TV REVIEW: TUCCI IN ITALY - Season 1

4/5

What I Ate In One Trip

5 Episodes. Presented By: Stanley Tucci. Executive Producers: Stanley Tucci, Lottie Birmingham & Amanda Lyon. On: National Geographic & Disney +.

With 'Taste', like his brilliant cookbook bestseller, Stanley Tucci is 'Searching For Italy' once again. Following his cancelled CNN show (damn those Colbert like cuts, what about the Primetime Emmy it cooked up?), Stanley gives us 'Tucci In Italy', like he followed his first book with 'What I Ate In A Year' (mainly pizza). Streaming on National Geographic and Disney Plus, like David Blaine's world of more than magic in his 'Do Not Attempt' series for your home viewing, this gregarious and charismatic actor gives us the best reality show since 'The World According To Jeff Goldblum'. A word to the mouse, don't cancel and remove this one. Bear down on this like Jeremy Allen White's Hulu show on FX.

Executive produced by 'The Devil Wear Prada', 'The Lovely Bones' and 'Conclave' actor, frequent collaborator Lottie Birmingham and Amanda Lyon, these fabulous five episodes will make all corners of Italy famous, like Rome, Venice and Milan. But those passports have already been stamped and the postcards sent. 'Tucci In Italy' begins with Stanley in Tuscany, where he has a look at the art of food in the birthplace of the renaissance. Michelangelo would be proud of all the brushstrokes made across pastry, painted with oil. Yet it's the final festival that will really strike a chord, and the mark on your calendar for making Italy your next holiday. Then, Tucci ventures to the industrial heartland of Lomardy, where he meets a chef who visits the same barber as him (the one, I should, 'Tucci Season' coming soon...sooner than I'd like). Not to mention a young couple of fathers who now face difficulties in regard to their child's citizenship, but none in concern of their love and devotion.

The troubles with immigration, in a time when we all feel it, are also explored, alongside Italy's northernmost region of Trentino-Alto Adige, in the terrific third episode. One that you can ski and fish with, all before getting behind the table with your nearest and dearest for some heartwarming food, fresh off the catch of the day menu special. In the penultimate episode, set in Abruzzo, Stan takes us to mountains covered in snow and treats coated in candy, as more of what makes Italia inspirational takes centre stage on your plate. Yet it's the closing episode of 'Lazio', serving as your dessert that you should make your goal like Serie A. Going beyond Rome, to its countryside, in this lovely lifestyle documentary that has just been renewed for a second season helping. Cultural cuisine. Historical hallmarks. Whether it's the science behind the perfect dish, or roadside diners that could even beat Route 66 in this Italian New Yorker's homeland, Tucci gives us a taste of all Italy has to offer. We'll raise a Stanley cup of espresso to that. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Eating: 'Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy', 'David Blaine: Do Not Attempt', 'The World According To Jeff Goldblum'.