GARUM - Rome's Library and Museum of Cookery

The Italian Radio Hour

This week on The Italian Radio Hour - Did you know that there is a library and a museum in Rome that houses some of the oldest, varied, and most unique tools and textbooks about cookery? It is the Garum Library and Museum, located just across Circo Massimo and this weekend only (April 5-7th), you will also have the chance to see a very interesting collection of 400 original menus covering different historical periods and international customs. Conceived and curated by Garum and the international collectors' association Menu Associati, the exhibition is free to enter. These original menus presented and belonging to the main private and public collections. Divided in "11 Chapter", the visitor moves from the celebrations for the Albertine Statute, to the granting of honorary citizenship of London to Garibaldi, to the breach of Porta Pia and the two world wars up to the diplomatic relations after the Second World War as in the case of the breakfast menu offered by President Cossiga to Mikhail Gorbachev and to Mrs Rajssa Gorbachev in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. And menus that tell the last hours of the Titanic, the great exploits of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, Umberto Nobile and Francesco De Pinedo. From Hitler and Mussolini's first lunch through the coronations of Elizabeth II and Nicholas II, the last Tsar. There is also the 4-page creased booklet menu of the lunch offered by the Lord Mayor of the City at the Guildhall in honor of the royals of Charles and Diana on 5 November 1981, the same day as the announcement, two hours before the lunch, of the first pregnancy of the Princess of Wales. Collaborating in the creation of the exhibition are, among others, Maurizio Campiverdi, owner of the largest known menu collection, Academia Barilla, Istituto Luigi Sturzo, Panini Museum of Modena, Casa Artusi, Zeppelin Museum of Friedrichschafen and Historical Archive of the Presidency of the Republic. Preface of the catalog signed by prof. Alberto Capatti, curated by Maurizio Campiverdi, Franco Chiarini, Giulio Fano, Matteo Ghirighini and Roberto Liberi. The Garum website also offers a wealth of information so if you are not able to visit this exhibit this weekend, make sure to visit this museum on your next trip to Rome. https://www.museodellacucina.com/en/libray-and-museum/

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