- [Narrator] Italy, cradle of the Renaissance.

A place where artistic traditions are passed down from one era to the next.

- It's passion that my grandmother gave me.

(inspirational music) - [Giuseppe] Doing what we do, it's not easy.

You don't need just years, but generations.

- [Narrator] These artists use those family ties to stay grounded in the past, even as they open the door to the future.

(inspirational music peaks) (birds tweeting) Tuscany is home to some of the most spectacular art in the whole world, including some iconic mosaics.

It's an art form, as unique as it is extraordinary.

The building blocks can be anything from stones and seashells to glass and ceramic tiles, and as tens of thousands of tiny pieces come together, the effects can be stunning.

For thousands of years, magnificent mosaics like this have been symbols of wealth and power and told stories of faith.

Today they remain a powerful reminder that even the smallest choices can produce something truly epic.

(lively music) At Scarpelli Mosaics, Leonardo Scarpelli carries on the art of Florentine Mosaic, also known as Commesso.

Commesso is done using only brightly colored stones.

It was born in Tuscany more than 600 years ago.

(Leonardo speaking Italian) (bright music) - [Narrator] Leonardo has been asked to make a new Commesso tabletop.

He starts by sketching out exactly what he hopes to create.

(bright music continues) (pencil gently scratching) The sketch is made on adhesive paper and divided up into thousands of tiny sections.

Leonardo traces each individual line with a handmade scalpel, cutting with the hands of a surgeon and the heart of an artist.

(Leonardo speaking Italian) Any of these natural gems could become raw material for his singular vision, but he doesn't find them alone.

Like Leonardo, his sister Catia has gone from Tuscany to Sicily and beyond, from gurgling river banks to lava crusted craters in search of unique specimens.

They also bring in stones from all over the world.

- You have to look at the stones and imagine what's inside.

You have to transform a stone, which is the hardest material, into something alive.

Two-dimensional, so give life to stones.

(inspirational music) - [Narrator] When Leonardo has chosen what he believes are the perfect stones, he sticks the adhesive paper to them.

Then he needs to get each stone down to size, often using traditional handmade tools, the exact same kind that Comesso artists used back in the 1500s.

(cutting wire swishing) (Leonardo speaking Italian) The work is painstaking.

Leonardo can spend several hours cutting and shaping a single stone.

If it breaks, he'll have to start all over and he might even have to hunt for a replacement.

(tool scraping) One by one, Leonardo assembles the rocks like pieces of a handmade puzzle.

Each one needs to be precisely matched.

Any unexpected gaps, rough edges, will ruin the overall effect.

(Leonardo speaking Italian) This natural glue is made of beeswax and pine tree resin.

It's sticky enough to hold the pieces together, but not so sticky that he can't make any last minute adjustments.

This process is as traditional as Comesso making itself, used in the 1500s by artisans enlisted by the Medicis, Florence and Tuscany's ruling family for centuries.

(relaxing music) The last step is putting on a coat of wax.

This adds polish and gives it a smooth even surface.

But Leonardo believes that what really makes a great Comesso is something deep inside.

(Leonardo speaking Italian) (Renzo speaking Italian) (Catia speaking Italian) (chuckles) (Leonardo speaking Italian) (playful music) - [Narrator] Hats.

Sometimes they're just what's needed to keep our heads warm or block the sun.

But they can also make a statement.

The tradition of hatmaking in Tuscany, one that the Grevi family knows personally since they've been making headgear here for well over a century.

- Our company started in 1875, was my great-grandfather Atillio.

Doing what we do, it's not easy.

You don't need just years, but generations.

It's in our blood.

- [Narrator] Growing up in the 1970s, Giuseppe watched his father build the Grevi brand by embracing high fashion and modern manufacturing techniques.

Today he and his two sisters, Roberta and Silvana, are trying to lead this family business into the future.

- I started making hats as a child 'cause my grandmother used to give me tools and feathers to play with.

I've done this all my life and I still do it.

