A documentary exhibition entitled “Pellegrino Artusi and Italian unification in cooking” opens tomorrow, Saturday January 21, at the prestigious 47 Patission Street in Athens. The show is being put together by the Italian Cultural Institute in the Greek capital, in collaboration with the Emilia-Romagna region and the Casa Artusi foundation.
Pellegrino Artusi, the exhibition catalogue recalls, was born in Forlimpopoli, in the heart of Romagna, on August 4, 1820, the only boy amongst Agostino and Teresa Giunchi’s 13 children. The Artusis were chemists and the young Pellegrino, who had set out to follow in his father’s footsteps, studied intermittently, with mainly literary interests. In 1851, after the arrival in Forlimpopoli of the group led by the “Passatore” (The ferryman), and the brigand Stefano Pelloni, the Artusi family moved to Florence. At his home at 25 Piazza d’Azeglio, Pellegrino cultivated his passions, which before “Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well”, resulted in a biography of Ugo Foscolo and a commentary on the letters of Giuseppe Giusti. Artusi would live in the house until his death on March 30, 1911.
Pellegrino Artusi, a moderate liberal and passionate patriot, intended his recipe book to be a contributing factor to the construction of a national culture, having a profound effect on the daily lives of Italians. His broad outlook allowed him to go beyond the local or regional particularism of 19th century cookbooks. Though “Science in the Kitchen” is anchored in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, the essence of national cooking is ensured by drawing from the wealth of different local Italian cuisines, whether through direct knowledge or with help from his audience. His project remained incomplete and uneven, but Artusi’s desire to tell the story of the gastronomic richness of the freshly unified country is very clear. From this point of view, the coinciding of the centenary of Artusi’s death and the 150th anniversary of Italian unification seems particularly fitting.
Author: Fani Toli
20.01.2012
