The influence of Frederick II on the origins of Italian cuisine. The volume was presented this morning at the University

Italian cuisine has its roots in the period of splendor and contamination of the great empire of Frederick II of Swabia.

This is stated through a rigorous historical, anthropological and gastronomic analysis, starting from clues and suggestions of the medieval treatise 'Liber de coquina', in the study published in the volume 'The origins of Italian cuisine, from Frederick II to today', edited by Paola Adamo, Valentina Della Corte, Francesca Marino ed Elizabeth Moro, which was presented to the press this morning in the Academic Senate Hall of the University of Naples Federico II, moderated by journalist Chiara del Gaudio.

This volume, produced to mark the 800th anniversary of our university, was initially intended to connect the current world to the time of Frederick II, between the early Middle Ages and the current sensitivity to gastronomy. However, the studies that led to its creation have demonstrated how Italian gastronomy, Italian cuisine, was somehow born and developed during that period, the period in which universities were being founded, a period of particular prosperity, of abundance of food, of foods and ingredients, but above all, a period in which different traditions were being brought together, even from a gastronomical point of view, and that was precisely what happened at the court of the Swabian emperor, at the court of Frederick II. - explained Matteo Lorito, Rector of the University of Naples Federico II.

Before the Industrial Revolution, what made the difference in any nation on the globe was the crop yield, the annual availability of food. A year was good if the harvest was good, and it has been like this for 11.000 years. Therefore, the availability of food products was the basis of the economy of states. Wars were only waged if there was food. The states that did the most important things were those that could ensure production and food supplies, so the availability and use of products were part of the history and tradition of the world. - underlined the Magnificent -. Today, it seems that gastronomy plays a less fundamental role, but agrifood is the most important component of Italy's GDP, along with fashion and aerospace. Therefore, its importance has inevitably shaped the history of communities, which have co-evolved thanks to the availability of food and the ways of preserving and preparing it, and have also evolved with respect to traditions often tied to religions and local customs. Thus, food has always been at the center of everything. This is why the history of Italian gastronomy is Italian history, it is the history of Italy from when it was part of the Holy Roman Empire until today.

The book, which includes contributions by Fulvio Delle Donne, Gianni Cicia, Massimo Ricciardi, Marino Niola, Luciano Pignataro, Raffaele Sacchi, Francesca Marino, and Elisabetta Moro, and recipes by chefs Corrado Assenza, Domenico Candela, Moreno Cedroni, Caterina Ceraudo, Enzo Coccia, Vitantonio Lombardo, Angelo Sabatelli, and Mauro Uliassi, supports the candidacy of Italian cuisine as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage site.

Printed in a limited number of copies, it is freely available to everyone on the Fedoa - Federico II University Press website, which created it.

(https://www.fedoabooks.unina.it/index.php/fedoapress/catalog/book/549).

In the volume, in the contribution of professors Gianni Cicia and Raffaele Sacchi we read: 'The Liber de coquina is the cornerstone of Italian gastronomic culture. In the late Middle Ages Latin cuisine had definitively disappeared and a new gastronomic model was established that was born in that melting pot of cultures that was Frederick II's Sicily. Many scholars have rightly stated that the European gastronomic model was born from the fusion of Latin and Germanic culture. Referring to the Italian gastronomic model, we extend this reading by proposing that it has its roots in Frederick's Sicily (meaning by Sicily all of southern Italy, not only the insular but also the peninsular one), a multicultural environment where Latins, Greeks, Normans, Swabians, Lombards, Jews and Arabs coexisted'.

And again: 'From the Liber it is clear how the transition from ancient Roman cuisine to medieval cuisine was possible and how Italian gastronomic culture was transformed by the mixing of the food customs of Roman times with those of the Arab, Norman, Swabian, Lombard and Jewish populations. Taking into account the historical and cultural value of the Frederick II recipe book, it follows that it is of interest to make a more current comparison to investigate and possibly explain the relationships of both affinity and inequality between what medieval tables offered and what appears on our tables today'.

