Where Italian & German Food Collide: Trentino-Alto Adige (Full Episode) | Tucci in Italy | Nat Geo

-Where the food is as complex as the region itself. [Stanley] I believe that the best way to understand what makes a country and its people unique is through their food. This is incredible. Oh, man! ...And this is true nowhere more than Italy. -Okay. -Nice. Do you smell that? Mm, mm, mm, mm. Where even the shape of your pasta and the sauce you serve it with, speaks directly to identity. -You like it? -I love it. Oh my God, it's so good. And differentiates the character and history of each region sharply from the next. Which is not what you expect. I'm Stanley Tucci and I'm exploring the complex connections between the land, the people, and the food they eat in order to discover the essence of each region in the country I love, Italy. I don't know why every time I'm in a place like this I'm so happy. Snow, sun, it's just gorgeous. Something very relaxing about it and the food's pretty good too. Trentino-Alto Adige is on the Northeastern edge of Italy. [Stanley] Here, the border separating Italy from Austria has shifted back and forth over the Alps for centuries, creating multilingual communities where the locals are just as likely to greet you with a German 'Wilkommen' as an Italian 'Benvenuto.' But how has that duality shaped the people and their cuisine? I'm starting in the Alpe di Siusi, a 56 square kilometer highland meadow cradled by the Dolomite mountains, which form an alpine playground for locals and visitors alike. I'm with Christina Demetz. Okay let's go. -Let's go! [Stanley] Born and raised in Alto Adige, she's invited me to a very special event in the Dolomite ski season. -Ah. Look at that view! Okay, you have to imagine a little bit. -Yeah I have to imagine... -Yeah. -...a view, yeah. So, you're wearing a dirndl. -Yes, we have the International... -...Woman's Day today, and here we have this charity race... -...for women. We celebrate it with our dirndl because this is our traditional dress. -Yes. -You will see many women today. -Yeah. Okay. -With different colors... -...of dirndl. -I'm looking forward to that. Ready? [Stanley] International Women's Day is heartily celebrated across Italy where women often take the day off work and don the traditional mimosa flower. A resilient bloom meant to symbolize the strength and spirit of women. Here in Alto Adige, or South Tyrol as the locals prefer, they clearly have their own take on tradition. [♪ waltz music playing] -Uh oh. -Oh, oh, oh! -Oh. Oh! Woah! [cheering and applause] -Woah! -Okay let's have a glass of wine? -Alright. The Dolomites are renowned for humble-looking slopeside huts that serve delicious food. This one, Baita Sanon, is no different. It's enticed famished skiers with traditional fare for over half a century. I'm meeting Maddalena Kostner, head chef here for over 30 years. [Stanley] Oh my gosh. [Stanley gasps] -Look at that. -Po-polenta. Oh yeah. Oh, oh, oh. -Mmm yes... -Yes? -...I love polenta. -Oh. -But here in South Tyrol we are 600,000 people. -Oh my god. -Thank you. [Stanley] Beautiful. Mmm. Mmm! -Mangiamo. -It's delicious. -Yeah. Yeah. -Actually, delicious. -This is typical goulash, Hungarian goulash... -...of the Habsburg empire. -Yeah, yeah. -We have been Austrian till the end of the First World War. -So, uh 1919... -Mm? -...the population of South Tyrol became Italian... ...From one day to the other. So this was really hard times for them. You have to imagine that under Mussolini... -Mm-hmm. -...he wanted to Italianize then this region and so he changed the names of the villages and of the towns. -I know. -And even of the people. So, it's why when you come to South Tyrol you find all the signs... -...of the villages in two... -...names. I see South Tyrol like a connecting region you know, because... -...between the German speaking Europe, they're connecting to Italy. -And you found it also at the food, you find typical South Tyrol food, like like dumplings, Speck Knoedel... -...or this Sauerkraut, this is typically Bavarian. -And then you, Lasagna, what we have... -Yes. Yeah. -...seen here or other Italian pasta. -Right. -And we live also the Italian lifestyle with Aperitivo time. -Well, that's good. Yeah. -Yeah, that's very good... -...yeah. -So you find also. -It's an incredible mix. Yeah -This mix of the culture... -...in the cuisine. We feel the roots, our root... -...very strongly you know. -I think this is the, the thing what, what makes this region so special, no. -Maybe you could wear a dirndl? -A Dirndl? I could. I could wear a dirndl. I mean, my