Stanley Tucci returns to Italy with National Geographic series and vows to ‘go more in depth’

By MARK KENNEDY NEW YORK AP You can t keep Stanley Tucci from his beloved Italy just like you can t keep cheese from lasagna Related Articles The Eurovision Song Contest is back Here s how and who to watch Andor is ending It brought untold stories of trauma and humanity to Star Wars The Four Seasons review Tina Fey is no Alan Alda but at least there s the Vivaldi Lovie Simone leads new series that adapts Judy Blume s Forever for TV How to watch the Met Gala and everything else you need to know The Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning actor is once again elegantly roaming through the land of his heritage in National Geographic s new food-travel series Tucci in Italy less than three years after a similar show was axed I think that visually it s more thought-provoking this time around and I think that we try to go more in depth into the stories as much as you can given the format he says Tucci goes from a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Milan where the staff grow their own vegetables Stop it he half-heartedly begs a chef adding salmon eggs to a pesto risotto to cooking fish for anglers on the banks of the Sarca River I m exploring the complex connections between the land the people and the food they eat in order to discover the essence of each region in the country I love Italy the Conclave and The Devil Wears Prada star tells viewers in each installment The people are great Each episode of the first season of Tucci in Italy explores a different region from Tuscany to Trentino-Alto Adige Lombardy Abruzzo and Lazio It was shot over six months from January to July in It s a lot of planning it is a lot logistics But ultimately once you get to where you re supposed to be which isn t inevitably easy in Italy especially in the mountainous areas it s great says Tucci The people are great extraordinary In Tuscany the cradle of the Renaissance Tucci eats lampredotto a sandwich made with the cow s fourth stomach and a beef tongue stew In the Alpine region of Trentino-Alto Adige he skis and munches on beef goulash and polenta near the Austrian perimeter FILE This image disclosed by National Geographic shows Stanley Tucci in a scene from his series Tucci in Italy Matt Holyoak National Geographic via AP National Geographic greenlit Tucci s new docuseries a year after CNN canceled his Searching for Italy despite winning Emmys for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special Much of the same production staff and crew transferred over with Tucci to his new TV home and they embraced the use of the latest drones giving the series a sweep and majesty Executive producer Lottie Birmingham who worked on Searching for Italy and jumped aboard Tucci in Italy says the new series pushes viewers into new parts of the European nation I think before we did focus quite a lot on the major cities whereas this time we ve kind of gone out into the wider regions she says In Lazio for example we haven t just focused on Rome or in Tuscany we haven t just focused on Florence Deeper issues under the surface The series also stops to look at selected of the social issues roiling Italy like immigration and gay rights Tucci and his crew spotlight Punjabi refugees particularly Sikhs who have a key presence in the nation s dairy industry and the impact that Ethiopian immigrants have had despite facing racism and being treated as other This image circulated by National Geographic shows Gurpreeet Singh fitting milking attire onto one of his cows at his dairy farm near Cremona in Italy in a scene from the series Tucci in Italy National Geographic via AP Every country does it and it s never a helpful thing says Tucci And after people assimilate then they often find others to become others So it s just this sort of weird vicious circle The new series produced by Salt Productions and BBC Studios in a multitude of options is more true to Tucci s initial vision which was to look systematically at trends below the surface of what appears to be a happy sun-blasted land The original idea of the show that I had almost years ago at this point was to show the diversity of Italy But also to in a weird way dispel the myth that it s sunny all the time and everybody s eating pizza and pasta and everybody is happy and displaying cheer all the time Yeah that exists but that s not everything It was Tucci who suggested a stop in Lombardy after reading an article about a gay couple who haven t been able to legally adopt their baby boy since the executive doesn t recognize adoptions by same-sex couples There s a darker side as there are with every country says Birmingham Italians are so focused on food and family but what does family mean That was what we wished to look at in that story Tucci s special touch Tucci is part of a crowded field of celeb journey hosts which includes Rainn Wilson Eugene Levy Zac Efron Jos Andr s Chris Hemsworth Will Smith Macaulay Culkin and Ewan McGregor Birmingham believes her host has something special to offer I think he s particularly good at putting people at ease she says He is genuinely interested and it is a real passion for him He s not hosting this series just to host it He loves Italy more than any of us and I think that s really apparent This image disclosed by National Geographic shows Stanley Tucci left preparing a dish for anglers on the banks of the Sarca River during a visit to Italy s northernmost region during the filming of his series Tucci in Italy Matt Holyoak National Geographic via AP One of the series highlights is when Tucci visits Siena a city in central Italy s Tuscany region and watches its medieval-era horse race run around the Piazza del Campo Afterward each city ward hosts a dinner party in the streets where thousands sing and toast their neighborhood I didn t know about that and I just think it s incredible says Tucci who first visited Siena when he was about Italy was a very different place and yet still is very much the same It s that push and pull of modernity and tradition that the show highlights like a restaurant in Florence that caused a stir when traditional regional delicacies were done with Japanese styles and ingredients Tucci unveiled the food delicious and worried that Italians must embrace change They maintain their traditions they maintain the quality But it also stops them from growing says Tucci There s no reason why you can t have both