Verdi

Available for over a year

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 looks at the deep connections between Italian opera and Italian food in this, the first of two programmes on Giuseppe Verdi. In the kitchens of the Peninsula hotel chef Francesco Dibenedetto is making Spalacotta, a wonderful dish loved by Verdi. Presenter Walter Iuzzolino Producers Francesca Marchese and Mark Rickards A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 3