Tucci in Italy Abruzzo Trail

Stanley Tucci Shines a Light on Abruzzo – and We Were Proud to Help

At last, Abruzzo’s rich culinary heritage has hit the global stage in Tucci In Italy—and we’ve mapped Stanley’s trail with some extra tips of our own!

We’re proud to have worked behind the scenes, offering insights, contacts, and recommendations that helped shape the authentic portrait of Abruzzo seen on screen. It’s especially rewarding to see so many chefs, places, and native ingredients we championed make the final cut.

We’re also grateful the show explored depopulation—a theme we suggested, and one close to our hearts—by highlighting those returning to rebuild ties with their roots. It’s a story that echoes across the region and deserves attention.

This spotlight is long overdue. A single episode can only skim the surface, but it’s a strong start – and we hope it inspires more filmmakers to delve deeper. It’s also a moment to ask: why has it taken this long, and how can we better share Abruzzo with the world?

Teramo Province

Renowned chef Danilo Cortellini recently returned to his ancestral village of Senarica (TE), tucked in the Gran Sasso mountains, to film a moving segment for Tucci in Italy. Though now nearly empty, Senarica is steeped in history—once Italy’s smallest republic, protected by Venice, and still celebrated for its chestnut festival. Its prized chestnuts even hold DOP status, a symbol of enduring culinary excellence.

Danilo, former head chef at the Italian Embassy in London, appears in the episode as one of two “returnees”—those reconnecting with their roots to bring fresh energy to their home regions. In a touching moment, he joins his mother in the kitchen to prepare timballo, the beloved layered pasta dish of Teramo.

Timballo Recipes!

Curious to try the dish yourself? You can follow Danilo’s recipe for a meat Teramamo timballo on our site, or opt for his equally delicious vegetarian version. He’s also shared his recipe for Olive all’Ascolana with us – deep-fried stuffed olives that make a perfect appetiser and which are eaten frequently in Northern Teramo due to its proximity to Ascoli Piceno.

Danilo’s latest cookbook, Better Than Nonna: Modernised Italian Recipes, offers even more updated takes on traditional favourites, blending innovation with deep respect for Italy’s culinary heritage.

Sights and Feste to See Nearby

Visit Fano Adriano, not just for the extraordinary vistas from its hermitage but its hikes and try the best vegan restaurant in Abruzzo!
Take the funicular up to the Corno Piccolo at Prati di Tivo- open from June 29th thru to 22nd Sept
Prati di Tivo is also Abruzzo’s sledging capital in the winter!
Try beer tasting at the highly acclaimed Casa di Cura
Walk around Pietracamela
Cerqueto Orchid Walk
Try Poggio Umbricchio’s White Truffle Festival
Go cheese sampling at the Mascionara Cheese Shop near Largo Campotosto

L’Aquila Province

Stanley discovers unexpected delights in this wildest of regions, Abruzzo, one hes never visited before. He stops at an iconic BBQ joint called Ristoro Mucciante and meets food and motor journalist Cristina Bachetti, left and cooks with one of the owners, Rodolfo Mucciante. (credit: National Geographic/Matt Holyoak)

High on the windswept plains of Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso mountains sits Ristoro Mucciante—a humble roadside stop turned culinary legend, beloved for its no-frills celebration of Abruzzo’s pastoral roots.

Originally built as the “Way Station Café” set for Autostop rosso sangue (starring Franco Nero and Corinne Cléry), the structure was repurposed in 1977 by Giulio Mucciante. He transformed it into a butcher’s shop beside his family’s seasonal meat stall, once serving shepherds summering on the plain.

Today, it draws crowds who come to handpick meats—arrosticini, sausages, steaks—and grill them on communal fornacelle against the dramatic Alpine-like backdrop locals call “Abruzzo’s Little Tibet.”

The wild and remote Apennine range in the Gran Sasso National Park. (credit: National Geographic)

Just down the road, history lingers—Hotel Campo Imperatore once held Mussolini before his WWII rescue by glider-borne German forces.

Sights and Feste Nearby

It’s more than a place to eat; it’s a celebration of tradition, simplicity, and a disappearing rhythm of life that Abruzzo holds onto with quiet pride.

Sulmona’s Pelino Confetti Museum and Shop

Filmed in Sulmona, the video captures the centuries-old, 3-4 day process of hand-coating Sicilian almonds in flavoured sugar using traditional copper pans. Shot at the historic Confetti Pelino factory and museum, it’s a treat for the senses – and well worth a visit. They make more than just confetti—there are plenty of other sweet surprises to sample, too!