It's passion that my grandmother gave me.

- Our challenge is to make hat for everybody and for every situation.

- [Narrator] These siblings are the fourth generation of Grevi hatmakers, and now they're training the fifth, Roberta's daughter, Sarah.

(Silvana speaking Italian) (Sarah speaking Italian) She starts by stitching a small circle of straw.

Sewing hats like this demands steady hands and a careful eye.

As Sarah builds the hat's crown, she has to watch that each new edge of the braid, called a plate, is stitched tightly and evenly.

(Sarah speaking Italian) She also has to make sure not to unravel the straw as she continues to handle it, or she'll have to redo it.

The finished hat is very modern in its design, but straw hats have a long history here in Tuscany.

In the early 18th century, an Italian hat-making pioneer named Domenico di Sebastiano Michelacci began growing a special kind of wheat.

Unlike most farmers, he wasn't planting it for food.

He cultivated this wheat in order to make straw, which he then used to create high-end quality hats.

He revolutionized straw hats in the West and his hats became so popular they were in high demand all around the world.

- Where we are now, started the tradition of the straw hat of Florence, because the ground was perfect to grow the good material.

- [Narrator] After a straw hat is finished, it's time to dress it up.

- In this factory, I do the design.

I take inspiration from anything, movies or or pictures, and I like to copy the things that I see.

Absolutely every hat is made with love, with a lot of love.

(chuckles) The most beautiful things is to see our hat all over the world, or actors in a movie wearing our hat.

This is important for us and we are proud of of it.

- [Narrator] However, the work they do here is not just about being on the cutting edge of fashion.

It's an act of love for their father.

(Giuseppe speaks Italian) (Giuseppe chuckles) (pigeons fluttering) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] That sense of family tradition inspires all kinds of creators, including one who practices a very unique art, where careful designs can only be experienced through a sense of smell.

After all, she's a perfume maker.

- I am Francesca di Massimo, the owner of Spezierie Palazzo Vecchio, and I'm responsible for the brand.

- [Narrator] Designing a new perfume can take weeks of trial and error.

Francesca is also trying to uncover powerful new fragrances using dozens of ingredients, from flowery notes to earthly accents.

At times she relies on her father Giovanni, a famous pharmacist and natural herbalist who started this company decades ago, as well as some secret recipes.

- I'm starting a formulation of a new perfume.

I want to recreate what is in my mind, what I have written down in terms of how many drops of each ingredient I would like to be in this formula, in this perfume, this fragrance.

- [Narrator] Some common natural ingredients she might put into a new perfume include essential oils extracted from spices, flowers, leaves, and woods.

- When you want to create perfume, you have to study all the raw materials, not all of them, but hundreds of them, and you have to memorize them because to create a perfume, you need to imagine it in your mind.

And if you haven't memorized the raw materials, you cannot imagine the result.

I pre-smell the raw material that I select just to be sure that what is in my memory actually matches with what I would like to get.

I have now put together the raw material for the head of the perfume, the part of the fragrance that you smell right away when you spray the perfume at the first hand.

So now I have mixed these drops and I put them in a bottle where I will then have my final formula.

- [Narrator] Even though most people associate France with perfume, its origins actually lie here in Tuscany.

Catherine de Medici, whose family was nobility in this region, had her own personal perfume maker.

When she headed to France to marry the future king, she brought this alchemist with her and helped launch the world famous French perfume industry.

Paving the way for Catherine was Italian Regent Caterina Sforza, an early scientist who wrote down many of the recipes for her favorite scents in a classic book called "The Experiments."

The recipes were mostly forgotten for centuries until Francesca's father Giovanni unearthed them.

(Giovanni speaking Italian) - [Narrator] Giovanni then took some of these secret scents and tried to recreate them in the modern era.

- He got the inspiration for our perfume from the Renaissance period.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, Francesca was off forging her own career, but she felt a calling to do something more personal.

