Gino’s Italian Escape Episode Rating Graph

The final leg of Gino D'Acampo's tour takes him to Bologna, widely regarded as Italy's gastronomic capital. Making his way to a trattoria, he meets a chef who has been honing her bolognese sauce recipe for almost 30 years. Gino then prepares his grandfather's take on tagliatelle alla bolognese and explores the local speciality of mortadella. Finally, he goes on the trail of the region's distinctive local pasta - tortellini - and creates his own version with ricotta cheese, hazelnuts, orange zest and chocolate chips.

Tonight it's all about the food and how Sicily’s interesting history has influenced the food they eat and the ingredients they use. Crossing the island, taking in the beautiful baroque towns of Noto and Modica, Gino learns about chocolate and cassada. Past the temples of Agrigento, he makes his way up to the foothills of mighty Mount Etna, to Sicily’s lemon riviera, and makes a sumptuous lemon risotto in a lemon grove.

Gino's Italian adventures continue in Naples - the area of Italy where he was born and where he trained to be a chef. Here, he examines the foods and ingredients that have made the city famous - pizza and coffee! Naples is world famous for its pizza and credited for inventing the Margherita pizza of mozzarella, tomato and basil in 1889. Whilst in Naples Gino investigates the Neapolitan food trend of fried pizza – and helps an award winning chef make this surprisingly tasty street snack.

Gino finishes his food odyssey of Sicily with a bang! In the pretty town of Taormina, Gino learns how to make cannoli - Sicily's most famous sweet. Gino climbs the craters of Mount Etna and tastes Etna fire water, a fiery tipple with a recipe that's stayed the same for centuries. Gino then makes a personal pilgrimage to the town of Savoca, the setting of Corleone in The Godfather, which just so happens to be his favourite film of all time! Here he meets the owner, shares a world famous granita, and ends his magical journey by cooking on the terrace of this infamous bar. How did he do that? Well, he made them an offer they couldn’t refuse!

Gino D'Acampo explores the gastronomic region of Emilia-Romagna. In a part of Italy famous for its cured meats, the chef is amazed to find an ancient cellar packed with prized culatello, including one reserved especially for Prince Charles. He then buys a wedge of Parmesan cheese and uses it to enhance a colourful dish of fried aubergine, tomato and mozzarella, topped with basil and olive oil dressing. His culinary quest continues in Modena, where he samples some of the world's finest traditional balsamic vinegar and prepares chicken and pancetta served with asparagus and cherry tomato salad.

Gino makes a culinary journey around the country's capital, where his first stop is one of Rome's finest delicatessens.

Chef Gino D'Acampo sets off on another tour of his home country, this time exploring the north of Italy. In the first edition he examines the food that has shaped the city of Florence, beginning by tackling the bistecca alla Fiorentina - a thick and juicy steak - before preparing sliced T-bone with a colourful courgette ribbon and goat's cheese salad. He then heads to the town of Prato, sampling a pastry chef's speciality brioche buns with an aromatic, creamy filling, and conjuring up his own dessert of apple poached in red wine with amaretti biscuit cream.

Gino D'Acampo travels through the landscape of Tuscany, beginning in the city of Siena, famous for its sloping Piazza del Campo and its `panforte' - a rich, spiced fruit-and-nut cake dating back to the 13th century. The chef tastes this ancient Christmas treat and, inspired by its flavour combinations, creates his own chocolate version. Next, he visits some Benedictine monks and tours their vast vineyard, before using their Tuscan red wine in his recipe for marinated beef skewers and three-bean salad.

In this episode, Gino is back on the road again, leaving the mountains and heading south to the coast and the capital of Sardinia. On his way he takes a fishing trip and learns how fishing in the deep blue waters runs a close run second to farming on this island. He then visits the bustling capital city of Cagliari, where he is introduced to the unique textures that the locals use to enhance their fish dishes. After a whistle stop shop at Europe’s largest covered market, he makes his way to the magical ancient site of Nora, where he cooks a succulent tuna dish, as the sun sets over the ruins.

Gino is in Puglia on the lookout for some amazing food and visits Altamura, a place known for it's world-famous historic bread. He then moves on to one of the poorest regions of southern Italy, Basilicata. He samples some traditional cucina povera, which translates as poor people’s cuisine.

Gino begins his latest Italian escape in a place very close to his heart, Olbia on Sardinia's North East coast, where Gino has lived for the past 3 years. As a chef Gino is passionate about fresh produce, so at his beautiful home he grows his own vegetables and tends to his very own vineyard too. What better than to invite a few close friends over for an Italian Festa to celebrate Sardinia's national dish? As Gino prepares Porcheddu, the mouth-watering roasted suckling pig.

This northern region hugs the Ligurian sea and with the infamous Cinque Terre on it's coastline, Gino learns the secret of Italian gelato, not just an ice cream but a way of life! Liguria is famous for its seafood and pesto, but Gino is interested in the one ingredient that is the backbone to all Italian cookery. Olive oil. So he visits a grove high above the coastline and finds out for himself how the humble olive is turned into this liquid gold, before he cooks up a dish that takes it's inspiration from the region.

Gino returns to Campania, the Italian region where he grew up and where his family still live today. He pays a visit to Gragnano, which is world-famous for its pasta. He also visits a picturesque orchard, where he comes across the reddest cherries he’s ever seen. Gino pays a visit to his Italian relatives and for the first time ever decides to cook for them.

Gino D'Acampo's next stop is Venice, where he takes a trip on a gondola with a local countess to find out about a type of Venetian tapas called cicchetti, before creating his own ciabatta-based platter, featuring courgette and fennel with capers, prawns on chilli mayonnaise and breaded cod on lemon mayonnaise. The chef then heads out of the city to the nearby island of Burano, where he participates in a highly unusual method of cooking risotto.