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♪ ♪ GABRIELLE HAMILTON: Every time I land in Rome, every single time, it's, "Come on, people, let's go for a ride."

(chuckles) It's as powerful on time 200 as it is on time one.

This is highly opinionated.

Oh, my God.

You can see the yolk go.

It's personality, it's character, it's impression.

It doesn't fade into the background.

It's so good to be classic and not trendy.

Oh man, we are making some food here now.

♪ ♪ (sniffs) (engine starts) ♪ ♪ HAMILTON: The Vespa, the funnest thing to do in Rome.

What can I tell you?

It's like being in that big cyclone of wasps that goes through the streets, the alleys.

It's exhilarating, to say the least.

At first I was the girl on the back of the bike, and that its own magic charm to just be whisked through the streets of Rome.

I came here and I met up with Michele, who later became my husband.

He's Italian.

To be greeted at the airport by your lover-- I hate that word-- but what didn't he deliver, whisking me around on these Vespa rides?

It just felt magic, and was magic.

That is a pretty nice way to be introduced to Rome.

(laughter and silverware clattering) Things are getting quieter.

The streets get narrower.

I'm in some kitten heel trying to go up the tiny cobblestone streets with this guy in a good silk tie.

(chuckles) We had come around the corner, and there's this typical Roman trattoria, with a few seats scattered in the alleyway, and a string of lights hanging.

You know what I ate there?

Just this incredibly confident, not even Roman, unapologetic, deliciousness.

An omelet.

(laughter) You don't have to try here.

You just go for a walk.

We're entering the oldest part of Rome.

Guys are sitting outside restaurants to make carciofi alla giudia, the Jewish artichoke.

Which is just the whole artichoke opened up and deep fried.

So it's kind of like crispy artichoke chip in the leaves, and the creamy centers of the hearts.

He is pretty good at it.

And he can do it without looking.

He's a typist, he's... reading the text and typing.

He knows what he's doing and he's selling the song.

It's as authentic as anything.

And to come around the corner and have a dish as old as the buildings around you, that they've been making it this way that long, I'm impressed by that.

That's not...

I'm not nostalgic.

And...

I don't think that's dead.

We're here at Ristorante la Campana.

Talking to the waiters who have to do all the dirty work in the restaurant.

(laughs) And I'm with Enrico?

- Enrico, yes.

HAMILTON: Enrico and Sergio, and we're here to make the puntarelle.

I cannot recall how I went to La Campana the first time, but I love so much that they don't make anything else but the dishes that they've been making for 500 years.

Do you say insalata de puntarelle?

- No, we call it just puntarelle.

HAMILTON: It's-- è ovvio, it's so obvious.

It's classic.

This puntarelle... - This is the plant.

HAMILTON: Yeah, and we're coming apparently to the end of this season now, but it's always this kind of satin-y, hollow stem, and has a kind of bitter flavor.

I've made an approximation using Belgian endive.

I had it a thousand times in Rome.

But I've always been so curious about how do you get the puntarelle so finely cut, and I want to know about the dressing.

(crunches) - Clean.

HAMILTON: Oh, so you have a tool!

- This one is very important for us, because before of this, we make the puntarelle just with a... HAMILTON: By hand.

- Yes, by hand, and was... terrible.

HAMILTON: Can you show me how you did it?

- Yes, the cut was very irregular like this one, but now we have this invention, and... HAMILTON: It's made your life a lot easier.

- Yes.

HAMILTON: This reminds me a little bit of like, it slices, it dices, it's an egg slicer and it does nothing else.

So I'm probably going to continue to do this by hand, but I'm so glad to know about this.

This is starting to curl already, and doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

I mean, it's fantastic.

Can I see the dressing?

- Yes.

HAMILTON: So these are whole anchovy in salt, and you don't take off the skin, you took out the bones already?

- No, we cut everything.

The bone is very small.

HAMILTON: Yes.

- And when you cut it you don't feel it.

HAMILTON: You think it disappears.

I mean, I can hear you cutting through the bone, mm-hmm.

And does every waiter here make it the same way with exactly the same amount of anchovy and the same amount of garlic?

- Yes, we follow the... the tradizione.

So we follow the tradition.

The old waiter was here, and they have teached this one to us, and now some is die, some is finished with the job.