career would be over. [laughter] The hearty cuisine on these snowcapped mountains comes from both sides of the border, Austrian, with a hint of Italian. The remote villages of Alpe di Siusi are perched along mountainsides that reach nearly two miles above sea level. The air is thin and produce is sparse, which influences what's eaten here. Not far from Baita Sanon, I'm meeting Franz Mulser, who like his forebears, grew up speaking German. He's a chef known for foraging the few unexpected ingredients of this area and turning them into delicious cuisine. -Oh yeah it's beautiful, beautiful. [Stanley] Franz is taking me to a very special place, a 200-year-old hut that his family has used as both home and dairy. -Oh my God. This is fantastic! He's going to show me two family recipes made with his unique mountain ingredients. -Uh huh. [Stanley] The schlutzkrapfen dough is made with a mixture of durum wheat and dried pear flour. They're stuffed with a variety of Franz's homemade cheeses and topped with a tomato compote. -Woah. Wow. That's amazing. [Stanley] Franz's second dish is perhaps even more special because it played an important part in his family's history. [Stanley] This recipe was Franz's grandfather's. He was Austrian, drafted unwillingly into the Italian army in World War II. Forced to leave his pregnant wife and family behind, he eventually fled. -Incredible. [Franz] Super. -Oh my god that's delicious. That is so good. -Oh my god that's good. Franz's food is a powerful, personal response to survival in this conflicted region, while slopeside fare is a mix of national influences. So how do these mixed identities present themselves when food is more elevated? [train announcements in Italian] [Stanley] Trentino-Alto Adige is the wealthiest region in Italy per capita. Because of this, it boasts one of the most efficient rail networks in the entire country. -It's so nice traveling by train. And um, it's just vineyard after vineyard after vineyard, and very good wine up here, by the by. [Stanley] I'm heading to Merano, the spa-filled leisure capital of the region, where Austrian influence and Italian sensibility collide, creating some of the most luxurious cooking in this part of the country. In this well-heeled community, the cold alpine peaks can comfortably be admired from the warm and sunny terraces. This makes Merano an oasis from which to enjoy the region's complex fare. You have all this pasta, all these Italian products, and then you have sauerkraut. That's Merano in a nutshell. This little town's affluence has made it a hotspot for Michelin-starred restaurants. At Castel Fragsburg, one of these starred restaurants is run by Egon Heiss, who has a high-end take on the duality of the region's cuisine. Today he's making dumplings. Knoedel from the Austrian tradition and gnocchi from the Italian. How long has knoedel been around? -I think um, the the first knoedel, they are about the 13th century, some soldiers came in from, I think from Bavaria. -Uh-huh. -And then they went to a farm and they were very hungry. So they told to the ladies that they are hungry and they want to have something to eat. They had nothing else than some old bread, some milk and eggs. So they were just boiling it for eight minutes doing these knoedel and you know the soldiers they were so happy. So we got the onions with the speck. [Stanley] Egon has elevated the knoedel, way beyond these basic origins. -So we're gonna do some flat knoedels. When we go to have the speck knoedel, Stan it's very important never use a knife to cut your knoedels only with a fork and a spoon. They are very tender so if you. -Oh they should just fall apart? -Definitely. [Stanley] He makes a trio of knoedel, the classic speck, his own colorful beetroot. [Egon] So, that is gorgonzola. [Stanley] And a Tyrolian grey cheese, which is crumbly and sharp and gets its name from the color of the mold that grows on its outside, which sounds gross but isn't. [Egon] Now we're going to do the gnocchi. The most important thing if you do gnocchi is the potato. You have to get the right potatoes. -Yeah, what do you use? -So, this is a Keebec. -It has to have the right amount of starch... -Mm-hmm. Definitely. -...but it has to have the depth of flavor. -Exactly. -But it can't be too starchy. -Oh you don't do it with a ricer. -This, no, no, no, no, this you have to do whilst the potato is very, very hot. And now we're gonna... -...add just some butter. -And one egg yolk. -Just the yolk. Yeah. -Just the yolk. And very important, you just finish the base whilst the potato is still hot. -See, this