Alex Polizzi's Italian Islands | Sardinia | Full Episode | S1EP01

[Music] italy a magnificent country it's all here it's quite breathtaking a place where i feel deeply connected this is where my grandmother pulitzi's journey began in this series i'm returning but i'm leaving the mainland to explore italy's extraordinary islands so beautiful revisiting memories i haven't been here since i was a child and i thought i'd make a pilgrimage and building new ones [Music] i mean this is one of the maddest things i've ever done feels like a once in a lifetime experience on a journey of discovery from the ancient rugged beauty of sardinia the remains here are spine tingling to the splendor and surprises of sicily and some of the mediterranean's hidden treasures it does just feel a million miles away from anywhere else look at this it's one of sicily's most striking secrets i can't believe it it's been too long this is my italian island adventure [Music] my tour begins with sardinia [Music] italy's second largest island and a place that's a part of my heritage completely marooned in the mediterranean its isolation has made sardinia fiercely independent from the rest of italy it's the maverick of the med i'll be arriving into its chaotic capital city calgary before venturing into the rugged supramonte district unearthing its dark past and discovering what makes the mountain town of la jose truly unique it's a four-hour journey from the north to south of this vast island tourists are drawn to the captivating beauty of the north coast the costas meralda is one of the most glamorous stretches super yachts line the marina at puerto chervo and the beach at stintino is a sun seekers fantasy [Music] but my journey starts in the south i should have a strong connection with this island my father had sardinian roots and his mother my beloved grandmother was born here [Music] my nonna pulitzi was the most amazing woman and i got on with her incredibly well she was very sharp very funny took no nonsense from anybody and i miss her every single day of my life but in fact sardinia is the island that i know least i never came here growing up as a child my forte family were always too nervous about kidnappings and the troubles initially at the time my only real encounter with sardinia was when my non i used the local dialect from time to time i want to want to talk to my grandfather without us children knowing she'd slip immediately in sardinian which is completely incomprehensible and i used to tease her about it endlessly and it's pretty hard even for an italian speaker to get their heads around sardinian i never managed it it seems fitting to start my journey of exploration with a visit to its capital city callieri my grandmother had a house here i only talked so many times about coming here about her bringing me here and i never made it with her silly me glasses most visitors arrive here via the airport one of three this island has but as far as i'm concerned the best way to first catch sight of it is from the water beauty is rather subtle certainly from here it's not the most beautiful city i've ever been to d.h lawrence said it was nothing like italy but i think it's still recognizably mediterranean it does have a certain tom of its own it's slightly crumbling in the way that so many italian cities are but that is part of the time of italy i wouldn't change it for the world being here has awakened my desire to know more about my heritage i absolutely adored my nonna polizzi lilina but i didn't know much about her life so i've come to calgary's registry archive at the heart of the city in the hope that salvatore can tell me more about my [Music] roots but what's written here is a complete surprise to me it turns out that i'm more connected to this island than i realised i knew i was equal to sardinian but now it appears i may be more than that i may be even half sardinian now that i've discovered i have more roots here than i thought i'm really excited to explore the sardinian culture as one of the biggest ports in the mediterranean the sprawl of kaliri's neighborhoods is about as chaotic as sardinia will ever get but like so many places i've visited its cuisine holds the key to what this city is really all about in italy markets really are still aware of life people very rarely go to a supermarket so this is a wonderful way to absorb local culture local traditions and also local cuisine [Music] but it's well worth hopping on a bus or in a taxi and making the short journey to san benedetto's market here you'll be rewarded with some real sardinian produce if you're feeling brave it's incredibly evocative for me when i was on the boat with my grandparents about every other day we'd have to come to a fruit market vegetable market a fish market like this there are about 10 of us to feed day in day out and then get through a lot of food this vibrant space is one of the largest indoor markets in europe but with more than 200 stall holders all vying for your business it's a pretty daunting prospect francesco is one of the city's most famous restaurateurs and he's agreed to help me navigate my way to the best bits of sardinian cuisine here no part of the pig is wasted this is boiled poof and neck it's boiled with vinegar and parsley [Music] oh my god it's quite fatty but not nearly as slimy as you'd expect but as far as i'm concerned you're not italian if you don't adore cheese both of my grandmothers were fabulous cooks their souffles and risottos form my earliest food memories italians eat a lot of cheese even in my little household with two small children well i definitely get through a kilo of poms and a month easily sardinia's most famous export is pecorino