Tucci in Italy: what an Italian really think about the new Stanley Tucci's series?

The new Disney+ series Tucci in Italy, released worldwide on May 18th, 2025, is a TV show focused on a journey through Italy and its food. As announced in the trailer by the famous American actor and food lover Stanley Tucci, the show aims to discover how land, people, and food are strongly connected, and Italy is probably the best country to confirm this assumption.

From North to South, Tucci in Italy tries to answer the question "how a community is shaped by what it eats," discovering five different Italian regions. As an Italian, I watched the series with a mix of curiosity and a pinch of prejudice, ready to see how many American clichés about Italian food it would include. I approached the series with curiosity… and a touch of skepticism. Will it fall into the usual American clichés—pizza, pasta, and mandolino? Or can it actually offer fresh insights into my country’s food culture?

Disney+'s newest docuseries, Tucci in Italy, hosted by beloved actor and food lover Stanley Tucci, is an immersive journey through five breathtaking regions of Italy—Tuscany, Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Abruzzo, and Lazio. From rolling vineyards and rustic trattorias to bustling markets and hidden culinary gems, each episode explores the local flavors and rich traditions that make Italy a top destination for food lovers and cultural explorers alike. With captivating storytelling and stunning cinematography capturing the essence of Italian food and hosting chefs, food journalists, farmers, and food artisans, Stanley Tucci explores all the flavors of Italian cuisine with elegance and passion.

So where did my prejudices about the series go?

As an Italian, to my surprise the choice to discover and showcase some regions that are not so famous abroad dazzles a lot. Tuscany doesn't need any TV show to be famous worldwide, Lazio and Lombardy are home to the two biggest Italian cities—Rome and Milan—but the choice to include the wild Abruzzo and Trentino-Alto Adige with its strong German culture positively surprised me. In addition, even the already famous regions—above all Tuscany and Lazio with Rome—were explored beyond the most famous and well-known areas, focusing on interesting unknown stories and beautiful hidden gems and landscapes.

"Tucci in Italy" goes far beyond the stereotypes and it has been an interesting, beautiful TV show where I found many wonderful hidden Italian gems and learned something more about my incredible country's food culture.

In the Tucci in Italy series, there is no space for classic clichés about Italy and its food: the focus is on small hidden communities and their local ingredients and recipes. Telling about Tuscany, focusing on the particular area of the Apuan Alps and its marble caves, less known even in Italy, or discovering the rural Lazio areas and their role, coming from Ancient Rome as the breadbasket of the Eternal City, touched me and gave me the opportunity to learn something more about these Italian regions. From 3-star Michelin restaurants to a prestigious old confectionery company, the journey through the excellences made by Tucci is impressive, with many of these incredible realities sited in hidden, beautiful corners of Italy, far from the classic mass tourist routes. Furthermore, what sets Tucci in Italy apart is its ability to blend gourmet storytelling with heartfelt local encounters, finding genuine human stories strongly connected with the territory.

The new Stanley Tucci series confirms one more time how and why Italy is a top destination for food lovers and cultural explorers alike, thanks to its incredible variety of food, recipes, ingredients, and influences, which can dazzle even locals. For whoever wants to travel to Italy, the series is a beautiful visual itinerary packed with inspiration for the next trip: a slow travel, farm-to-table experiences, and regional specialties you will be hard-pressed to find in guidebooks. For foodies, it's a celebration of craftsmanship and tradition, but it is more than a TV food show—it's a sensory journey through Italy focused on what makes my country so irresistible. Without any clichés of pizza, pasta, and mandolino, Tucci in Italy is a celebration for the eyes, the soul, and an inspiration for a future vacation in Italy.