Following Stanley Tucci On His Search for Italy
If you're a fan of Italy and Italian cuisine, CNN’s "Searching for Italy" is the perfect show you need to turn on right now.
This Emmy award-winning show starring Stanley Tucci chronicles the history, politics, fashion, and culture of this beautiful country — all of it tastefully and artfully framed through the country’s regional food and wine.
Because if there is one thing that captures the essence of Italy and unites those of us who travel to eat, it is the food of Italy that is simply buonissimo!
Photo courtesy CNN
Searching for Italy with Stanley Tucci
If you’re not familiar with the American actor Stanley Tucci, foodies will surely fall for his character Secondo as we did in Big Night (1996).
He also played Julia Child’s husband Paul in Julie and Julia (2009), so it only seems natural that an actor long associated with good food takes us along on a foodie joy ride.
On "Searching for Italy," the well-known actor, chef, cookbook author, and host takes us on his journey from Milan to Sicily and reminds us again how much Italy has to offer.
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Tucci’s Italian-American heritage (he’s “Italian on both sides”) fuels his curiosity for experiencing Italy’s food culture.
He is likable, approachable, and perfectly stylish, and following him is great fun and guaranteed to sprinkle some Italian sensibility into your wardrobe as well.
There's so much to see and learn that you may be tempted to whip out a pen and paper and start jotting it all down for help in planning your future trip.
Lucky for you, we've done it for you here, and can tell you exactly where Stanley went and what he ate while he was there!
Where Did Stanley Go?
Season 1 of “Searching for Italy” has a total of 6 episodes, each nearly an hour long and dedicated to one unique region. Read on to find out more!
EPISODE 1
Naples and the Amalfi Coast
The first episode of Searching for Italy covers the delectable varieties of food in Naples, Ischia, and the Amalfi Coast.
Naples, a city famous for its distinctive geographical features, is one of Italy's most well-known food destinations.
In addition to being legendary for pizza, this city in Campania lives in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius with its long history of violent eruptions (remember Pompeii and Herculaneum).
So it’s not surprising that Tucci’s first tale is about pizza and how its origins are inextricably linked to the looming threat of poverty and death.
Fried pizza or pizza fritta, the great ancestor of today’s pizza, was created during the 16th century as a street food using scraps of dough.
Ironically, the process proved invaluable when the country was rife with widespread epidemics like cholera.
Since most diseases spread through contaminated food and water, sanitizing one’s food was a top priority, and deep-frying bread dough was one of the best ways of doing just that.
Today in Napoli, you can still find this delicacy if you head to Fernanda’s Friggitoria which is famous for its Pizza Fritta de Fernanda.
During Tucci’s visit to Pizzeria La Notizia, we learn how much pride the people of Campania take in sourcing their ingredients locally. That’s why the best way — and perhaps the only way to make Neapolitan Pizza — is by sourcing the freshest bufala mozzarella cheese, the ripest San Marzano tomatoes in Gustarosso, a small area south of Naples rich in volcanic soil.
Meanwhile, in Ischia, Tucci heads to Il Focolare to eat the renowned Coniglio all’ischitana, or rabbit stew eaten from a pot.
Tucci’s last stop in Naples is to the Amalfi Coast, where he heads to Lo Scoglio on the Sorrentine peninsula, where the Spaghetti con le zucchine alla Nerano — spaghetti with zucchini — has been a Tucci family favorite for years.
His final stop is Minori on the coast just past Amalfi to meet the famous pastry chef Sal de Riso in his restaurant Pasticceria Sal De Riso.
Riso serves him with Delizia al Limone, a rich and delicious lemon cake made with succulent Amalfi lemons. Of course, he washed it all down with a tasty limoncello, one of Campania Italy’s most famous digestivos.
If you’ve never tried Lemon Delight on the Amalfi Coast, definitely add this Italian dessert to your foodie bucket list.
EPISODE 2
Rome
For those who want to sample some of Rome’s local delicacies, Tucci shows us exactly where to go. Along with his pal Claudia della Frattina, Tucci goes to Bar San Calisto for a hot cup of steaming espresso.
To accompany their classic Italian coffee, they feast on a traditional Roman breakfast – the maritozzi – a brioche-like bread with a cream filling.
But Tucci’s real aim while in Rome is to find the perfect Roman pasta. They head to Armando al Pantheon and order two helpings of rigatoni all’amatriciana, one of Rome’s famous four pastas served in a rich and spicy tomato sauce.
