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"La Scienza in Cucina e l' Arte di Mangiare Bene" (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well) written by Pellegrino Artusi in 1891 is the first collection of fundamental recipes from all of Italy. A cookbook representing the national cuisine and by now used by all Italians.

As a country Italy is a recent development, so recent that there are still people who believe that it only exists on paper and not in actuality. It seems natural to think that at least the culinary traditions of the Italian peninsula be historically unified, but these too were fragmented. Ages of occupation by different conquerors have produced very different culinary traditions from one end of the boot to the other. It was not until the 19th century, 1891 to be exact, that the cookbook destined to represent the national cuisine and by now used by all Italians was written: "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well" by Pellegrino Artusi. With its 790 recipes, patiently collected by the author over long years and innumerable travels, it is the most famous and widely read Italian cookbook of all time. It is a source of knowledge and inspiration for all the great cooks of the last century, a unique work that exalts the pleasure of eating.

Drawing from Romagna and Tuscan traditions, it has stabilized a single Italian culinary framework. This framework is expressed in the Florentine lexicon, which has subsequently become the Italian standard and effectively ended the spreading regionalism and the use of dialects in pre-unification Italian cookbooks.

More than a cookbook, "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well" is a teacher of taste, written in clean prose and possessed of a convivial spirit that has truly united Italian cuisine.