HAMILTON: Is it written down anywhere?

Like, "Ah, who knows how to make the dressing?"

- No, no, no, we make... no, we watch and we decide.

We test.

Garlic, lemon.

Pour the aceto.

HAMILTON: White vinegar?

- White vinegar, yes.

Olive oil.

Now I think the puntarelle is ready.

If you see, it's like, you know... HAMILTON: Yeah, it's like, um... - You can take... HAMILTON: Medusa!

(laughs) (chuckling): The whole snake head.

I think mine were a little long.

Next time I'll make them shorter, I'm sorry.

Mm-hmm.

And the customer knows to toss it?

- Yes.

HAMILTON: Mm-hmm.

Oh, my God, perfect amount of garlic.

It's burning a little bit in my chest, and the lemon and oil is perfectly balanced.

- Yes, but so, the puntarelle are fresh and crunchy.

With this sauce, they are strong, because it's garlic, anchovies.

So it's a good mix.

HAMILTON: It's perfect.

- Yes.

HAMILTON: One is antidote to the other.

I like things with strong personalities.

This is highly opinionated.

You could pick any piazza you want, but this one's fine.

The ladies are gossiping about the day, and the families are meeting, and the tourists are walking by.

And we're having a Negroni.

(chuckles) At the right time of day.

First of all, this is an aperitivo, it's not a digestivo if we're gonna use the right language.

And you want to have it before dinner, not after and not during, and not at the night club in a martini glass.

It's Campari and gin and sweet vermouth.

And those parts are kind of perfect for all that they contribute to the job.

You have a little bit of an empty stomach, and the gin hits you and kind of warms you up and softens the edges of your hard day.

And the Campari is bitter and tonifying, so it kind of piques your appetite.

You're a little on fire, and you're a little hungry, and... (laughs) (chuckling): That could be a bad situation, and the sweet vermouth smoothes over the relationship between those two arguing people.

This whole drink is hanging, hanging in balance, these two things of bitter and sweet.

I mean, that's just a drink, which I want to have, but it also happens to stand in as an incredible metaphor for my entire marriage, my relationship to this country, this town.

It was so exactly this.

(speaking Italian) Okay, I also have to calm down.

I'm very excited to be here.

Okay, can I tell you where we are?

Trattoria Monti, in the Monti neighborhood of Rome.

And we're with Franca... Camerucci?

(speaking Italian) (laughs) (speaking Italian) (laughs) (speaking Italian) Did you say l'uomo?

(speaking Italian) We need a man!

Oh!

(speaking Italian) No, no, no!

(laughs) (speaking Italian) We're going to roll it out.

Yeah, like my face.

So instead of using the table, she using her hands against the pin itself.

Oh my God, this is so good.

(speaking Italian) - Okay!

HAMILTON: Okay.

(speaking Italian) Whoa!

Whoa!

Oh my God, I had no idea.

Very full.

(speaking Italian) Oh, I mean, it's already beautiful.

Oh, parmesan?

- Si.

Wow.

(speaking Italian) Mm... mm... (speaking Italian) Oh, you can see the yolk go.

Right, it's moody.

The food is moody.

(singing in Italian) (speaking Italian) (speaking Italian) HAMILTON: Ah, look at the feathers.

(speaking Italian) (speaking Italian) (birds chirping) (engine starts) ♪ ♪ HAMILTON: This is one of the first things that Michele brought me to see in that beginning phase of our knowing each other.

Completely out of control of my own destiny, just following him wherever he would lead.

There's always a bodily reaction to the wonderment that is through the hole.

You would have to be made of stone to not find the fun in it.

It's a classic.

Tourists come to the classics, locals come to the classic.

It's so true that it can never be stale, it can never go bad.

It's so... truly fantastic that it will never lose its currency.

The rose is the beautiful rose, just because that's been said 2,000 times doesn't make it any less true.

♪ ♪ I don't want to just love Italy like the newly arriving seduced person does.

To have gone the whole arc of swooning in love, and burned and sad, and divorced.

What I'm just realizing right now that it ended up like a true love.

It's so fun for me to really love Rome, warts and all.

If I'm gonna retire somewhere, it's gonna be here.

It has to be here.

♪ ♪ (sniffs)