SC - Ren. Italian Sources

[Lenny Zimmermann]

I promised a while back to list some of the bibliography from Gillian
Riley's "Painters & Food: Renaissance Recipes". It's not that easy to
figure out which source she is using where and which ones are strictly
for the artwork and have no actual recipes. I'll try to extract what I
can from it.

Some sources we know of as the main Italian Ren. source books. These
are:

Platina, Bartolomeo. "De honesta voluptate"; Venice, L. De Aguila,
1475.
Messisbugo, Christoforo. "Libro Novo"; Venice, 1557.
Scappi, Bartolomeo. "Opera"; Milano, 1570. 
Castelvetro, Giacomo. "The Fruits, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy";
London, 1614.

In addition, though it is not in her bibliography, she lists the diary
of Maria Vitorria della Verda (1555-1622), a nun in Perugia, as a
source for stories on everyday life as well as a few recipes. 

Felici, Costanzo. "Del'Insalata e Piante che in Qualunque Modo Vengono
per Cibo Del'homo" (According to Riley, this gentleman wrote a
collection of letters evolved into a treatise on salads and the fruits
and vegetables of Italy. A precursor to Castelvetro, perhaps? She
doesn't list publication dates but he is listed as living from
1525-1585.)

Now if anyone finds any translations of the above, please let me know.
I have Castelvetro and Platina, but I would love to have any
translations of the rest of these if anyone comes across them.
Otherwise I'll do what I can in getting Italian/Latin pieces and
translating as best as I may with an English/Italian and a Latin
dictionary. 

Oh, and Apicius is a good source even for Italian Ren. cooking. The
reason is that even Platina refers to him quite often, so it is more
than plausible that you might find a kitchen or party where a feast is
created around ancient roman foods. Especially when you consider the
typical Italian (especially humanist) interest in the ancients and
their culture. 

Honos Servio,
Lionardo Acquistapace, Barony of Bjornsborg, Ansteorra
(mka Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio, TX)
zarlor at acm.org
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