Historical Infomation: Italy in the 1500s

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

this section will be about information that has to do with the people in Italy and what their life is about. There will also be other information about explorers in the 1500s for example. Hope you enjoy reading. Will post up stuff soon. I have been researching this since my persona in the SCA is Italian in the 1500s. Might put other Historical Information about other countries up later.

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

This is the questionaire based off the sca questionare. The SCA stands for Society of Creative Anchornism. It is where we reinact the medieval times, make our own garb by hand and best of all we fight in heavy combat in full medieval armor. I broke down the questionnaire into two parts. This is part one. This questionare helps you understand the italians or any other culture mindset of that time.

Cecilia’s Persona Part 1
http://www.modaruniversity.org/Names.htm
1) What is your persona’s name? Cecilia Roselli
Roselli: http://www.abruzzoheritage.com/magazine/2002_06/d.htm#r
Cecilia: http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/ital...malph.html
2. What year was your persona born? Between the 1500s to 1546
3. What is your persona’s native country? Italy
4. What is your persona’s current country? Moved to Meridies
5. Would your persona have been literate in your chosen culture/time-frame?

Yes during her time period women were writing many things. “The number of women writers grew enormously in the 1500s and 1600s. Italian humanism produced a dozen or so female writers, and by the end of the Renaissance there were hundreds and perhaps thousands of women writing in Italian, French, and English. Women penned religious poetry, love poetry, stories, novels, and plays. They also wrote diaries, family histories, and advice books for other women on topics such as cooking, fashion, child care, and herbal lore” http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00483.html

6. What type of money did people of your culture/time-frame use?
Florin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coins_in_Italy

7. How does your persona personally obtain goods (food, drink, clothes, etc.)? Trade.
“Economies 1450–1600
1300s–1400s: Europe more united economically than ever before
• Italian cities Genoa and Venice trade European wool and metal for silk, cotton, and spices from China, India, and Persia
• Textile production and surplus agriculture provide goods for urban centers, fueling the Italian Renaissance
• Banking, borrowing, raising capital through mining monopolies fuels expanding economies
• Italian city Florence’s gold florin becomes the standard currency for many European traders”
1500s: Population and wealth of Europe increase, benefiting wealthy landowners but leading to inflation, less food, fewer jobs, higher taxes, wider gap between rich and poor
Age of Exploration leads to new maritime spice, silk, slave trade; sea powersSpain and Portugal grow rich importing silver and gold from the New World; Italian states decline from competition
• New wealth allows western Europe to buy grain from Eastern Europe; land values in Poland rise, rents increase, leading small holders to reenterserfdom (losing freedom, gaining security)
• 1524–1525:Peasants’ War in Holy Roman Empire calls for end to serfdom, unfair taxation; based partly on Luther’s Reformation teachings but condemned by Luther; revolt is suppressed
http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/histor...#Economies 1450–1600

9. How did people of your culture/time-frame tell time?

“The first watches as we know them were invented in the 1500s. These were bulky cumbersome machines that relied on weight as their driving power. Most were quite inaccurate and only had the single hand for the determination of hourly intervals.” http://www.buzzle.com/articles/watches-h...s-ago.html

10. How did people of your culture/time-frame keep track of days?
“Until the year of 1545, she used the Julian Calendar, and when it turned 1545 she switched to the Georgian Calendar.” http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/yea...tions.html

11. What type of clothes does your persona normally wear?
Garb from 1500s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Juanalaloca.jpg

12. What type of clothes does your persona wear for special occasions?
Garb from 1546: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:El_bieta_I_lat_13.jpg

13. What were the eating habits of people of your culture/time-frame?
“Italians were noted for fish and chips and ice cream, with all their traditions of these foods. Italian specialty shops such as Valvona and Corolla are a noted feature of some cities such as Edinburgh, where there is a large Italian population.”
http://www.enotes.com/food-encyclopedia/scotland

14. What does your persona eat in a normal day?

“Fruits, especially grapes, melons.
Grape leaves as food also.
Meat, goats, sheep/lamb, fish, chicken, and some pork.
Wild pheasant, quail.
Eggs and milk by products like yogurt.
Veggies.
Olives, TONS of olives.
A LOT of cheese.
Lots of homemade breads, flat breads, and sweets.
(Flat breads with cheese on them, maybe some meat or a veggie....the first pizza, but it was rolled up like a burrito, usually farmer food)
Nuts, honey.
Soups and stewes.
Many different types of wine.
Tomatoes in the later 1500s ate with cheese and bread.
Lots of herbs and spices.”
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...926AARr4Sf

15. What types of wildlife live in your persona's area?
Plants in Southern and Central Italy: “Among the characteristic vegetation of these regions are trees such as the olive, orange, lemon, palm, and citron. Other common types, especially in the extreme south, are fig, date, pomegranate, and almond trees, and sugarcane and cotton.”
http://www.voyagesphotosmanu.com/climate_italy.html

Animals found in Italy: “The quail, woodcock, partridge, and various migratory species abound in many parts of Italy. Reptiles include several species of lizards and snakes and three species of the poisonous viper family. Scorpions are also found.” http://www.voyagesphotosmanu.com/climate_italy.html

16. What kind of religion and religious duties would be required of your persona?

In the Catholic Church they could only pursue a career in the 1500s was joining a covenant. And if it was a Protestant woman she had no choice but serve her life within her family. I would see her more as protestant woman. http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00483.html

17. What does your persona know of history/science/medicine/geography?
Medicine: (1) “In 1316, Mondino de Luzzi came out with the first European textbook on anatomy, appropriately called Anatomia. Early in the 1500's, Da Vinci, naturally, plays a part with numerous drawings of skulls and brains, and even a wax casting of the ventricles.” http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/neurophysio.html
(2) “By 1500, Italian towns and cities, especially those that could not attract private doctors, had begun hiring official town physicians. They provided free medical care to the poor, advised local governments on matters of hygiene, and offered their services to the wealthy for pay.” http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00295.html

• Science: (1) “The first flush toilets appeared in the 1500s. Leonardo DaVinci designs a horizontal water wheel in 1510”(2) In 1543, Copernicus published his theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe, rather, the Earth and the other planets orbited around the Sun. Called the Copernican Revolution, his theory forever changed astronomy, and ultimately changed all of science.” http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/Sixteenth.htm

History: “485 Italy was invaded by Attila the Hun. Pope Leo I dissuaded Attila from sacking Rome. 568 The Lombards, a Germanic tribe, invade Italy which is divided into three regions ruled by the Lombards, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Papal States5. 553 The old Roman Empire was reunited by Justinian, the Byzantine emperor. 572 The Byzantine rule collapses after an attack by the Lombards. 756 Pepin the Short, a Frankish King conquers the Lombards for the popes. 756 The Papal States were established in central Italy. 774 The Lombards defeated by Charlemagne.
800 Charlemagne crowned Roman emperor. 962 Otto the Great, the king of Germany, was crowned emperor establishing the Holy Roman Empire. 1000s - 1400's Independent city-states are established. 1519 Charles I of Spain became Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.” http://www.facts-about.org.uk/history-an...-italy.htm

Geography: map of the early Italy of the 1500s http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives...aly-BR.jpg

18. How did people of your culture/time-frame deal with trade? They dealt really well till the 1500s when the increase of trading began to cause problems due to the increase of population. See Economics quote on Question 7.

19 ) What religion is your persona? Protestant

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

Persona Part 2: The Rest of the Questionnaire
1. What are the climates of your persona's native and current countries?
Italy’s Climate: “Florence is usually said to have a Mediterranean climate, although under the Köppen climate classification it may be borderline humid subtropical (Cfa).[14]It has hot, humid summers with little rainfall and cool, damp winters. Due to being surrounded by hills in a river valley, Florence can be hot and humid from June to August. Because of the lack of a prevailing wind, summer temperatures are higher than along the coast. The rain which does fall in summer is convectional. Relief rainfall dominates in the winter, with some snow” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence#Climate

2. What are the terrains of your persona's native and current countries?
Italy’s Terrain: “Italy has few natural resources. With much of the land unsuited for farming, it is a net food importer. There are no substantial deposits of iron, coal, or oil. Proven natural gas reserves, mainly in the Po Valley and offshore Adriatic, have grown in recent years and constitute the country's most important mineral resource. Most raw materials needed for manufacturing and more than 80% of the country's energy sources are imported. Italy's economic strength is in the processing and the manufacturing of goods, primarily in small and medium-sized family-owned firms.” http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/ind...y_of_Italy

3. In what city/town/barn was your persona born? Florence, Italy
8. What city does your persona currently claim as "home"? Any city that she is in, in the kingdom of Meridies
9. What are/were your persona’s parents’ names? Mother: Masina Roselli  http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/ital...malph.html
Father: Nicholaus Roselli  http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/ital...calph.html
10. What are/were your persona’s parents’ occupation(s)? Her mother was a writer. Her father was a Banker  “Italian aristocrats also tended to be involved in the business of the cities, such as trade and banking” http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00027.html
11. Does your persona have any siblings, and if so, are any still alive? Yes her sister Santesa Scarletta Roselli. Santesa is alive but two of her brothers died at child birth.
12. Is your persona married? No, her marriage has not been arranged yet due to her parents not being alive and having no other family and she has not fallen in love with the one she is meant to be with. She hopes she meets someone she can marry soon.

13. What are the marriage customs and typical age of marriage for your persona's culture/time-frame? “The average age of marriage in the late 1200s into the 1500s was around 25 years of age” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage
Marriage customs: “Grooms, on the average, were 14 years older than their brides. Noble women sometimes didn't marry until the age of 24, but this was rare. More than 3/4 were married before they reached 19”
http://www.renaissance-weddings.net/marr...itions.htm

14. What type of building does your persona currently live in? http://www.theitalianhouse.it/properties...-casa-rosa
15. With whom does your persona live? Her sister and servants
16. Are there members of your persona's household that are not related to your persons (servants/retainers, wards/fosterlings, guests, etc.)? the servants

17. Were pets kept during your persona’s culture/time-frame? If so, what kind, if any, does your persona have? Yes they kept. Italian Greyhounds http://www.petconnectonline.com/dogs/italian-greyhound/ But she personally don’t have any pets

18. What is your persona’s occupation? A writer like her mother
19. How old is your persona? 27 years old

20. How long do people like your persona tend to live? “A typical Renaissance family consisted of parents and their children. It is traditionally assumed that people of the Renaissance married early. This is because nobility did indeed marry early. However, most common folks married in their mid twenties. Since the average life expectancy was 40, few people made it to grandparent status.” http://www.suite101.com/content/life-dur...nce-a47227
“Poor sanitation, malnutrition, and disease made life during the Renaissance much more uncertain than it is today. About 25 percent of infants who survived birth died within a year. Half of all people died by age 15, and few could expect to live more than 35 to 45 years. People survived longer in rural areas than in overcrowded poor areas of towns, where diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza spread quickly.” http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00295.html

21. What is your persona’s ethnicity? Italian
22. Who is your persona’s current employer? Francesco Dolce e compagni
http://colet.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/iww/ed...lrecord=on
23. What level of education does your persona have? She is very educated for her time period. Thanks to her private tutor
24. Where was your persona educated? Private tutor in her own home
25. What languages does your persona speak? English and Italian but mostly English (plan to actually learn Italian, eventually)

26. What units of measure were used by your persona’s culture/time-frame?
Quotes from: http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00191.html
“Mathematical geography was most closely related to mapmaking. It provided mathematical tools for measuring Earth's surface, determining the exact position of points on it, and transferring real-world measurements to maps. Mathematical geography grew out of Geographia, a work of the ancient Greek scholar PTOLEMY, which was first translated into Latin in 1410. Ptolemy's key contribution was the notion of covering the Earth's surface with a grid of latitude and longitude lines, measurable through sightings of the sun and stars. These lines served as references for pinpointing the exact location of places.”
“The introduction of the Ptolemaic system brought mathematical rules for representing the world on paper. Earlier maps of the known world had often been symbolic—for example, depicting the continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia in relation to the biblical Garden of Eden. Renaissance mapmakers, by contrast, sought to represent the world accurately and realistically. They wanted a measurable world, and Ptolemy offered them the perfect tools. In 1413, just three years after the first European publication of Ptolemy's work on geography, Pierre d'Ailly published Ptolemaic maps. Soon all cartographers were using Ptolemy's measurement-based approach, although some experimented with new forms of projection, the method of representing a spherical world on a flat map.”

