Puccini

Italian food and Italian opera - a marriage of music and menus that combine perfectly in this series which looks at Italy’s rich cultural history. Walter Iuzzolino goes in search of the perfect match of food and music as he visits some of the best Italian kitchens in London and Rome. We’ll discover how the great opera composers such as Verdi, Rossini and Puccini loved their food and felt particular affinity with produce from their own Italian regions. We’ll hear some of the great moments in opera where the banquet takes centre stage, and at the same time we’ll be in the kitchens with some of the top Italian chefs to get their tips on getting the recipes right.

Walter Iuzzolino is exploring the many important connections between Italian food and Italian opera in Holland Park in west London where opera can be heard over the summer months, and where the Belvedere Restaurant’s executive chef from Sardinia, Lello Favuzzi, is going to prepare a dish closely linked to the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.

Presenter Walter Iuzzolino
Producers Francesca Marchese and Mark Rickards

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 3