Tucci’s next destination is Trattoria Pommidoro for the perfect carbonara, and he is accompanied by DJ and chef Daniele di Michele.
Carbonara is a hearty dish of pasta, eggs, guanciale (a cured pork delicacy made from a pig’s cheek), black pepper, and pecorino romano cheese. This is Roman soul food made with the simplest of ingredients.
In Rome nothing goes to waste, not even organ meat. And it might be hard to imagine offal tasting wonderful, but chef Sarah Cicolini of Santo Palato shows us that anything is possible with creativity, patience, and love for your ingredients.
She cooks a few of her specialties — a frittata with mashed chicken offal (usually hearts, gizzards, and livers), wagyu heart tartare, and an oxtail meatball with a unique sauce.
Tucci’s next stop is La Reginella where artichokes are fried until they resemble a blooming flower.
As simple as artichoke hearts may appear, they represent a rich history of community building and resistance, especially for the Jewish population of Rome.
Lastly, Tucci reminds the world of Rome’s incredible unwillingness to change.
But as Japanese chef Kotaro Noda of Bistro64 shows us with his rendition of the classic dish, cacio e pepe, pasta with cheese and black pepper, change is the cornerstone of progress and arguably the best way to preserve traditional recipes in a modern way.
EPISODE 3
Bologna
For the third episode of “Searching for Italy”, Tucci heads to Bologna, the “culinary capital of Italy”.
From parmesan cheese and prosciutto to balsamic vinegar, Bologna has a lot to offer and is popular with foodies for good reason.
It’s about four and a half hours from Rome to Emilia Romagna, the birthplace of the “King of Cheeses”, parmigiano reggiano.
Upon arriving in Zocca, a small village 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Bologna, Tucci makes a beeline for Caseificio Rosola, a creamery famous for its parmigiano and fresh ricotta.
Food this good doesn’t require extraneous garnishing, but is delicious all on its own.
Tucci’s next destination, Modena, is known for balsamic vinegar with a 400-year-old tradition and Tucci pays a visit to the Giusti family at Gran Deposito Aceto Balsamico Giuseppe Giusti, a company that has been producing balsamic vinegar for centuries using small wooden casks.
This is truly a foodie favorite thing to do in Emilia Romagna!
Once matured, the vinegar is the perfect balance of sour and sweet. Just a bit of balsamic vinegar on cheeses does the trick according to chef Massimo Bottura, owner and renowned chef of the three star Michelin restaurant, Osteria Francescana.
And Tucci’s expression tells you that he definitely agrees.
Tucci then goes on to show us Casa Artusi, a culinary landmark dedicated to Pellegrino Artusi, one of Italy’s finest chefs.
Here, Stanley savors a Bolognese ragu made by chef Barbara Asioli, an Artusi enthusiast, but more on this later.
Photo courtesy CNN
EPISODE 4
Milan
Milan is so well known for being Italy's dynamic fashion capital that you probably don't know that it is also the place that invented espresso! The cuisine here has a fast-paced and dynamic nature as well.
In Milan, rice takes center stage over pasta. Tucci heads to Cesare Battisti’s restaurant Ratanà for a classic meal of creamy risotto flavored with saffron and a piece of bone marrow.
As a bonus, Cesare offers a little background on the famed Milanese veal cutlet, which is thought to be an Austrian recipe. But we learn, that contrary to popular belief, this is really a true Italian classic.
Before heading out for dinner, Tucci along with social media star Tess Masazza go to Mag Cafe for a post-work drink traditionally called aperitivo that is meant to pique one’s appetite after a long day at the office.
And just when you think it doesn't get better than that, you find that when you order a cocktail or glass of wine, you often get inexpensive finger foods for free. What a great tradition!
Continuing his underground tour, Tucci heads to Tencitt, a hidden bar in a building that was once home to coal workers in the 17th century. Morris Maramaldi, one of Milan’s most renowned mixologists, creates a charcoal-infused “Tucci” for him at the bar.
Surprisingly, charcoal is an antibiotic with an interesting medicinal history — coal miners consumed it for decades to protect themselves from the deadly plague of the 1930s!
In the Orobic Alps, Tucci visits the Bitto center to meet the world-renowned cheesemaker Paolo Ciapparelli. This visit aims to understand how Bitto Storico Ribelle, one of the most expensive cheeses in the world, is made.
