Take a Trip Through the Cultural Landscape of Italy
STEPHANIE OSWALD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Come along as we travel now deep into the cultural landscape of Italy to witness efforts to preserve the country's treasure. Venice has been teeming with tourists for centuries. Despite the crowds, the panoramic port city continues to flourish.</s>MICHAEL BRODERICK, VENICESCAPES CULTURAL ASSOCIATION: So they're not just helping a charming, unique city, they're helping a city that wants to be helped.</s>OSWALD: Savor the tastes of Italy. We see how traditions to please the palate also are being passionately protected.</s>SARA BAER-SINNOT, OLDWAYS PRESERVATION & EXCHANGE TRUST: If the world becomes all one and it's all one big fast food world, each country and place loses its own identity.</s>OSWALD: And we'll take you where miracles are happening as we journey to Assisi. This spiritual Mecca is being readied to welcome the new millenium. Napoleon called this the most elegant drawing room in Europe. Welcome to CNN TRAVEL NOW and Venice's Piazi San Marco. I'm Stephanie Oswald. We'll catch up with Carolyn O'Neil in just a few minutes. But first, we delve into this city, struggling to balance 1,000 years of history with millions of today's tourists.</s>OSWALD (voice-over): Venice is a life-sized open air museum telling a story of artistic expression, cultural crossroads and maritime history. Each year more than 12 million visitors flock to this historic water space eager to frolic with the pigeons in St. Mark's Square, gaze at the bronze horses standing in a frozen prance on the balcony of St. Mark's Basilica and glide into the carnival setting by gondola. But there's a serious side to the serenity and serenades. According to some environmental reports, the ground level of Venice has dropped by more than 23 centimeters, or almost nine inches, during the last century, caused by both natural phenomena and industrial work. (on camera): Venice's waterways are the city's lifeblood, but they're also the single greatest threat to the artistic treasures within. A lot has been said about the city sinking, but that's only part of the problem. (voice-over): Overwhelming crowds combined with pollution, erosion and simply the passage of time has sent a wave of concern washing over the Venetian lagoon. Motorboats, essential to life in Venice, also share the blame.</s>PAOLO GARDIN, PRESIDENT, INSULA: Once upon a time there was not the motorboat. In the last 30, 40 years the problems induced by the motorboat, the waves make a big problems to the banks. So we have to repair the banks much more often than in the past.</s>OSWALD: Insula is one of the companies charged with maintaining the 30 miles of canal.</s>IVANO TURLON, DIRECTOR, INSULA: This is a fundamental problem because it's a modern city that uses an urban fabric that has not changed since the end of the 700s. That's why there's a contradiction in the city of Venice, a modern city but also a city that must be conserved for its high historical value and ambiance.</s>OSWALD: Decades of natural tides also have left their mark, especially damaging during the winter months when tourists are often forced to walk on raised planks.</s>TURLON: When the tide's arrived, even if it's not very high, because we're only talking about 10 to 20 centimeters, but when it arrives 20 times a year, it can cause big problems.</s>OSWALD: Michael Broderick joined the campaign to preserve Venice by putting a new spin on traditional tours. He founded the cultural association Venicescapes with a mission: to build awareness of venetian history.</s>BRODERICK: Many people have a fondness for Venice. I think to some extent it's seen as an oddity, a quaint, charming city and people miss out the tremendous importance that Venice had in the way that our civilization developed.</s>OSWALD: In an effort to tell that story, Venicescape's tailored itineraries take visitors beyond St. Mark's Square to hidden treasures often embracing other cultures. One of Broderick's favorites is this quaint sanctuary, the Church of the Holy Cross of the Armenians.</s>BRODERICK: Even though it was constructed as a Benedictine monastery, when they inherited it they remodeled it along Armenian lines so the blue ceiling with the stars was a must.</s>OSWALD: Also part of the conservation crusade, the Save Venice organization. We met with Executive Director Beatrice Guthrie.</s>BEATRICE GUTHRIE, SAVE VENICE INC.: Well, this is the Squale Grande Di Saint Marco (ph), which now serves as the facade of Venice's city hospital and it's a building that dates from the last part of the 15th century and it's really one of the great treasures of venetian art.