Gino's Italy: Secrets of the South

Gino arrives, James Bond style, in Matera and explores the cave town, sampling his father's favourite drink Amaro Lucano and "Nun's Breast" cakes. Soon, he's kneading dough with a master baker and learning the secret of how to make ‘the best bread in Italy.' Next, he meets an 86 year-old grandmother who teaches him how to make the most tasty peasant food, fried lampascioni balls from hyacinth bulbs. He finishes his journey at a local farm, where senatore capelli wheat, perfect for the gluten intolerant, is grown. Here, surrounded by undulating hills on the banks of a reservoir, Gino cooks up a beef in breadcrumbs extravaganza, using an old pizza oven.

Gino travels to the fortress port of Gallipoli; famous for its raw fish consumption. Originally founded by the Greeks, the name Gallipoli means "Beautiful City" in Greek and it is now considered the melting pot of Puglia, so-called due to the many nations who have invaded its walls over the centuries. In nearby San Cataldo, Gino meets Laura, a 'mermaid' hand diver who makes her living fishing for sea creatures, and together they share a fishy breakfast out at sea. At the Gallipoli fish market, Gino samples the unusual purple headed prawn, and discovers Scapece, a preserved fish dish steeped in history. Gino cooks tiella - the Italian answer to paella, with mussels, rice and potatoes before adding some unique touches to this Puglia staple.

Gino tours Bari, the capital of Puglia, by rickshaw, learning about the dialect and sampling some of the unusual street food and vegetables of this region. Stopping off in a rustic square in the old town, Gino meets a great-grandmother who teaches him an ancient way of making a semolina orecchiette (little ear shaped pasta) pasta without eggs, before sampling a street dish made with one of the first cereals cooked by humans, polenta. For his grand finale we find Gino on a rooftop where he prepares a dish unique to Bari, spaghetti all'assassina - a spicy spaghetti dish but cooked like a risotto - and it's a killer!

Gino travels through Puglia's meat country: taking in the town of Cisternino and the Itria valley.

Ploughing through the heat on a push bike, he revels in his favourite kind of houses: trulli (stone conical shaped ancient homes) which are scattered across the landscape. Gino is shown the secret of how to make capocollo, a tasty cured meat unique to the area, before heading down to a local farm to lend a hand with the free range pigs. Stopping off at an olive producer, Gino uncovers some unusual products made from olive trees, including a beer. In the shadows of the trulli, Gino decides it's time for a BBQ, creating the local favourite, bombette (this region's tasty answer to British pigs in blankets).

Gino heads back to the Basilicata region, this time on horseback, to explore Pollino, the largest national park in Italy.

This region is the hilliest in Italy and one of the remote regions where Albanian refugees came to settle 500 years ago, fleeing their Ottoman oppressors. The hill village of San Paolo Albanese is the smallest in the whole of Basilicata and has almost been frozen in time. Here, the descendants of these refugees live in splendid isolation, keeping their culture and language alive through dance and song in their native tongue Arbëreshë. Gino meets the centenarian ladies of the village who introduce him to the local dried sweet and delicate red peppers, the Crusco, which only grow in this region - sweeter still when covered in chocolate. He learns to make Albanian rod-shaped pasta and hunts for the wild herbs that grow in the park. To top off his adventure, Gino cooks his mother's favourite - pasta with chickpeas, adding a tasty wild pesto and the sweet cruschi peppers.

Gino travels on his Vespa, further South along Puglia's heel to Salento, riding along its Adriatic coast to the port of San Foca. Here, he meets an Italian free-diving champion who still fishes with a spear underwater like the Ancient Greeks. Gino dives in, searching for sea bass for the dinner table. Back on his bike, he heads to the western Salento coast to learn about the secrets of organic farming in Salento's rich soil where giant onions grow alongside strawberries and the best low starch new potatoes are found. On the edge of a still and beautiful Ionian Sea, Gino cooks his spoils: pan fried sea bass with a new potato salad, which goes down with a splash!