A few years ago she joined her father in the family business and brought with her a new focus on perfume making.

- So now I'm going to work on the heart of the fragrance.

So mixing the raw material that gives the personality to the fragrance itself.

- [Narrator] Francesca has to keep careful track of every drop she adds to the mixture.

If the aroma is as fresh and bright as she hopes, she'll need to remake it step by step, and if not, she may need to start all over again.

She won't know for sure for days and sometimes weeks as the different notes within this perfume mature and blend, slowly changing the scent.

- Maybe now I'm satisfied with what I have created, but I have to wait one week and I will re-smell it and see if the result is still what I really would like to achieve.

Because natural raw materials changes over time.

(inspirational music) - [Narrator] In the meantime, she takes great pride in sharing her own signature sense with the world.

- Once you have the chance to choose what you wanna do for working, you really can express the best of yourself.

And this is also what I think people get when they buy our products.

They feel that we do it with passion.

We love what we do, and we always try to do our best.

(water splashing) (lively music) - [Narrator] For centuries, Tuscany's leather makers have worked at the crossroads of art and commerce.

Today, leather is still big business here.

While many products are now factory made, Tuscany still has some small leather shops bringing their artistic sensibility and personal touch to everything they create.

That includes a classic Italian accessory, the purse.

(Viviana speaking Italian) - [Narrator] Viviana's experience with making purses and other leather goods goes back more than 40 years.

(Viviana speaking Italian) (knife swishing) - [Narrator] Viviana works here with her husband, Francesco Venturi, who starts by cutting the leather.

(energetic music) Then Viviana uses a model that's built to show exactly where to fold, where to stitch and how to put it all together.

She adds a special glue and uses a hammer to make sure the glue will stick.

(ball peen hammer tapping) It's a process that hasn't changed much since the 1920s when her father worked in the Florence workshop of leather artisan and fashion designer, Guccio Gucci.

Yes, that Gucci.

In the mid 1960s, her parents opened their own workshop in Florence, which she took over and someday hopes to pass on to her own son, Leonardo.

(cutter swishing) - I'm gonna making a strip of the bag we preparing now.

(energetic music) I have to cut the leather, then I have to glue it, and then I have to paint by hand the borders.

- [Narrator] Leonardo uses a special paint which is designed to adhere to leather.

It's not as easy as it looks.

He'll need to apply the glue carefully, otherwise it won't be even and smooth.

Like his mother before him, working with leather is more than a job: It's a calling.

- I'm proud to work here because this is my family business from 1965, so 55 years, this company is open, and I think it's a beautiful thing.

- [Narrator] The Italian tradition of pursemaking goes back hundreds of years.

Modern purses were inspired by bags made as far back as the 12th century.

They were used to hold money and personal items just like today, and while styles have changed over the years, one thing has stayed the same.

(Leonardo speaking Italian) - [Narrator] It can take up to 20 days to finish a new purse with each one inspected and finished by hand.

(Viviana speaking Italian) - It is a beautiful work because we use the hand, we use the heart, we use the creativity.

I made this work with love and and proud about this.

(Viviana speaking Italian) - [Narrator] Umbria, known as Italy's green heart because of its rolling hills and fertile greenery.

That landscape inspires everyone here, especially its artisans who use natural materials to fuel their creativity.

When the Michelangeli-family opened their first shop over 200 years ago, they specialized in wood furniture.

Today, sisters, Simonetta, Raffaella and Donatella, along with Simonetta's daughter, carry on the tradition.

(Simonetta speaking Italian) - [Narrator] Inspired by nature, Gualverio Michelangeli began layering wooden shapes into elegant and whimsical sculptures going wherever his imagination took him.

- After attending the art school, he start creating his amazing sculptures with the overlapping of the layers, creating the third dimension, so starting from the cat, and then he investigated a lot of animals and then he fell in love with the female shape and he start creating faces and women, - [Narrator] His style brought him worldwide acclaim, but he wouldn't live to enjoy it.