Sights and Feste to See Nearby

Villa San Sebastiano

Tucked in the Apennines near Tagliacozzo, Villa San Sebastiano is a quiet Abruzzese village with a beating heart: its centuries-old forno collettivo (community oven), lovingly restored and reopened by chef Lucia Tellone.

This humble oven was profiled by Stanley Tucci in the Abruzzo episode and highlighted Solina wheat! Once called “the grain of the poor,” Solina thrives in Abruzzo’s mountain soil. Low in gluten, rich in aroma, and golden in hue, it yields bread with a nutty complexity that speaks of deep tradition and time.

Tucci joined locals as they pulled pizza and loaves of Pane di Solina from the blazing forno—a living ritual where old and young still gather to bake, just as their ancestors did. No performance, no pretense—just heritage, risen and shared.

Today, thanks to Tellone’s revival of the forno, Villa San Sebastiano remains a place where grain becomes story, and bread binds generations.

Our much beloved grain heritage grain Solina, just one of our heritage wheats featured in a lovely communal oven at Villa San Sebastiano near Tagliacozzo, don’t forget to try it in beer too and hear us talking about it on our Sunday Live, ‘Sustainable Growth for a Fragile Region’ that we recorded during Covid.

Visit Tagliacozzo – It’s a Long Way to the Top

Try Cantina e Caglinella
Read about the local mules
Hear about Solina in our podcast Sunday Live – Sustainable Growth for a Fragile Region

Castrovalva

Stanley discovers unexpected delights in this wildest of regions, Abruzzo, one hes never visited before. He enjoys a mutton stew with chef Davide Nanni. (credit: National Geographic/Matt Holyoak)

Wild Chef Davide Nanni shows off his ancestral village, Castrovalvalva and family agriturismo, Locanda Nido d’Aquila to Stanley Tucci, showing a life deeply rooted in nature—cooking, foraging, and farming in harmony with the land. His story is one of revival: of identity, heritage, and the bond between people and place, rejecting London and Florida where he was cooking, which felt lonelier than a village of just 15 people’.

This tiny hilltop village in L’Aquila province, famously immortalised by M.C. Escher in his 1930 lithograph Castrovalva. While many know the artwork, few know the village—but through Davide, it comes alive as a place of quiet resilience and deep tradition.

Sights and Feste to See Nearby

Castrovalva is part of Anversa degli Abruzzi, where La Porta dei Parchi, the bio-dynamic trailblazing farm founded by Nunzio Marcelli and his former wife Manuela Cozzi, is located. For decades, its sheep and goats have grazed on wild herb-rich mountain pastures, producing exceptional cheeses—from smoked ricotta to robust aged pecorino. Their cousins, a family of chefs based in New Jersey, in a similar way to Davide returned to their grandfather’s ancestral village and created Marcelli Formaggi, so impressed were they by their cheeses and the village. These delectable cheeses now travel well beyond Abruzzo, reaching the U.S. and appearing in delies and top food halls like Eataly—a true taste of Abruzzo’s pastoral legacy.
Scanno – 24 Hours in Scanno – A Local’s Guide
Scanno – Towering Glorie di San Martino

Chieti Province

Trabocco Mucchiola – restaurant Gli Ostinati, ingeniously anchored to the Trabocchi coast shore. (credit: National Geographic)

Tucci’s trip to Abruzzo wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to a trabocco. Suspended between sea and sky on a historic fishing platform, Gli Ostinati is Chef Gianluca Di Bucchianico’s radical ode to Abruzzo’s coast. Set on Trabocco Mucchiola, just off Ortona’s Via Verde, this intimate, wave-lapped space merges rustic heritage with refined, seasonal cuisine.

Each course in the daily-changing tasting menu is a dialogue between land and sea—local fish, foraged herbs, mountain legumes—crafted with fierce sustainability and deep respect for place. With just 35 seats and a 12m² kitchen, it’s as much theatre as it is table: creative, rooted, and impossible to replicate.

Di Bucchianico’s philosophy is simple but bold—honour tradition, question everything, and cook what’s truly local. On this wooden deck in the Adriatic, Abruzzo tells its story one course at a time.

Torcinello, a traditional sausage, served with scampi, sea asparagus, and sweet pepper sauce. (credit: National Geographic)

Sights and Feste to See Nearby

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Author: Sam Dunham

Sam juggles life as a mum to a teenager with freelance SEO content creation, teaching IGCSE Geography & English at Istituto Cristo Re in Rome, and running the Life In Abruzzo Cultural Association.

She also welcomes travellers to her family’s traditional home, Little House of the Firefly in Abruzzo through Airbnb, offering a warm welcome and insider tips on local culture, food, and hidden spots.