On 3 January the Rai presenter Lorenzo Branchetti and director Dario Migliardi filmed the La Prova del Cuoco programme in Fiume Veneto. It was a cold, sunny day, ideal for showing this little town near Pordenone to best effect. The Rai had not chosen this place by chance: the town boasts the restaurant of Federico Mariutti, the chef selected, with his colleague Gianna Buongiorno, to represent together the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in the "Il Campanile Italiano" feature on Friday 12 January, with the programme hosted by Antonella Clerici. The video lasting about 3 minutes introduces their participation in the culinary challenge against the reigning "campanile" champion.

Thanks to our guide, Marta Mio, who is passionate about local history and religious art, we visited some more or less hidden corners of Fiume Veneto, Pescincanna and Praturlone. Obviously looking for “campanili”, or bell towers. Starting from the square and the church of Fiume Veneto, we crossed the river to the old village of Fiume Piccolo. The beautiful parish church of San Michele Arcangelo took us by surprise with its thirteenth-century frescoes, some of the oldest in the province. The “ghost” village of Marzinis is a block of red bricks in which time has stopped: up to a few decades ago about 250 people lived there, but now it is uninhabited. After a quick visit to the Friuli Venezia Giulia aeronautical museum, the last stop was at the little church of Praturlone.

To see these places on TV, you will need to tune in to Rai 1 on 12 Friday at midday, when Federico and Gianna will prepare a dish live using typical regional ingredients; these products are part of the excellence of the territory, many of them Slow Food presidiums. They will tell the story of each ingredient, and what makes it representative of Friuli Venezia Giulia. In about 15 minutes, they will have to communicate a sense of friendliness and the culture of good food to assure the greatest possible approval rate from the public: for it is the public that decrees the winner between the two regions, by applying a heart or a smiley face (for Federico and Gianna) on the dedicated post on the Facebook page of La prova del Cuoco.