27. What kind of legal system exists in your persona’s culture/time-frame, and who make the laws? The legal systems that existed in her time period were the Holy Roman Empire and Catholic Church. Both of them made the laws for Italy.
Quotes from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire
“In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was officially changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, Latin:Imperium Romanum Sacrum Nationis Germanicæ) [5].”
“The multiethnic Empire's territorial extent varied over its history, but at its peak it encompassed the Kingdom of Germany, the Kingdom of Italyand the Kingdom of Burgundy; for much of its history the Empire consisted of hundreds of smaller sub-units, principalities, duchies, counties,Free Imperial Cities, as well as other domains. Despite its name, for most of its history the Empire did not include Rome within its borders.”
“Charlemagne, crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 AD was the forerunner of the Holy Roman Empire,[6][7][8] largely because he had inaugurated the tradition of imperial coronation by the Pope of the Catholic Church, which continued as a significant institution in the Holy Roman Empire until the 16th century.”

28. What is the status of women among your persona’s culture/time-frame, and can they own property or conduct business?
http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00483.html
“In many parts of Europe, a married woman could own no property except her dowry. Although technically her property for life, the dowry was managed by her husband during her lifetime and went to their children after his death. The dowry was a woman's inheritance. It served to cut her off from her birth family so that she would have no further claims on her father's estate. While families sought to limit the size of dowries to reduce their financial burden, they also tried to provide enough money to "purchase" desirable husbands for their daughters.”
They couldn’t conduct normal business but during this time period women had been allowed to publish written work as well as doing their normal household choirs. See Question 5 on Cecilia Rose Persona Part 1.

29. What major events have occurred during your persona’s lifetime?(Natural catastrophes, wars, revolutions, discoveries, etc.?)
http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00191.html
“Martin Behaim of Germany made one of the first globes in 1493, and by the mid-1500s prosperous folk could purchase these symbols of worldly knowledge. The atlas, a set of maps bound into a book, appeared as a new and popular form of map ownership.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Wars
“The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western Europe (France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, and Scotland) as well as the Ottoman Empire. Originally arising from dynastic disputes over the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, the wars rapidly became a general struggle for power and territory among their various participants, and were marked with an increasing degree of alliances, counter-alliances, and regular betrayals.”
Natural Catastrophes: http://www.weatherexplained.com/Vol-1/Na...nnium.html
1316: England—Long periods of heavy rains ruined crops, causing death for one-tenth of the population due to malnutrition or disease.
1346: Constantinople—The eastern arch of St. Sophia's crumbled during a strong earthquake that struck the Byzantine capital.
Discoveries/Inventions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_century
“Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446), invents one-point perspective, leads innovation in Italian architecture.”
“Gerard David (c. 1460 – 1523), Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color”
“Jean Fouquet (1420–1481) French painter of both panel painting and manuscript illumination, inventor of the portrait miniature.”
“Development of the woodcut for printing between 1400–1450”
“Movable type first used by King Taejong of Joseon—1403 (Movable type, which allowed individual characters to be arranged to form words, was invented in China by Bi Sheng between 1041 to 1048.)”

30. Does your persona fight? If so, where did your persona learn to fight? Yes she fights; she learned how to fight when she came to the Meridies and became part of the Redewolves. She figured that learning to fight was a great skill to learn in her new place of living.
31. What type of armor and weapons were used by fighters in your persona’s culture/time-frame? And how were such obtained?
She could obtain armor in her time period in her own country and hire a metal smith to build it for her. In Upper Italy they were known for steel and they used that to trade with other countries. She would choose to go with the chain mail armor because in her time period chain mail was a form of armor that the Italians wore. The chain mail armor would have been the easiest for women to wear with leather underneath.
http://web.mit.edu/21h.416/www/militaryt...armor.html
32. List your persona’s skills and hobbies. For each, write down where your persona learned them. (1) Loves to write stories and poems (2) Loves to Read and Learn new things from books her home countrymen and women have write. (3) Sailing on Ships.
She learned to write and read through her private tutor. When one of the trade ships was heading to Meridies to trade some things, she asked if she could catch a ride. They said she could. On the way to Meridies she discovered she loved to go sailing on boats and even helped with the general cleaning work on the boat so she felt like she wasn’t a burden on them. Even though she was Nobility Blood she still stuck to her religious roots and helped by serving the boat she was on.

33. What "class" is your persona? (I.e., royalty, nobility, merchant, middle, artisan, slave, etc.) Nobility
34. How widely has your persona traveled? She has traveled all the way from her home country of Italy to the Meridies kingdom.
35. In what capacity has your persona traveled?(I.e., military, sailor, rich person’s hobby, etc.) Sailing in a boat as her hobby
36. Who is your persona’s current monarch? Charles V http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Ita....931648.29
37. Who is the current Pope during your persona time? Pope Paul III
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/religion/religion.asp
38. With respect to international relations, does your persona favor colonization, isolationism, conquest/conversion, open trade, etc.?
Open Trade because it always for more supplies to become available to her and those in her country.

39. Are there any (sumptuary) laws restricting what your persona can wear?
http://www.florentine-persona.com/renjewelry.html
“In the 14th century, Italy broadened its trade with other nations. Suddenly faceted gems, mostly table cut but some round-shaped, made their appearance, by 1407, which naturally greatly expanded the possibilities of jewelry (Evans, p. 68). Craftsmanship using fake gems became good enough that laws began to be passed against falsifying a gem's true nature. Entirely new techniques like enamelling also came into the picture”
“Around 1460, heart-shaped pendants and brooches became very popular. One woman in Brittany owned a heart-shaped gold pendant set with a lozenge-cut diamond and a ruby, while even diamonds themselves were cut into heart shapes (Evans, p. 72). Herald notes a ring bearing a heart-shaped stone in one inventory of the Este holdings, and suggests that it was a "love offering" (p. 173).”
“Freshwater pearls were known from centuries before, when an edict in Paris was passed in 1355 forbade jewellers from using "river pearls and oriental pearls" together (Evans, p. 53).”
“The Italians of the 15th century had access to a wide range of stones. From the obvious diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds, to the less obvious coral (Herald, p. 175), carnelian (Herald, p. 171), agate (Evans, p. 91), chalcedony (Evans, p. 93), lapis lazuli (Evans, p. 93), jet (Evans, p. 93), jacinth (Evans, p. 93), amber (Evans, p. 77), crystal (Evans, p. 77), and from early on, amethyst and carbuncle (Evans, p. 53). Chrysoberyl is also mentioned, but may be fairly late.”

40. How is food prepared and preserved in your persona’s culture/time-frame?
How food was prepared http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq3.html
“These foods were commonly prepared in Renaissance Italy
Bread, hard biscuits, wine, rice (rissoto), pasta: lasagne, ravioli & pizza WITHOUT TOMATO SAUCE, cheese: mozzarella (from buffalo milk), Pecorino, omelettes, meatballs, pork, small birds & game, and sausages. Fresh fruits and vegetables were eaten in season; dried items consumed in other seasons. Soups and stews were eaten by rich and poor alike. Fish was also popular, especially in Lent. It was served fresh, dried, and salted. Cheesecake and flan were often served for dessert. Olive oil was used for flavor and as a cooking medium.”

http://www.food-links.com/countries/ital...ulture.php
“The next most significant period in Italy's culinary history occurred in the late 1400s and 1500s when the country's great cities were the merchant centers of the world and her gastronomic achievements had no competitors. The gluttony accredited to ancient Roman leaders had long given way to a general inclination for simplicity and frugality, so much so that in many areas, traditional favorites would have been lost to succeeding generations were it not for the monasteries that preserved the great recipes and encouraged their monks to interpret them with taste. Sugar, coffee, and ice cream were introduced to the rest of Europe via Venice, together with many of the culinary details that had long been commonplace in Italian kitchens (stewing, frying, elaborate breads and baked goods and efficient utensils).”
Food Preservation
http://www.answers.com/topic/food-and-drink
“Overall, fish was not prized as highly as meat. While some locally caught fish and seafood might be sold fresh, everything else had to be preserved for lack of refrigeration. Preservation meant salting the fish, and there wererecurrent complaints of fish that was too heavily salted and of fish that was not salted enough. Misused it might have been from time to time, but salt was very important as a seasoning and preservative. Mined from rock salt or collected from salt pans on the coasts of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, it gave flavor to many dishes, including especially the fairly bland ones made of cereal and beans. But its greatest service was as a preservative, and without it most Europeans would not have been able to eat as much meat, fish, and vegetables as they did. “

41. What spices were available to your persona and how expensive were they?
History of Spices http://cbs-sci.blogspot.com/2005/06/indian-spices.html
“Indian Spices also fitted into philosophic concepts of improving health, since it was understood that they could affect the four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) and influence the corresponding moods (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic). Thus, ginger would be used to heat the stomach and improve digestion; clove was believed to comfort the sinus; mace would prevent colic and bloody fluxes or diarrhea; nutmeg would benefit the spleen and relieve any bad cold.”
“Cinnamon, one of the most popular flavors in cooking, was considered to be particularly good for digestion and for sore throats.”

