Colors Good With Red Floor

A table with the Venetian nobility


In the sixteenth century, the heyday of the Serenissima, the greatness of the Republic of Venice was also visible in the tables of the nobility. The splendor of his banquets and the luxury and abundance of its restaurants are well described by Marin Sanudo, the official historian of the Republic, and painters that reproduced the sumptuous costumes of their time in paintings with religious subjects (think Wedding Feast in Cana or the house of Levi by Veronese).

The banquets that accompanied the festivities to masquerade balls or buildings were nothing short of gargantuan: a number of appetizers, pasta dishes, soups, vegetables, boiled, roasted, fried, fish, salads, fries, pastries, cakes, fruit and more ...

All the arts in that period contributed to increasing the size and majesty of the Venetian canteens: the luxurious tablecloths, beautiful and delicate cups of Murano, the crockery and cutlery adorned the tables at which sat the ladies and gentlemen covered with brocade, soprarizzi, lace. The wastes were so obvious and outrageous that the Serenissima decided to limit the issuance of a series of laws. In this period

Venice that European laws in the world of art, taste, and the civil life of the kitchen. Consider that the noble Venetians were the first to use a fork. The first use dates back to the eleventh century, established by the princess Theodora, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius and married the Doge Domenico Salvo, who used to be cut by the eunuchs and bring food to his mouth with gold forks. This practice, which initially opposed by the population in the sixteenth century became a common practice of all Venetians, while all other countries still used the forks to hold the dishes only to be cut.
A curiosity: in the dialect of the fork is called Piron, a term indicating its Byzantine origin, from the verb peirein (stick) and the Greek Revival peironnion (fork).

not forget then that is always in Venice who spoke for the first time of coffee, when the ambassador to Constantinople, described this black drink that had the ability to remove fatigue and that would soon become an unfailing ritual every Italian.