(pensive music) - When he was at the top of his career, unfortunately a cancer, and he passed away very young because he was only 57.

(Donatella speaking Italian) - [Narrator] He left behind a legacy that his daughters couldn't turn their backs on.

The sculptures were his life and would be theirs too.

- At the very beginning, he was not super happy on having three daughters because this is a pure male work.

So he was saying, "Oh, who is going to be the next generation, who is continue our tradition?"

but the three girls, they had the power to continue the activity of the family and improving and improving and make the Michelangeli name even more popular around the world.

- [Narrator] In the workshop, they found a treasure trove of ideas, a priceless inheritance built up over decades.

Today the sisters create a sculpture inspired by one of their father's owl designs.

With skills she learned by watching her father, Simonetta uses a plywood template to trace the design for cutting.

(Simonetta speaking Italian) (bright music) - When Simonetta has fashioned enough overlaps, the owl could start being assembled.

The thickness of each piece might meet adjusting for the best fit and effect.

The wooden sculpture grows layer by layer like the rings of the Michelangeli family tree.

How long does it take to build an owl like this?

About seven generations.

- Every single piece is made in this workshop is a part of ourself because every time we are selling one piece, it's a kind of part of ourself going away.

- [Narrator] Their workshop is in an old theater, which is appropriate because each piece is a performance, an act of love between generations.

- We are really linked to Italian tradition, so we never are in contrast with our history.

So we bring the the DNA of being Italian, the DNA of being in Umbria because we are very linked to the nature.

We are very linked to the slow way to produce.

- [Narrator] By carrying on their father's vision, they've become ambassadors of Umbrian art and craft.

(Simonetta speaking Italian) - [Narrator] On the high stone slopes of Orvieto, it's the wooden sculptures made with love that endure.

(relaxing music) Umbria's fertile landscape gives a bounty of gifts and helps foster creativity in many forms.

One family scours that terrain, searching for a prize treasure, one that is native to this region, but sought after worldwide.

(Antonio speaking Italian) (Maurizio speaking Italian) (Antonio speaking Italian) (Maurizio speaking Italian) - [Narrator] When it comes to artisanal foods, fresh truffles are culinary gold.

Umbrians harvested the elusive fungi for at least 600 years.

Still, finding them is an art.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) (Antonio speaking Italian) - [Narrator] A family hobby for generations became a family business 30 years ago.

(hunters encouraging in Italian) Most varieties of truffles defy cultivation.

Finding them requires an expert nose.

Nerina or Neri is the family chief truffle hunter.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) (footsteps falling) Some truffles can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars per kilo.

So most truffle hunters keep their hunting grounds a secret, a secret that can be deadly.

In 1997, the community was scandalized when several truffle dogs were found to be intentionally poisoned.

Today, Andrea, Maurizio and Neri hunt in a private reserve.

Umbria's geographic alchemy of soil and climate produces Italy's highest number of black truffles which grow in this region all year round.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) Nine year old Neri started training as a puppy.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) Traditionally, pigs were used to hunt truffles, but were deemed too aggressive, damaging the soil and tending to eat the prize.

Italy banned truffle pigs in 1985.

(lively music) Since truffles reproduce by spores, but lie hidden in the ground, being dug up and carried off by animals is part of their reproductive cycle.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) Maurizio gently collects the truffle before Neri can eat it up.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) Carefully filling the hole protects the site.

With luck, they'll find a ripe truffle In about three months.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) (brothers chattering) Now, Neri's on a roll.

Her hard work gets rewarded with her favorite biscuit, precious to her than any truffle.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) It's time for the truffle hunters to enjoy the fruits of their labors, courtesy of Maurizio and Andrea's mother, Gabriela.

- I am Gabriela Bianconi and I am a truffle chef.

- [Narrator] Today's menu, Bruschetta and Frascarelli pasta made with garlic, olive oil, and shaved truffles.

- When the oil starts to to make a bubble around the pan, the the sauce is ready.

