Many, many TV and movie personalities have made ‘specials’ of one kind or another about Italy; more precisely, about breaking the code that would reveal for the rest of us who aren’t from that romantic land why it’s so unique, and such an icon of romance, history and food. Stanley Tucci is having a go, now…
The 6-part mini-series is on CNN this coming month, and it features Tucci who – if you haven’t guessed yet – is the little guy who’s such a major phenom in the movie business. He’s been in films and TV since 1985 and he’s portrayed characters as diverse as Leonardo da Vinci and gangster Lucky Luciano. One of his more recent and most celebrated efforts was his bang-on take as Paul Child – husband of the late, great Julia Child (the original TV Celebrity Chef) opposite Meryl Streep in the 2009 movie, Julie and Julia, which became an instant cult classic.
A COVID-19 lock-down mini-special
A humourous COVID-10 lock down social media ‘mini-special’ of his own about how to make the perfect Martini went viral, and the powers that be at the Atlanta news and documentary giant CNN instantly signed him for a new series about the food and wine of Italy.
In each episode of the new series, which premieres this coming Valentine’s day, Sunday, February 14, at 9pm ET/PT, “Tucci visits a different region or city of Italy, including Tuscany, Sicily, Milan, Rome, Bologna, and Naples/The Amalfi Coast’, the official news release says, “as he travels across [the country] to discover the secrets and delights of [its]’s regional cuisines.”
“Viewers will go along with him as he enjoys the luxurious creamy carbonara of Rome, the delicious simplicity of Sicily’s pasta alla Norma, the saffron-infused silkiness of risotto in Milan, the crispy tenderness of bistecca alla fiorentina, the perfect classic ragu alla bolognese (see photo, top of page) and the world’s best pizza in Naples. Tucci comes prepared with a bottomless appetite for it all, showing us how the diversity of Italian cooking offers a gateway through which you can glimpse Italy’s history and culture.”
Sample the wares
Take a few moments to sample the wares of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy in this sneak preview segment from one of the initial episodes, courtesy of CNN.
For the love of Italy
Tucci may be of solid Italian stock, but he wasn’t born there. In fact, he was born in upstate Peekskill, New York in 1960 to writer Joan Tropiani and a Stanley Tucco St., both of rugged Calabrian stock. In 2012, Stanley Jr. published his first cookbook, The Tucci Cookbook, as then-co-owner of the Finch Tavern restaurant in Croton Falls, New York.
While those who’ve worked with him on his CNN special series say his spoken Italian isn’t all that solid, it gets him from one end of the country to the other with an ease and sense of delight that makes anyone who chooses to vicariously follow along with him as a viewer feel as at-home as he seems to.
I can’t wait!
~ Maggie J.