</s>OSWALD: According to Guthrie, this is the most important structure in the city still in need of restoration.</s>GUTHRIE: But where you see the very white which you would think is where it's clean is, in fact, where the most salt damage has occurred. They will look much better after they've been restored but what's lost is sadly lost.</s>OSWALD: Is it too late to save Venice?</s>GUTHRIE: Well, I think Venice is pretty fabulous the way it is. And so if we can just keep it the way it is, clean it up a little bit, solve some of the environmental problems, we hope that it'll be here for many, many more years to come.</s>OSWALD (voice-over): These plans will take Venice tourism to a new level, with an eye on conservation and education, helping the city maintain its charm, preserving the lessons of the past and protecting its splendor for future generations.</s>OSWALD: Next on CNN TRAVEL NOW, uncover some of Italy's unique customs when it comes to cuisine, glimpse the colorful life of coastal fishermen and taste family traditions with a visit to the village butcher shop. Later, painting a glorious welcome for the year 2000, a rare look at the painstaking restoration of the wonders of Assisi.</s>OSWALD: It's impossible to talk about Italian traditions without talking about Italian food. In our next report, Carolyn O'Neil gives us a taste of Italy's culture.</s>CAROLYN O'NEIL, HOST (voice-over): You may not journey all the way to Italy just to gulp down raw anchovies at a seaside market ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Shall we taste them?</s>UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: You go ahead.</s>UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Oh, Nancy!</s>O'NEIL: But learning about local food customs is certainly a fascinating part of world travel.</s>UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I wish we could get fish like this at home.</s>UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It's too bad we can't.</s>O'NEIL: And while it may be the centuries old vistas and snapshots of every day life that attract millions of visitors to Italy each year, the unique tastes and aromas of the country's regional cuisines offer moments to savor.</s>CAROL FIELD, AUTHOR, "IN NONNA'S KITCHEN": Which is one of the great draws of coming to Italy because if you want to explore there is this wealth, tens of thousands of dishes.</s>NANCY HARMON JENKINS, AUTHOR, "FLAVORS OF PUGLIA": You never run out of new things to eat here because it tastes good. Because it has, it's just full of magnificent flavors.</s>FIELD: Thank goodness people have gotten over the idea that Italian food is spaghetti and meatballs.</s>O'NEIL: Many American cookbook authors and chefs who get the word out on authentic Italian cooking through the recipes and restaurants make frequent trips to learn more, even about the nuances of olive oils.</s>UNIDENTIFIED COOK: It's leaner. It smells like peas.</s>O'NEIL: A special trip organized by Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust brought food professionals together in Puglia, the region in southern Italy in the heel of the boot.</s>BAER-SINNOT: I think the food that we've found is really the food the food, the cuisine of the grandmothers and it's still around.</s>O'NEIL: And food of the grandfathers. In the coastal town of Barre (ph), fishermen set out in small boats as they have for generations and visitors can witness this scene as octopus are thrown to the ground with a resounding slap to tenderize the meat. Boston chef Joe Simone (ph) was so enthralled he had to give it a try.</s>JOE SIMONE: I can only do one at a time because I'm very new at this. Oh, it went right in my calf.</s>O'NEIL: Another must see and sample, the breads of Altamura (ph), baked in wood-fired ovens.</s>FIELD: There is a wonderful, wonderful sweet taste to the Durham wheat. We see it all over Fulize (ph). You drive along and you see fields of wheat.</s>O'NEIL: Also made from Italian wheat, fresh pasta. Experienced hands form intricate shapes and ravioli are stuffed with local cheeses and birds. And while tables laden with the bounty of Italy are proudly displayed for guests, there are concerns that these are endangered dinners, threatened by mass produced food distributed worldwide.</s>DUN GIFFORD, OLDWAYS PRESERVATION & EXCHANGE TRUST: The fast foods, the hamburger chains, the fried chicken, the pizza places, it's all destroying what is special about the local and regional exciting food.