Searching for Stanley

In the port city of Catania, Tucci dined on donkey carpaccio -- "like beef carpaccio, but even sweeter" he says -- and pasta alla norma at Roberta Capizzi's restaurant. "The food is great," Tucci says, "but the magic ingredient that makes this restaurant so special is the wonderful Sicilian hospitality."

Stanley's love of Italy started right here in Florence, where he spent a year living with his family when he was 12 years old. Stanley and his parents visit the historic Florence Duomo and admire the mosaic ceiling, as Stanley's father shares that they brought their family to Florence so that he could study figure drawing and sculpture.

Stanley visits the town of Rimini, where regular Italians go to enjoy the beach, and the birthplace of famous director Federico Fellini. He meets Francesca Feillini, Federico's niece, to indulge in freshly made bowls of cappelletti en brodo and strozzapreti with a tasty meat ragu.

In Palermo, Stanley visits the 16th-century palace of Princess Stefania de Raffadali, the perfect setting to sample a dish that he has come to be associated with: Timballo (Timbale in English) or Timpano. This is the Sicilian casserole-type food that features in “Big Night”. Using a timbale mold, the princess’s chef Maria prepares eggplant timbale, rice timbale, and a timbale with a pastry crust. Tucci and the Raffadali family discuss the international origins of Sicilian food, the mafia murders of Falcone and Borsellino, and the changing faces and flavors of modern Sicily.

Stanley and the crew brave a storm to learn how to cook Stanley and his wife's favorite spaghetti and zucchini dish: spaghetti alla nerano. (Photo: Lo Scoglio)

Stanley celebrates artichoke season by visiting the Jewish Ghetto and Italia Tagliacozzo’s restaurant La Reginella where he tries carciofi alla giudia, Rome’s famous fried artichokes.

Stanley and Mattia enjoy some of Bologna's famous mortadella, silky pork sausage made with pistachios and peppercorns and dotted with sweet fat, at this local Emilia-Romanga deli.

A shrine to prosciutto, Stanley visits this salumeria to get a taste of the real Prosciutto di Parma - of which there are many fake copycats.

Back at Picchi's deli, Fabio cooks Tuscany's signature dish - Bistecca alla Fiorentina - the secret to which is plenty of salt and using olive branches in the fire to give it a very distinctive taste.

"In this city of pizza makers, there is a man whose reputation towers over the town like Vesuvius." The first ever pizzaiolo to be recognized by the Michelin Guide, you can try Enzo Coccia's world-famous pizzas at Pizzaria la Notizia. In the episode, Enzo takes Stanley to the countryside to gather ingredients for pizza.