Where Stanley Tucci Ate: A Season Two Guide to ‘Searching for Italy’
If you’ve spent any time watching Stanley Tucci wander through Italy on screen, you know the drill: by the second episode, you’re already eyeing your own kitchen with a mixture of longing and resentment. Season two of “Searching for Italy” follows the actor across four distinct regions — Liguria, Puglia, Sardinia, and one more — stopping at everything from cliffside family kitchens to Michelin-starred caves. Here’s where he went, what he ate, and why each spot matters.
Liguria: The Italian Riviera’s Inventions
Liguria is that glamorous, cliff-hugging strip of coastline home to Portofino and Cinque Terre — two of Italy’s most visited destinations. The terrain is harsh, steep, and not particularly forgiving for agriculture, which is precisely why the locals got creative. This is the birthplace of pesto, one of Tucci’s personal favorites.
Cracco Portofino — Run by Carlo Cracco, one of Italy’s most famous Michelin-starred chefs. His menu ties dishes directly to the land. For Tucci, he prepared pansotti, a ravioli-like pasta stuffed with preboggion (a mixture of wild greens and herbs) and served with walnut sauce. Tucci called it “very different than anything I’ve ever tasted.”
Il Genovese — The pesto temple of Genoa. Chef Roberto Panizza, known as the King of Pesto and founder of the Pesto World Championship, crushes his pesto by hand in an ancient mortar. He served Tucci pesto pasta with green beans and potatoes added for extra creaminess. Tucci joked: “So humble, this dish. So humble, just like me.”
Antico Forno della Casana — According to food writer Laurel Evans, this spot makes some of the best focaccia in the region. The dimpled bread is a working-class staple that originated in Genoa. The local eating trick: turn it upside down so the salt hits your tongue first.
The Cook — Chef Ivano Ricchebono’s restaurant sits inside a 14th-century palazzo in Genoa. Tucci exclaimed “Wow! Wow! Wow!” upon entering. Ricchebono focuses on seasonal and local ingredients. Tucci tried corzetti, a Genoese pasta, and cappon magro, an ornate seafood dish whose presentation left him visibly in awe.
Ittiturismo — Built into the cliffs of Cinque Terre, this is both a family home and a restaurant. Son Pietro Galletti cooks the fish his father Guido forages from the surrounding waters. Tucci joined the family for lunch on their terrace, feasting on pasta with fish sauce and fried anchovies stuffed with cheese and herbs, then covered in breadcrumbs.
Puglia: The Boot’s Culinary Pride
Puglia — the heel of Italy’s boot — is famous for its olive oil, vegetables, cheeses, and durum wheat. It’s one of Italy’s poorest regions economically, but Tucci finds a newfound pride in its gastronomic roots. The food here is simple, fresh, and fiercely local.
Urban Bistrot — In Bari, chef Celso Laforgia makes pasta all’assassina (assassin pasta): a spicy, charred dish cooked in a pan with olive oil and spices but no water, until the pasta burns and crisps. Tucci said he’d “never seen anything like that before.” Laforgia explained the dish got its name when the first person to try it called the chef a killer because it was so spicy.
Antichi Sapori — The name means “ancient flavors,” and this Montegrosso restaurant elevates humble ingredients into world-class cuisine. Chef Pietro Zito served Tucci burnt grain orecchiette in fava bean cream with burrata cheese and charred black olives. “It’s the balance of flavors,” Zito said. Tucci’s response: “That’s amazing. Now, I can’t stop eating.”
Trattoria Bere Vecchie — Tucked into the alleyways of hilltop Cisternino, this is a butcher shop that cooks meat on the spot. Run by Vito Zurlo, the building was historically a pharmacy. Meat is spit-roasted in a style reminiscent of Turkish kebabs. Tucci tried bombette (pork rolls stuffed with cheese, herbs, and red pepper) and gnumareddi (lamb wrapped in intestines).
Caseificio Dicecca — A one-of-a-kind cheese bar where Vito Dicecca created something unprecedented in the region: Apulian blue cheese. He’s developed 66 different types over time. He served Tucci focaccia with burrata — the same combination Dicecca’s mother used to make for his school lunches.
Ristorante Vitantonio Lombardo — An abandoned cave in ancient Matera turned Michelin-starred restaurant. Chef Vitantonio Lombardo creates dishes with inventive names like “I dropped the Egg in the Garden” and “Drone View of the Murgia.” For Tucci, he made “Poverty and nobility with a red wine sauce” — veal filet and veal throat (sweetbread) covered in black breadcrumb to resemble black truffle, served with potato puree and red-wine reduction. Tucci’s verdict: “That is f**king amazing.”
Sardinia: An Island of Layers
Sardinia is Italy’s most remote region, cut off from the peninsula and shaped by centuries of successive settlers. Eating here is, as Tucci frames it, a culinary archaeological dig. The coast offers seafood and Mediterranean cultural crosscurrents; the interior holds steep, rocky terrain where locals cling to ancient traditions.
Fradis Minoris — Sources fresh seafood daily from surrounding waters. Its sustainable menu earned it a Michelin Green Star — the first in Sardinia. Chef Francesco Stara prepared fregola ai frutti di mare, featuring fregola, a couscous-like pasta inspired by North African cuisine.
Luigi Pomata — Owner and chef Luigi Pomata is known as the king of tuna, with raw seafood center stage. He cooked Tucci local bluefin tuna with pesto in a traditional dish called cassulli alla carlofortina. Surprisingly, Pomata prepares it by boiling fresh tuna belly. “That’s delicious,” Tucci declared.
Al Forno — A small bakery in Alghero, the medieval city known as “little Barcelona.” Tucci ordered panada, a Sardinian savory pie whose name likely derives from the Spanish empanada. “Oh my God!” Tucci proclaimed. “It’s like Italy and Spain together in my mouth.”
Mabrouk — A former 16th-century monastery turned restaurant. Chef Antonietta Salaris works with local lobster considered among the world’s best. She prepares lobster a la Catalana, a regional favorite. In the US, lobster eggs are often thrown away — but here, nothing goes to waste.