The curators

“The volume is the result of an extraordinary team effort that involved and saw the interaction of experts in medieval literature and history, cultural anthropology, nutrition and food education, economics, botany, food science and technology, agricultural chemistry and finally 8 master chefs who work in Campania, Puglia, Lucania, Marche and Sicily, regions linked to Frederick II. - explains Professor Paola Adamo, of the Department of Agriculture of Federico II -. A multidisciplinary group of people united by their interest in gastronomic sciences and who immediately shared a common project: the historical analysis of recipes and gastronomic and health precepts of a Liber de coquina written 800 years ago in Latin, and the reworking of some of its recipes in a modern key. A multidisciplinary work that is in line with the Federician tradition and that demonstrates how collaboration and comparison with even very different people are fundamental to stimulate creativity, continue to increase scientific knowledge and create innovation.”

“The idea of ​​deepening the liber di coquina is part of the process of developing knowledge and skills that characterized the Unina 2024 celebrations project - recalls Professor Valentina Della Corte, of the Department of Economics, Management and Institutions at Federico II and the rector's delegate for the celebrations of the University's 800th anniversary -. In this context, three main strands have been identified: culture, innovation and sustainability, to frame and enhance all the scientific activities of the university. In this sense, the recipe book falls transversally and fully into this process, highlighting since the time of Frederick II the attention to two fundamental themes: the exaltation of the identity of places also through food and gastronomy, the healthy and sustainable approach in this context. This approach, so innovative, opens the front to the analysis of today and tomorrow, projecting the ancient recipes into the contemporary context, enhancing their characteristics”.

“This book was born from the idea that there is a historical connection, a bridge, between the Middle Ages and our times, built on the history of Italian cuisine. This hypothesis is demonstrated with the chapters dedicated to historical-anthropological insights; The book also offers modern recipes inspired by the Liber de Coquina prepared by chefs who represent territories known to have been frequented by the Emperor - clarifies Dr. Francesca Marino, professor of Food Education and Nutrition, who is also the author of a contribution -. The volume supports the candidacy of Italian cuisine as an intangible heritage of humanity. Because art and the Italian food and wine tradition not only have their own clear identity but see their origins in distant eras in what were the great capitals of the Mediterranean.”

“This book overturns the stereotype that Italian cuisine was born in the North and reveals that in the beginning there was the Norman-Swabian gastronomic culture that developed in the Middle Ages between Naples and Palermo. Proof of this is the fact that in the “Liber de coquina”, that is, the recipe book of Frederick II, we find the first recipes of masterpieces of Italian culinary genius such as pasta alla genovese and scapece. But also lasagne, tortelli, gnocchi and ravioli. As well as classics of the Mediterranean diet such as broccoli sautéed in oil, fried fish and many dishes based on legumes and vegetables - underlines Professor Elisabetta Moro, anthropologist, professor of History of Gastronomy at Federico II -. In fact, the Liber moves the origin of Italian cuisine to the South and tells the story of the beginning of its European fortune”.

Professor Fulvio Delle Donne, Professor of Medieval and Humanistic Literature at the University of Basilicata, recounts: "According to a contemporary chronicler, the Franciscan John of Winterthur, he fasted and ate only once a day, a practice he adopted not out of asceticism or religious devotion, as would have been commendable for the salvation of his soul, but out of a desire to maintain his physical health. Frederick certainly enjoyed a wide variety of foods at his table, from vegetables to meat and fish, often seasoned with sweet and sour and spicy sauces, including "askipecia," the traditional scapece of our time, still widely used."

From the recipes in the Liber, for example, we also find similarities with pasta types such as cavatelli, orecchiette, lasagne and long pasta shapes such as linguine, spaghetti and vermicelli.

The publication also includes a selection of recipes from the Liber de coquina and a cookbook with dishes created by chefs. Proof that the principles reported in the Liber are found today in haute cuisine.

At the end of the presentation to the press, imagining that it could be present at one of the Emperor's banquets, the Campanian craft brewery Kbirr, paid homage to the Academy of Beer 'Federiciana', with the logo of the University of Naples Federico II, produced precisely on the occasion of the celebrations of the eight hundred years of the University.