Let’s Eat! Cooking, food and flavour in Risorgimento-era Italy

The exhibition, curated by Ilaria Porciani, explores the transformation of the Italian culinary culture from the late 18th century until the First World War. Set in the picturesque Corridor leading to the Chamber of Deputies a Carignano Palace, the exhibition explores food as a key element in understanding the social, economic and political changes of a nation in the making. Presented shortly after the recognition of the Italian cuisine which UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, the exhibition traces its historical roots through a rich selection of ancient cookery books, illustrated menus, antique paintings, copper utensils and culinary equipment.

The exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the various forms of conviviality, from royal tables at taverns, come on historic cafés until the first trattorias and the restaurants. Among the characters mentioned, key figures of the era stand out, such as Camillo Benso of Cavour, a regular at the restaurant On Change, e Pellegrino Artusi, author of the seminal treatise on gastronomy. The itinerary extends as far as the World War I, at which point, in the trenches, alongside the language, the infantrymen experienced for the first time a nationally standardised diet, thanks to the cooking pans and the preserved products.