Searching for Italy: Discover Rome's Four Pastas with Stanley Tucci

In Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, the actor takes a gastronomic tour, uncovering some delicious regional favourites, which are representative of Italian history and culture. In the latest episode, Stanley Tucci visits the 'Eternal City', Rome, in search of the famous 'four pastas'. He gets to grips with rigatoni all'amatriciana and carbonara, and tries a variety of local delicacies, cheeses and sausages, produced in Lazio.

Tucci begins his Roman culinary odyssey at Bar San Calisto with his friend Claudia della Frattina. After an Italian espresso, the first delicacy of the day is maritozzo - the classic doughy brioche buns have been enjoyed in Rome since ancient times.

Lunch calls, and Tucci finds it at Armando al Pantheon, where he orders the Roman classic rigatoni all'amatriciana, one of the city’s four famous pasta dishes. Learn how to make the dish here.

How to Make The Rigatoni all'Amatriciana from Searching For Italy 

Another of the famous four pastas of Rome is pasta alla gricia, the forerunner of the amatriciana dish. The difference is, of course, that it doesn’t contain tomatoes, which only arrived on Italian shores in the fifteenth century, following the discovery of the new world. Pasta alla gricia contains just guanciale and pecorino Romano.

How to Make The Pasta alla Gricia from Searching for Italy. 

No trip to Rome would ever be complete without a plate of spaghetti carbonara, and here Tucci is tutored by chef and historian Daniele di Michele. Carbonara is typical Roman fare, in that it doesn’t contain many ingredients: just guanciale (pigs' cheeks), pecorino, black pepper and eggs. However, making it well is all about technique, which takes practice and the right recipe. Learn how to do it below.

How to The Carbonara from Searching for Italy. 

More Carbonara Tips: In Italian by Luciano Monosilio who is famous for his carbonara. 

The next stop is SantoPalato restaurant, where Tucci is joined by critic Katie Parla to explore Roman delicacies made with offal. This is chef Sarah Cicolini's specialist subject, and here she serves a frittata with mashed chicken offal; Roman tripe cooked in tomatoes; wagyu heart tartare; and oxtail meatballs with peanut, wild celery and cocoa powder sauce.

At La Reginella, Tucci gets to try the iconic Roman artichoke dish, carciofi alla giudia, which features the vegetable fried until crisp. This much-loved dish is one of Rome’s favourites, and has a storied history, as described by restaurant owner Italia Tagliacozzo.

For the iconic Roman dish, cacio e pepe, Tucci goes to Bistro64, where Japanese chef Kotaro Noda demonstrates the alchemy of turning a few simple ingredients into culinary gold. Learn how to make cacio e pepe through the eyes of a Michelin-star chef below.

How to Make The Cacio e Pepe from Searching for Italy 

With Rome’s famous four pastas under his belt, Tucci leaves the city to embark on another culinary trip: next stop, Bologna.