I just warm the truffle, the garlic, and the oil.

(upbeat music) - The bruschetta with the black truffle, my favorite.

- [Narrator] Gabriela uses the same sauce to adorn her fresh made pasta.

- This pasta is very old and traditional.

The name is frascarelli.

Frascarelli, the name is from this whisk, flaska.

- [Narrator] Frascarelli likely dates back to ancient Roman types when it was prepared as a quick meal during the busy harvest season.

(cheerful music) Flour, water and eggs with a little lemon become a silky pasta, the perfect canvas to showcase the truffles.

- Frascarelli, very typical recipe from Umbria, the best way to taste the black truffle and very easy to do.

- [Narrator] Easy to do as long as you have the truffles.

The hunt continues.

It's training time for Maurizio daughters, Alessia and Giada and Andrea's dog, Eddie.

(Andrea speaking Italian) (Maurizio speaking Italian) (Eddie panting) (Eddie bounding) (Andrea encouraging in Italian) - [Narrator] Truffles and the Bianconi family draw their strength from the connection to Umbrian soil.

Each generation prepares the way for the next.

(Maurizio speaking Italian) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Renaissance Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries saw an explosion of creative arts.

While not everyone is fortunate enough to see the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo or Raphael in person, one Umbrian family business has created the next best thing.

- I'm Stefano Lazzari, founder of the Bottega Tifernate Company and the Pictografia Technique, here in Citta di Castello, Umbria.

- [Narrator] For 30 years, Stefano and his sister Francesca and his father Romolo, have devoted themselves to meticulously recreating Renaissance masterworks.

(inspirational music) - The mission is to make painting with the same feeling, the same material, and the same way of the ancient bottega.

I started this work because I love the art.

I want to stay, every day, in contact with original paintings.

And so, the Pictografia Technique permit me to study everyday, Raffaello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Piero della Francesca This is my love.

This is my life.

(inspirational music sustains) - [Narrator] The Pictografia Technique, which relies on this magic machine, is the family's proprietary method for copying works of art onto canvas, board or fresco panel To match the color and medium of the original masterpiece.

Stefano has been refining the secret process for 30 years.

(cheerful music) - The process is to reproduce in a mechanical way, one painting, but with the same color and the same material.

So, when the work is finished, we have a work that is similar.

It's very, very close to the original one.

- [Narrator] The human touch augments the work of the Pictografia machine.

(Stefano speaking Italian) - Nadia Tacchini has worked at Bottega Tifernate for 16 years, making reproductions as authentic as possible.

(Nadia speaking Italian) Today, Nadia works on Leonardo da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine."

Using the same type of oil paint colors as the master, no detail is overlooked to make these modern day masterpieces.

(inspirational music) (Nadia speaking Italian) When the painting is complete, it gets a coating of beeswax to protect it.

(Romolo speaking Italian) During the Renaissance, Umbria developed its own pigment, umber, from its brownish red soil and its own school of painting with masters such as Perugino and Rafael.

Today, thanks to the Lazzari family's Bottega, the Renaissance masters are enjoying another rebirth.

(Francesca speaking Italian) (Nadia speaking Italian) (inspirational music peaks) (church bells ring) - [Narrator] Here in Venice, the skills behind many ancient trades are passed on generation after generation.

Sometimes those lessons fade away, their handiwork nearly forgotten.

Unless someone can bring new life and fresh ideas to an ancient calling.

It's known as the art of the clouds.

An almost otherworldly practice with looping swirls and deliberate dots laid out on a colorful canvas of special dyes and water.

(cheerful music) In the end, these patterns of pigments are used to create this: sheets of marbleized paper, each a one of a kind work of art.

It's believed this delicate craft was born in China and perfected in Turkey.

Marble paper making first came to Italy through Venice back in the 16th century.

Despite its history, it was nearly a lost art here until one man brought it back from the brink.