Types of Spices
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_trade
“The trade was transformed by the European Age of Discovery,[4] during which the spice trade, particularly in black pepper, became an influential activity for European traders.[5] The route from Europe to the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope was pioneered by Portuguese Vasco Da Gama in 1498, resulting in new maritime routes for trade.[6]”
“Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric were known, and used for commerce, in the Eastern World well into antiquity.[1] These spices found their way into the Middle East before the beginning of the Common Era, where the true sources of these spices was withheld by the traders, and associated with fantastic tales.”
“From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts. From the 8th until the 15th century, the Republic of Venice and neighboring maritime republicsheld the monopoly of European trade with the Middle East. The silk and spice trade, involving spices, incense, herbs, drugs and opium, made these Mediterranean city-states phenomenally rich. Spices were among the most expensive and demanded products of the Middle Ages, used in medicine. They were all imported from Asia and Africa. Venetian merchants distributed then the goods through Europe until the rise of the Ottoman Empire, that eventually led to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, barring Europeans from important combined-land-sea routes.”
Cost of Spices
http://cbs-sci.blogspot.com/2005/06/indian-spices.html
“During the Middle Ages in Europe, a pound of ginger was worth the price of a sheep; a pound of mace would buy three sheep or half cow; cloves cost the equivalent of about $20 a pound. Pepper, always fetched greatest price. Pepper was counted out corn by corn. The guards on London docks even down to Elizabethan times, had to have their pockets sewn up to make sure they didn't steal any spices. In the 11th Century, many towns kept their accounts in pepper; taxes and rents were assessed and paid in this spice and a sack of pepper was worth a man's whole life. ”

42. What are the cleaning/bathing habits of your persona’s culture/time-frame?
http://www.history-magazine.com/facts.html
“Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.”
43. Name your persona’s favorite musicians/artists/dances.
Musicians
“Antonio Valente: he published two collections of keyboard music. He was born from his youth and lived roughly around 1520 to 1581” http://www.classical-composers.org/comp/valente
Paolo Agostini: Born: ca. 1583 — Valerano — Italy, Died: 3 October 1629 — Roma — Italy. He wrote music for the masses and for the churches. http://www.classical-composers.org/comp/agostini#sheet
Artists
http://www.selkirk.k12.wa.us/page%20temp...rtists.htm
Raphael
He lived from 1483-1520. The Pope hired him to help beautify the vatican. His frescoes in the papal chambers include The School of Athens, which depicts the great philosophers of classical Greece. He also painted exquisite Madonnas, which are representations of the virgin Mary. (her favorite painting by him is the “lady with the unicorn”)
Masaccio
He lived from 1401-1428. He pioneered the emphasis on realism. He painted light and shadows to give the effect of depth to objects. He is considered the first great painter of the Renaissance.
Dances
http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00137.html
“During the 1400s most dances involved long lines of two or three dancers. The most popular French dance was the Burgundian basse dance, which had five basic steps organized into patterns. An Italian dance called the ballo had four basic steps, which could also be performed on their own. Italian dances were more complex than French dances and emphasized proportion and order, causing people to compare them to other art forms such as architecture.”
“The most complex dances of the 1500s were Italian dances such as the balletto and brando. The balletto, performed by two to four individuals, combined at least two different dance types, with at least one change of rhythm and tempo. The complex brando, often used to end major theater productions, included at least four dance types and several changes of tempo.”
44. What political figure/party/movement does your persona support?
Mannerism “Giorgio Vasari used maniera in three different contexts: to discuss an artist's manner or method of working; to describe a personal or group style, such as the term maniera greca to refer to the Byzantine style or simply to the maniera of Michelangelo; and to affirm a positive judgment of artistic quality.[3] Vasari was also a Mannerist artist, and he described the period in which he worked as "la maniera moderna", or the "modern style" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannerism

45. Who is the most significant thinker of your persona’s time?
http://www.edinformatics.com/great_thinkers/davinci.htm
“Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, Italy, April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519, Cloux, France) was an Italian Renaissance polymath: an architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer, and painter. He has been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man" and as a universal genius, a man infinitely curious and infinitely inventive. He is also considered one of the greatest painters that ever lived.”

46. What does your persona consider to be the greatest social problem their country? The wars, because they have caused the people to become divided, and caused more pain then really helping anything or solving any problem. She believes that the wars are the cause for those in her country stealing and many other things.

47. What is most likely to cause your persona’s death?
“The chief responsibility of all wives, however, was bearing and raising children. Childbirth was risky for both infant and mother. Between 20 and 50 percent of infants died soon after birth. One in ten births resulted in the death of the mother, making childbirth a leading cause of death among women—especially those who had many children.” http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ren...00483.html

48. What type of medical aid is available in your persona’s culture/time-frame, and does your persona have access to it?
http://www.avert.org/condoms.htm
The syphilis epidemic that spread across Europe gave rise to the first published account of the condom. Gabrielle Fallopius described a sheath of linen he claimed to have invented to protect men against syphilis.17 Having been found useful for prevention of infection, it was only later that the usefulness of the condom for the prevention of pregnancy was recognised.
Later in the 1500s, one of the first improvements to the condom was made, when the linen cloth sheaths were sometimes soaked in a chemical solution and then allowed to dry prior to use. These were the first spermicides on condoms.18
No Other medical aid seems to be available during the time

49. List at least three of your persona’s goals in life. (Learn to write, become apprenticed to a craftsman, visit the "big city", take over the family business, go to the Holy Land, usurp the crown, etc.)
(1) To become a better fighter within the Meridies (2) become the Minister of Children and teach the younger children through arts and crafts. (3) To continue to grow and learn new things as she travels through the Meridies Kingdom.

50. What’s the most striking scientific achievement of which your persona is aware? That the earth was not the center of the universe, but that it revolved around the sun. “In 1543, Copernicus published his theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe, rather, the Earth and the other planets orbited around the Sun. Called the Copernican Revolution, his theory forever changed astronomy, and ultimately changed all of science.” http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/Sixteenth.htm

51. Does your persona consider the Earth to be flat, round, or hollow? She believes the earth is Round, due to the new atlases and globes that has come out. See more in questions 26 and 31.
52. Does your persona believe that the Earth revolves around the Sun, or vice-versa? Yes she does, she had never agreed with the Earth being the center of the universe.

53. What does your persona consider to be the causes of criminal behavior?
She believes that education levels of people is the cause of criminal behavior because she feels if they don’t have the education they need the people will do things they don’t know is wrong.
http://naturalhealthperspective.com/tuto...story.html
“Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), a philosopher and writer, was the first person to write that "prevention is better than cure." Erasmus was actually referring to education as a method for preventing human conflict, rather than talking about natural health.”

54. What does your persona consider to be the true measure of a man?
Due to this information below I believe that she would of seen the true measure of a man, as the one in authority and one that was to take care of her and her belongings.
http://www.umma.umich.edu/view/ONLINE/wo...e/body.htm
“Elizabeth knew that any woman, even a queen, was subject to her husband's authority, and that this situation was incompatible with her vision of herself as ruler of England. While acknowledging that even virginity implies a definition of self that is driven by one's relationship to men, Elizabeth cultivated a system of symbols for use in portraits and decorative and commemorative pieces that positioned her as a woman apart from the traditional subservience of woman to man.”

55. Who has most influenced your persona’s thoughts on these questions? No particular person has, but the search engine called Google has helped.
56. Did your persona’s culture/time-frame have heraldry? Yes they did. To see samples go to http://www.cafepress.com/familycoats/567059

feel free to look at any and all links. Will put up Italian Recipes next...

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

Italian Medieval Recipes
http://www.italiantrips.com/italian-recipes.htm
Page 1
i can't get this page to work or I would put it up here. if anyone can get it to work please copy the words and recipes down for me and message them to me thank you. I have sent an email to the sites webmaster. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.
page 2
As the story goes, the architect Brunellschi was faced with the age-old problem of keeping stonemasons on at lunch hour during the construction of the famous dome at the cathedral in Florence. When the spicy aroma of the following dish went wafting through the construction site in 1436 — problem solved!
With pots of peposo bubbling nearby, the work crews no longer wandered far, so the completion of the city's famous dome was assured.
Peposo (Peppery Beef Stew)
Peposo is named for the copious amount of pepper called for in the recipe. Here's a modern version:
2 lbs. beef stew meat cut in large pieces
10 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tbsp. (or more) crushed black pepper
1 1/4 lbs. canned whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine
salt to taste
Put all ingredients into a pot, cover and set over low heat. Cook for 3-4 hours or until the meat is tender almost to the point of dissolving. Serve with generous helpings of crusty bread. Serves 4.
Petonciane in Agrodolce (Sweet & Sour Eggplant)
A young student of a noted Tuscan physician wanted to test the medieval theory that eggplants led to insanity, and so ate only eggplants for a week. When he logically reported that he had not, in fact, gone mad, the older physician argued that the experiment had only proved the theory's validity.
"Who," he said, "would eat only eggplant for seven days except someone who had completely lost his mind?"
As seen in this recipe, the marriage of sweet and sour was a medieval Italian specialty. Dishes sometimes included the juice of sour pomegranates, oranges, or verjuice, the juice from unripe grapes. Here, red wine vinegar is a good substitute.
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into large chunks
salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 small stalk celery, diced
1 tbsp. sugar
2 1/2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
Salt the eggplant chunks. Heat the oil in a skillet and fry the eggplant until soft. Drain on paper towels. Remove the oil, wipe the pan of any excess oil and add the remaining ingredients, along with the cooked eggplant. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Serve at room temperature.

Scottiglia (Spicy Stew)
It's been said that scottiglia derives from the word "scottare" (to burn) reflecting the heavy doses of black pepper medieval Italians craved. Today, a hot pepper (a New World discovery) is more commonly used. This version calls for wild boar, but almost any type of meat can be prepared as a scottiglia - veal, chicken, rabbit, lamb or, more interestingly, the entire combo.
3 lb. wild boar, cut into cubes
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 tbsp. olive oil
Sprig of sage
Sprig of rosemary
3/4 cup dry red wine
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound peeled fresh or canned tomatoes, chopped
1 hot pepper
Sliced Italian bread
Brown boar on all sides in their own fat. Fry the crushed garlic clove in the 6 tablespoons of olive oil until golden brown and remove. Add boar, sage and rosemary, saute briefly and add the wine. Simmer gently until wine evaporates, approximately two hours. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped tomatoes and simmer for another hour until a thick sauce forms. Adjust seasoning and serve over slices of Italian bread. Serves 6-8.

Ricciarelli (Almond Cookies)
Sienna has claimed these chewy treats as its own since the 14th century. Today, they're enjoyed throughout Tuscany as a popular Christmas cookie.
2 cups peeled whole almonds
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar and extra for dusting
1/4 cup orange peel, finely chopped
1 egg white, beaten stiff
rice paper
Spread the almonds out on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 3-5 minutes. Grind them in a mortar and pestle and put into a mixing bowl. Stir in the sugars, orange peel and fold in the egg white. Shape into small ovals. Place on cookie sheets line with rice paper and let rest for about 10 hours. Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for about 1 hour or until golden. DO NOT BROWN and they should remain soft for several days. Cool and dust with extra powdered sugar. Serves 6-8.
page 3
Dried codfish could always be relied upon to fill the gaps when there was no fresh fish available. This was particularly important in the Middle Ages, when the Church's meatless holy days were adhered to upon pain of eternal damnation. Since it was not native to the Mediterranean, codfish was imported from Scandinavia.
Today, codfish is opened flat and air dried before export. It is then beaten, to break the fibers, and soaked in water for a couple of days before cooking.
Baccala alla Vincentina (Stewed Codfish)
Today, Baccala alla Vincentina is always served with polenta, an ingredient not authentic to the period (...as Columbus had yet discovered corn).
1 lb. dried codfish
1 1/3 cups thinly sliced onion
2/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
Flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
2 1/4 cups milk
Prepare the stock fish, skin and cut into thick slices. Saute the onion in the oil over a low heat until soft. Add the parsely, garlic, and anchovies and stir until just coated. Remove from heat. Mix the flour, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Coat the stock fish with the mixture and place in a heavy metal or earthenware pan. Fish should fit snugly in a single layer. Sprinkle with cheese, add the anchovy and onion sauce, and cover with milk. Bring slowly until just boiling, cover and set over a very low heat until the liquid is absorbed, about 2 1/2 hours. Serves 4.

