Superb food, stupendous scenery and treasure troves of art and architecture. No wonder TV is in love with Italy. Carole Solazzo reports
In June, historian Greg Jenner created a Twitter storm. “Far be it from me to say there are no new ideas in TV, but… Stanley Tucci, James May and Clive Myrie have all made this programme in the past year!” he complained in a tweet.
This was in response to an announcement by the BBC that barrister and presenter Rob “Judge” Rinder, and TV personality Rylan are to “follow in the footsteps of 19th-century romantic poet Lord Byron and other grand tourists [in Italy], immersing themselves in the art, culture, bad behaviour and life-changing exploits”.
Add to Jenner’s list Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job (BBC One), shot in Sicily at the same time as filming was taking place on Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy for Channel 4.
Then there’s Anton & Giovanni’s Adventures in Sicily (BBC One again), Joanna Lumley’s Great Cities of the World (ITVX and Prime) and Lawrence Dallaglio et al in Live Italian on Prime, Chef’s Table on Netflix, Gordon, Gino & Fred’s Road Trip for ITVX…
Stick a pin in Radio Times and a pound to a euro you’d skewer a listing for a show set in Italy. Some of these do more than skim the surface of what is a complex society once famous for its uniquely unstable governments and creaky institutions. Tucci is a gourmet of Italian heritage. The Calabria episode of Searching for Italy, where he finds out about his immigrant grandfather and speaks to a farmer living in the shadow of the pervasive, powerful crime syndicate the ’Ndrangheta, is extremely moving.
James May is seeking la dolce vita while Myrie is on a quest “to discover the bits [of Italy] the Italians keep to themselves”. Amanda Holden and Alan Carr renovate a house she bought for one euro to sell to raise money for charity.
Actor Danny Dyer, who turns on a sixpence from the world’s sweariest geezer into the world’s sweetest dad, is on a mission to introduce his daughter to new food and culture.
Whereas Giovanni Pernice (Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer) wants to repay Anton Du Beke (Strictly pro dancer and his mentor) for kindness shown to him when he first came to the UK by introducing Anton to his homeland.
Likewise, Gino D’Acampo gives Gordon Ramsay and Fred Sirieix the “Italian experience”.
But can it be a true “Italian experience” if you buzz around on your Vespa wearing your crash helmet on your head instead of your elbow? Or have a seat belt in the rear of your motorhome?
Actually, Frenchman Sirieix’s judgement on that one is wholly justified, as D’Acampo scoots (yes, it turns out that some Italians can scoot in a motorhome) around chaotic Naples streets, knocking chunks off the chassis.
So, if Jenner is wrong about the shows’ content, is he right about Italy? Tucci, Pernice and D’Acampo belong, but why does everyone else flock there to film? What’s so unique?
“British people have this special connection with Italy, going back to the grand tour,” says Emily Hammond, travel writer and Italy consultant on BBC Two’s Clive Myrie’s Italian Road Trip.
She is referring, of course, to the grand tour, whereby rich, young British gentry, between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, would complete their education, and add to their parents’ collections of paintings, sculptures and Venetian glass, by visiting the great cities of the ancient Romans and the Renaissance. Most of which, of course, are in Italy.
‘Italy looks so different to the UK… it’s an amazing place to film’
“People have this romantic idea of Italy,” Hammond continues. “Just sitting outside a trattoria over your pasta, the sun shining, maybe looking at the boats bobbing up and down, and sipping your wine. Life doesn’t get much finer.”
Yes, there’s definitely that.
She adds: “Everyone has their own Italy.… Some go for the football; you can go there for the opera, a beach holiday or skiing or mountain climbing in the Alps… to enjoy the food; learn about the wine…”
“I’m Italian on both sides,” declares Tucci in the intro to each episode of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, originally made for CNN. “And I’m travelling across Italy to discover how the food in each of this county’s 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past.”
Is variety the secret? Before Italy was unified, a mere 152 years ago, different areas of the country had been ruled by everyone around the Med from the French to the Phoenicians, and everyone from the Austrians to the Arabs beyond it.
Italy’s geography and weather provide food as varied as the white truffles and risotto rice of sultry Piedmont to the prickly pears, figs and olives of sun-soaked Puglia. Conquering nations – and, of course, the Catholic church based at the Vatican in Rome – have all had a big influence on the art, architecture, sport, language, culture and cuisine.
“You can film in two churches, then see [a famous] painting, then go to a really high-end restaurant, then to a grandma’s [trattoria] where she makes the most amazing lasagne.” This is Alison Ercolani, Italy-based fixer and field producer, who has worked with people as diverse as chef D’Acampo, adventurer Bear Grylls, historian Mary Beard and comic character Philomena Cunk.
“Each region is very different,” she says. “In the south, you go to the beach, but the beach is so much more. You see the fisherman come back with the fish, the old lady cleaning it. You can grab a fish and cook it. You can make a scene out of that… every moment is a scene.”
Steve Robson, cinematographer on Absolutely Dyer, testifies to that: “Everywhere you point a camera is a shot.” On Stromboli island, just off Sicily, he “walked backwards up Mount Stromboli [one of Italy’s active volcanoes] in the heat of the day, getting shots as we went.”
From there, the action was about as different as you can get: night fishing, where even the squid are characters. “The squid came in thick and fast.… A big squid… covered me and the lens in squid juice!” he laughed. “And we had a drone [operated by a local] which stayed up until after dark, which is very unusual.”
Robson adds: “Italy looks so different to the UK. You’ve got a pinkish light. Maybe it’s the light kicking off the rocks or the soil, but everything has a pink tinge to it. Plus that haze from having day after day of hot weather. It’s an amazing place to film.”
“Filming in August [the only free month in Danny Dyer’s busy schedule], with the heat and with everyone, including Italians, all on holiday,” says Robson, “wasn’t easy.” And sometimes getting hold of the people you need for the shots can be hard. “The fishermen live out at sea,” notes Ercolani. “They’re not the type of people to set up a Zoom call. So we might have to leave messages with their auntie.”
“For me, one of the key attractions of Italy is the Italian people,” says Hammond. “The people are responsible for upholding traditions and the culture, but they’re so warm, so welcoming, so interesting, so hospitable.… Their pride in their countryside and their get-up-and-go, creating new initiatives… makes [Italy] so appealing to watch on television.”
Robson sums it up: “Brits just love Italy. We love to holiday there and, if we can’t, we love to watch someone who is there.”
Finally, to rebut Jenner’s tweet and ruin a perfectly decent Monty Python sketch: what has Italy ever given British television? Well, pretty much everything you could possibly wish for.