is why you have a Michelin star. -Now I got cheese fondue. -Yeah, so what kind of cheese is that? -We've got some alp cheese, and we got some parmesan cheese. Now this I'm gonna put them in the freezer. And then you see I got all those little. -And that's what it becomes? -That's what it becomes. So you're gonna eat the gnocchi and you'll get like this creamy soft fondue in them. -That's so genius. -Nice small gnocchis. [Stanley] The finishing touches are made to the dumplings, and they're whisked to the table. First up, Knoedel. -There you go. -Stop it. Cheers. -Cheers. -Salute. -Bon Appetito. We're joined by Alexander Ortner, owner of Castel Fragsburg. See I almost went for my knife. -Don't use the knife, remember. You remember? -I won't, I won't, he told me -Yeah, no. -He told me. Oh my god. It's so good. It's so good. Mmm. So, this place has been in your family for how long? -So my grandfather bought this place in 1955. -And at that time this place was a very poor place, ruined by fascism. -Okay so Mussolini basically imposed laws that prohibited you from speaking German. -I'll tell you a short story about my father. At that time my father was very, he loved to playing guitar, to sing songs and so on, to have fun with, with his friends. So, one day they went to a mountain hut... -Mm-hmm... -...they had a party and sang some German songs. -Which was normal for everyone. And then the police, the Italian police came. -They put him in jail because of that, because he sang German songs. It sounds incredible, but it was at that time. But now it changed, it changed completely. So, maybe my family, my sons, they've never spoken an Italian word together. -Really? -They never do this. We use sometimes we use Italian words. So, maybe for the number plate of a car, we never say number plate, we say targa, which is an Italian word. But it's funny. -What, what would it be in German? -Nummernschild. -Yeah. A number shield. Yeah. -A number shield. -Yeah. That makes sense. It's so long though. Targa is easier. -Targa is easier. We can laugh about these things but at that time. -No you couldn't. -The people had a really terrible time. But it's good to to, to think about, to to speak about, and to forget about, I think so. Thankfully now the people here can choose their language and their cultural identity and the region is all the richer for it. -Our little gnocchi. -Come on, look at that. And you have a different herb on top of each one. Usually, normally we put on top of each gnocchi the herb you have inside the cream. -That's really incredible. -Good? -Mm. [Stanley] Gnocchi and knoedel, a delicious unification of two cultures in one meal. -Thanks guys, thank you so much. -It's a great honor. Thank you. But does this balance exist further from the border? -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah gentle. Is more important, a bit more energy to go back than, than the energy to need to go in front. [Stanley] I'm under the expert supervision of local angler Stefano Fedrizzi. -Okay, yes. [Stanley] This morning we're trying to catch lunch, with his two pals, Diego and Paolo. Stefano and Paolo grew up fishing these waters. -Oh. [bleep] -Rock! It was a stick fish. -Very common in these parts. [Stanley] We're on the banks of the Sarca River. The Sarca flows through the Genova Valley in Trentino, the southern half of the region. At the end of the winter, the Adamello Glacier melts into these waters. That glacial water creates the perfect environment for slow-growing fish that are lean and full of flavor. But of course, you have to catch one first. -What are we fishing for? -We are fishing for marble trout. -For marble trout? -Marble trout. -Which is just like, from this area? [Stefano] Yeah, it's a timid fish, it's a predator, he likes to live under the rocks, feed during the night. So, is a, a unicorn, for a fisherman. -Okay. Should we go hunting instead? [Stefano] Yeah, hunting is easier. [Stanley] Happily I've brought a backup meal. [Stanley] I'm cooking the second-best fish in these parts, the alpine arctic char. -Do you eat the fish you catch? [Stefano] Yes, sometimes we, we like to eat fish and what we catch. -My best dish is... [Stanley groans] -I'm really bad at cooking. -I'm just gonna put some herbs in it. The char of the Dolomites. It's really restricted, right? -How many can you catch? -Two per day. -Two per day per fisherman? -Per fisherman, thirty per year. -Oh, that's not so bad. You grew up here, right? -You too? -From this area? -Why do you like fishing? -It's a good office and a good way to live and explore the nature