Stanley Tucci is back in Italy, but this time the journey feels different. With his new National Geographic series, Tucci in Italy, the acclaimed Hollywood actor moves beyond the familiar tourist spots like the Amalfi Coast. Instead, Tucci travels to lesser-known areas like Umbria and Trentino-Alto Adige, showcasing the dishes that define them while offering a closer look at the culinary diversity within Italy’s borders.
After years of filming Searching for Italy for CNN, which was canceled in December 2022, Tucci tells Town & Country that National Geographic’s support gave him the freedom to slow down and dive deeper into Italy’s lesser-told stories.
Much of the show’s first episode on Lombardy skips over Milan, the region’s political and economic center, and instead focuses on the history of Autogrill—a roadside restaurant and gas station chain founded in 1947.
Taste: My Life Through Food
The series also highlights how immigration and climate have shaped Italy’s food traditions, as Tucci meets farmers, chefs, and home cooks who carry their regional histories forward.
Ahead of the premiere, Tucci spoke with Town & Country about why he wanted to return to Italy, how the new series differs from his past work, and what viewers can expect from this next chapter in his culinary travels.
Tucci in Italy places a strong emphasis on regional identity. How did you decide which dishes to highlight for this series?
We visited 13 regions last time [while filming Searching for Italy], I think. This time we revisited some of those regions and went to others like Trentino-Alto Adige and Abruzzo. It was a further, hopefully more detailed look into those regions and what formed their cuisine—whether it’s history, topography, or politics. It’s all those things. I came up with the idea for the series about 20 years ago because I knew there was this amazing diversity of food and culture in Italy, but I never really saw it in cooking shows. Certain chefs were doing it in cookbooks, but you didn’t see it much in cooking or travel shows. They focused on all the same things: the Colosseum, the David, Venice, Naples—or it was always about gangsters or something like that. With the show, I wanted to show the diversity of the people, the topography, the politics—all through the prism of food. This is a further exploration of those things.
National Geographic
Tucci with Chef Matilde Pettini, whose concept is to revive long-forgotten peasant recipes that to her represent true Florentine cuisine.
I know in some of the promotional materials from National Geographic, they said this series is more personal for you. What exactly does that mean for you, from your own family’s history and connection to Italy? How does that shape the storytelling?
It’s always been personal for me. I grew up in an Italian-American family. Both sets of grandparents were from Italy. I lived in Florence for a year when I was about 12 or 13—that was 50 years ago—and it captivated me. I always thought about Italy and always wanted to go back. As an adult, I’ve been lucky enough to go back a lot. The show was about trying to figure out a way to show how complex this place is.
What surprised you the most during filming, about the food, people, or your own reactions to revisiting Italy?
Just how diverse it really is. When you go to Trentino-Alto Adige, you have that Austro-Hungarian influence. All the road signs are in three languages: Italian, German, the South Tyrolean dialect, and Ladin, which is the oldest culture there, going back thousands of years before the Romans. They’re still there, and their food is still there. Through all the wars, pestilence, and natural disasters, these things still remain.
National Geographic
Fly fishing for trout in the glacial waters of the Sarca River in Trentino.
After years of filming these shows, how has your relationship with food and cooking evolved?
I’m still obsessed. I don’t want to be, but I can’t not be obsessed. I wake up in the morning and start cooking. I usually cook the same things. I’ll make some sauce or a big minestrone soup. Usually on a Sunday, I’ll go through the larder and figure out what we have to use before it goes off. You just figure something out to make, and it’s fun.
National Geographic has a different sensibility than CNN. How did the shift in network influence the tone and approach of Tucci in Italy versus Searching for Italy?
Nat Geo has more experience making documentaries of this kind. They were really great. You can only try to make something deeper. If you try to make it better, you’ll fail. My hope is that we’ve made it deeper, expanded it visually, and brought those beautiful and interesting stories to life.
National Geographic
Grilling arrosticini, traditional lamb skewers in Abruzzo and a popular Italian street food snack.
You recently attended a dinner at Highgrove hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla that celebrated Italian cuisine. Ahead of their tour to Italy, did they ask you for any suggestions for the trip? Were you in touch with them beforehand?
They have enough people to advise them, but the whole dinner had been in the works for a couple of years. We came up with the menu with Francesco Mazzei, the chef who actually did my wedding 13 years ago. He’s a wonderful Italian chef in England. It was with him and the Italian ambassador. They said, let’s figure out a menu. I suggested Italian dishes, but using all British produce. Francesco did it brilliantly. He’s one of the only people who could. It’s hard to do, particularly given the season. But he did it absolutely brilliantly.
Looking back on your shows, what do you think Americans most misunderstand about Italian food culture? And more positively, what do you think Americans appreciate most?
I think [Americans] understand that ingredients are crucial, simplicity is key, and sharing food encourages connection. But I think people often associate Italy with things like the mafia—not that it doesn’t exist, but that’s not all of Italy or all Italians. They also think Italy is always sunny and everyone’s eating pizza and pasta. Italy isn’t always sunny, and they’re not only eating pizza and pasta. They’re eating completely different things depending on the region. Trentino-Alto Adige is completely different from Sicily—like two different countries. That’s what I want people to see: how complex it is.
Tucci in Italy premieres on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET on National Geographic. All episodes will be available for streaming the following day on Disney+ and Hulu. Sign Up
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.