Stanley Tucci’s Piedmont Tour

Searching For Italy

In 2021 Italian American actor Stanley Tucci wins the Emmy Award with his nonfiction program “Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy”. In the season two of the show, Tucci travels through the Italian region of Piedmont, in the very north west of the Italian peninsula.

In the second episode of season two, Piedmont becomes the true protagonist of the story. With its precious white truffles, the risottos, the Italian coffee and the finest wines, the region reveals itself as the gastronomic paradise that it is. Tucci capably describes the region as a magical place defined by ambitious and passionate people.

Here you can read more about our  guided tours:

• Piedmont wine tasting tour

• Piedmont truffle hunt tour

• Torino walking tour

1. Torino

Stanley Tucci decides to explore both the capital city of the region, Torino, and the countryside. The TV show offers a beautiful picture of the city of Torino, with its historic palaces, the porticos, the magnificent squares with equestrian statues, the first Italian parliament, and the many cafés and chocolate and gelato shops. Along this Piedmont tour, it is a continuous encountering of cuisine specialties.

Torino is the city of coffee, chocolate, Vermouth, gelato and a lot more. Here it was invented the famous Bicerin, a cup of three layers made out of coffee, chocolate and cream that must not be stirred, but enjoyed in all its complexity and simplicity. To Tucci, this drink sums up the exceptional reputation that Torino has for coffee. Today you can find Bicerin in most of the historic and modern coffee places, but there is only one true original Bicerin and this you will find at the Caffè Al Bicerin, in a tiny and quiet square in front of a famous church. This place opened in 1763 and it truly is a jump in the past to sit at one of its tables. The appearance of this special café as we see it today dates back to the 1850s. Aristocrats, poets, writers, travellers would come here and enjoy this “powerful punch”, as Tucci calls it, seeking peace and tranquillity inside the decorated walls of this small shop. In 1917 Caffè Al Bicerin passed from the hands of men into those of capable woman and since then it has been run by female generations.

Stanley Tucci also offer a short history class to its audience. Together with a local guide, he explains how Torino was the very first capital city of Italy after its unification in 1861. There was a second city that served as capital too before Rome, and that was Firenze (Florence). While walking through the historic centre of the city, in his Piedmont tour, Tucci soon faces the beautiful Palazzo Carignano that had been chosen as the first Italian parliament at the time.

Right in front of Palazzo Carignano, Tucci meets the Michelin starred chef Matteo Baronetto at the Ristorante del Cambio, one of the icons of the city of Torino. Here he learns how Piedmontese cuisine nowadays often aspire to merge tradition and contemporaneity.

2. Slow Food

After his Torino walking tour, Tucci travels south, toward the province of Cuneo, and in the tiny town of Pollenzo he meets with Carlo Petrini, the founder of the University of Gastronomic Sciences and also per person responsible for the creation of the Slow Food Movement. Carlo Petrini explains how and why Slow Food was invented. It all happened in the 80s, when it seemed that the culinary world had been contaminated worldwide by an urge of living life always in a hurry, meaning… fast food. In Piedmont, in 1986, Petrini started what is now an international slow food philosophy.

3. Italian Risotto

After Torino and Pollenzo, Tucci continues his Piedmont tour to Vercelli, in the north east of the region. Half of the rice production of Italy comes from this area. Here he meets the Michelin starred chefs Costardi Brothers. And it is during a very tempting risotto tasting that Tucci mentions Lavazza coffee, the most famous coffee brand from Torino.

4. Piedmont Truffles

A special place in the Piedmont tour of the episode two of “Searching For Italy” is hold by truffles. Tucci talks fondly about the white truffle, the most precious of all, and then shows the audience a little bit of what the truffle hunting can be like. He finds himself discovering the amazing land of Langhe, where the finest Piedmont truffles and wines come from. As you can imagine there is a lot of competition between the truffle hunters who guards their secret very carefully. The real hunt takes place at night, so that indiscreet eyes can’t spy on where the truffle hunters go. What is very interesting in this kind of experience is to witness the bond between men and their truffle dogs, who really seem to be playing rather than working, but have actually undergone a special training.

5. Piedmont wines

But Piedmont has something else very special to share with the world: its wines. Piedmont counts about 41770 hectares of land planted with vineyards, and 18000 wine producers. Among the most famous Piedmont wines we can find Barbaresco, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Alta Langa Doc, Roero Arneis, Asti Docg, Roero Docg, Pelaverga, Dolcetto d’Alba Docg, Langhe Doc, Dogliani. But the king of all wines is Barolo, and it can only be produced in a little corner of the wine region among 12 little villages.

If Piedmont is on your bucket list, learn more about the region and the experiences it has to offer. Piedmontours will be happy to show you the hidden gems of this very special region of Italy.