around me and our area. -I've found in fly fishing my church, you know, my religion. -Yeah. I'm not joking. I'm not kidding. [Stanley] What does that mean? -When I, when I'm in the river alone, I can touch the sky. I can talk to God. -Yeah -Nice. -Nice, you smell that? Mmm-mmm-mmm [Stanley] Okay so how is it different than other regions in Italy? -The, the main difference is we still have a lot of heritage, of our ancient time. My grandfather and grandmother were born in Austria. Because here it was Austria. [Stanley] Even here, down in the Southern Valleys, the Germanic influence seems just as strong. -Alright, plates. Hey, Diego. C'mon. Obviously you're not catching anything so you might as well eat. [Stanley] Buon appetito. [Stefano] Buon appetito. -That's a beautiful fish. -Do you consider yourselves Italian? Do you consider yourselves more Austrian, what? [Stefano laughs] -I think everyone is different here. -Trentino. [Stanley] They may not share one cultural identity, but the people here do share a deep connection with their land, bringing them produce that's both hard earned and delicious. Understandable in these surroundings, but is the city different? [Stanley] The capital of South Tyrol province, Bolzano, has long been a stopping point for outsiders crossing over the Dolomites. I'm in a market, on a street named after Goethe. And it's really beautiful. Puntarelle. Artichokes. -So totally different than Southern Italy. It's very quiet. Very organized. Very tidy. It might be too quiet. On its surface, Bolzano appears similarly divided between the Italian and Austrian influences. I'm gonna get a wurst. Hi, sorry. -Hot dog-o? [in German] Thank you, thank you. -That is so good with that, like, perfect mustard. Not spicy but it has all that beautiful peppery flavor and the smoked wurst. I just love that you can get all the great Italian produce, the Austrian bread and sausage and it's amazing, a great mix of two different kitchens. But the city has more to offer than just those two kitchens. The number of immigrants here has tripled over the last two decades. Its position near the Brenner Pass at the border means there's a constant flow of new arrivals bringing with them their culture and cuisine. Rahma, who came here from Ethiopia 14 years ago, is preparing a meal to celebrate that growing diversity. She's part of a community supper club called Cooking Without Borders, which brings together recent immigrants with local Bolzani to share in a home-cooked meal from one member's country of birth. -Okay Gor, gornan? -I can't say that. [Stanley] Rahma uses the teff dough to make a classic injera bread, a sour fermented flatbread served all over Ethiopia. -That's beautiful. At the table today are some of Rahma's family, others raised in Alto Adige, and still others who moved here from places as far away as Japan and Peru. -Ok. [Stanley] Over Rahma's injera platter, this group of diners has space to discuss their different points of view on life in Bolzano. [Stanley] With immigration levels remaining high, Rahma and her friends represent hope in this historically troubled region, when what side of the border you come from, will matter less than what you bring to the table. But there's one community in this region that's been here since before borders as we know them even existed, one with a very different take on identity. [Stanley] Deep in the mountains, is the town of San Vigilio. It is in Badia, one of only five valleys in the Dolomites populated by an ancient community speaking a 2,000-year-old language. They're known as the Ladins. The family I'm visiting have been farming here for generations. With the fluctuating identities in this area, the Ladins are the ones who have just moved forward, and stayed the same for centuries and centuries. So I'm very interested to go and meet them. How old is this farm? -So the first trace, written trace, is 1296 [Stanley] This is Uli Ties, she and her husband take pride in preserving the area's traditional ways of living. The Ladin communities are spread amongst some of the highest and least arable regions of Italy. Ingredients here are few and far between. [Stanley] So traditionally, food preservation is an important skill. Oh my God. [Uli] This is our speck cellar. [Stanley] The Ladins been making speck for centuries. It's pork, cured and smoked in a mixture of juniper, bay leaves, and other spices before being hung to age for months. -Every piece has a special taste. The piece I love more is this one here... -...because I am ah, very, yes, a tough girl... -...and it's, it's quite spicy. It's