessons. The place is called Ciampacavallo and its peculiarity is that its horses would have ended their lives badly, had it not been for this charitable organization.

Francesca starts her lessons at the stable by taking a halter and lead rope to go and meet a young horse by the name of Stella.

While Francesca is getting ready to lead Stella to the round pen, we find out why horses don't like being looked at. We also discover that the horses at this stable go shoeless and without bits. And yes, Francesca does finally get on the horse!

Francesca Vitalini describes her training in journalism and her work for a newspaper in Garbatella, a neighborhood of Rome.

What kinds of jobs does a journalist do? Francesca explains what her job entails.