The true porchetta

Nardi, Luigi (1777-1837).

Porcus troianus o sia la porchetta. Cicalata ne le nozze di messer Carlo Ridolfi veronese con madonna Rosa Spina riminese. [Bologna], Nobili Press, 1821.

8° (209x144 mm). [2], XVI, 134, [2 blanks] pages. Contemporary wrappers, small losses to the spine. A fine, uncut copy.

The second, augmented edition of this entertaining ludic poem, or cicalata. A notice is printed before the title-page referring to the first edition printed in Rimini in 1813. The name of the author is given only under the form of an anagram, 'Giri di Luna', in the dedication on p. III.

This work, by the canon from Savignano Luigi Nardi, though written as a cicalata for the marriage of Carlo Ridolfi from Verona to Madonna Rosa Spina from Rimini, represents a real treatise on the history and art of making porchetta (roast pork). According to Nardi, the only true porchetta is that traditionally made in Romagna, the author's region, a version which has nothing to do with that produced in Naples or Bologna.

Nardi then explains that in Ancient Roman cuisine, 'porcus troianus' referred to pork stuffed with various meats, which, when cut open at the table – often in a spectacular manner – revealed its precious contents, as in the famous Homeric episode of the Trojan horse.

B.IN.G., 1338; Westbury 158; L. Bartolotti, “La porchetta, sapori di storia e di tradizione”, Porcus troianus: la storia della porchetta in un trattato dell'Ottocento, Rimini 2006 (facsimile reprint of the present edition); Philobiblon, One Thousand Years of Bibliophily, no. 264.