The Renaissance of Italian Cooking

Sitting on my cookery book shelf are several celebrity chef numbers, unread tomes on Italian cooking and two copies of 1001 Recipes, a Christmas favourite it seems. But among the usual offerings are a few gems. Books that are worth reading even if you only ever attempt one of the recipes. My current favourite is The Renaissance of Italian Cooking by Lorenza de Medici which was discovered by a friend of mine whilst she was working in Majorca. Her employees weren’t particularly pleasant so purloining the book was her small stab at revenge and now we can all profit from her thieving.

With a childhood spent learning traditional recipes from the family cook in their Renaissance Tuscan villa, a war spent working out how to stretch paltry rations and a married life spent entertaining and cooking for her family in a small city flat she has spanned several worlds in the kitchen. Worried about the disappearance of a style of cookery that she had experienced as a child the aim of the book is to explore and reignite interest in the traditional recipes of the Italian upper classes, cucina alto-borghese, as opposed to cucina povera, a version of which we today know as Italian cooking. Luckily Lorenza is quite at home with the alto-borghese.

Published in 1989 the author takes us on a gastronomic tour of Italy, region by region, from palazzo to palazzo. Along the way we meet Mrs Medici’s friends and family, joining them for Easter, weddings and saints days, for each of which we are given great descriptions of regional cooking and initiated into individual family traditions. All accompanied by wonderfully dated photographs, my favourite of which is a stuffed fox, tongue out, slavering over a roast guinea fowl.

From Piedmonte to Sicily she wends her ways through twelve of Italy’s twenty-three regions. In Liguria we are invited to Giovanna Cameli’s seventeenth century villa, perched high on the coast of the Ligurian sea with a view all the way down to Portfino. Sitting on the terrace we join the family for “A Menu for an Easter Luncheon”; starting with “one of the epicurian masterpieces of Genoese gastronomy” the torta pasqualina (artichoke pie). A delicious mixture of tender artichokes, garlic, borage, ricotta, Parmesan and whole eggs, arranged between twelve individual and countable layers of pastry, top and bottom. Each layer represents one of the twelve guests at the Biblical Paschal supper. Maria, the ancient family cook, lets us into one of her secrets, the tender green colour of her pesto is achieved by only ever using the leaves of plants no more than three inches high. A true labour of love.

Later we enter Emilia-Romagna, home of a panoply of well known Italian delights; bolognese ragu, sweet proscuttio, pale golden parmesan and Modena’s highly prized balsamic vinegar, which Lorenza recalls drinking as a toast at a local wedding in place of champagne. Guiseppe and Grazia Gazzoni, of the ancient Bolognese family (of course), whose dining room is always full of an eclectic crowd of the region’s top brass, invite us in for “A Menu for an Award Winning Author” and the obligatory “Menu for Intellectual Industrialists” who are fond of veal shank and angel hair tart.

The book ends in Sicily with a “Menu for a Baronial Banquet” of fifteen dishes hosted by Count Guiseppe at his country estate, cooked by the famous Sicilian chef Mario lo Menzo. The feast served at his granddaughter’s wedding, for three hundred guests, was so spectacular that it made column inches in a major national newspaper. The banquet starts with crochette di capelli d’angelo (angle-hair pasta croquettes with cheese) and finishes with cannoli alla cannella, irresistible, heart attack inducing pastry tubes filled with ricotta and candied fruit, via sarde alla regaleali, sardines baked in orange, and insalata di limoni, sliced lemon salad. Delicious.

This book is pure bliss for those searching for something a bit outside the culinary box. As with any recipe book not every single dish seems worth the effort or quite to one’s taste but the whole premise of the book and the real love for original Italian cooking that the author imparts are a joy. So, listen up celeb chefs; we want “Menu for a Riviera Repast” and pictures of bowls of strawberry zabilione being held aloft by statues of elaborately dressed black boys. If only.

This book is available to buy online, simply search for "Renaissance of Italian Cooking".

Torta Pasqualina
12 young, tender globe artichokes
juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
1 handful borage leaves
4 fl oz/125 ml olive oil
10oz/300g ricotta
4oz/125g Parmesan
8 eggs
10oz/300g plain flour 
salt & pepper


Discard the artichoke leaves, chokes and any stems. Slice the hearts and leave them to soak in water with the lemon juice for several minutes. Drain well before cooking.
Chop the garlic and borage. Heat 2tbsp of the oil in a saucepan, add the artichokes, garlic and borage and cook over low heat. Add salt and pepper, mix in the ricotta, Parmesan and 1 egg, set aside.
Heap the flour on your working surface, make a well in the centre and put in half of the oil, a pinch of salt and enough water to mix to a medium-soft dough. Divide the dough into 12 parts and roll out each one into 9in/23cm round sheets, as thinly as possible.
Brush a spring-clip (springform) pan of the same size with oil. Place 6 layers of dough, brushing each with oil, in the form. Pour in the artichoke mixture, With your finger, make 6 holes in the mixture and break an egg into each one. Cover with another 6 layers of dough, each brushed with oil.
Beat the remaining egg and brush the surface of the pie. Cook in the oven at 350F/180C for about an hour until golden. Serve immediately.