The cheese is more than 2,000 years old and can only be made from the milk of Alpine cows.
So inspired by Paolo’s efforts, Tucci cooks pizzoccheri, a type of buckwheat noodle, to which he adds butter, cabbage, and potato.
Tucci closes this episode at Osteria del Treno in Milan with his wife Felicity, where they enjoy a classic meal of risotto and veal chops.
A former Union hall, people come for the typical local dishes and incredible quality of food made better by the lively singing and dancing.
Stanley Tucci makes his homemade pizzoccheri on Searching for Italy
EPISODE 5
Tuscany
Florence is situated in Tuscany, a region that was once the seat of many wealthy families, including the famous (or infamous) Medici family.
Tucci lived in Tuscany as a child, so visiting this place in Florence was a true homecoming.
In the countryside, you’ll find produce and cattle but head into the city and you’ll discover the lingering beauty of the Renaissance, a revolution in art, science, and architecture that swept Italy between the 14th and 17th centuries.
For this episode of “Searching for Italy”, Tucci meets with Chef Fabio Picchi, who promises to make him the best bistecca alla Fiorentina (an Italian steak) but not without first purchasing the best ingredients from Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio.
If you’re a foodie in Florence, you don’t want to miss this!
The famous T-bone steak was once a Medici family favorite, but was far too expensive to be enjoyed by the poor. In his contemporary version, Picchi uses two secret ingredients – olive branches and salt for added flavor.
Next, Tucci is accompanied by guide Elisabetta Digiugno as they visit Babae, a bistro specializing in re-animating the 500-year old tradition of the “wine window.”
Wine windows, also known as “buchette del vino,” were once popular ways for wealthy estates to sell their wine directly to the public in Tuscany.
As a final stop on his wine tour, Tucci and his companions stop at Osteria Belle Donne for a glass of locally made Vin Santo and a serving of almond biscotti.
Cucina povera, the food of the poor, represents Tuscany’s grittier side. To explore this tradition, he meets historian Leonardo Romanelli to visit the Mercato Centrale market, where they buy beans, a staple of cucina povera.
Afterward, Tucci attends a wheat threshing festival in Ponte Buriano, where he concludes that bread is central to cucina povera — lots and lots of bread!
Bread is then served with several kinds of sauces, but what proves to be the most popular is the d'occhio sauce, made from male geese or “ganders.”
Geese are a poignant reminder of the hardships that peasants endured in the past, as these were some of the very few animals they were allowed to keep.
From here, Tucci heads to one of his favorite restaurants in Florence, Osteria Cinghiale Bianco. This restaurant is famous for its Panzanella, a salad made with stale bread that is moistened, tomatoes, red onion, lots of olive oil, and sometimes cucumbers and arugula.
This was traditionally considered a poor man’s food but now has several contemporary iterations, including foamy panzanella that Tucci eats in another restaurant Nugolo.
Apart from this eclectic mix of rich and poor food, Tuscany also has an extensive coastline which Tucci explores through the city of Livorno.
Here, he is once again joined by Picchi at a local restaurant Torteria da Gagarin, where they sample a local pancake made from chickpea flour.
Photo courtesy CNN
EPISODE 6
Sicily
Tucci’s last stop is to Sicily, whose fertile soil and coastline have created a cuisine so unique from all the rest in Italy. In Sicily, food is simple — a celebration of the sea enjoyed with local seasonal produce.
To demonstrate this, Tucci travels to the coastal town of Bagheria and heads to I Pupi to meet Tony LoCoco for his signature meal, Spaghetti alla Bottarga, which is made with oregano, capers, and bottarga, a salted dried fish roe.
Afterward, Tucci visits Arianna Occhipinti’s vineyard in Ragusa, whose wines made from Frappato and Nero d’avola grapes boast of a tradition that goes back centuries.
Tucci then makes a royal stop in Palermo to Princess Stefania di Raffadali’s palace to feast on a traditional pasta pie.
While in Palermo, Tucci also meets with a local fisherman Beppe Billeci on the island of Lampedusa south of Sicily.
They chat about the immigrant situation in Italy over a meal of Sarde a Beccafico (made from shrimp) and sardines in salsa verde.
Lastly, he visits Me Cumpari Turiddu to try one of Sicily’s most traditional pasta dishes Pasta alla Norma, made with eggplant, ricotta, and plenty of tomato sauce.
