Leopardi's Neapolitan Affair - Dining and Cooking

The poet, the philosopher, the man, and last but not least, the gastronome. Giacomo Leopardi and his love affair with Naples are explored in the latest issue of ‘Infiniti Mondi’, which also includes a section that, moving away from the folkloristic misunderstanding often (and unfortunately) associated with this aspect, addresses Giacomo’s interest in Neapolitan cuisine.

“An example is given by his keen reflection on the category of ‘beauty’, which is attributed more to flavors and less to colors, emphasizing that beauty descends from the harmony of their composition. In light of this, the discovery among the pages of the Zibaldone of the handwritten list of dishes and the rereading of the 49 dishes he preferred was like a shared involvement in the Poet’s intimate life. It was a strong emotion that once again opened a gap in the determination of my consciousness of the poet. It was like reading the list of a newfound taste for life from which a deeply human side of an unparalleled man of culture emerged. In his well-being at the foot of Vesuvius, often expressed in his letters to his sister Paolina and to Ranieri himself, he did not fail to praise the gastronomic skills of Monzu’ Pasquale Ignarra, whom he met in Florence because he was a friend of Antonio Ranieri,” explains Antonio Tubelli. Thus, at the presentation of the volume, on December 15 in Recanati, chef Tubelli “will become the protagonist of the poet’s gastronomic experience from his last years in Naples,” says Gianfranco Nappi, director of Infiniti Mondi. From here arises the strictly Leopardian Menu proposed by Chef Antonio Tubelli in collaboration with chef Elisabetta Stella of ‘Calalapasta’ in Recanati, the appointment is at 5:30 p.m. at the Arci Circle in Piazza dei Gigli; participants include: Silvana Amati, Valerio Calzolaio, Mario Carassai. On December 17, the presentation in Nola, at 4:30 p.m. at the Archaeological Museum with contributions from Tobia Toscano, Iaia De Marco, Gianfranco Borrelli; coordinated by Carmine Piscitelli; greetings from Giacomo Franzese and Gianfranco Nappi.

“In our work of research and reflection, we could not fail to intersect with a figure like Giacomo Leopardi, who in Naples, moreover, lived the last, intense phase of his short life. Who can say that, in some way, his critical torment on the sense of his times, on the sense of that economic rationality and modernity that were generally asserting themselves and against which his critical spirit rose so high, does not question and directly challenge us, today, when it seems that those rationalities and modernities are making, devoid of a non-utilitarian direction, a new leap that alienates and annihilates nature and humanity? And so we wanted to try to ‘reread’ him with many contributions and from different perspectives, necessary for a truly extraordinary poet and intellectual for the richness of the levels of his reflection and work,” says Nappi.

Further news on Infiniti Mondi ‘Giacomo Leopardi, contemporary views between Recanati and Naples’ on www.infinitimondi.ue.

Collaborators on the issue included Etienne Balibar, Piero Bevilacqua, Gianfranco Borrelli, Francesco Paolo Botti, Valerio Calzolaio, Mario Carassai, Iaia De Marco, Marco Ferri, Enrico Ghidetti, Cesare Luporini, Mario Martone, Gabriella Pacelli, Daniela Pergreffi, Ranieri Popoli, Claudia Siano, Paolo Speranza, Massimo Tartaglione, Antonio Tubelli, Rossana Valenti, Gianni Zagato.