L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 4 BARBARA MINAFRA NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS E g y p t h a s i t s pyramids, Italy has Pompeii. An always-sur- p r i s i n g p a s t k e e p s o n e m e r g i n g f r o m m o u n t V e s u v i u s ' a s h e s , which is also confirmation of h o w s c i e n c e — a l r e a d y w o r k i n g h a r d t o b r i n g u s back to normality — can be a fantastic instrument that gives meaning and identity back to fragments of life and history, buried by the most catastrophic event of Roman history. In Pompeii, scien- ce let us see what the city was, how people lived there, how they dressed, how they spent their time; and today, w e c a n e v e n l e a r n a b o u t what they used to eat, with a level of accuracy never ima- gined before. A n e n d l e s s r e s o u r c e o f wonders and beauties, that gifted to the world surpri- s i n g p a g e s o f a n c i e n t history, but that, today, is e s p e c i a l l y a n i n v a l u a b l e treasure for the art of con- s e r v a t i o n . " A r o u n d t h e world, Pompeii is conside- red an example of conserva- tion and cultural manage- ment, and has returned to be one of Italy's most visited places, where research is carried out continuously. Here, digs are always active and that's why we can make extraordinary discoveries, such as this one," Dario F r a n c e s c h i n i , I t a l i a n minister for heritage, cultu- ral activities and tourism d e c l a r e d . B u t P o m p e i i i s also symbol of new life, "A fantastic history of redemp- tion," to cite the minister again, that gifted us all a beauty difficult to maintain, incredibly fragile and victim to depredation, vandalism a n d s t r u c t u r a l c o l l a p s e s . Pompeii, buried 2000 years ago under meters of ashes and volcanic stones, resur- faces in all its magnificence thanks to the research, pro- fessionalisms and excellen- ces of Italy. It's incredible how this fearless phoenix of our past keeps on telling us — so evocatively, in times such as these — about its history of renaissance. Here, in the most specta- cular archeological park of the country for wealth and variety of the findings that k e e p o n r e s u r f a c i n g , a n i n c r e d i b l e f r e s c o e d Thermopolium, still pre- serving traces of the foods of those times, was discovered. When unearthed, archeolo- gists could still smell the aroma of wine sold there, a nectar dating back to 79 AD. A canteen food bar, with its amphorae and commercial signs for the sale of a variety o f t a k e a w a y d i s h e s : o u r s t r e e t f o o d w a s p o p u l a r back then, already. The poo- rest people didn't have a kit- chen at home, so it was nor- mal to get meals in places like this: Pompeii had, very likely, at least 80 of them. But in ancient Roman times it was also normal to eat and drink outdoor: eating out, in other words. Beside the perfect state of preservation of its frescoes — a s e a n y m p h r i d i n g a horse, and animals whose colors are still so vivid to appear tridimensional — the greatness of the discovery lies in the dolia, terracotta c o n t a i n e r s b u i l t i n t o masonry counters, because that's where traces of food, an incredibly precious and unique finding, were found. From them, we will be able to discover more about the eating habits of our Roman ancestors. Initial analyses confirm that the paintings on the masonry counter represent the food and drinks sold in the Thermopolium (from termos- hot and poleo-sel- l i n g ) : w h e r e d u c k s w e r e painted, actual fragments of d u c k b o n e s w e r e f o u n d , along with traces of pork, lamb, fish and snails, testi- mony of the vast array of animal products consumed i n t h o s e t i m e s . T h e r e i s more: it seems that even an actual recipe may have been there, as fragments and tra- ces of mammals, birds, fish and snails were found in the same dish, a creation simi- lar to a paella. In another dolia, a wine and fava beans mixture was uncovered. At the bottom of the container, a tile separated the legumes from the liquid, to avoid that the wine could end up m i x i n g u p a g a i n w i t h i t s d r a g s . I n h i s D e R e C o q u i n a r i a A p i c i u s , One of the frescoes found in the Thermopolium, depicting a cockerel and two ducks: its details and colors are stupefying (Photo: Luigi Spina) Continued to page 6 Pompeii: born again from its ashes

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