Fifteenth-century manuscript of Libro de Cosina, with 287 recipes, on display in Riva del Garda after restoration

On display to the public after careful conservation restoration work is the manuscript of the Libro de cosina, preserved at the Biblioteca Civica in Riva del Garda. Written by Maestro Martino de Rossi, the great Lombard cook of the 15th century who worked at the Sforza court and in the Vatican, it is one of the best-known texts of medieval and Renaissance gastronomic culture. The restoration was made possible thanks to the cultural patronage project Salviamo un Codice conceived by Vittoria de Buzzaccarini, editorial director of NovaCharta Editori. Also presented at the same time were the facsimile reproduction of the manuscript that will make it accessible to the community and the commentary Maestro Martino the Prince of Cooks. Contributing to the latter were Leonardo Granata, who edited the volume with a paleographic analysis, Melania Zanetti, who supervised its restoration in Padua, and Massimo Montanari and Fabrizio Lollini, who “illustrated” a manuscript without images. The valuable publication, sponsored by the Civic Library and Historical Archives of the Municipality of Riva del Garda, was executed by Silvio Antiga.

Classified as F-MS-1, the manuscript is one of only five extant specimens in the world: in addition to the Riva specimen there are the Urbinate Latino 1203 (known as Anonimo Catalano) preserved at the Vatican Library, the Buehler nr. 19 preserved at the Pierpoint Morgan Library in New York and the one at the Library of Congress in Washington. There is also another copy, in parchment and decorated, whose traces were lost in 1970 after repeated changes of ownership. There is no record of how the work came to be in the Riva del Garda Civic Library, but we do know that in 1936 it was among the documents in the Municipal Historical Archives, and its discovery, by Professor Gianbattista Festari of Pavia, was announced on May 26.

Datable to the late 15th and early 16th centuries and considered a cornerstone of Italian and international gastronomic literature, the Libro de cosina is a manuscript with 287 recipes attributed to Maestro Martino, a cook considered the architect of a true cultural revolution in gastronomy. In fact, this work is considered the watershed that marks the transition from medieval to Renaissance and modern cuisine by experimenting with new taste mixtures, proper use of spices and the use of new cooking systems compared to previous ones, not to mention that he is credited with the first mention of the meatball (pulpita) and the fritter, as well as the first eggplant recipe. He was also the first cook to consider the primary colors of the ingredients as an integral part of the preparation. On cooking times, Maestro Martino gave directions that may seem unusual today but should be contextualized in the era in which he operated: a varying number of prayers (Pater Noster or Miserere) to be recited or sung to measure the proper degree of cooking of the dishes. An ingenious expedient by which the vulgus, to whom the cookbook was mainly dedicated, could adjust.

The Riva del Garda manuscript bears the title and author, but also the name of the Milanese nobleman Gian Giacomo Trivulzio to whom it was dedicated: “Libro de cosina composto et ordinato per lo egregio homo magistro Martino di Rossi de la Valle de Bregna, Mediolanensis diocessis, descenduto de la ville de Turre, nato de la casa de Sancto Martino Vidualis, coquo del illustre signore Iohanne Iacobo Trivulzio etc. expertissimo in questa arte et como legerai prudentissimo.” It is therefore plausible to assume that some of the recipes were prepared for the wedding banquet of the Trivulzio’s son, Giovan Nicolò (1479-1512), with Paola Gonzaga (1486-1519), daughter of Rodolfo Gonzaga, of the Castiglione delle Stiviere branch.

Salviamo un Codice is a NovaCharta initiative dedicated to safeguarding Italy’s book heritage. To date it has supported and financed the restoration of fifteen manuscripts of particular value and, thanks to the contribution of numerous institutions and companies, has initiated a rare example of virtuous synergy between the public and private sectors. With this project, created in 2008, NovaCharta aims to pass on the values of studying and reading ancient and valuable works that would otherwise remain confined to library vaults.

Fifteenth-century manuscript of Libro de Cosina, with 287 recipes, on display in Riva del Garda after restoration

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