At Tenuta Donna Anna, a working country estate in the heart of Salento, food is not a product — it is a memory. Carlo Cascione and his family grow Senatore Cappelli, an ancient variety of wheat that nearly disappeared in the twentieth century, mill it themselves, and turn it into pasta shaped by hand at a table where guests from across the world come to learn, to eat, and find themselves, more than once, moved to tears.

His mother's cooking and the shared experience of working the dough made of ancient grains are the heart of the estate: less a class, more an initiation into the southern Italian art of being together.

Mettere le mani in pasta — to put your hands in the dough — is, here, an act of belonging.

We also discover how sustainable cycling is quietly opening Salento to a new kind of traveller, who pedals through the inland villages, stops at the cheese farmer, lingers at the small winery, and leaves having seen a part of Italy that most tourists never find.

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We step inside the cellars of Produttori di Manduria, the oldest active wine cooperative in Puglia, where more than 300 grape-growing families have been tending the same ancient vines since 1932.

Anna Gennari, who leads hospitality at the cooperative, tells us how Primitivo arrived in Manduria as a bride's dowry in the 19th century and grew into one of Italy's most celebrated appellations.

From star-vaulted cellar rooms turned community museum to a sweet red wine conquering China, this is the story of a wine, a town, and the quiet persistence of the people who kept both alive.

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We step inside the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna with Professor Robin Cormack, one of the world's leading authorities on Byzantine art and author of Byzantine Art for Oxford University Press.

Standing beneath some of the most breathtaking mosaics ever created, Robin explains why this small city in Emilia-Romagna holds a place in art history that Rome, Florence and Venice simply cannot match. From the shimmering gold tessera that lines every surface to the famous panels of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, he brings one of the ancient world's greatest achievements back to vivid life.

King Charles made a special pilgrimage here during his 2025 royal tour of Italy.

Once you see it, you will understand why.

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