Vacchetta dei cibari dell’almo collegio della Sapienza Nuova di Perugia (Food register of the noble Collegio of the Sapienza Nuova in Perugia)

ASUPg, Sapienza Nuova, Libri di cucina (Kitchen registries), reg. n. 27

Tanned leather, cardboard bound paper register

In the synthetic prospectus of this 1766-73 kitchen register, we can find all of the typical dietary habits that were common within the city walls of Perugia: a diet somewhere in between the humble meal of a farmer and the lavish ceremonial banquets of nobles, with a wide variety of local and imported foods used within the boundaries of the traditional values of moderation and temperance.

During the XVIII Century in Perugia the traditional Medieval and Renaissance recipes undergo a renewal, the essential elements of which can be traced back by examining these menus.

In the refectory of the Sapienza Nuova the staples of the Mediterranean Diet (oil, wheat and wine, produced in the Sapienza Nuova lands) were still served, but we can also observe an increase in the consumption of ingredients such as butter, used as a fat in the preparation of meals. We can also find a wider variety of vegetables, a pre-eminence of meat and fish proteins (with new cuts of meat and new species of fish), a decrease in the consumption of spices, and we can observe that rice and pasta-based first courses (rice soups, maccheroni, pies, vermicelli, pastina) were present on a daily basis on the menus. Sugar is also mentioned almost daily, used for the preparation of both pastries and fruits and usually served at the end of dinner.

The open page on display shows the lavish meal prepared for the day of Mardi Gras in 1768; dishes of the Umbrian tradition were served (celery soup, goat head, maccheroni pie, black truffles), as well as parmesan (a typical seasoned cheese from Emilia) and a buffalo provola cheese from Lazio, desserts and liquors (bocca di dama, brugnioli, spirito di cedrata, sugar, almonds and cinnamon). On the day following Ash Wednesday, on the contrary, only fish was served (anchovies and mullet) along with vegetables and some maritozzi (a typical sweet Roman bread that was the only type allowed during Lent) as a dessert, so as to conform to the precepts of the Catholic Church.