James May - Our Man in Italy

[BryanS]

I came across this series on my Amazon.it Prime and have watched a couple episodes of season 2 (season one was in Japan). I cringed a few times on the first episode with his fixation with anatomical sexual parts and how embarrassed his Italian guide appeared. I decided to give it a another try and now I'm now on episode 5. He is a bit of a character but I like how they do things that aren't typical tourism show fare and he has no problem making fun of himself.

Interesting to see some of the "off the beaten path" things they have covered.

Worth a watch to learn a bit more about our peninsula.

 

[Jim Zurer]

I came across this series on my Amazon.it Prime and have watched a couple episodes of season 2 (season one was in Japan). I cringed a few times on the first episode with his fixation with anatomical sexual parts and how embarrassed his Italian guide appeared. I decided to give it a another try and now I'm now on episode 5. He is a bit of a character but I like how they do things that aren't typical tourism show fare and he has no problem making fun of himself.

Interesting to see some of the "off the beaten path" things they have covered.

Worth a watch to learn a bit more about our peninsula.

Hmm....we watched Episode 1 and were definitely put off.. Based on your experience, we might take another look.

I will take this opportunity to re-mention our favorite Italian travel program--the "Unpacked" series with art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon and restauranteur Giorgio Locatelli. Really good chemistry between them and lots of off-the-beaten track destinations. They are available on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtjgXuCsMvPnLNvRACoImjgLN-HQbBRP6

There are also a couple of "Rome Unpacked" programs.

 

[Ian Sutton]

Unpacked very good indeed.

 

[Shyguy]

A really good entertaining television show. Perhaps the best travel documentary I have ever seen.

 

[JMichael]

Jim--Thanks for the link to Unpacked. I viewed the first two shows. It was great fun to revisit familiar places and still learn more about them. The only problem is it makes me so hungry. My wife is giving me free rein to make Rosa di Parma anytime.

 

[wco81]

I guess the presenter is trying to bring some humor because he's known for it.

The photography is nice, especially some of the scenes in the Dolomites.

Also on Amazon Prime is The Pasta Queen. It's more cooking-centric but the hostess is from Campania originally but apparently lives in FL with an American husband and kids. But she visits several places, showing how mozzarella is made or parmaggiano reggiano. It's about how key ingredients are harvested and produced in different Italian provinces and then she uses them in recipes.

You don't get as much travel scenery, since they feature a lot of cooking scenes.