a robust cheese that's made from sheep's milk so this is the most typical sardinian cheese in sardinia they even use this grated on top of spaghetti i love cheese so i'm in heaven bonito it's very strong tasting very strong flavor they say you can have too much of a good thing i can't say i agree personally [Music] i could stay here all day i'm not even vaguely cheesed out but in the noisy depths you'll find what this market is most famous for an abundance of the freshest seafood they're so fresh they're alive [Music] so do you serve these in your restaurant yeah a lot we just boil them up and we leave a little bit of salt sea slugs somehow anything with the word slug in it doesn't really encourage me but i thought well are they good yeah yeah yeah and then of course this taste is very strong very strong i can't say i'm convinced [Music] but francesco isn't letting me leave cagliari without trying one of his seafood specialties at his restaurant lily cool these are janketti which are a speciality from around here little baby fish fried up delicious down near the port where the food is more reasonably priced this atmospheric trattoria draws in crowds from all walks of life opera singer andrea bocelli can be spotted dining on seafood alongside hungry fishermen this place is an institution [Music] everyone comes here and i understand why calyari has delivered a healthy dose of authentic culture but it's inland where you'll find the real essence of sardinia [Music] i've traveled three hours east of calliere where the drama of sardinia's wild sparse interior begins to unfold this vast wilderness behind me is a supramonte the silence is only broken by dogs barking and the sound of the goat's bells for the more adventurous traveler this part of the island is ripe for exploration vistas like this jaw-dropping gorge can be discovered and the atmospheric town of orgosolo is a real highlight of the region where years of political turmoil are etched on its buildings in a series of poignant murals [Music] but i'm drawn to this rugged landscape because of its dark past in the early 70s when i was a child sardinia was encountering terrible troubles with bandits there had been a series of brutal kidnappings where the wealthy were being targeted because of the success of my grandfather's business i was deemed a kidnap risk i've decided to hire a local guide luciano to learn more about these troubled times and understand why my parents kept me from visiting sardinia as a child [Music] d foreign when i was young i heard these stories endlessly and obviously it wasn't just the question of france it was just the fear of having someone taken from you it was very alive in all our minds people were very very fearful [Music] the bandits used this vast granite landscape to evade capture these mountains are studded with a network of caves that made it easy for them to keep moving and stay hidden from the [Music] authorities so this is an area that was probably a hiding place it definitely shows sign of human habitation whether it was just because of the goats and the shepherds or whether it was used for more sinister purposes [Music] is they knew all the hiding places and someone who wasn't from here would never ever have been able to scope them out [Music] it's very heavily wooded it's very rocky it's pretty impenetrable it's incredible to think that bandits were bringing victims here as recently as 1997 but now it's a much safer destination for visitors looking to hire a car and explore there is however one enduring figure that has always remained here for the shepherd farming this land is just a way of life the bonus of having a guide is getting to meet the locals luciano's taking me to meet the last isolated shepherd to live and work out in these mountains emote [Music] [Music] at the ripe age of 80 chito has never married instead he chose an entire lifetime of farming here antarctica family would love to see him move closer to town but he refuses to give up his animals 80 years old and so cheerful he's an example to all of us and i seem to have charmed chichu because he's invited us to stay for lunch and i'm in for a treat he's been preparing the traditional feast of the sardinian suckling pig so this is a two-month-old pig he says only here in in this part of the world do they cook them so small the secret to cooking it is slowly and gently over a low heat percuanto temple focus two hours it's the first time i've eaten suckling pig on the spot where it's been raised so i'm very excited indeed this traditional way of cooking is primitive but nothing could prepare me for how chi-chi's nephew carves the meat please [Music] we're quite far removed aren't we in normal life from how we eat meat it's quite sobering seeing it being carp like this this is how real men eat [Music] i'm very very excited man 10 or 10 years it is so tender i am honestly honestly honestly never in my life eating pork like this these days there's a lot of chat about provenance it's very in is that everyone has on their menu how far away their ingredients come from but this is zero meters away this is made from this bit of land and it's unbelievable [Music] [Music] um [Music] the mountainous supramonte district where chichu lives is one of the poorest and most remote parts of sardinia so it's a real surprise to discover at the foot of these mountains a touch of glamour this is sugologone an award-winning hotel where you can experience untouched sardinia in luxury these rooms were designed in honor of the tradition of shepherding here and there are so many references to where they used to live what they used to wear the fabrics it's all very authentic but it's also all done in extremely