</s>BAER-SINNOT: People really want to visit places like Puria (ph) and Italy and to experience the food traditions, the cultural traditions and to see the Italy and the Puria that has always been.</s>O'NEIL (on camera): And preserving the traditional eating styles of Italy also means maintaining the professions that create the food products. The butcher in this shop in Chianti is continuing a craft practiced by his family for over 250 years. (voice-over): Dario Chicini (ph) welcomes American guests on a tour of Tuscany to share his enthusiasm for cured meats with some recipes dating back to the Renaissance.</s>DARIO CHICINI: Basically he said he's not Leonardo, but what his job is to do is to basically preserve what he was taught by his family. It's his joy, it's his love but it's also his work and it's his duty basically to keep this tradition going.</s>O'NEIL: Just as many are moved to protect music and art, what can travelers do to help keep Italian food Italian? Simply enjoy.</s>JENKINS: If at all possible rent a car and drive out into the countryside and look for small country restaurants. Look for markets. Most country towns have a weekly market.</s>GIFFORD: Just walk around. You'll find that people eat in different ways, that they eat different things, they prepare the foods in different ways. It is truly exciting because one of the things that we like to talk about is what do we eat on our vacation and on our holidays.</s>O'NEIL: And by enjoying Italy's food traditions, even vacationers can strengthen the country's culinary culture so meals like this won't become just a memory. Carolyn O'Neil, CNN.</s>OSWALD: For many travelers to Venice, this is the first stop after a fine Italian meal. Cafe Florian (ph) opened in 1720. Legend has it even Casanova had a cup of coffee here before fleeing the city. When CNN TRAVEL NOW continues, a destination that speaks to the soul, an incredible spiritual and architectural icon, the Basilica of St. Francis. We'll give you a fascinating look as our cameras climb into the inner workings of a restoration in progress.</s>OSWALD: Our Italian journey continues now. We've traveled to central Italy. This is the Piaza of Pimuni (ph), the main square in Assisi. This popular stop halfway between Florence and Rome is perhaps best known for its most famous resident, Saint Francis. Assisi has been rebuilding itself since a major earthquake struck in September of 1997. But today tourism is flourishing and while the quake was devastating in many ways, one thing it did not destroy is the spirit of the people.</s>OSWALD (voice-over): Nestled amid the tranquil hills of Umbria (ph), you'll find one of the greatest landmarks of the Western world, the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. It's a place where architectures have molded their visions in stone, artists have cast their imaginations in color and religious pilgrims on spiritual journeys find what they came for.</s>UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It just tells you so much about us and the type of lives that we led and to be here and feel such a sense of peace, it's such a peaceful city.</s>OSWALD (on camera): People have been coming here to trace the footsteps of St. Francis for more than 700 years and whether they're passion is religion, art or any of the simple pleasures of Italy, more than 13 million visitors are expected to celebrate the coming of the new millenium by visiting Assisi during the year 2000.</s>GABRIELE DELLANAVE, TOUR OPERATOR: It gives me a feeling you are really experiencing Assisi. There is something mythical, truly, and even if you are not Catholic and you don't believe in some kind of things I think you'll feel something really special around here.</s>OSWALD (voice-over): Believers and non-believers alike are putting faith in this, that the frescoes inside the basilica, which were shattered by the earthquake, can be restored to their natural beauty. The quake took only moments to bring down what took years to build.</s>MAYOR GORGIO BARTOLLINI, ASSISI, ITALY: There was a bit of confusion because at that moment I thought the damages were much worse than they actually were. I thought everything had collapsed. You couldn't see anything there was so much dust.</s>OSWALD: The main damage occurred in the two-tiered basilica's upper church. Several parts of the ceiling collapsed, sending frescoes, including those painted by famous artists Timabue (ph) and Joto (ph) falling to the floor in bits and pieces.