Stanley Tucci has an appetite. Not just for food but for culture, conversation, travel, exploration – all the things that make life enriching.
The actor gets to indulge those passions, and take us along with him, in the new National Geographic documentary series Tucci in Italy, now in contention for Emmy recognition. The five-part series finds him venturing far and wide in the homeland of his ancestors, to regions well known like Tuscany and Lombardy, and to other areas further from the beaten path like Abruzzo and Trentino-Alto Adige. Everywhere, the first item on the menu is to experience the region’s food.
On the new episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, Tucci joins hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey to discuss his series, and how it builds on his earlier Emmy-winning show for CNN, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. He tells us how he selected the destinations he wanted to explore, the favorite meal he experienced, and the one kind of food he studiously avoids. His “I’ll pass on that” list is very short – as the series demonstrates, he’s up for eating and savoring a huge variety of dishes including trippa (tripe), lardo (lard) and salad served in a vase.
Tucci also shares his thoughts on Italy’s recent rightward political shift and why he wanted to delve into that in the episode he filmed in the prosperous region of Lombardy, the part of Italy that’s home to the cities of Milan, Brescia, Bergamo and more.
The actor also tells us how he first learned Italian – stemming from a boyhood stay in the country when he was thrown into the linguistic deep end of the pool, or la parte profonda della piscina if you prefer.
That’s on the latest edition of the Doc Talk podcast, hosted by Oscar winner Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.