good taste the hotel began life as a simple trattoria built by perpedo palimode back in 1960 and is now a 68-bedroom retreat run by his daughter giovanna [Music] tradition [Music] so much of what you see is made right here on site in an effort to preserve some of sardinia's age-old crafts visitors can even have a go at a few traditional recipes and as a baker's wife there's one old shepherd staple that i'm very interested in trying pane karazhao is one of sardinia's most enduring culinary traditions because it was so useful for the sheep herders the goat herders they would go for months on end away from villages obviously carrying all their provisions with them and this bread because it's dried can last up to three months the kneading is the hardest bit of this whole process i know this from ox's bakery it looks very simple looks like any idiot could do it believe you me i'm one idiot who can't [Music] okay [Music] the important thing is to only ever do it in one direction and then you turn it in the other direction that's this isn't as easy as it looks i am feeling the pressure i'm going to be mocked at home for my technique finally after hours of resting the dough is ready to be baked and it's quite a sight it's amazing because it starts off by bubbling up and it looks like a kind of disease and then finally it blows up completely fresco it's very thin very crispy and quite easy to eat inaudible although it does last three months this lady says there's nothing better than when it just comes out the oven i'm really really good [Music] the more time i spend on this island the more i realize how independent it feels from the rest of italy it's interesting because sardinia is even more regionalized than most bits of italy it's an island but you go from place to place and there are different customs different skills different traditions and they're all passionately being maintained it's one of the things i love so much about being here actually but i'm yet to discover some of the more curious traditions that are so unique to this aisle most visitors never venture further than sardinia's 2 000 kilometers of beguiling bays and beaches but i think the real appeal of this island is in its ancient history sardinia is said to pre-date italy itself and mysterious evidence of man has existed here for thousands of years more than 7 000 relics of prehistoric villages and tombs like this litter the landscape and are all easily accessible to visitors today sardinians affectionately regard these ancient burial chambers as fairy houses thanks to a history of isolation some curious traditions are preserved on sardinia some have even been afforded the protection of unesco in order to safeguard them if you're visiting during one of the island's annual festivals you may come across this mysterious form of folk music [Music] and it's another node to the shepherd farming his flock if you explore the south western corner of the island italy's oldest city san tantioco can be found jutting out from the coast here there is a modest museum run by a local weaver named kiara she's allowed me to come and see her at work but i'm interrupting her at my peril because some say she's a witch. kiara takes her art very seriously because this isn't any old thread she's weaving she claims to be the last woman in the world to weave sea silk it's rumored that she's been offered billions for her work she commands respect and i need to watch my step. this silky thread is called busis and it comes from huge saltwater clams already i already i'm amazed so that is the mollusk that she spins this wonderful thread from [Music] it's a priceless material at 60 years of age kiara has to dive 100 times in order to collect a mere 15 meters of thread [Music] hello you have to hold and feel this delicate sea silk to even begin to comprehend just how precious it is [Music] [Laughter] it not only weighs nothing but it feels like nothing i i would have sworn there was nothing on my hand [Music] [Laughter] after an awkward start we seemed to be getting along chiara's even letting me in on the secrets of her craft magical magical feeling she's twisting it and then with that she's then spins it further into a z-shape that's what she [Music] [Music] [Music] so that is the thread made and now she has to do the magic bite [Music] to [Music] it's amazing that she's made this thread in front of me are you [Laughter] haha kiara's work isn't for sale and i can understand why isn't that beautiful it would take 20 years to make a dress [Music] only presidents and popes have been deemed worthy recipients of her pieces she says she would never sell any of this any of anything that she makes because they are works of art that belong to the world and so when they're ready they're ready hurry has no place here [Music] it's not just the traditions that have aged well here it's customary in sardinia to toast with the words may you live to a hundred years and on this island for some reason many do astonishingly there are currently 411 centenarians living here more than anywhere else in the world all of my grandparents lived to a ripe old age so i've always believed this part of the world had something in its water my curiosity has brought me to meet angela and piarino alex the island's official photographers of centenarians it's been a year since angela pierino have had this project of photographing centenarians and three or four times a week he says he's being called somewhere to take a photo of yet another one it's a portfolio like no other i mean there are some quite astonishing photos here people who look so hail and hearty you wouldn't believe for a minute they're over 100. there's one guy here who's