Seppie in Zimino (Cuttlefish with Beet Greens)
Very similar to a recipe dating to the 1500's, this dish is traditionally served by Ligurians in Northern Tuscany today. The original recipe calls for beet greens, onion, butter and wine - flavored with those popular medieval mainstays: pepper, cinnamon and saffron.
1 1/2 lbs. cuttlefish
1 lb. beet greens
1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Prepare and wash cuttlefish and cut into 1/2 inch strips. Remove the white stalk from the beet greens and thoroughly wash leaves. Place in a pan with a teaspoon of salt and cook over low heat until tender. Squeeze out most of the water from the cooked leaves and chop coarsely. In a heavy pot, saute onion in the oil until soft, then stir in the cuttlefish and cook for several minutes, continually turning over and stirring. Add the tomato paste and a few tablespoons water and saute another minute. Salt to taste. Cover the pot and cook until tender, about 1/2 hour. Add the beet greens, add pepper to taste, and cover the pot and cook for another 10 minutes. Serves 4.

Gnocchi (Cheese Dumplings)
These tasty dumplings are great served in, or accompanied with, a hearty stew. The recipe doesn't include the modern New World ingredients, such as mashed potatoes or corn polenta, but their preparation couldn't be easier.
1 1/4 lbs. softened cream cheese
1 1/2 cups flour
6 egg yolks
Grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Make sure cream cheese is at room temperature before mashing into a soft paste. By hand, mix in the flour and salt to taste. Stir in the egg yolks one at a time until the mixture attains a smooth, but thick consistency. Bring a pot of water to a simmering boil and drop teaspoons of the mixture into the water. Cook until the gnocchi rise to the top of the water, remove from the heat and drain. Heap up on a serving dish and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.
Insaleggiata di Cipolle (Roasted Onion Salad)
Here's a rustic, medieval recipe that readily adapts to the backyard barbecue! Onions were simply cooked 'in the embers,' sliced and mixed with vinegar and spices. These are best served lukewarm, or cold as a side dish to a juicy, barbecued T-bone.

6 medium size red onions
red wine vinegar
olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Wrap onions individually in aluminum foil and roast over red-coat coals for about an hour, or until tender. Let cool, unwrap and cut into thin slices. Mix in a bowl with vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. For a truly authentic medieval taste, add a pinch of cinnamon, saffron, and clove powder. Otherwise, add herbs normally used in a favorite Italian salad dressing, such as parsely and oregano. If you're feeling adventurous, add a touch of garlic.

Carbonata
This dish is not to be confused with the modern version of pasta with bacon and cream sauce. This was a nosh that, like tavern peanuts, apparently helped sustain a long night of medieval carousing.
The original carbonata recipe describes both ingredients and preparation, including an insider tip: et farrante meglio breve ("it will make you drink all the better.")
12 thin slices prosciutto or unsmoked bacon
1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
pinch of cinammon
Warm the prosciutto or bacon in a large frying pan and remove. Add the rest of the ingredients over medium heat and stir. Adjust seasoning, and bring the mixture just to a boil. Pour over the meat and serve immediately.

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

http://www.italian-regional-recipes.com/...an-trifle/

Zuppa Inglese – the story of an Italian Trifle
Zuppa Inglese, loosely translated as English Soup, is an extremely popular Italian dessert found primarily in the Northern-Central regions of the peninsula – Tuscanny, Emilia-Romagna, the Marche and Umbria. Rich in ingredients, it’s similar to the traditional English trifle, but is nearly always home-made!

Sitting in a rustic restaurant in the hills outside the seaside town of Rimini, enjoying the conversation that flows after a hearty meal, our dinner companion – an Irishman – asked with a puzzled air, ‘but why is it called zuppa inglese?’ There seemed to be a consensus around the table – including the restaurant owner – that the dish had been developed in the immediate post-war period while allied forces were still billeted in the region. The theory goes that the dish was developed following instructions from English soldiers who wanted a little taste of home, and that the results tasted so good that the dish remained long after the troops had gone home.

It’s a nice and colourful anecdote, but sadly without foundation. If we consult Pellegrino Artusi, one of the first and most famous codifiers of Italian cooking traditions, we find a recipe for zuppa inglese in his book La Scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene – a book that was published in 1891, more than half-a-century before British troops with powdered custard rations reached Italian shores.

Theories that delve back further include one that credits the recipes origins to France during the hundred years war, when the dish was named as a two-fingered salute to the English. This has little to recommend it as a theory, as there are no particular sources and the dish doesn’t appear as such in French cuisine of the period or through history. More credible, but still without sources, is the suggestion that the dessert was created by a Florentine serving girl in Fiesole for an English family in the 1500s. One of the strongest claims to its invention lies with the town of Ferrara, which during the 1500s had a hugely rich court ruled over by the Este family, which had strong trading and diplomatic links with the Elizabethan court.

One thing seems certain, that the recipe was influenced, through trade or diplomacy, by the British trifle – the first written account of which we get during the 1500s in a cookbook, The Good Huswife’s Jewell written by one Thomas Dawson. Influenced, perhaps, by the idea of the trifle, the dish though remains an intrinsically Italian one – despite its name and the use of ‘pan di spagna’ as an essential ingredient.

Let’s move, though, from the etymological and theoretical to the purely practica. How do you make a decent zuppa inglese?
Ingredients:

For the sponge
6 eggs
150 grms of sugar
some lemon or orange peel
150grms of white flour
butter

For the cream topping
4 eggs
4 egg yolks
8 spoons of sugar
4 spoons of flour
1.5 litres of Milk
200grms of icing sugar
Alkermes liqueur
Rum
How to make Zuppa Inglese

To Make the sponge:
Separate the egg white from the yolks. Beat the yolks in a mixing bowl,
adding the sugar and beating until well mixed and smooth. Whip up the egg whites well, and gently start adding to your mixing bowl, mixing from the bottom of the bowl to the top to avoid ruining the consistency of the egg whites. Next start adding the flour gently, constantly mixing carefully.

Get a baking tray with a high border (25cm) and pour in your mix and cook in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for about 40 minutes. Your sponge base (pan di spagna in Italian) should be light and delicate, so make sure that the oven temperature is correct and not too high. Leave to cool.

For the cream:
Boil a half a litre of milk with a lemon rindt. In a mixing bowl add your four eggs, and four yolks, and mix together along with your sugar. Mix until the eggs have risen into a creamy froth. Gently start adding your flour, mixing all the while to keep the consistency. Add half a litre of cold milk, along with your boiled milk (removing the lemon rind) into the mix, constantly mixing. Add your mix back into the pan where you boiled your milk, and cook gently over a low flame, stirring constantly for about twenty minutes, after which your cream should have a thick consistency. Leave to cool, occasionaly stirring to avoid the forming of a skin on top.

Putting it all together:
Cut the crust off the top of your sponge base, and then cut the base into strips (thin, the first time you do it – then afterwards according to your taste). At the same time, mix together your rum and alkermes together in a bowl (into which you’ll dip the sponge fingers). The amount you use is up to you, depending upon the sort of kick you want to give to the dessert!

In an appropriately sized dessert bowl, add a thin layer of your cream. Then start soaking the sponge fingers in your alkermes rum brew, and place them in a layer over the cream. Add your next layer of cream, and sponge, and so on until you finish.

That’s the basic recipe – variations include topping it all off with meringue, the addition of chocolate, or fruit.
It’s a mixed up muddled up dish that lends itself perfectly to innovation. Enjoy!
To Drink
Let’s go overboard, and change region while we’re at it. Try a Zibbibo dessert wine from Sicily

http://www.academiabarilla.com/italian-r...ondue.aspx
Vol au vent with radicchio and fondue
A delicious appetizer in which the bitterness of the radicchio is balanced by the comforting flavor of the fontina, making for an intense, but interesting combination.

Vol au vent with radicchio and fondueVol au vent with radicchio and fondue

Time
45 minutes
Course
Appetizers
Italian Region
Veneto
Ingredients
Servings 4
12 vol au vent
5 oz Fontina cheese
1 ¼ cups milk
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
black truffle
10 oz red radicchio
salt to taste

Preparation
30 minutes preparation + 15 minutes cooking

Roughly chop the Fontina, whisk the egg yolks with a couple of tablespoons of milk, blend the flour into the remaining milk and add the fontina to the mixture. Transfer the mixture over the heat and keep whisking vigorously with a metal whisk.

As soon as the mixture starts to become more solid, amalgamate everything with the egg mixture, and, cook for ten minutes, stirring continuously. Season with salt, if you want you can add a knob of butter, and leave to rest.

Finely chop the radicchio and add it to the cheese mixture. Heat up the fondue and fill the vol au vents finishing with some freshly-grated black truffle on top.

Food History

Radicchio can be found throughout Italy. There are many types of this bitter, leafy vegetable, but the most famous is probably the late-season radicchio tardivo di Treviso.
Italians began cultivating his variety, a quite labor-intensive process, in the middle of the 1500s. After the harvest, which normally takes place around November, the “tardivo” undergoes a process called imbianchimento, literally “whitening”, which involves placing the plants in baths of water for about twenty days so that the leaves become crisp and less bitter in flavor.
Or more specifically, the outer leaves of the plants are removed and then they are places in large cement basins where they can form new, crisper leaves. Then the radicchio is left to ripen in sand, and then cleaned and trimmed before they are sold at markets across Italy.

more to come alot of info so breaking it down

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

http://www.epicurean.com/articles/food-o...italy.html
The Food of Southern Italy
by Carlo Middione
From the pages of EpicureanThe food of the north of Italy has become a sacred cow, and some people unwittingly, include the central part as a matter of course, thereby denying the Tuscans the individuality they rightfully demand, especially when it comes to food. Some people who write about it in advertisements or on menus actually underscore the "Northern" part of it, and use capitals no less! The food of southern Italy is no less important, delicious and healthy, to say nothing of glamorous, than the food of the north of Italy. It is ancient food with little need for updating. That alone should make it interesting and valuable. The fact that it is very healthy and exceptionally delicious only helps the matter. My particular interest is the food of southern Italy, not only because my parents were Sicilian immigrants (both in the restaurant business before coming to America), but because the food has such obvious merit. Tired lasagna, big-belly deli meatballs and soaking wet salads definitely do not represent the real food of the south of Italy, but an abomination wreaked on the unsuspecting American public by perpetrators who initially knew better. It is only by knowing the broad spectrum of this food and its preparation that one realizes that these bad practices prevail because of an unaware and often uncaring audience.

