Mario Cuomo knew exactly where he wanted to have lunch with the FT – Piano Due, a restaurant a few steps from his law office. When I arrive, from the moment my coat is reverentially checked, it is apparent that the former New York state governor is an honoured guest. When I join Cuomo at a seat by the window which he says is his regular spot, it is also apparent that this comfortable dining room is a favourite because it is Italian in a way that is familiar and important to him.

“Manhattan’s Italian food is northern Italian, fancy Italian,” he tells me. “But most of the Italian Americans, like most of the Irish who came here, came here for economic reasons … and so most of the Italian Americans are from south of Rome and that’s Naples, Salerno, Sicily, all of those places. That food is more robust, more flavourful.”