(Alberto speaking Italian) Inspired by an old manual describing marble papermaking, Alberto vowed to learn how to do it for himself.

(Alberto speaking Italian) That was over 45 years ago.

Today, Alberto Vareze is a master of marble paper making.

He uses many of the same materials as they did in the mid 18th century, including a water-based solution made from aquatic plants.

To him, this art is a kind of magic one that calls for a paintbrush and a handmade marbling comb instead of a wand.

And even as he casts his spell, he doesn't always know what will happen next.

(Alberto speaking Italian) When Alberto was happy with his design, he gently lays the paper on top.

It only takes a moment for the pattern to set into the paper, and this blank canvas becomes a unique masterpiece.

(slow inspirational music) (energetic music) Bologna, Italy is known for its architecture and beauty, but if you look beyond its world class churches and museums, you'll see what makes it truly notable.

It's family made flavors.

(dramatic music) Grapes.

Barrels.

Careful aging.

This could be one of Italy's legendary wineries.

- Hmm, very good.

(chuckles) - [Narrator] But wine is not sampled this way.

- Here we produce the original balsamic vinegar.

This is our vinegar house.

- [Narrator] At their Acetaia, Sandra and her husband Luciano, carry on the family tradition of producing tangy, sweet, traditional balsamic vinegar.

This superstar of the vinegar family brings lively flavors to salads, vegetables, meats, even dessert.

And the perfect climate in the town of Modina makes it the proud home of balsamic vinegar.

- It's 1000 year that in this town we continue to produce balsamic vinegar.

- [Narrator] Centuries ago people thought it had curative properties.

Its very name, balsamic, is thought to mean it has a balsam or balm-like therapeutic effect.

The vinegar remained a Modena secret until the very late 1500s, when Duke Cesare d'Este moved to the town and tasted its unparalleled flavor.

He set up his own vinegar cellar and began gifting it to nobility.

With newfound prestige, this popular vinegar became synonymous with Modena.

- [Sandra] Every family used one particular secret of production.

- [Narrator] It begins with grapes.

Three kinds are grown on the property.

- And every grapes gets particular smell, particular taste, particular flavor, particular aromas.

And the combination of this is the cure of the producer.

(Luciano speaking Italian) - [Narrator] Some grapes in this region often yield wine with low alcohol content, which is one of the reasons they're used to produce vinegar' instead.

Once harvested, they're pressed into "must."

A fresh juice with the skins, seeds and stems.

(igniter clicking) (flame whumps) After boiling for many hours, the must arrives in the vinegar house where it begins a lengthy journey to being bottled.

Superior quality vinegar ages a full 25 years before it's sold.

- The age of the balsam vinegar, as you can see, is in the loft under the roof.

One place where there is very hot and summer, very cold in winter.

- [Narrator] Rows of barrels ranging from small to large are called batteries.

- We use different kind of woods like oak, chestnut, mulberry, juniper.

Every wood influence, the taste, the smell, the color of the product that you can find inside.

Every family followed their philosophy.

- [Narrator] A special yeast, an enzyme turned the fruits of the vineyard into the rich liquid.

- There is one hole, as you can see, because the balsamic is alive.

If I close, I produce alcohol.

If I live open, I produce vinegar.

- [Narrator] Because of the opening, vinegar evaporates, especially in summer, to keep the level high, Younger vinegar from larger barrels is added to the smaller ones with older vinegar.

It's a process called Solera.

- We move from one barrel to the other, color, smell, taste, flavor, serums.

But remember, we must refill also the biggest because it's important to maintain one circle closed, one Never-Ending Story.

- [Narrator] And make no mistake, there is a story here.

- Here, everything was born the house of my family, the house of my grandfather, the house of my great-grandfather.

- - [Narrator] The oldest barrel was started by grandfather Giuseppe in 1904.

Sandra has her own vinegar started soon after her birth, and it's not uncommon.

In days past Modena families would start a new batch when a baby girl was born and then present the vinegar as a wedding gift.