How does northern Italian cooking differ from southern Italian cooking? This is a mighty difficult question to answer without writing a book. Butter is the predominant fat for cooking in the north, while the central Italians who are kindred souls to the Southerners, love and use extra virgin olive oil as the main fat. The Northerners use cream in many savory or main dishes instead of reserving it mainly for desserts or pastries for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. There is more meat on the northern table than on the southern one. In the northeast part of Italy, essentially still Austrian, there are heavy Germanic influences, not the least of which is language.

Italian Stone Wall

In the northwest part of Italy we have, again, the use of more meat than the Southerners and certainly an abundance of white truffle in the dishes. Here French is heard as a language quite interchangeable with Italian. Some differences can be seen in the visual aspects of the dishes. There is a quietness and almost a monochromatic quality in northern dishes, not out of design or stodginess but because of the selection of ingredients. You have tortellini con la panna, tortellini in cream; grilled veal chop, cannelloni with white or beige béchamel and cheese on top; ricotta and spinach dumplings unrelieved in color, slathered only lusciously in melted butter; Tuscan beans, not pallid but not vibrant.

Southerners, on the other hand have what can easily be called riotous food, at least in color and combination. In fact, this is the land of combinations. While they certainly enjoy a piece of simple grilled fish with lemon juice drizzled on it, you find other dishes such as pizza from Naples, hardly monochromatic; or merluzzo al forno, baked codfish with bay leaves and fennel and a vibrant, fresh, uncooked tomato sauce. The mixing of certain vegetables such as eggplant and tomatoes and potatoes to make the colorful and delicious ciamotta, mixed vegetable stew cooked in four separate steps, is unlikely, but highly rewarding. Cassata and cannoli add to the merriment of the southern Italian table. The use of extra virgin olive oil is a requirement in southern Italian cooking as is lard. The very sparse use of garlic (yes, this true), in the south of Italy shows restraint and good sense. The use of outrageous amounts of it in any given dish in America shows the perpetrators of this abuse to surely have criminal minds! They obviously do not know their subject well.

The cooking of the southern Italians is evolutionary, not revolutionary. The almost imperceptible changes that occur when a dish is done and then re-done countless times eventually hone down to make it perfect. Take for example the Teglia (or tiella) Barese, a Pugliese casserole classic from Bari (the recipe follows). This dish was not thought out or designed. It just happened through layers of time as well as ingredients. The Arabs introduced rice into southern Italy somewhere around the year 800. Additionally they occupied Spain and introduced it there also (perhaps giving us a first look at paella), and probably inspired the combination of rice and mussels. After cooking this dish many times, the cook added just a bit of vegetables because they were at hand or because the yield had to accommodate one more mouth. The cheese, always at arm's length, soon found its way into the dish. The addition of potatoes and tomatoes dates this version of the tiella (casserole), after the mid-1500's or so because potatoes were not known in Italy before then, They came from the new world along with tomatoes, chocolate, corn and turkey, etc. After the tiella made its way this far, it became a classic dish in every sense of the word in that it is basic, and abides by a set of rules which I have laid out for you in the recipe. Dishes like this were conceived ingredient by ingredient, probably by necessity or availability. Eventually they became standards which need not be tampered with.

The use of red pepper flakes, hardly ever mentioned in the literature in the U. S., shows exuberance and good sense. Powdered red pepper would create heat indiscriminately. Flakes create jolts of hot spots on the tongue thereby stimulating the perception of taste. The non-hot intervals temper and give variety in a single dish. In the Abruzzo they like things hot, but they must also be flavorful. Many dishes of other cultures can be hot but not necessarily flavorful. Pasta di fuoco, firey pasta from the Abruzzo, has cooked garlic as the main taste, and the arbol peppers are not only firey but distinctly flavorful.

For you who like marinades, consider this: the normal, typical southern Italian marinade for meat, fish or fowl is invariably extra virgin olive oil. The reason is simple. In the dishes that call for marinades, the ingredients need pampering and perhaps a bit of tempering, not precooking as most acid marinades do. If such an acid marinade is used, why bother to cook the food one more time? After all, the main function of an acid marinade is to break down fiber to make the ingredient more palatable than in its natural state; certainly not true of Italian ingredients that want a marinade to enhance their inherent qualities, not change them. The recipe for Pollo al Mattone, chicken cooked under a brick, is an example of how this method works.


Italian Spaghetti

Italian food, in general, has practically defined the word earthy. Yet, from so-called humble roots came the foundation of what we now know as French cuisine and even haute cuisine. While the French made an obvious, concerted, mystifying and certainly commercial business of cooking food, the Italians were maintaining the dishes that were good and popular and very slowly improving the ones that were not. Today, the same holds true; but somehow, I cannot buy the notion that Italian food is merely earthy. To some people earthy means lacking sophistication or refinement. Depending on how you perceive the food, it should also mean unaffected; so rare nowadays. If it is satisfying to the soul as well as to the mouth and the stomach, you could call it earthy. When has this definition held true of an au courant dish consisting of two slices of lamb about the size of a fifty-cent-piece almost floating on a lake of at least two sauces, combined more for the sake of complexity and texture than for flavor, and the obligatory julienned melange of vegetables, palatable only because of their cut and size? Is this soul-satisfying? Is it comforting? Is it earthy?

I would hesitate to call southern Italian food "down home" because it has been around for so long and has become so refined (not in the panty-waist sense, but in the fact that it has been done and re-done so often as to make it almost a travesty to try to change anything about it), that it can easily qualify as elegant food. However, it still satisfies the soul.

While I admire dishes that show-off "technique" and occasionally "ingenuity," I expect them to be for expository reasons or to emphasize a cooking point, in other words dishes suitable more for discussion than gustatory satisfaction. Myself, I like to eat food for its primary reason for existing, to enjoy it while it keeps me alive and well. Italian food, categorically, does this. Many of the dishes that I teach or make in my restaurant or make for myself and my wife at home could be considered earthy. They give all the joy of eating nutritious food well prepared in the best way possible, simply cooked and simply presented in a warm, friendly atmosphere, where hospitality is as important as the meal itself.

Of course, there are Southern Italian dishes that show a certain amount of chic or complexity and refinement. Sometimes this is demonstrated by the combination of ingredients, such as choice prosciutto and dead-ripe melon or figs (of course, the prosciutto comes from Parma near Bologna, but with Sicilian figs or melon it transcends being just delicious), or ripe tomatoes, basil, and real buffalo mozzarella cheese doused with extra virgin olive oil. Yes, it is possible to get real buffalo-milk mozzarella and, yes, it does taste better, with a finer texture and "bite."

Sometimes chic, complexity and refinement are demonstrated by technique, such as making fettuccine correctly. The mere selection of fancy durum flour and fresh eggs requires knowledge and judgment. The texture of the dough is determined not so much by the recipe but by experience and "feel." The correctness is demonstrated in a result of absolutely even coloration of the dough which shows it was kneaded enough and fastidiously, the thinness, such that you should be able to read EPICUREAN magazine through it, and the strength of it so that it will take plenty of vigorous handling and remain intact and yet supple and tender, and in the end, when boiled in a cauldron of boiling water, be al dente in the true sense of the word - chewable with some effort. Is making perfect fettuccine any less inspired or any less awesome than making a perfect sauce? You can begin to see the hypocrisy in exalting the saucier, while simply tossing off the pasta-maker as a peasant who is used to doing it.

Do not confuse simplicity or earthiness with shabbiness or indifference. Remember that anything exposed by lack of adornment must have strength, reliability, appeal, and in our case, the test of time.

Dishes wrenched out of someone's contrived imagination have no place in the cooking of southern Italy. I hesitate to give you an exact concoction as an example of what I mean, lest my colleagues think that I am gunning for them, but let us say a dish such as grilled monkfish, marinated in kiwi juice and cumin, sauced with a pesto of strawberries and demi-glace would be very uncomfortable on a Southern Italian table. You might well end up wearing it. The influence of many cultures have shaped the food of the southern Italians. Greeks, Arabs, Normans, French and Spanish have all left a mark on that cooking. But instead of seeing insular examples of these dishes, we see a distillation of all of them making a unique and disparate system of cooking, which we can call the cooking of southern Italy. After centuries of virtually undisturbed cooking technique and adherence to the proper ingredients, these dishes remain in the repertory, and are guarded jealously by those who make them. Thank God for this attitude because it gives us a living heritage of good honest cooking that can serve us well for more centuries; historic cooking still eaten today on its merits - what other craft can claim that?

In my book, "The Food of Southern Italy", I pay tribute to the food of the south of Italy and give, hopefully, a loving broadside of how these Italians eat, how they cook, what they cook and sometimes why they cook it, in a wide variety of recipes, a lot that have never seen the printed page before, even in Italy. More of these kinds of dishes grace the menus of restaurants of all hues and aspirations, than do dishes from the north of Italy. I say this in pride and knowledge, but hasten to add, that a great deal of my cooking repertory (and reputation) comes from cooking foods from all the regions of Italy.

Some of the dishes that I love the most are made without meat, fish or fowl. It is surprising how many people cannot tolerate such dishes, or, as is often my menu, a whole meal of meatless dishes. I am not a vegetarian, and I neither admire that diet nor recommend it, but there are some wonderful meals consisting only of vegetables and possibly fruit. These meals are very satisfying and memorable.

In my book, "The Food of Southern Italy," I paid tribute to the food of the south of Italy and gave, hopefully, a loving broadside of how these Italians eat, how they cook, what they cook and sometimes why they cook it, in a wide variety of recipes, a lot that had never seen the printed page before, even in Italy. I say this in pride and knowledge, but hasten to add that a great deal of my cooking repertory (and reputation) comes from cooking foods from all of the regions of Italy.

The dishes in my books, and the ones that I teach in the many private classes I give, are based on mostly everyday ingredients that most of you will have on hand or can easily buy in a normal market. Some specialty meats, cheeses and wines, of course, require shopping in other stores. Fortunately, in the Bay Area where I live, we are blessed with a number of such places. Also to our benefit is the fact that the climate in California is much like one would find in southern Italy, thereby giving us, locally, another reason to explore and celebrate this most rewarding food. For those of you in other parts of the world, you can cook these dishes by a little diligent shopping, and even sending away for certain key ingredients not readily at hand.

Three of the following recipes are from my book, "The Food of Southern Italy," the other has been in my cooking repertory for a long time. These dishes are particularly appealing to me, so I have shared them with you.

Buon Appetito!

Recipes From Southern Italy

CIAMOTTA
Mixed Vegetable Stew
Makes 6 servings

Each ingredient of the Ciamotta is delicious on its own; after preparing each individual vegetable you would enjoy eating as it comes out of the pan. Combined, they become magically Epicurean - so simple that some people scoff at the combination as being pedestrian. Pray for them. This dish, good as it is on its own, becomes a "contorno," contour to other dishes such as the Pollo al Mattone, roast pork, big meaty grilled fish. Eaten at room temperature with a little lemon vinaigrette, it is quick, easy, and a winner.

