Stanley Tucci explores Italy through its most timeless dishes

Stanley Tucci is no stranger to the wonders and complexities of Italy. He’s traversed the country’s most famous and obscure locales (Florence and Rome, Maremma and Senarica) and has written about its irresistible food in his cookbooks and memoirs. But there are always new things to discover in a place where culture and cuisine are inseparable.  

In a second season of Tucci in Italy, the actor returns to his ancestral homeland to explore Naples and Campania, Veneto, Le Marche, and the country's two largest islands, Sicily and Sardinia. Every meal he eats on his journey, whether simple or decadent, tells a story about Italy’s past and present. In Campania, he tries a dish where the taste of clams is only an illusion: the innovative spaghettino alle vongole fujute (spaghettino with “runaway clams”) that was historically made with stones from the sea to give it a salty, seafood flavor when actual seafood was too expensive. And in Tavolara, he dines on fresh fish stew with the Sardinian island’s king—a man who happens to own the only restaurant in the world’s smallest kingdom.  

As season two premieres on National Geographic (streaming May 12 on Disney+ and Hulu), we talked to Tucci about the original bolognese recipe, the many monarchies of Sicily’s past, and the secret to a heavenly blood orange salad. 

You travel to so many different regions in season two, and one of the things that makes them distinct is their geography. Were there any geographical features that made a deep impression on you? 

Sardinia always is astounding. In the interior of Sardinia, there’s an area called Barbagia, which basically means barbarian. Even the mafia couldn't get a stronghold in there because the people are so fierce in protecting their land and themselves. Sardinia almost feels like another country in a way, and it certainly does feel like Italy maybe 50 years ago. It's incredibly beautiful, and the food is just wonderful.  

Those geographical differences are part of what makes Sardinia and Sicily feel so separate from the rest of “the boot.” After exploring both islands, what do you feel connects them to the rest of the country? 

They're interesting because they've really only been united since 1861. They are Italian, but I think only on paper, in a way. You have so many different dialects, really almost like languages, in Sardinia. And Sicilians will still say, no, I'm not Italian. I'm Sicilian. So that sort of says it all right there.  

They were united because they had to be united, but they were all ruled prior to that by different monarchies. So you had the Bourbons who ruled. You had the House of Savoy who ruled. You had the Greeks who ruled. You had the Normans who ruled. You had the Spanish in so much of Sicily that it feels like you're in parts of Spain still. And they were there hundreds of years ago.  

Many dishes you try this season are described by the people who cook them as “poor cuisine.” Can you tell me a bit more about what that means and how it’s influenced Italian cuisine today? 

All of Italian cuisine is “poor cuisine.” All of it. There are only five to 10 ingredients in any Italian dish, for the most part. If you look at pasta alla norma in Sicily, which has tomato, garlic, onions, basil, eggplant, ricotta salata, and pasta—that’s like seven ingredients, and it’s one of the most delicious things in the world. Even lasagna bolognese is not that complicated. And the original bolognese? The sauce doesn't have any tomato. It's made with a little pancetta, carrot, onion, celery. No garlic, no olive oil. Butter, veal broth, a touch of nutmeg. That’s it. You serve that with tagliatelle, and you cook it in 10 minutes. And those were ingredients that were available to everyone.  

These days, with basically every ingredient available to us on demand, why stick to that style of cooking?  

Because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's it. Why would you want anything else?It's the best food in the world. It’s easy to make. It's inexpensive to make. It's good for you. Everybody goes there to eat it, so why would you change it?  

In season two, you show us where some the most famous Italian ingredients come from. You visit a radicchio farm in Treviso and a blood orange orchard near Mount Etna. What was it like for you to experience those places, and what do you hope people take away from them? 

It was wonderful! [The orchard] was this incredible garden of Eden, this oasis. And the blood oranges, my God! So delicious with wild fennel. It's the simplest dish in the world. Olive oil, salt: Eat it. Have a glass of wine, some bread. You’ll live forever. 

I hope people see that those beautiful oranges they see in the grocery, or the radicchio—which yes, it costs a little. And you’ll say, why does that cost that much?But now you know why it costs that much, because look at what it takes to grow that. You only see it during a certain time of year, and it's very specific. 

And that is also the beauty of Italian food: its specificity. That [Italians] still, for the most part, eat according to the seasons. And that's the healthiest way to eat.  

When you visited a rice mill in Veneto, the owner described his historic risotto-making process as poetry. It seems as though all the chefs, restaurateurs, and experts you meet in season two are passionate about everything they do. Where do you think that passion comes from? 

It comes from an admiration and a love of quality, not quantity, and a respect for quality. And when you create something of quality, you're passionate about it, right? That's where it comes from. It also connects you to the past. It connects you to your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents. And you're carrying on a tradition. And that is something that is worthy of passion.