It certainly made a happy foundation for this marriage.

(Sandra and Luciano bantering and chuckling in Italian) - This is far more cherished and meaningful than something found on supermarket shelves.

- The balsam vinegar that you find in the store is made in few days.

It's made in industrial way with industrial technology to obtain a fast way is balsam vinegar, but the original balsamic vinegar is one old tradition of the work of many generation.

- [Narrator] Luciano is one of 15 official tasters for the original vinegar of Modena.

The process is done by candlelight with a flask called a matraccio, to see the richness of the color.

(Luciano speaking Italian) He looks to see if it's clear, takes in the fragrance, and of course, the flavor.

(Luciano speaking Italian) And so the cycle will continue.

Harvesting, watching, Tasting, waiting.

- [Sandra] Probably we'll work until the last breath of our life.

Is fantastic to continue this tradition.

(cheerful music) - [Narrator] If there's a single dish that defines Italy, it's pasta.

Making this Italian staple is a family tradition, especially here in Bologna, where chefs use it to take their culinary art to a whole new level.

- I am Martina- - I am Grazia- - and we are... Sfogline Bolognese.

(cheerful music) - The best food in Europe is in Bologna.

- The city is so serious about its cuisine that many recipes are formally registered with the chamber of commerce.

Among the most iconic pasta recipes of all is pasta ragu.

Simply put, pasta with meat sauce.

- So the ragu is our traditional sauce.

So it is the only sauce that we use with the pasta.

- [Narrator] Every kitchen in bologna adds its own touches to this classic recipe.

Today, Martina and Grazia are sharing how they do it.

- So for me, the classic ragu, you have to add olive oil at first, celery, carrot, and onion, are chopped, and then we add the pancetta, so it is the bell of the pork meat.

And then you add the other meat, half beef and half pork loin.

We add all the meat.

We wait that the meat are cooked.

- [Narrator] Next, wine.

Some cooks use red, but Grazia prefers white.

(Grazia speaking Italian) Milk is added to make the meat softer.

- And then for last, the tomato paste, and then a pinch of salt.

- [Narrator] The meat is the star of this sauce, so they're careful not to add too much tomato paste.

- If you add a lot of liquid, the tomato sauce, especially, the ragu, becomes liquid and red.

Our goal is not red.

(ragu simmering) - [Narrator] Restaurants all over the world serve spaghetti bolognese, but in Bologna, don't even think about serving ragu on thin spaghetti.

Instead, it served on tagliatelli, a thicker pasta with a textured surface, handmade of course.

The dough must be worked on wood to give it the right homemade texture.

- My mother teach me how to roll the dough so the pasta is ready when you can see the wood through it, or as you say here in Bologna, the pasta is ready when if you make like this, you can see San Luca through it.

San Luca is the most important church.

You can see Sal Luca of every part of bologna because it's on top.

So if you see through it, San Luca, the pasta is ready.

- [Narrator] The pasta is wrapped in a cotton towel to dry without becoming hard or brittle.

- So now the pasta is dry.

We put the pasta in the tray and we roll the pasta, and now we can cut.

(knife slicing) - [Narrator] Tradition dictates it must be eight millimeters wide when cooked.

- When the tagliatelle is ready, you have to make the nest.

My mother makes the nest because she is the queen of the nest.

(chuckles) - One nest is one serving.

It could be stored in the refrigerator this way, or dropped right into salted boiling water.

- You have to wait just two minutes and it's ready.

Make pasta is an art because you have to know how to choose the ingredient, how to make pasta, how to cook pasta.

I'm very proud to work here.

So this is tagliatelle al ragu bolognese.

(joyful music) (inspirational music) - [Narrator] They stand at the end of a long line of makers, designers, and innovators with respect for the past and ambition for the future.

They deliver projects that honor this legacy and explore new possibilities.

Their limitless imagination helps to inspire wonder, enrich their culture, and most of all, pave the way for the next generation of creators.

♪ ♪