1 large eggplant, about 1 lb., washed
1 lb. large, firm russet-type potatoe, well scrubbed
4 bell peppers, red and green mixed, washed
1 lb. ripe, firm tomatoes, or use canned San Marzano if available
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed, for frying
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed almost to paste
Salt to taste
Plenty of fresh ground black pepper

Trim off the stem and leaves from the eggplant, cut it crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. If young and very fresh there is no need to salt the slices (otherwise see below). Peel the potatoes and cut them crosswise into 1/8 inch thick slices. Core the pepper and discard the seeds, cut them in 1/4 inch slices lengthwise. Peel and core the tomatoes, and crush well with your hands.

Put enough oil in a large frying pan to cup the sides about 1/8 inch. When the oil is hot, fry the eggplant slices until they are nicely browned on both sides turning once. Add more oil as needed. Remove them to a large casserole that will eventually hold everything. Add more oil as needed. Fry the potato slices until they are deep gold. Put them into the casserole with the eggplant. Fry the peppers until they are golden, and add the other cooked ingredients.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Scatter on the crushed tomatoes and the garlic, salt and pepper and mix well but carefully. Do not make a mush of things. Bake for about 30 minutes or until it is bubbling. Serve hot on its own merits, or use as a contorno, side dish, for roasted meat, fowl or big fish.

NOTE: To remove excess water from eggplant or remove bitterness in older ones, sprinkle both sides of the slices liberally with salt. Place in a non-reactive colander overlapping each other. Place a bowl or a dish inside the colander on top of the eggplant slices, and place a 1 or 2 pound weight on it. Let stand for about 1 hour. Rinse slices quickly under cold running water and pat dry.

TIELLA BARESE
Bari-Style Casserole
Makes 4 to 6 serving

The Casserole Barese is a favorite of mine because it is delicious and very unusual, and you can be sure you would not have eaten it at someone else's house just last week. It is an ancient dish preserved because of its intrinsic goodness for us to use today.

2 lbs. or more fresh mussels
4 medium tomatoes, peeled cored, and chopped medium fine
2 stalks tender celery, finely chopped
2/3 c. Italian parsley, chopped medium
2 large garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil, as needed
4 oz. grated pecorino cheese
1 lb. potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8 inch thick
12 oz. Arborio, Vialone or other plump rice, washed
Salt and black pepper to taste
About 3 c. water plus the mussel juices
1/2 c. bread crumbs (use your judgement)

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Wash the mussels well. Put 1/4 cup water into a large pan, with a lid, over high heat. Put in the mussels and cover the pan until the shells have just barely opened, about two minutes. Immediately remove the mussels to a cookie sheet with sides and spread them out to cool. Reserve the juices until later, but strain to rid any sand. Remove the top shell, and loosen the mussel but leave it in the bottom shell. Discard the top shells.
Mix together the tomatoes, celery, parsley, and garlic. Put 1/3 of the mixture in the bottom of a three-quart casserole dish, add some salt and pepper. Drizzle on about 1/3 of the olive oil. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the cheese, and layer on 1/3 of the potatoes evenly to cover. Layer all the mussels in their shells open side up. You may have to have more than one layer.
Sprinkle on all of the rice evenly. Scatter 1/3 more of the vegetable mixture, more salt and pepper, another 1/3 of the oil, 1/3 more of the cheese, and evenly layer on the remaining 2/3 of the potatoes.
Layer on the remaining 1/3 of the vegetable mixture and the last 1/3 of the oil. Pour the water and the reserved mussel juices slowly over the ingredients. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and the remaining 1/3 of the cheese.
Bake in the upper third of the oven for about 1 1/4 hours. If the casserole gets a little dry, add a little boiling water, to avoid stopping the baking, or shattering the casserole. When it is done, it should be moist but not wet. Let it rest for at least 45 minutes. It is best eaten warm, rather than hot.


ZUPPA DI ACCIA
Calabrian Celery Soup
Makes 6 servings

I chose the Calabrian Celery Soup because it is delicious, and unusual becasue of the comination of ingredients and the technique used to make it. It constitutes a whole meal accompanied by some good bread. This soup is also an example of a precise recipe for soup. Generally soups are made from ingredients at hand and although there is some latitude in the use of ingredients and the amounts, thre are a few unwritten rules about them. The strongest one I can think of is that almost all of them are made with a bse of water, not chicken stock, good as it is. Be sure to use high quality water, as carefully chosen as your other key ingredients.

1 lb celery, washed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 quarts best quality water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 T extra virgin olive oil
6 slices homemade bread, toasted, cut into quarters (do not use sourdough!)
3 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into quarters
3 oz. thinly sliced soppressata, cut into julienne strips
4 oz. fresh pork sausage without fennel seeds, broken into tiny pieces
3 oz. caciocavallo cheese, thinly sliced and cut into julienne strips
3/4 c. grated Pecorino cheese
Plenty of fresh ground black pepper

Cover the celery with water in a small stock pot, bring to a simmer, and add the salt (to taste). Add the olive oil, and simmer the soup over low heat for about 15 minutes, or until it is tender but not soft.

Meanwhile, put the pieces of bread all over the bottom of a well-heated soup tureen, and at random, scatter on all the rest of the ingredients except the grated cheese and the pepper. Bring the soup to a rolling boil. Ladle it into the tureen. It should be hot enough to cook the sausage and heat the rest of the ingredients very well. Add the pecorino and the black pepper. Serve the scalding soup in hot plates or bowls.

POLLO AL MATTONE
Chicken Cooked Under a Brick
Makes 4 to 6 servings

Chicken Cooked Under a Brick is fun to make and the flavors can be varied by adjusting the condiments in it. It is also very good eaten at room temperature, meaning leftovers can be used easily or it can be made way ahead ready for your dinner at a moment's notice.

1 3 lb. fryer
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 or more of the following herbs:
4 large sprigs fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dry; 2 large sprigs fresh rosemary or 2 tablespoons dry leaves; 8 large leaves fresh sage torn into small pieces or 2 teaspoons dry crushed leaves (NOT POWDERED!)
1 scant t. red pepper flakes or to taste
Salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Split chicken dawn back and splay it open so that it is flat. Tuck wings behind its back. Put it into a shallow dish and sprinkle the olive oil all over both sides, sprinkle on evenly one or more of the herbs, and the pepper flakes if you are going to use them. Cover the chicken with clear wrap and let it marinate in the refrigerator for several hours. You can prepare the dish to this point up to two days ahead.

Put a heavy frying pan on medium heat for about 2 minutes, then drizzle on some of the oil from the marinade. Place the chicken skin-side-down in the hot oil, add some salt and pepper, and immediately place two foil wrapped bricks (about 6 pounds) on top of it. You can use a heavy pot with some water in it if you do not have bricks handy, but be sure to balance it carefully for safety.

After 4 minutes or so remove the weights and lift the chicken gently to see if skin is coloring well but not burning. Reduce heat or raise it as needed, and replace weights. After about 15 minutes of cooking the skin should be deep gold and crusty. Turn the chicken over, add more salt and pepper if you wish, replace the weights, and cook another 20 minutes or until done.

Remove weights and take the chicken out of the pan. Let it rest on a cutting board for 6 or 7 minutes, then cut it as you like and serve it hot with crusty bread and some grilled or sautéed vegetables. For a picnic, yau can make pollo al mattone as directed up to a day ahead, keep it refrigerated, but do not cut it until you are ready to pack it.

NOTE: You can make this chicken on a barbecue. Use medium heat and watch carefully that it does not get dried out. Proceed as directed.

http://www.suite101.com/content/pumpkin-...ir-a293417

Pumpkin Recipes with an Italian Flair Oct 4, 2010 Katrina Cobb

Pumpkin Ravioli - Alvyx
Pumpkin is usually used for baking and is thought to be American. However, Northern Italy has been using pumpkin in their recipes since the 1500s.

Pumpkin is considered to be a traditional American food that harkens back to the founding of the nation. Yet this versatile squash was spread throughout the world when the Spanish brought it to Europe upon their return from exploring. The pumpkin was imported to Italy in the 1500s and was quickly adopted as favorite ingredient in the cooking in Northern Italy and along the river Po region. Throughout the month of October, pumpkin festivals are celebrated in towns across Northern Italy. It is a typical component of Italian fall country cooking and featured in a variety of pumpkin filled ravioli and tortellini. Also featured are pastas with a pumpkin based sauce and risotto.
Ravioli de Zucca (Pumpkin Ravioli)

This recipe was created in Mantova and is a favorite that is considered to be a specialty in many of the local restaurants. It has an authentic autumn flavor that makes for an interesting main course meal.

For the Filling:
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2/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup fresh grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
3 tablespoons ground almond biscotti
3 tablespoons melted butter
dash of nutmeg
dash of salt
premade ravioli dough

For sauce:

1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon fresh chopped sage
1/2 cup cream

Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl until all is fully mixed together
Place one teaspoon of the filling in one square of ravioli dough.
Moisten the edges with an egg wash made with egg beaten with a little water.
Place another square of dough on top of it and press the edges to seal it.
Continue in this fashion until the filling is used up.
Bring a large pot of water to boiling.
Cook in the boiling water for six to eight minuted or until the pasta is cooked but firm.
Drain the ravioli and keep warm.
Mix the sage into the melted butter.
Stir in the cream and heat until the sauce is hot but not boiling.
Place the ravioli on plates and spoon the sauce over the top.

Pumpkin Chard Lasagna

This recipe has many of the same flavors and originated from the same area as the previous recipe, but is much easier to prepare. This meal can be served as a delicious main course and goes very well when paired with a white wine that has some of its own sweetness.
Read on

The Pumpkin: Its History, Nutrition and Selection
Chewy Pumpkin Cookies with Raisins
Healthy Vegetarian Recipes

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped finely
2 pounds of Swiss chard, tough stems removed, leaves washed well and chopped
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons fresh-ground black pepper
1 teaspoons dried sage
1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
3 cups canned pumpkin puree (this equals one 28-ounce can)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
9 no-boil lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon butter

Remove the stems from the chard and wash the leaves well. Chop the chard into medium sized pieces.
Heat the oil over low heat in a large nonstick frying pan.
Add the onions and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally.
Increase the heat to high and add the chard, one teaspoon of the salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of the sage, and 1/4 teaspoon of the nutmeg. Cook until the chard is wilted and no liquid remains in the pan. This should take five to ten minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together two cups of the pumpkin, 3/4 cup of the cream and 1/2 cups of the Parmesan cheese and the remaining salt, pepper, sage and nutmeg. Set aside.
Pour the milk into an 8-by-12-inch baking dish. Place one third of the noodles on top of the milk. Spread half of the pumpkin mixture on the noodles. Then layer half of the Swiss chard on the pumpkin.
Top with another layer of the pumpkin, Swiss chard and noodles.
Combine the remaining pumpkin and the cream. Spread this over the top of the lasagna, being careful to do so evenly.
Sprinkle the top with the remaining cup of Parmesan cheese and dot with butter.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
Uncover and bake until golden for about 15 minutes.

Pumpkin-Sage Pasta with Blue Cheese Crumbles

This vegetarian meal mixes the healthy benefits of pumpkin with the sophisticated flavors of the season.

