The story of the Pope's cook Antonio Carluccio went on a journey around Italy on the trail of one of the world's first 'celebrity chefs'.

In this article

Lombardy

Venice

Rome

In this one-off documentary, Antonio Carluccio went on a pilgrimage to Italy with a Renaissance cookbook for a guide. He investigated the life and recipes of Bartolomeo Scappi, a chef who cooked his way through the events of the sixteenth century, masterminding memorable meals for cardinals, emperors and popes, before publishing his illustrated bestseller at the age of 70. Antonio delved into recipes that are more than 500 years old, cooking eel in Venice, porcini mushrooms in Lombardy, and stuffing a suckling pig in Rome, where he ended his journey with a banquet fit for a pope.

Antonio started his journey in the town of Dumenza in the north of Italy, on the banks of Lake Maggiore, where Bartolomeo Scappi is believed to have been born in around 1500. He visited a restaurant where the chef, Renzo, put on a regular menu made up of Scappi's dishes. Together they cooked a rice dish and a tart using Antonio's beloved mushrooms, both of which exemplify Scappi's characteristic use of spices, and, unusually for the modern palate, generous sprinklings of sugar.

• Riso alla lombarda (Lombardy-style rice) (as cooked by Antonio at the Smeraldo Restaurant, Dumenza, Lombardy)
• Torta di funghi (Wild mushroom tart) (as cooked by Antonio at the Smeraldo Restaurant, Dumenza, Lombardy)

In his cookbook, Opera, Scappi tells of working for several important cardinals in Venice, many of whose palatial residences can still be seen from the Grand Canal today. Carluccio discovered that the recipes Scappi cooked here have similarly endured, though the spices and marinades have been toned down, and many of the cooking methods he used, such as the wood-fired grill, are still practised nowadays.

• Per cuocere l'anguilla su la graticola (To cook eel on a grill) (as cooked by Antonio at the Da Romano restaurant, Burano, Venice)
• Sarde in saor (Venetian-style sardines) (as cooked by Antonio at Toni's fishing hut, in the northern lagoon near Venice)

The cardinals for whom Scappi worked had bases in Rome, and it was when he was brought to the 'eternal city' that Scappi's career really took off and his life became entwined with the historical events of the time, from the visit of Emperor Charles V to the conclave held over the winter of 1549-50 to elect the pope who would become Julius III. Scappi won the role of cook to the Pope, a highly prestigious position but one that would not be without its problems - his first papal employer died soon after taking office, while his later boss, Pius V, didn't enjoy his food.

Antonio made a baked aubergine dish in the garden of a nunnery, before heading off to a Renaissance kitchen to cook a banquet for everyone who had helped him along his journey.

• Pomi sdegnosi ('Disdainful apples', a sixteenth century recipe for baked aubergines) (as prepared by Antonio in the garden of the Villa Lante, Rome)
• Porchetta (Roasted suckling pig) (as cooked by Antonio at the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati)
• Ravioli con polpo di cappone (Ravioli made with capon breast) (as cooked by Antonio at the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati)