Stanley Tucci Once Called This Dish “One of the Best Things” He’s Ever Eaten

Italian regional dishes continue to find new global audiences through television, tourism, and social media. One of the clearest examples remains Stanley Tucci’s praise for spaghetti alla Nerano, a zucchini pasta linked to the village of Nerano on Italy’s Sorrento Peninsula. The moment that pushed the dish into wider public view came in CNN’s February 14, 2021, premiere of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.

The TV moment that made the dish a headline

CNN’s Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy debuted on February 14, 2021, with the episode “Naples and the Amalfi Coast,” according to CNN’s press materials and episode listings. In that episode, Tucci tasted spaghetti alla Nerano and described it as “one of the best things” he had ever eaten, a line that has continued to circulate in food coverage and recipe stories. The dish was presented as a local specialty in Campania, the southern Italian region that includes Naples, the Sorrento Peninsula, and the Amalfi Coast.

Coverage that followed helped cement the quote in the food media cycle. The Independent later described the scene as Tucci calling the pasta “one of the best things he’s ever eaten,” while The Daily Meal and other outlets tied the comment directly to spaghetti alla Nerano. That repeated attribution matters because it moved the pasta from regional specialty to recognizable international dish.

The dish itself is notably simple. Reports describing the episode identify spaghetti alla Nerano as pasta dressed with fried zucchini, cheese, and basil, with some versions emphasizing Provolone del Monaco as a key local ingredient. Its rise was less about a new launch or corporate campaign than a specific on-camera endorsement that audiences remembered.

Why Nerano and the Amalfi Coast stayed central to the story

The geography is unusually important in this case because the dish is not just “Italian pasta” in a broad sense. The New Yorker reported that Tucci visited Nerano, described as a village on the Sorrento Peninsula at the beginning of the Amalfi Coast, and that the appearance helped raise the profile of spaghetti alla Nerano and draw visiting diners. That makes the local impact more specific than a general tourism bump for Italy.

The restaurant most often connected to Tucci’s televised meal is Lo Scoglio da Tommaso, which has been repeatedly cited in follow-up coverage. Forbes, in a 2026 travel piece, also referenced Lo Scoglio on the Amalfi Coast when pointing readers to the signature dish Tucci praised on television. Even years later, the dish remains tied to that coastline in travel and dining coverage.

What is less clear is any verified count of how much tourism or restaurant traffic increased because of the episode. Public reporting has described a steady stream of visitors and heightened interest, but a comprehensive official tally of affected businesses in Nerano or along the Amalfi Coast has not been publicly released. The confirmed point is narrower: the dish’s modern fame remains anchored to Campania, and specifically to Nerano and nearby coastal dining destinations.

What the quote says about food media and what diners can expect

The wider context is that food television increasingly shapes destination dining. In this case, Tucci’s endorsement worked because it elevated a highly localized dish without changing its identity. The New Yorker noted that the segment gave spaghetti alla Nerano A-list culinary prominence, while later food and travel coverage continued to use his praise as shorthand for the dish’s appeal.

That pattern also reflects what audiences respond to now: specificity, place, and recognizable ingredients. Spaghetti alla Nerano is not a mass-market branded product or a seasonal chain menu item. It is a regional pasta with a clearly defined origin story in Campania and a television moment that made viewers want to seek out the original.

For diners, the practical takeaway is straightforward. Anyone encountering the dish today should expect a zucchini-based pasta closely associated with Nerano, typically built around spaghetti, fried zucchini, basil, and cheese, though restaurant versions may vary. The dish’s public identity still rests on the same factual touchpoints: a February 14, 2021 CNN episode, a meal on the Amalfi Coast, and Tucci’s now-famous assessment that it ranked among the best things he had ever eaten.