1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup milk
2 - 3 drops hot sauce
1 teaspoon dried sage
dash of freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup pureed pumpkin
pinch of brown sugar
reserved pasta cooking water
2 tablespoon blue cheese crumbles
2 cups cooked pasta

Melt the butter in small saucepan over medium high heat.
Add the flour and stir until completely smooth.
Add the milk, hot sauce, sage, nutmeg and a little salt and pepper. Stir until the mixture comes to a boil.
Add the pumpkin and pinch of sugar.
When the sauce is thick but not gummy, check the seasoning and add salt or sugar to bring out the flavor of the pumpkin. Add a bit of the reserved water from the pasta pot if the sauce seems too thick.
While the sauce is cooking, cook enough pasta for four people. This sauce is really good over fettucini or angel hair pasta.
When both the pasta and the sauce is ready, toss the sauce with the drained pasta and add a bit more water if needed to give a smooth texture.
Place on a plate or in a bowl and top with the crumbles of blue cheese.
Serve with bread sticks.

https://sites.google.com/site/medievalcu...an-recipes
this website has alot of receipes too many to pick and choose from so i am doing it this way.

well this is the last of the recipes not for sure what I will put up next. As I read some of the recipes from the 1500s my mouth began to drool. Others I was like "I am not sure about these but willing to at least try it if I ever got the chance to." Sometimes food that doesn't sound good is really taste. So if you feel the need to try these recipes I posted up please get back to me on how they tasted to you. Be glad to find out.

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

this is the story i created based off the questionaire that I answered. This puts the questionaire into Cecilia Roselli's personal worlds and thoughts. This is her way of simplifying her story. I hope you enjoy reading it.

The Story of Cecilia Roselli
Hello, my name is Cecilia Roselli and I was born in Florence, Italy, between the early 1500s and the late 1500s as part of the Nobility class. I am 28 years old currently and proud to be an Italian. My family has been living in Florence, Italy since the 1300s, since my family were one of the few people to live during the occurrence of the Black Plague, we were granted Nobility and land and my great, great grandfather purchased the house we live in now called the ““Val D’Orcia Casa Rosa” it is a house built out of stones. This house was ran and managed by parents when I was younger. My parents’ names are Masina and Nicholaus Roselli. My profession is a writer and I love to write a variety of things like stories, plays, and sometimes poetry if it comes to my mind. I sometimes write in my diary about any new fashions that I learn about or child care techniques I hear when talking to some parent friends of mine. When I get paid for my writing they pay me in our currency called “Florin”. My current employer is Francesco Dolce e compagni. I would have had two brothers as siblings but they didn’t make it through childbirth. I also have several other little sisters some didn’t make it, but the ones that did I now care for. My youngest sister’s name is Santesa Scarlatta Roselli and I love her very much. I enjoy having her around. Her and my other siblings that survived make me happy to know, I am not an only child due to the Black Plague.
I feel relieved that I didn’t lose my mother as well as she tried to give birth to them. Childbearing in this day and time is very dangerous because between 20 and 50 percent of infants died after childbirth and one in ten births results in the death of the mother. I am not married due to both of my parents passing and having no other family members to help arrange my marriage. Typically, the marriage age was 25 years old and the men we would marry would generally be 14 years older than we women are. Sometimes we would be much younger. So, it was through this I decided to head toward the Kingdom of Meridies and leave my home country. I sold my land but kept my family’s home as my parlor house for company when I wanted to visit my homeland. I purchased a town house in the Kingdom of Meridies to live. I am currently living with my servants because I couldn’t stand to live without them and decided to bring them with me since they are the closest thing I have to a family now. But, I am writing this so you can learn what my home country is like during this time period. So let’s begin with some information on how my land looks.
Our plant life is pretty cool because we have a huge variety of trees in my country. We have the olive, the orange, the lemon, the palm and the Citron Trees. My favorite fruit produced in my home country is the orange tree, because I love to eat oranges. We also have fig, date, pomegranate, and almost trees. In my country we have a variety of animals as well. We have quail, woodcock, and partridge birds. Also, you can find lizards, snakes, and scorpions. I don’t mind the lizards too much but I really don’t like snakes and scorpions. But that is okay they are part of my country and help to contribute to the beauty of this land for me. Our climate is a lot like the Mediterranean climate because our summers are hot and humid with a little rainfall. But, our winters are cool and damp. This is because we are surrounded by hills in a river valley. In my home city of Florence, it is usually hot and humid from June to August.
You might ask how well I know my way around my country and I would tell you I know it pretty well and how to get where I need to go. But, most of the time in my home country I stay in Florence due to it being one of the major cities of Italy. To help those who visit our country we use maps to show the land. This is created by mathematical geography; a major thing was inspired by Ptolemy who helped in creating mapmaking. It is through his theory that we were able to develop mathematical tools for measuring the earth’s surface, determining the exact position of points on it, and transferring real-world measurements to maps. He titled this work “Geographia” and was first translated into Latin in 1410. His theory helped Pierre d’Ally publish Ptolemaic Maps in 1413.
Due to the terrain we have we have few natural resources because our land is unsuitable for farming. We are a net food importer, because we trade a lot to get a lot of foods we cook here in Italy. Our natural gas reserves come from mainly the Pro Valley and off the shore called Adriatic. Natural gas is my country’s most important mineral. Through trade our economics have grown from the 1300s to the 1500s. Our economy grew due to us trading with other countries such as China, India, and Persia. With them we traded our wool and metal that we had an abundance of for their silk, cotton, and spices. Since we Italians love to cook, the spices we got was a big hit.
Speaking of our cooking, we commonly prepared bread, hard biscuits, wine, rice (risotto), and pasta dishes like lasagna, ravioli, and pizza. Now our pizzas during this time had no tomato sauce. We also had omelets, meatballs, pork, and sausages. We ate fresh fruits in season, and dried items in other seasons. We love our soups and stews, and love our fish, cheesecake and flan. Olive oil is our favorite flavor to cook with. Now, I love lasagna a lot and soup and stews and several other things mentioned. But, don’t care much for cheesecake; I am a more chocolate person. We had helped through trade between the 1400s and 1500s to introduce sugar, coffee, and ice cream to the rest of the Europe through Venice, Italy. I found this a very awesome fact to learn because not only was the world helping us, we were able to help the world. The food we got through trading and the food we didn’t have to get through trading were preserved with salt since we didn’t have another way of refrigeration. The types of spices we were able to get through trade were Black Pepper, cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric. The trading of these spices came through the Cape of Good Hope that was pioneered by Vasco Da Gama in 1498. Spices were among the most expansive item because they were in such demand and were used in medicines for the sick. An example of how expensive spices were for us is, a pound of ginger was worth the price of a sheep, and a pound of mace would buy three sheep or half cow. Even though, it cost us a lot we still went ahead and traded for it. The cinnamon spice was one of the most popular flavors in cooking and was considered to be particularly good for your digestive system and for sour throats. The Indian spices were thought to help for improving your health through the four humors. The four humors are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. They were also believed to help with moods such as sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic. Ginger for example, would have been used to heat the stomach and improve digestion. Clove was thought to have comforted your sinuses. On the other hand, we didn’t have any formal medical aid but the invention of condoms came out in the 1500s, which helped to protect us from diseases.
During, 1407 our trading had begun to expand towards gems. The gems were mostly table cut but some were round-shaped in appearance. Through this aspect of trade it created the sumptuary law stating that the use of fake gems was illegal. Another law against the use of gems was the law that forbade jewelers from using river pearls and oriental pearls in 1355. It even opened for a wide range of other gems though; we were able to get diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds. The gem trade even got us some new type of gems, like coral, agate, amber, crystal, and amethyst. I love crystals and amethyst stones they are so pretty and you might even see me wear some around my neck every once in a while. Through our trade with them it helped to raise our capital causing our economy to expand. Our textile production and our surplus in agriculture provided us goods for our urban centers. We recently, in the 1500s have had an increase in our population and our wealth. But, it also caused us the downside of inflations, less food, fewer jobs, higher taxes, and a wider gap between the rich and the poor. Even though this was a huge negative impact on us, up to this point we had dealt with trade quiet well. We just weren’t prepared for the increase of our population. Other then spices for our foods, I like many other kinds of foods that we eat on regular bases. Out of the food we eat regularly I love fish and chips, ice-cream, fruits, meat, chicken, and some pork. I also love eggs and milk products, especially strawberry yogurt and cheese. I also like homemade bread, flatbreads like Pizza, and sweets. A girl has to have her chocolate. Trade also gave us the benefit of having more options in jewelry thanks to the Gem trade. The Gem trade helped us be able to get heart shaped pendants and brooches. I love wearing necklaces and other jewelry so this helped with that.
In a typical Renaissance family, there are the parents and their children. But, due to a lot of the time poor sanitation, malnutrition, and disease makes life here more uncertain then a lot of places. This made death a normal thing, 25 percent of Infants who survived birth didn’t make it past the first year. The normal age for a person to live was between 35 to 45 years (1). As a woman from Italy and begin of Nobility thanks to my ancestors who got dubbed nobility through the black plague. I am very educated thanks to my parents because they were kind enough to hire me a private tutor who taught me science, reading, writing and many other things. I can speak English and Italian but I most speak English since most people don’t understand Italian in many other lands. Women could own no property except her dowry during this time period and this was her property for life. The dowry would generally be managed by her husband and it was considered her inheritance. It also was a cutoff point from her family to limit the size of their burdens. Women couldn’t conduct normal business but we were allowed to publish the written word as well as do our normal choirs. This is why when my parents died I sold our house and took the money from as my dowry. A lot of people during this time got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. Even though the smell had begun to come through they would use a bouquet of flowers to hide their odor.
Our legal system consists of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church and both of these legal systems made laws for Italy to follow. When Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800 AD and created the Holy Roman Empire he was inaugurated the tradition of imperial coronation by the Pope of the Catholic Church. This continued until the 16th century. This also caused some problems because not everyone liked our new legal system. Many wars were created because they didn’t like how the legal system ran things. The First war was the Peasants War of 1524, at this time I was 24 years old. It went on till 1525 in the Holy Roman Empire. In the war, the peasants wanted an end of serfdom and unfair taxation. I understood their side of things but I felt there should have been a better way to deal with things rather than war. They based this war on Luther’s Reformation teachings. But what surprised me the most that Luther himself condemned it and the revolt was ended after that. Another big war was the Great Italian Wars that consisted of several conflicts from 1494 to 1559. It involved most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States and most of the major states of Western Europe. A lot of people wanted power in the territory among their various participants. Through this war, they gained an increase of alliances, counter alliances and regular betrayals (2).” I believe the criminal behavior is caused by people not being educated like I am. Without this education, people won’t be able to learn what is right and what is wrong. Desiderius Erasmus said it best, “prevention is better than a cure” (3). He was referring that the use of Education can help in preventing human conflict verses talking about natural health. I highly agree with this because if we can educate each other on our differences then there will be no need for wars. On the other hand, there are two religions in Italy the Protestants and the Catholic Church; not surprising that part of our legal system would be a religion, is it? In the Catholic Church, as a woman born in the 1500s the only way I could pursue a career in the church was joining a covenant. Our current pope of the Catholic Church is Pope Paul III and our current monarch is Charles V. In the protestant church, I would have no choice but to serve my family. That was fine with me until my family passed away and was left on my own with no other family. So, I just worry about carrying for myself, my servants, and the friends that I make within the Kingdom of Merrides. To me our greatest social problem in my country is our wars we have had in the past. The wars have caused a lot of us to become divided and cause more pain than necessary. I believe that this causes those to steal due to the wars making it harder to get things needed for everything in our daily lives. It also makes it harder to work the fields with the men gone.
Now we are going to turn to a more positive note and look at some amazing inventions in the 1500s. This first amazing invention was the first watch. They are very bulky and relied on weight but I loved it. It was something new and fashionable. On the down side, they could be very inaccurate but it helped to give me a better idea of time to know when to get somewhere. When it comes to science we have had many different discoveries but to me, only two have really made the top of the list. The first one was when I was born in the 1500s and it was the invention of the first flush toilets. This made our lives so much easier and more fun to use the bathroom. The second discovery was done by Copernicus himself. He published his theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe but rather the Earth and the other planets orbited around the sun. He published this theory in 1543. Up to this point a lot of people in my country believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. I had never understood how we as planet could be the center of the universe, to me Copernicus’s theory made more sense than the other one. So, glad that he published this theory. The most significant thinker in my time period is Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo is an Italian Renaissance person that could do almost anything. He was an architect, musician, inventor, engineer, sculptor, and a painter. Leonardo is considered one of the greatest painters that ever lived.
Through science, we also had some developments in our Medicine and had several advancements over time. In 1316, Mondino de Luzzi published the very first European Textbook on Anatomy. This was very awesome because he helped learn what our bodies of. When I got old enough to look at the book, my tutor had me look at it as part of my science lesson. Luzzi called the book, “Anatomia.” This book was very interesting to me because of the knowledge and images that he had in the book. I believe that earth is round due to the new invention of atlas’s and globes that have come out. Then Leonardo Divinci, in the early 1500s drew numerous drawings of Skulls and brains. This use to scare me when I was younger but now the book doesn’t and still fascinates me when it comes to some of the drawings Divinci had done. In the 1500s, we also had begun to bring the doctors to us by bringing in town physicians. They were doctors that lived in the town so when we need them they were there. The town physicians have provided many services like free medical care to the poor, advised local governments on matters of hygiene and offered their services to wealthy for money. Filippo Brunelleschi invented one-point perspective, which leads to innovations in our architecture. Then, there was Jean Fouquet, who was a French painter of both panel painting and manuscript illumination. He was the inventor of the portrait miniature. But, the most impressive thing that helped me as a writer was the invention of movable type by King Taejong of Joseon in 1403. This allowed us to take individual characters and arrange them to form words. I thought this was the most amazing invention ever.
In Italy our days of the week were based off the calendar called “Julian Calendar” we used this till 1545. In 1545, we switched to the Georgian Calendar and we been using it ever since. I normally wear Garb from the 1500s to close to the 1600s. My court garb is from 1546 it is a beautiful dress with huge arm things hanging from it, almost like you are wearing a huge pillow on her arms. Also, thanks to the new maps that were inspired by Ptolemy his help in creating maps also lead to Martin Behaim of Germany making one of the first globes in 1493. By the mid-1500s the wealthy could purchase these symbols of worldly knowledge. It also helped create a new set of maps called an Atlas. This became a new and popular form of map ownership during this time. In our past we had so many different historical events come to pass in our history that it hard to pick just a few. But, I am going to try. The events I am going to talk about range from 485 to 1519. In 568, the Lombards, a Germanic Tribe, invaded Italy which he divided my country into three regions ruled by the Lombards, the eastern Roman Empire, and the Papal States. This reign lasted until 774 when he was defeated by Charlemagne. When I first heard about his I was like go Charlemagne. In the year 800, Charlemagne was then crowned Roman Emperor. In 962, Otto the Great, the king of Germany was crowned emperor. He then established the Holy Roman Empire that we know today. I came excited to learn between the 1000s and 4000s the Independent City States were established. My private tutor loved to teach me about history because he knew I became excited about it and loved learning where my country and my family came from. This helped me in realizing who I am as an Italian Women and where we came from.