still a shepherd at the age of 100 still taking his sheep into pasture these photos give a sense of the strong family tradition that foreign old age is much more precious here it's a matter of enormous pride if you manage to get to a hundred it's a matter of pride for the family these images are heartwarming to see but some of these folk are doing more than just enjoying old age as i'm about to find out they're helping science in a study that could one day affect us all the gen argento is a vast area of granite mountainous country it's a hiker's paradise [Music] but my fascination with the number of centenarians in sardinia has brought me to the tiny town of la jose [Music] because here within an old school house there is a world leading laboratory full of gadgetry and scientists groundbreaking project named progenia is underway where the genes of local people are being studied to see if this region holds the answer to the way we age eduardo is one of the key scientists so eduardo tell me about what you're doing here we are studying the aging of humans we are a nice population to be studied for aging for autoimmunity and for longevity so you are studying the traits that lead to longevity uh yes so well that contributes to the yeah that's right this is the point who will benefit from the research i mean the entire population the world population because aging and problem related to aging affects everybody yes 6 000 volunteers aged from 18 through to 105 undergo routine checkups eduardo and his fellow scientists are evaluating the way the aging process affects the immune system it's mind-boggling stuff the fact that you have a large group of people here in this area who miraculously live to a great age means that you have a bigger pool of people to use as research yeah we are trying to collect their blood their genetic information and their immune system to define and to see why they are so so long-lived yeah so long be exactly exactly it's incredibly important work that's happening it's another world from that which i come from and it's very interesting i'm very proud of the fact i have four grandparents and none of them died under the age of 90. can i thicker blood it's good though i always think it must mean that i've got good genetic good genetic characteristics i think it's astonishing that such an important facility is in such a small place and it's encouraged to happen here because of this particular genetic makeup of this island [Music] who would have thought that this little town has the potential to impact on us all although sardinia has a record-breaking number of centenarians i didn't expect to be here just as it gained another but as the final part of my journey takes me back towards calgary i've come to the nearby town of setimo san pietro where i've been invited to join photographers pirino and angela as they photograph one man's momentous day it's an opportunity i'm certainly not going to miss this is our centenarian angelo who's going in to celebrate with maths and church [Music] he's in good form for 100 isn't it i would say that we all want to look like that when we're 100. maybe we're starting less facial hair but otherwise exactly like that [Music] i used to go to mass every sunday with the rest of my family until i was 19. [Music] it is still something i enjoy doing today whenever i get the opportunity [Music] that was really nice it's very cheering to see a hundred year old man surrounded by so many friends and family by so much affection and good will it's long time since i've been to mass and i've enjoyed it so much [Music] [Applause] the entire town has turned out to mark the occasion and the respect being shown for angelo is incredibly moving [Music] there's a lovely cave there's lots of people here to celebrate a few people in traditional costumes he's a popular man who's lived 100 years may live 100 more [Music] [Music] i can still clearly remember the celebrations when my own great-grandmother reached 100 with all of us grandchildren around her being here obviously makes me think of my family and my beloved grandmother particularly who i miss every single day of my life she didn't make it to 100 i wish it had it's a great comfort to me that she at least saw my daughter i can only imagine how lovely it is for all these great grandchildren to know their great grandfather too it's a really nice occasion and it's one that i consider myself very very lucky to have been a part of [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] they're incredibly friendly here incredibly hospitable [Music] i feel very italian not quite as sardinian as maybe i should maybe it's part of my culture i shall embrace a bit further before i leave sardinia i receive some welcome news about my own sardinian family salvatore from the archive registry has made a discovery about my darling nonna [Music] this is the end of my sardinian journey this is where my grandmother polizzi's journey began this is where she was born and i thought i'd make a pilgrimage just to have one last contact with my normal you

Channel: The Hotel Inspector

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Rating: 4.8923397 out of 5

Keywords: The Hotel Inspector, Alex Polizzi, hotelier Alex, Alex Polizzi the hotel inspector, Budget hotel, worst rated, worst rated hotel, worst rated hotel room, worst hotel review, hotel reviews, hotel restoration, restore, professional restoration, hotel impossible, worst restaurant reviews, rated restaurants, Confronts owner, confronting owners, confrontation, travel, italy, spain, spectacular spain, secret italy

Id: bHButy9lbcc

Length: 43min 15sec (2595 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 10 2021