Rethinking Luxury Travel in Italy
After the widespread success of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, Stanley Tucci is back with a new Italian travel show: Tucci in Italy. In this new series, Tucci travels across the country in search of the food, people, and land that make up the identity of Italy’s many regions. The show spans from the snowy peaks of Trentino-Alto Adige to the rustic kitchens of Abruzzo and each episode reveals just how layered and distinct Italian culture can be. It’s a series that has not only entertained, but also reminded many of why Italy continues to inspire such deep fascination.
What stands out most, though, isn’t just the scenery or the food. It’s the people Tucci meets along the way, like the cheesemakers, butchers, farmers, home cooks, and winemakers who share their histories, values, and everyday rituals. In doing so, the show offers something quietly radical: a redefinition of what luxury travel can be.
Luxury, in this context, isn’t necessarily marble bathrooms or Michelin stars (although those are nice as well). It’s access to culture through relationships. It’s the chance to sit at someone’s table, to hear the story behind a local tradition, or to witness a way of life that’s been passed down over generations. These are the kinds of experiences that linger long after the suitcase is unpacked.
This blog explores how Tucci in Italy reflects a model of travel that resonates with how we like to travel, and how we think Italy should be experienced—in a way that is immersive, intentional, rooted in place, and led by connection rather than consumption.
Beyond the Villa: The Rise of Meaningful Luxury
For a long time, luxury travel was defined by what you could buy or access: the luxury hotel, the tasting menu with a three-month waitlist, the high-end stores and boutiques. These comforts still have their place, but for many travelers today, they no longer tell the whole story.
For many travelers, there has been a quiet shift in what luxury means. Many are increasingly looking for something less polished and more personal—something that can’t be replicated or reserved in advance. It’s no longer just about where you stay or what you eat, but about who you meet, what you learn, and how you feel while you’re there.
Tucci’s travels in his new show model this beautifully. In each episode, many of the most memorable moments don’t happen in grand hotels or behind velvet ropes. They happen in humble kitchens, crowded marketplaces, and in conversation with the local people. They come from being invited into someone’s world, even briefly, and being changed by the exchange.
This kind of travel isn’t always obvious from the outside, but it’s deeply felt by those who experience it. And it’s increasingly what today’s most thoughtful travelers are seeking: intimacy, authenticity, and connection, rather than spectacle. Not just a nice view, but a meaningful one.
Tuscany: Humble Origins, Lasting Richness
In the Tuscany episode of Tucci in Italy, the focus isn’t on fine dining in Florence or luxury estates in Chianti. Instead, it turns toward the traditions of the local people and their relationship with the land. Tucci spends time exploring the history of “cucina povera,” or peasant cooking, a tradition born from scarcity that has come to define much of the region’s culinary identity. He also meets the butteri, Tuscany’s cowboys, who herd the longhorn cattle behind the famous Florentine steak.
His explorations here remind us that behind even the most iconic dishes lies a web of tradition, labor, and deep regional pride. A bistecca alla fiorentina is not just a steak, it’s the result of generational knowledge and a culture that values quality over speed. When you understand who raised the cattle, where the animal grazed, and why the recipe has endured, the meal becomes far more than a bite to eat. It becomes a story you’re stepping into.
In this way, Tuscany challenges the idea that luxury means extravagance. The real richness is in the details, like knowing where your food comes from, and in the quiet privilege of connecting with people who carry those traditions forward. Understanding the culinary heart of a region is about more than how the food tastes, isn’t just about flavor. It’s a gateway to understanding a place, its history, and the values that continue to shape it.
Local Vendor Spotlight:
Villa Le Prata is a good example of what we mean when we talk about meaningful luxury. It’s not a hotel—it’s a lived-in home with history, cared for by a family who still makes wine on the property. There are only a few rooms and each one is different, filled with furniture that’s been passed down or made by local artisans.
The owners work the land themselves, producing a small number of Brunello wines from micro-vineyards they’ve carefully studied and divided based on soil and sun. It’s a thoughtful, hands-on approach that reflects the same values you see in the region’s food traditions: respect for place, care for detail, and pride in doing things well.
Staying here isn’t about luxury for luxury’s sake. It’s about being in a space where you can feel the connection between the land, the people, and what they’ve built together over time
Connection in the Mountains: Trentino-Alto Adige’s Alpine Traditions
The Dolomites, partially found in the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige, are often described in terms of their beauty, and with good reason. Their iconic peaks and sweeping valleys drawn in photographers, hikers, and skiers from around the world. But in Tucci in Italy, the region is revealed as more than just a scenic backdrop. Tucci is able to demonstrate that it is a place where culture, landscape, and history are tightly woven together.
Trentino-Alto Adige is home to a distinct alpine identity shaped by centuries of living with the land. In the episode, Tucci meets locals whose traditions, culinary and otherwise, are deeply rooted in the climate and regional traditions. Generational farms, hearty mountain dishes, and architecture built to withstand the snow all reflect a way of life that has adapted to thrive in this incredibly variable part of the country .
It’s a reminder that when you visit the Dolomites, you step into a cultural ecosystem that’s still very much alive and changes from valley to valley. From handcrafted cheeses aged in mountain huts to family-run guesthouses that have hosted travelers for decades, everything here carries a sense of purpose and place.
