trading empire. silks, spices, ideas and money, lots of it. the venetians live between earth and water. it s shaped their character, salty, wise and ingenuous. i have never seen anyone do that before. i m stanley tucci. i m italian on both sides and i m traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of this country s 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. may i? thank you. how are you? good. good. surrounded by wetlands, these people are hunters. you re a great shot. and gatherers. it is perfectly balanced. wow. wow! the sea brought the outside world to the venetians and fed their appetites. mmm, so many different cultures right in a bowl. venice is the capital of the venito region. it is flat, fertile and damp. sheltered in the west by the dolomites and in the east warmed by the adriatic sea. 117 islands sit in this salty bay, the lagoon. venice is the largest. no food is grown here. it all comes in from the outside. i want to
sea salt. oh, wow. for as long as venice has existed, every four years or so extra high tides in fall and spring have done this. it is called the aqua alta. 1966 was the worst in living memory. 2019 established a record for this century. and, he says, the sea water has a legacy.
wine, and then it is slow cooked because wild birds can be tough. the scent has lured andrea across the lagoon. you have no idea how tired i am from hunting. let s hear about it. yeah. i hope you didn t go out in the lagoon dressed like that. no, i didn t. i was dressed appropriately. that landscape, i had no idea that landscape existed outside of venice. i had never seen it before. since the very beginning of venetian history men have shot ducks. that s why there are so many recipes. yeah, yeah. this dish refers back to the days of the doges. old recipes feature nutmeg, cinnamon and saffron. today the chef plays with tradition switching pasta for gnocci. look, the result of your duck shooting, no less.
this is very special. is it? oh. this is 2020 vintage. it is way too early to taste the aqua alta vintage but we do anyway. okay. sure. it is literally like licking a rock. but you can feel that this guy is going to be something amazing. that s the beauty and the genius of venice, is to make something amazing out of impossible. yeah. a chef also makes something amazing out of the apparently impossible. she runs a restaurant in the vineyard, cooking with things that thrive in the salty soil. her food is of the lagoon and about it.
including hgtv home by sherwin williams everlast; exclusively at lowe s. are you a christian author with a book that you re ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! for centuries wealthy europeans depended on spices to enliven their food. they came over land from asia and arabia and entered through venice. spice was like gold, only more valuable. i m headed to the north of the city in a district which is one of the six oldest parts of the city, which means it is very old.