Photo courtesy CNN
Our Favorite Things That Stanley Ate
“Searching for Italy” is all about food, and there was so much of it that it became hard to pick a favorite! But here are our top 3 from Stanley’s menu!
First on the list is Bistecca alla Fiorentina – a Florentine steak dish that has a simple but delicious recipe. Typically, it has only five ingredients – steak, rosemary, sage, extra virgin olive oil, and black pepper, but Tucci, along with Chef Picchi, shows us that it is the two extra ingredients that create the real magic – copious amounts of salt and olive branches.
What makes this dish so superior in taste is the quality of meat — a cut of beef from an ancient Tuscanese breed of cattle called Chianina.
The second is the Ragu Bolognese from Bologna. Traditionally, a classic Bolognese-style pasta sauce is typically made with beef, onions, carrots, celery, and tomatoes.
However, the famous Ragu Bolognese has a more delicate flavor and omits tomatoes and oil in its preparation.
Instead, it uses butter, and sometimes even includes veal and pancetta. Pelligrino Artusi, whose recipes have shaped Italian cuisine for centuries, is the inspiration behind Chef Asioli’s recipe.
In Rome, Tucci eats cacio e pepe, one of the city's four famous kinds of pasta and one of our favorite dishes from the show.
Made for Tucci by Japanese chef Kotaro Noda at Bistro64, cacio e pepe literally translates to “cheese and pepper."
This simple pasta dish has just three main ingredients: a mixture of pecorino and parmesan cheeses, pepper, and pasta.
That’s it! It can’t get any simpler (or tastier) than that.
Where Should Stanley Tucci Go Next?
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a region in Southern Italy where the mountains and the sea blend to form a harmonious landscape. One of our top favorite things for Tucci to try is a classic dish made with spaghetti and clams.
Abruzzo is also renowned for Caciocavallo and Gregoriano cheese.
And for dessert, Pasticceria Emo Lullo’s Sise delle Monache, a type of sponge cake with a custard filling, is a must-try.
Turin
In Piedmont, Turin is a must-visit for anyone on the hunt for good Italian food.
When there, you cannot miss trying Bicerin, a drink that combines milk, chocolate, and coffee! We expect (and hope to see) plenty of experimentation with truffles and Barolo wines.
Tucci might even relish Turin’s own pasta, the agnolotti, generously doused with sauce and stuffed full of meat.
Bolzano
Bolzano is the capital town of South Tyrol or Alto Adige, the northernmost region in Italy and home to many Michelin-starred restaurants. Here, people speak various languages, but primarily German and Italian.
The food in South Tyrol combines different local ingredients – potatoes, white cabbage, bread, and cured pork.
But Canederli is the obvious star Tucci will have to eat if he is there - dumplings made with leftover bread and cheese.
This region also has a variety of cheeses, including the Bela Badia, Südtiroler Graukäse, and Stelvio cheeses.
Calabria
A visit to Calabria, a place in Italy’s southwest end, would be special for Tucci, considering both his parents are from there. He hasn’t been back to Calabria since he was a child, so it would be a true homecoming if he were to visit.
Like Tuscany, Calabrian food is renowned as La Cucina povera, or “peasant food,” cooked with local ingredients like Calabrian chili peppers.
Out of the mind-boggling variety of local food, you’ll find that ‘nduja,’ a salty, buttery pork salume, is a must-try.
Hopefully, Tucci will even show us a few of his grandmother’s recipes.
Bari
Bari’s cuisine is known for its abundance of fresh seafood, including octopus, mussels, and sea urchins, which are often eaten raw.
However, cooked fish is also enjoyed with cavatelli and orecchiette (literally “pasta ears”).
Another must-try food is the seasoned Italian bread, focaccia, which also hails from this region.
Liguria
Liguria is home to delicious food, the herb-y kind with various varieties of pesto.
For example, the Pesto alla Genovese is a protected food that can be made only from basil that originates in this region. Pesto bianco, or “white pesto,” is another variety made with walnuts, ricotta, and olive oil.
Another dish that is worth trying is panissa, a polenta-like dish made from chickpea flour.
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We hope this wrap up inspires you to catch the re-runs of Stanley Tucci’s travels through Italy.
As of this update in early 2023, CNN has cancelled the shows, which is pretty unbelievable. Hopefully, he’ll reemerge on another media platform, in time for our next trip to Italy!