Pellegrino Artusi - Biography

Biography

Son of a wealthy pharmacist named Agostino (called Buranèl, or "little eel") and Teresa Giunchi, Pellegrino marcello Artusi came from a large family; he had 12 siblings. He was named Pellegrino in honor of Saint Pellegrino Laziosi of Forlì. Like many wealthy children, he went to seminary school in the nearby town of Bertinoro.

Between the years 1835 and 1850, Artusi spent a great deal of time in student circles in Bologna (in one of his works he claims to have been enrolled at the University). In the bar "Tre Re" he met the patriot Felice Orsini, from Meldola another town near Forlì.

When he went back to his hometown, he took over his father's business, making quite a bit of money, but the lives of the Artusi family were permanently disrupted by the arrival in Forlimpopoli on January 25, 1851 of the outlaw Stefano Pelloni, nicknamed the Shepard. He took all of the upper-class families hostage, one by one, and held them captive in the city theater, including Pellegrino Artusi's family. After stealing as much as possible, the bandits raped several women, one of whom was Gertrude, Artusi's sister, who went crazy from the shock and had to be put in an insane asylum.

The following year, the family moved to Florence. Here, Pellegrino began working in finances, and he also dedicated his time to two of his favorite hobbies: literature and the art of cooking. His sisters got married and his parents died and so he was able to live of his inheritance thanks to the land the family had in Romagna (in Borgo Pieve Sestina di Cesena and Sant'Andrea di Forlimpopoli). He bought a house in D'Azeglio square in Florence, where he quietly lived out his life until 1911 when he died at age 90. Single, he lived with just a butler from his hometown and a Tuscan cook. He was buried in the San Miniato al Monte cemetery.

His most famous work is La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene (The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well). The title is clearly of a positivist bent. Artusi worshiped progress and the scientific method, which he used in his book. He was also an admirer of the physiologist Paolo Mantegazza. His book, in fact, can be considered a "scientifically tested" manual: every recipe was the result of trials and experiments.

Writing only two decades after the unification of Italy, Artusi was the first to include recipes from all the different regions of Italy in a single cookbook. He is often credited with establishing a truly national Italian cuisine for the first time.