very-- -It's interesting the profumo-- [in Italian] Yes. [Stanley] I'm so hungry. -Yeah come on. -Alright, let's go. -Come on. -I'm like starving. -That's my job. [Stanley] It's not just speck Uli preserves. She makes it her mission to preserve Ladin traditions through time-honored recipes. Oh I love this. Which they serve in the family's restaurant Tlo Plazores. So, what are we making? -Now we are going with canci checi. It's potato yeast dough. [Stanley] Yeah. -And it's filled seasonally now with potato and ricotta. So, ready? -Go. -My appreciation is more for the ladies cooking here inside this house maybe for 24 people with a little bit of flour, with a little bit of speck, with a... -...little bit of herbs they have in summer. -And ricotta and potatoes and cabbage in winter, and not more. -Yeah. And that's it? -And that's great. You had what you had and that was it. -You had what you had and nothing else. -Would be translated to red ravioli because of the color. -Red ravioli? -Because the ladies cooking here um. -Oh my God, that smells so good. [Uli] Five centuries ago, they had very less ingredients but they always tried to work it out in another way so that people has the imagine of another dish. -Yes, right, right. -And that's what I find amazing. -Oh so beautiful -Beautiful, aren't they? -Oh. Oh-ahah! -So here we have toasted poppy. -Toasted poppies! [Uli] And you put it on here and it's... -And now to make the thing more interesting we have melted butter. -Ah that's gorgeous. -Smell. So that's an authentic Ladin dish. -With dried raspberries? -Yes, a little bit to have a little bit of color. -How pretty. -This is one of my adds to this tradition, but I like it because it adds a little bit of sourness. -And it's quite tasty. -Do you want to open one? -Sure, can we? -You see? -Oh yes! -Here we have the ricotta e patate. -Bon appetito. -Bon... Mm. [Stanley] But this is just an appetizer. Inside the family's restaurant, Uli's prepared a multi-course feast imbued with the flavors of the past. [Stanley] I'm joining Uli, her husband Roman, her sons Andre and Jan, and her father Jep for a typical Sunday Ladin meal made with ingredients produced only in this area. -Buon appettito. -Bon appétit. -Bom pro. -That's delicious -Yeah. Yeah. Oh boy. [Stanley] Furtaias are a sweet, funnel cake-like dish. -Do I dip? [Stanley] Today served with cranberry and strawberry jam. Mmm, I love that. I love it. So, Ladin is a combination of different languages, right? -Two languages. -Two. -Which, which are what? -The old population from this region... -...was called the Rhaetic people. The languages mixed with Roman and with Rhaetic. -So, yeah. [Uli] With pancetta and sour cabbage. -And now for you, another working out of speck, here you get a little bit of speck powder. -Speck powder! -That's truly exciting. Oh my god, but with the sauerkraut. It's Italian, it's Austria-Hungarian, it's Ladin. -How do tourists react to the food and to the place? -We see very different reactions but most of them are amazed by the beauty of our, of our ancient house that we have here... -...and because it's, it's really something that you don't see that often in nowadays. -It, it is amazing that, that, that you have sustained this culture for thousands of years. We talk about the, the warring factions that have decided now we're Austria, now we're Italy but you've stayed the same. -Like the mountains. -Yes, something like that. -We never really had like a national identity, because we are just a language group and not like a country or a nation... -...and I believe because we always had these insecurities, like unsure where we belong to... [Stanley] Mm-hmm... -...our identity stayed strong because we knew that us as a small population, we need to be strong to live out our language. For me personally, I'm not an Italian and I'm not an Austrian. I'm a Ladin. -We, we belong to ourselves so it's not a problem if on my pass there's written Italian citizen or Austrian citizen, it, that's no matter. -That doesn't matter. -No. -We are... -...that what we are and... -...uh, we are also very tolerant with other people. -How do you stay cheers again? -Viveres! -Alla vita. -Alla vita! Viveres. -Viveres. Alla vita. is a complex region. The resilience of its communities shows that their identity means so much more than just some lines drawn on a map. The more the people here have to flex with political whims, the richer their pantry becomes, in spite of a sparse landscape. They take the best from all cultures, wherever they originate, to enrich their food and their sense of self.