Stanley Tucci talks traditions and tastes of Italy in new Nat Geo series
The five-part series explores the connection between the people, the region and the food they prepare
Stanley Tucci begins each episode of his new show, "Tucci In Italy" by saying "I believe that the best way to understand what makes a country and its people unique is through their food."
And that connection is what Tucci is searching for as he explores five regions in Italy: Tuscany, Lombardi, Trentino-Aldo Adige, Abruzzo, and Lazio.
The personal stories of those who live there and the traditions they honor are as plentiful as the ingredients that make up the dishes they prepare.
"It just becomes about 'how does that story fit into the narrative,' which is telling the story of that region through the prism of food," Tucci told On The Red Carpet.
The episode covering Trentino Aldo-Adige was special to Tucci, a place he had skied before but never really explored.
"I loved filming there," Tucci said. "I would go there every year, and I really want to go in the summer because I'm fascinated by that terrain. I think it's so beautiful. I want to go trout fishing for real...it's just one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. And I love that mix of the Italian and Austro-Hungarian-German influence. That's a really interesting combo."
He also had a memorable meeting in Colonnata, a mining community in Tuscany. He met a man named Fabrizio, who runs a local butchery which produces a decadent Tuscan cold cut called lardo. Fabrizio brought Tucci to his mother Roberta's home, where she made a meal of lardo-wrapped rabbit. Tucci watched as she prepared the meal and she told him about how she didn't trust her butcher to filet the rabbit the way she wanted so she did it herself. It's a story Tucci remembered as he tried to recreate the dish at home.
"I went to my butcher and I said, 'can you, like, filet a whole rabbit for me and keep it in one piece?' And he looked at me...he looked at me very unhappily," he recalled with a laugh.
"To think that that woman did it, that she didn't trust the butcher to do it shows that her talent is like, yeah. So that was a really interesting one."
For Tucci, filming this series was an eye-opening experience.
"Looking at the history of Italy and that there are people who are doing their best to sustain it, to maintain it, to preserve it. And those are the people you run into a lot," he said.
"Tucci in Italy" premieres May 18 on Nat Geo and streams the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of NatGeo, Hulu, Disney+ and this ABC station.