</s>GIUSEPPE BASILE, RESTORATION DIRECTOR: The frescoes of the upper basilica formed the basis for modern and Western art. Without these, those forms of art would not exist. Chimabula (ph) is the great painter that was the first to paint grand forms on walls in a very precise place and Joto was the first great artist that painted on the walls with a new technique, the fresco.</s>OSWALD: Besides harming the basilica, the quake rocked structures throughout Assisi. But physical damage was only part of the devastation. Tourism also was shaken.</s>BARTOLLINI: In September of '97, tourism stopped with the earthquake. In '98, tourism was 30 to 40 percent of the total and now in 1999 we're around 80 percent of what we had in 1996.</s>OSWALD: The potential decline in tourism was partly what drove townspeople into action.</s>UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: We had a great desire to rebel and prepare the city for the 2000 jubilee.</s>OSWALD: Fifteen thousand visitors a day are expected here to mark the dawn of the new millenium, a period biblical faith calls a year to celebrate. But even without a deadline, the past is daunting, one many say will take a miracle to complete.</s>PAOLA PASSALAQUA, RESTORATION TEAM: In the beginning many people, when confronted with the mass destruction and with the grave problems that involved the basilica in front of them thought that this was, let's say, secondary work, work that would be impossible to realize. It was called the utopian workshop.</s>OSWALD: If that's true, then these are the laborers of utopia, patiently restoring the vaulted ceiling above stroke by stroke. While below in an underground laboratory frescoes are being put back together, one tiny piece at a time. Walking around this room is like being immersed in a giant, seemingly impossible jigsaw puzzle. Tens of thousands of pieces lie in trays awaiting their reunion. Fragments are finding their place, some with the help of life-sized photographs. A computer program reads the colors, even the brush stroke of each mosaic, eventually indicating how each piece fits together. The work is expected to take two to three more years to complete with only part of the frescoes restored and back on the ceiling by the end of 1999. Still, the upper basilica, closed for two years, is expected to be reopened by Christmas. Before he devoted himself to a lifetime of ministry, St. Francis was also committed to repairing churches in the town of Assisi. Now, many believe his spirit is helping the town return the favor.</s>OSWALD: Saint Valentine, the patron saint of lovers, was also from this part of Italy. If you've fallen in love with any of the places we've taken you today, stay tuned. We'll be right back with some information to help you plan your trip.</s>OSWALD: Whether you're looking for a gondola ride or a history lesson, here's where to find more information about the places we visited today.</s>ANNOUNCER: The Italian embassy is a good place to start. Its Web sites in English and Italian has helpful advice and links for planning your trip. Other great Venice resources include Venicescapes for cultural information and suggested itineraries to make the most of your visit. And the color newsletter and Web site at Save Venice Inc. offers updates on various restoration projects. If learning more about preserving Italy and its culinary traditions interests you, contact Worldways Preservation and Exchange Trust. And if our profile of Assisi and the Basilica of Saint Francis piques your curiosity, contact the Assisi Tourism Board for important details on how to see the restoration progress. You can find these contacts and more on our Web site at cnn.com/travelnow.</s>OSWALD: The world's traveler Marco Polo was born in Venice. Thanks for traveling with us today. I'm Stephanie Oswald. I hope we've inspired you to explore Italy on your own. Here's what's coming up next week on CNN TRAVEL NOW. Next week, join us at some of the world's top golf courses. Experience the thrill of California's renowned Pebble Beach.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't advise very much beginners -- we don't advise them to be playing. That may be a little bit of a hard track.</s>OSWALD: Then we hit the links at golf's birthplace in Scotland.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putting on St. Andrews is like, I guess, going to Mecca if you're inclined that way.</s>OSWALD: And for the golfing novice or the professional, find out why this Florida golf school is among the best.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, that is a great grip.</s>OSWALD: Golfing vacations next week on CNN TRAVEL NOW. Search CNN.com CNNSI.com CNNmoney.com The Web