– THE ANNUAL CHARLES DE CHASSIRON MEMORIAL LECTURE –
HOW WE FELL IN LOVE WITH ITALIAN FOOD
a talk by Diego Zancani
Pizza, pasta, pesto and olive oil: today, it’s hard to imagine any supermarket without these items. But how did these foods – and many more Italian ingredients – become so widespread and popular?
This book maps the extraordinary progress of Italian food from the legacy of the Roman invasion to its current, ever-increasing popularity. Using medieval manuscripts, it traces Italian recipes in Britain back as early as the thirteenth century, and, through travel diaries, it explores encounters with Italian food and its influence back home.
The book also shows how Italian immigrants – from ice-cream sellers and grocers to chefs and restaurateurs – had a transformative influence on our cuisine, and how Italian food was championed at pivotal moments by pioneering cooks, such as Elizabeth David, Anna Del Conte, Rose Gray, Ruth Rogers and Jamie Oliver. With mouth-watering illustrations from the archives of the Bodleian Library and elsewhere, this book also includes Italian regional recipes that have come down to us through the centuries. It celebrates the enduring international appeal of Italian restaurants and the increasingly popular British take on Italian cooking and the Mediterranean diet.
Diego Zancani is Emeritus Professor of Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford University and an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.
He has taught in numerous British Universities, including the University of Oxford for nearly 25 years. He has been a Visiting Professor both at Harvard University and at various universities across Italy.
________________________________________________________________
Should you wish to buy the book “How We Fell in Love with Italian Food”, the Italian Bookshop kindly provided all our members and friends with a 10% discount by entering the promo code 920602 at checkout.
If you wish to attend this event, please register by clicking the “book now” button. You will be redirected to our Zoom registration page. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar
In January 1511 an unusual event occurred on the small island of Murano. The ‘snowball revolt’, involved the small community of fishermen and glassmakers who rose up to challenge the patrician ruler of the island. This story from Renaissance Venice is the starting point for an exploration of one of the lesser-known areas of the history of the Serenissima, one that tells us about the thousands of workers, artisans, officers, servants, men and women, who contributed to the shaping of politics and the institutions of the celebrated Republic.
Claire Judde de Larivière is senior lecturer at the University of Toulouse and honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She studies the social and political history of Renaissance Venice. She has recently published The Revolt of Snowballs. Murano confronts Venice, 1511 (transl. Thomas V. Cohen, Routledge, 2018)
Illustration: Gabriele Bella, La laguna gelata nel 1708 a Venezia, Fondation Querini Stampalia Venezia
PLEASE NOTE:
We may occasionally take photographs and audio/video footage at the Society’s events. We may use these images/recordings for publicity in the Society’s publications, on its website or in social media or other communications. If you have any concerns about this, please let the Events Secretary know.
An introduction to the seminal works of Lina Wertmüller, the first woman nominated for a Best Director Academy Award. Through the films The Seduction of Mimi (1972), Love and Anarchy (1973), Swept Away (1974) and Seven Beauties (1975), it is possible to paint a picture of a changing Italy from Fascism to the liberal movements and female emancipation. Themes woven into the cultural landscape of traditional gender roles and the incessant fight against the mafia are presented with incendiary humour.
Dr Valentina Signorelli is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of East London (UEL). Her research interests include transmedia storytelling, celebrity politics, film adaptation and censorship. She is also a professional screenwriter, director and producer and one of the three co-founders of Daitona production.
Dr Silvia Angeli is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster, London. Her research focuses on the relationship between religion and film, Italian cinema, American cinema, films’ reception and practices of censorship. She has published journal articles on the cinema of Liliana Cavani, Kenneth Lonergan, and Marco Bellocchio.
Cecilia Zoppelletto, born in Padua (Italy), living in London since 1994, has worked as a news producer for the Italian national broadcasting company RAI and as TV host and writer for the Italian network Antenna Tre Nordest. Cecilia is a Visiting Lecturer and PhD researcher at the University of Westminster. Her research explores the archives of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the country’s national film image of post-independence. She is a documentary filmmaker, director and producer of La Belle At The Movies (2015), the short experimental film Falling (2017) and is currently working on the film Jews of Congo (working title).
PLEASE NOTE:
We may occasionally take photographs and audio/video footage at the Society’s events. We may use these images/recordings for publicity in the Society’s publications, on its website or in social media or other communications. If you have any concerns about this, please let the Events Secretary know.
Come and celebrate the festive season with friends and fellow members of The British-Italian Society at Radici restaurant in Islington, the latest creation of the renowned chef Francesco Mazzei!
The evening will begin with a welcoming glass of prosecco, followed by a three-course dinner with wine and Christmas crackers.
In Spring 2017 Francesco Mazzei opened Radici, an authentic Italian trattoria, in Islington, the area of London he has made his home. Radici reflects the Calabrian and southern Italian cuisine of Francesco’s heritage served in a relaxed and welcoming environment. The kitchen is run by Head Chef Giuseppe Cafaro, who has been one of Francesco’s right-hand men for many years.
Places are limited and booking will close a week before the event.
Please note, we may occasionally take photographs and audio/video footage at the Society’s events. We may use these images/recordings for publicity in the Society’s publications, on its website or in social media or other communications. If you have any concerns about this, please let the Events Secretary know.
Italy emerged from the Second World War in ruins. Divided, invaded and economically broken, it was a nation that some claimed had ceased to exist. By the 1960s, Italy could boast the fastest-growing economy in the world, as rural society disappeared almost overnight. In The Archipelago, acclaimed historian John Foot chronicles Italy’s tumultuous history from post-war to the present. From the assimilation of fascists into society after 1945 to the troubling reign of Silvio Berlusconi, and from the artistic peak of neo-realist cinema to the celebration of Italy’s 150th birthday in 2011, he examines both the corrupt and celebrated sides of the country. Updated with new material, this history tells the fascinating story of a country marked by scandal but with the constant ability to reinvent itself.
John Foot is Professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Bristol. He is the author of numerous books on Italian history and culture, including Calcio: A History of Italian Football (2006); Italy’s Divided Memory (2009); The Man Who Closed the Asylums; Franco Basaglia and the Revolution in Mental Health Care (2015); and The Archipelago: Italy since 1945 (2018). He is currently working on a history of Italian fascism to be published by Bloomsbury and Laterza and funded as a Major Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust.
Since it was founded in 1941, the British-Italian Society has worked to promote knowledge and understanding in the UK of Italian culture, including Italy’s history, institutions, way of life, language and wider contribution to civilisation.
The British-Italian Society
86-90 Paul Street
London EC2A 4NE