Pellegrino Artusi
“He was a businessman and a cultured man but, for future memory, his name will refer to excellent Italian cuisine by antonomasia” Alberto Capatti
A gastronome and man of letters, acknowledged father of modern cookery and great promoter of the Italian language, Pellegrino Artusi was born in Forlimpopoli on the 4th of August 1820. On completing his studies, he began dealing with his father’s business and, as a result, travelled as a merchant around various regions of the Italian peninsula. The following year, on the tragic night of the 25th of January 1851, when Forlimpopoli was violently attacked by the band of the Passatore, an infamous highwayman, the Artusi family left Forlimpopoli and moved to Florence. A wealthy man, at the age of 45 Artusi was able to concentrate on his passions, culture and cuisine, full-time. Bourgeois, liberal and witty, he is the author of the bestselling manual, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. Artusi dedicated the last twenty years of his life to this literary work which marks the history of the national gastronomic identity. He died in Florence in 1911 at the age of 91.
The Gastronomic Library
Casa Artusi houses the gastronomic library with the Collezione Artusiana (Artusi Collection) and Raccolta di Gastronomia Italiana (Italian Gastronomy Collection). A space which is the ideal reconstruction of Artusi’s study, it contains his books and documents and is open to visitors and scholars within the framework of the municipal library of Forlimpopoli.
Festa Artusiana
Every year, at the end of June, the town of Forlimpopoli pays homage to Pellegrino Artusi by turning itself into an open-air restaurant. The streets and various areas of the historic centre are renamed, according to Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.