Now let’s look a little more in depth into the things I like. My favorite musician is Antonio Valente. Antonio published two collections of keyboard music and he was born and lived from roughly around 1520 to 1581. My favorite artists are Raphael and Masaccio. Raphael lived from 1483 to 1520. The pope hired him to help beautify the Vatican. The papal chambers include The School of Athens, which depicts the great philosophers of classical Greece. He also painted excellent Madonna’s. My favorite painting done by Raphael was the “lady and the unicorn” painting. Masaccio lived around 1401 to 1428. He was a pioneer on the emphasis on realm. He painted light and shadows to give the effect of depth to objects. During this time period he was considered to be the first great painter of the Renaissance. The way he painted the lights and shadows always fascinated me and always caught my attention. Also some of our dances were quiet interesting. During the 1400s we had dances that consisted of two or three dangers. We during this time had a dance called the Ballo, which had four basic steps that could also be performed on its own. Our dances were compared to architecture because ours were more complex than most. In the 1500s the dances the Balletto and the Brando came into existence. The Balletto could be performed by two or four individuals. It combined two different dance types with at least one change of rhythm and temp. Then we got the complex Brando. It got used at the end of major theater productions and included at least four dance types and several changes in tempo. I love to learn new dances and just plain dance. The political party that I support is Mannerism. Mannerism is away to discuss an artist’s manner or method of working; to describe a personal or group style. It also helps to affirm a positive judgment of artistic quality. I like this as a writer because it helps people understand my style of working. I see the true measure of a man is one of authority and the one that takes care of my belongings and me. Queen Elizabeth said it best when she said, “any woman, even a Queen, was subject to her husband’s authority (4). She even though she was royalty knew her place in the line of authority. If I had someone I would be willing to abide by this rule. The person, who most influenced my knowledge on Italy, is my tutor that my parents hired to teach me. We had heraldry in my country but it was a variety of family crests. Each family had their own crest that represented their family.
When I arrived in Meridies, I thought back to the good and bad times in my home country and couldn’t have been prouder to be from there. In Meridies I learned how to fight with a sword and a shield. This is also where I became a part of the Redewolves Den. I figured that fighting would be a great thing to learn because there is always dangers in a new land and what about to protect my new found family the Redewolves then to learn how to defend them? Even though, in Italy we couldn’t fight like the men. If we had wanted to obtain armor in our time period we would hire a metal smith and have them build one for us. Since we had an abundance of metal this wouldn’t have been hard to do. In my homeland the easiest armor to make to fit a woman would have been chain mail armor, but it wouldn’t have protected us too well. I have traveled by boat, sailing with some of the traders as they came through. I through this have found that I love to sail and help them keep the boat clean; hey it gives me something to do. Through all my experience at home and on my way to Meridies, I am definitely a fan of open trade because it opens up supplies to those in my home country including, myself when I was there. My hobbies have now expanded to be writing stories and poems, loves to read new things from books from my home country, and sailing on ships. These hobbies were learned over an expansion of time. The learning to read and write was from my private tutor. And for sailing, that was like I said learned on my way here to Meridies.

[Cecilia Rose Demonic Princess]

Italian Explorers in the 1500s

The following websites beside each of their names is where I found the information about them I just wrote some of the information in my own words. I give all credit to the sites where the information came from.

Sebastian Cabot http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/1500a.shtml and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_C...xplorer%29
He was born around 1474 and died around 1557. He was an explorer, and a mapmaker of Italian Decent. His employer as a mapmaker was King Henry VIII, and he was a captain for Spain’s King Ferdinand V. He also explored for King Henry VII. Exploring was something that he had running in his blood, his father John Cabot was an explorer as well.

Sebastian was searching for the Northwest Passage across the North America in 1508. He tried to make a trip to china and the Moluccas (the Spice Islands, in Indonesia) but he failed to make it. Instead, he made it to the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. It is a river between Argentina and Uruguay in South America.

While he was at the Rio de la Plata he decided to explore it and he spent 5 months there. While, there he set up a fort called “San Salvador.” The name was influenced by Uruguay and the Rio San Salvador. This was the first modern day Spanish settlement.

John Cabot http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/1500a.shtml and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabot

He was born around 1450 and died around 1499. He was an Italian navigator and explorer. John was the first to discover parts of North America in 1497. He is also known as Giovanni Caboto in Italy. John was very knowledgeable of the Origins in oriental merchandise, such as spices and silks, then most Europeans of that time.
In Early 1494, he helped build the stone bridge over the Guadalquivir River. In 1565, the term “America” becomes popular.

Giovanni da Verrazzano http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/1500a.shtml and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_da_Verrazzano

Born in 1485 and died in 1528. He was an Italian Navigator that in 1524, explored the northeast coast of North America from cape fear, North Carolina to Maine while searching for a northwest passage to Asia.

He was employed by King Francois-Premier (Francis I) of France. He sailed with his brother Girolama. Girolama was a mapmaker that mapped their voyage.
Giovanni lived in a home called, “Val di Grieve” in South of Florence, Italy. His parents are Picro Andrea die Bernardo da Verrazzano and Fiametta Capelli.

During the years of his life, he had bad luck in making major discoveries. His letters to Francis in describing the geography, Flora, Fauna, and native population of the east coast of North America are under debate if they are true or not.

1950’s to 1990s – a ferry boat that served New York was named for him and was called “The Verrazzano.” A bride was also named after him and called “The Verrazano” This is why there is a debate on how his name is spelled.

Amerigo Vespucci http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/1500a.shtml and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci

He lived between March 9, 1454 to February 22, 1512, he was an Italian explorer that first realized that the Americas were separated from the continent of Asia. In 1507, America was named after him. When the German mapmaker Martin Waldsemuller had printed the first map of the new world, he used the name, America.

1499 to 1500 – Amerigo took his first expedition to Spain. He was the navigator under the command of Alonso de Ojeda. They discovered the mouth of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers in South America. They thought it was part of Asia.

1501 to 1502 – took his second expedition to Portugal. Here he mapped some of the eastern coast of South America and came to realize that it not part of Asia, but a New World.

He also was a cartographer (map maker). He was raised and brought up by his Uncle in the Republic of Florence, in what is now known as Italy. He worked for Lorenzo de Medici and his son, Giovanni.

1492 – He went to work at the Seville, Spain’s branch of the Medici Bank.
Between 1502 and 1504 – his expeditions became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to Vespucci was published.

Thoughts on him were generally good; in fact people seemed to like him. Christopher Columbus said, “It was always been his wish to please me; he is a man of good will; fortune has been unkind to him as to others; his labors have not brought him the rewards he in justice should have.”

1508 – King Ferdinand made Vespucci Chief Navigator of Spain at a huge salary and commissioned him to found a school of navigation. This was to standardize and modernize navigation techniques used by Liberian sea captains then exploring the world. Vespucci in this time period developed a rudimentary, but fairly accurate method of determining longitude.