When it comes to great food, there are few places on our planet more celebrated than Italy. But if your idea of a classic Italian meal is spaghetti, pizza pie and cannoli, you're in for a big surprise. Get ready for an awesome adventure as Jeff Corwin explores the other side of Italian cuisine and tastes the beauty in the bizzare. Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin: Italy airs on Cooking Channel September 9th at 8pm ET.

The photo above was taken at the picturesque medieval hill town in northern Abruzzo called Castel del Monte. You can't tell from the photo but the cheese is formagio marchetto, which means a slice of it is swarming with maggots. To make it, sheeps milk sits to curdle and the curd is formed into wheels. The wheels are placed in a cool, dark cellar where cheese flies (Piophila casei) lay eggs in the cheese. The eggs hatch into maggots which can be eaten with the cheese... if you're adventurous like Jeff Corwin.

That's only the beginning of his extreme adventure.

He'll harvest wild mussels (and eat them raw); cook up hearts, tongue and liver with Italian cowboys; dig up big black truffles in the forest; and awkwardly wrangle an octopus and cuttle fish for their treasure trove of black ink.

Watch: Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin: Italy on Septembr 9th at 8pm ET on Cooking Channel.