This episode highlights just how different each region of Italy is, in everything from weather, to language, to food, and culture. This episode centers the stories of the local people and what it means to live in the shadow of these magnificent mountain ranges. The best way to get a sense of this area for yourself is through things like listening to a cheesemaker talk about their land, or tasting something that could only be made here, or realizing that you’re not just passing through—you’re participating, if only briefly, in something enduring.
Abruzzo: Underrated Regions, Unfiltered Italy
In Tucci in Italy, the Abruzzo episode makes a strong case for slowing down and looking beyond the obvious. Tucked between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic Sea, this region doesn’t always make it onto a first-time traveler’s itinerary, but that’s exactly what makes it so compelling.
The episode highlights what makes the region so special: its resilience, its deep ties to the hills and sea, and its food culture, which is shaped deeply by both. Tucci explores everything from coastal fishing traditions to inland pastoral cooking, revealing a place that’s proud of its roots and unafraid to stay close to them. You can see it in the dishes which are simple, seasonally driven, and fiercely local. But you also feel it in the people he meets, many of whom carry on traditions that have been quietly sustained for generations, like the use of trabacchi fishing huts that define the Abruzzese coastline.
Real luxury, in this context, is the chance to discover something unscripted. To stand on a windswept coastline, share a dish with someone who still makes it the way their grandmother did, and realize that you’re not just seeing Italy, you’re getting a sense of what life in Italy is truly like.
Lazio: Hidden Layers Beyond Roman Hot Spot
Rome often defines how travelers think about Lazio. It’s a city that captures the imagination, and understandably so. But in Tucci in Italy, the Lazio episode makes a subtle but important shift: it looks beyond the capital to explore the ways of life that exist elsewhere in the region. What emerges is a fuller, more contextualized portrait of Lazio that is shaped just as much by its villages, landscapes, and withstanding traditions as by its monuments.
The episode highlights a deeply rooted seasonal cuisine and the people who carry it forward. Tucci visits local cooks, food producers, and families who speak with pride about their ingredients, many of which come from just a few kilometers away. It’s not just about eating, it’s also about understanding how food ties people to place, and how communities sustain themselves through shared knowledge and care.
What’s especially compelling in this episode is the way connection happens in the everyday. In small cafés, town piazzas, and community kitchens, you see what sociologists call “third places”—public or semi-public spaces where people gather, talk, and build relationships outside of work or home. In these places, visitors can become immersed in the day to day habits of the local people.
By stepping outside Rome’s city limits, Tucci helps the audience to rethink what they may expect from well-known regions. Lazio has its landmarks, but it also has a slower, steadier heartbeat that comes from the local rhythms. For those willing to look a little closer, it offers the kind of connection that makes travel feel human, and connects the historical beauty of the region to the modern day culture of the people that live there.
Local Vendor Spotlight:
Just north of Rome, in the town of Caprarola, Trattoria del Cimino is what it looks like when generations of tradition evolve without losing their roots. Run by Samuela Calistri, a fifth-generation member of the family, the trattoria combines deep local knowledge with experience from some of the top restaurants and wine programs across Europe. But this isn’t a place trying to impress. It’s a place trying to preserve and share the Italian way of life.
The restaurant’s private wine cellar houses over a thousand labels, with a special focus on the Tuscia region, where Samuela grew up. Guests are able to visit the cellar themselves and choose their wine in conversation with a sommelier, not from a list. It’s a small detail, but one that speaks to the trattoria’s philosophy: food and wine are meant to be personal, local, and shared.
This is the kind of experience Tucci’s Lazio episode brings to life, where connection happens over a meal, and where local knowledge is part of the culture, not curated for show. You don’t just eat well here. You understand something about the people who’ve kept it going.
Exploring the Authentic Italy: Where Meaning Meets Beauty
Tucci in Italy reminds us that today’s most meaningful travel experiences aren’t just built around extravagance, but also connection. Some of the best luxuries when traveling are emotional: found in the stories behind a dish, the conversations exchanged over a shared meal, and the sense of place that comes from engaging with a culture on its own terms.
Throughout the series, Tucci shows us what’s possible when you approach a destination with curiosity, humility, and care. It’s not about checking boxes or collecting sights, but rather stepping into someone else’s world and being willing to learn.
Plan Your Next Adventure
That’s the kind of travel we believe in. At Life Beyond The Room, we help travelers experience places by connecting with local life in ways that are honest, immersive, and deeply personal. Whether it’s sitting down to lunch with a cheesemaker in South Tyrol, joining a cooking lesson in a Tuscan farmhouse, or walking through the Apennines with someone who knows the land by heart—these aren’t tours. They’re conversations. Exchanges. Relationships.
And they’re what stay with you. Long after the trip is over, it’s not the view from the hotel that lingers—it’s the people you met, the stories you heard, and the way a place made you feel.
The most rewarding way to explore Italy, beyond the guidebooks, is by looking at those that have inhabited the land for generations. We’d love to show you how by helping you create a journey that’s rooted in real connection.
Disclaimer: This blog post was inspired by themes explored in Tucci in Italy, a CNN Original Series hosted by Stanley Tucci. We are not affiliated with Stanley Tucci, CNN, or the production of the series. All mentions are for editorial and commentary purposes only, in celebration of Italian culture and travel.