The "Libro de cosina" by Maestro Martino da Como, the great Lombard cook who lived in the 1400s who worked at the Sforza court and in the Vatican, will be restored thanks to the Salviamo un Codice project by the Venetian publishing house NovaCharta with the support of the Civic Library and Archive history of the Municipality of Riva del Garda.
Datable between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century and considered a cornerstone of Italian and international gastronomic literature, the "Libro de cosina" is a manuscript with 287 recipes attributed to Maestro Martino, the cook considered the architect of a real own cultural revolution in the art of gastronomy. In fact, this work is considered the watershed that marks the transition from medieval to modern cuisine, experimenting with new blends of taste, a correct use of spices and the use of new cooking systems compared to the previous ones. Martino was also the first cook to consider the primary colors of the ingredients as an integral part of the preparation, anticipating today's attention to the aesthetic aspect by centuries.
The precious manuscript, one of only five existing copies in the world, seems to be the most complete and is kept in the Civic Library of Riva del Garda. There is no news of how it arrived, but we know that in 1936 it was found among the documents of the municipal historical archive and its discovery, by Professor Gianbattista Festari of Pavia, was announced on May 26, 1937 in the newspaper La Stampa Sera of Turin with an article with the explicit title The culinary recipes of Martino De' Rossi "magisto del '400".
The "Libro de cosina" will be restored in Padua at Studio RES where it was entrusted to the expert hands of Melania Zanetti, professor at Ca' Foscari and president of the Italian Association of Conservators and Restorers of archives and libraries. After the war, the "Libro de cosina" had already undergone a restoration which countered its deterioration by preventing the loss of precious historical information and of which the new intervention constitutes a continuation particularly attentive to philological correctness and to the enhancement of the work.
Salviamo un Codice is an initiative dedicated to safeguarding the Italian book heritage which to date has supported and financed the restoration of fourteen manuscripts of particular value and, thanks to the precious contribution of numerous institutions and companies, has given way to a rare example of virtuous synergy between public and private. With this project, born in 2008 under the patronage of the Presidency of the Republic, NovaCharta intends to pass on the values of studying and reading ancient works that would otherwise remain confined to library deposits.
After the restoration and return of the manuscript to the original library, NovaCharta publishes, in the series "Quaderni di Restauro", a commentary volume describing the origins, history and conservation intervention of each work. In some cases, in collaboration with the libraries themselves, a faithful facsimile reproduction of the codex is made, to allow consultation without damaging the original version.
NovaCharta, historic publishing house with offices in Venice and Padua founded and directed by Vittoria de Buzzaccarini, promotes far-reaching projects and disseminates the pleasure of knowledge and bibliophilia, enthralling a considerable number of scholars, collectors, historians and curious about the subject. Among the periodicals published by NovaCharta are Alumina, the only Italian magazine dedicated to the art of miniature and ancient codes and, fresh off the press, the new quarterly that combines the taste of historical in-depth analysis with the culinary art: Cucina di Charta . The first issue could not miss the exciting story of Maestro Martino's "Libro de Cosina", which mysteriously appears and disappears in the folds of time.
Over the years, the cultural patronage project Salviamo un Codice has been supported and sponsored by: the Presidency of the Republic, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Unesco, the Veneto Region, the Municipality of Padua, the Municipality of Vicenza, the Marciana Library of Venice, Library of the Mekhitarist Fathers of S. Lazzaro degli Armeni, Episcopal Seminary of Padua, Tuscany Region, Accademia dei Lincei, Riccardiana Library of Florence, Royal Library of Turin, Civic Museums of Vicenza, Pontifical Antoniana Library.