Capturing Matera News Today

Through the Olive Branches . Theyre hard to avoid in puglia, a region thats home to 60 million olive trees. Thats one olive tree for every italian in italy. This region is italy at its most elemental simple fresh cuisine thats grown and produced here. Fragrant olive oil, beautiful vegetables, cheeses renowned the world over. Hello. Hello. One focaccia. And durum wheat for pasta and bread. Grazie. Look at that. Im stanley tucci. Im fascinated by my italian heritage, so im traveling across italy t...

>> hello, im in puglia, which is the heel of -- can you see me through the olive branches? >> theyre hard to avoid in puglia, a region thats home to 60 million olive trees. thats one olive tree for every italian in italy. this region is italy at its most elemental -- simple fresh cuisine thats grown and produced here. fragrant olive oil, beautiful vegetables, cheeses renowned the world over. >> hello. >> hello. one focaccia. >> and durum wheat for pasta and bread. >> look at that. >> i...

through the olive branches? >> theyre hard to avoid in puglia, a region thats home to 60 million olive trees. thats one olive tree for every italian in italy. this region is italy at its most elemental -- simple fresh cuisine thats grown and produced here. fragrant olive oil, beautiful vegetables, cheeses renowned the world over. >> hello. >> hello. one focaccia. >> and durum wheat for pasta and bread. grazie. look at that. >> im stanley tucci. im fascinated by my italian heritage, so ...

>> all right. >> a few steps from the relative modernity of the town square, we are transported back in time. >> thats matera old city. >> thats incredible. ive never seen an italian city like this. >> no, its quite unique. >> yeah, yeah. >> this ancient town grew across one slope of the rocky ravine, known locally as la gravina. and although it dates back to the 10th century bc, for many it will trigger more recent memories. >> from the last james bond movie. >> oh yeah. that has been the first...

With inventive names like, i dropped an egg in the garden, and drone view of la murgia. not just full of flavor, his recipes are loaded with symbolism, with one dish in particular capturing materas incredible transformation. >> let me explain the meaning behind the dish. first we prepare the veal. for the noble part we use the filet, which we take like this. we sear it in a hot pan. >> veal? >> yes, just a classic veal filet. the part from which you make chateaubriand. we serve it with the poor ...

>> yeah, yeah. >> this ancient town grew across one slope of the rocky ravine, known locally as la gravina. and although it dates back to the 10th century bc, for many it will trigger more recent memories. >> from the last james bond movie. >> oh yeah. that has been the first movie when matera in the cinema was actually matera and not some other places. because during the 50s and the 90s, when most of the movies were shot, the old city was completely abandoned and deserted. >> really? >> and whe...

>> exactly. >> to build the church. amazing. >> poor sanitation and poverty meant disease was rampant. but little was done about it until the 1950s, when matera became a valuable tool in securing post-war funding for southern italy through americas marshall plan. all of a sudden, it was in italys interests not just to pay attention, but to play up materas desperate conditions. >> it became so infamous that it was nicknamed the shame of italy. can you believe that? such a beauty. >> no, its incre...

>> poor sanitation and poverty meant disease was rampant. but little was done about it until the 1950s, when matera became a valuable tool in securing post-war funding for southern italy through americas marshall plan. all of a sudden, it was in italys interests not just to pay attention, but to play up materas desperate conditions. >> it became so infamous that it was nicknamed the shame of italy. can you believe that? such a beauty. >> no, its incredible. >> the label served its purpose. money...

And drone view of la murgia. not just full of flavor, his recipes are loaded with symbolism, with one dish in particular capturing materas incredible transformation. >> let me explain the meaning behind the dish. first we prepare the veal. for the noble part we use the filet, which we take like this. we sear it in a hot pan. >> veal? >> yes, just a classic veal filet. the part from which you make chateaubriand. we serve it with the poor part of the veal, the sweet bread. the glands near the thro...