L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Continued from page 4 There are thousands of these figurines for sale in N a p l e s a n d o n l i n e . Although it is possible to find a maccheroni-eating print or figurine of Pulcinel- la, some even mimicking the posture of the one I pur- chased, none of them are made of metal. According to m y r e s e a r c h o n l i n e , m y m e t a l f i g u r i n e i n d i c a t e s that it was probably made either before WWII or after the war and before 1960. Mussolini needed metal for w a r m a t e r i a l s . A f t e r t h e war, when metal toy manu- facturing resumed, the use of metal was finally discon- tinued for health reasons. But more important to me, what I recognized the moment I held the figurine in my hand is that it is a special, historical image of Pulcinella as a "lazzarone," Naples' 18th and 19th-cen- tury homeless poor who ate m a c c h e r o n i w i t h t h e i r hands in the streets. Mac- cheroni was the street food of choice for the poor. There is even more to the story. Today, travelers seek out Italian street food. But historically, the Neapolitan m a c c h e r o n i - e a t i n g l a z - z a r o n e w a s c o n s i d e r e d a blight on Italian culture. Worse, his maccheroni was not considered a food fit for the upper-class but rather a lower-class street food sold by vendors who cooked it on their improvised stoves in the streets of Naples. B e g i n n i n g i n t h e 1 8 t h century, in their many trav- el books, upper-class grand tour English travelers, men and women, expressed their revulsion at the sight of laz- z a r o n i w h o , a f t e r h a v i n g purchased a penny's worth of maccheroni, would fling their heads back - just like my figurine - and guzzled it down. In his Pictures from Italy, even the champion of England's poor, Charles Dickens, described with disgust the hungry lazza- roni lining Naples' streets as they knocked their chins with their right hand, a sign f o r f o o d , a n d b e g g e d f o r alms from the traveler. Contrary to what might appear to be a quaint view of P u l c i n e l l a , m y f i g u r i n e evokes an unsavory image of Neapolitan culture. Far from Italy's idealized image found in the Romantic era's paint- ings of Italian country land- scapes and idealized Roman ruins, widely read British travel books depicted this n e g a t i v e i m a g e o f t h e N e a p o l i t a n l a z z a r o n i f o r nearly two hundred years. Naples' lazzaroni were rou- tinely described as black- guards, dirty swine, miser- a b l e w r e t c h e s , a n d vermin-infested. Worse for the upper-class Protestant traveler, the lazzaroni were considered pagan-worship- ing Papists. In the Protestant i m a g i n a t i o n o f t h e e r a , Neapolitan lazzaroni were a gross discredit to that other- w i s e i d e a l i z e d i m a g e o f I t a l y ' s n o b l e R o m a n h e r - itage. What is more, maccheroni b e c a m e s t i g m a t i z e d a s a food fit only for the lower classes. No right-thinking upper-class gentleman or lady would consider having a plate of it. At about the same time, travelers also began noticing Neapolitan's love of a c e r t a i n t y p e o f b r e a d , k n o w n a s p i z z a . I t , t o o , became quickly associated only with the lower classes. I n h e r w o r k , A T a s t e o f Naples: Neapolitan Cul- ture, Cuisine, and Cook- ing, Marlena Spieler tells u s t h a t , l i k e m a c c h e r o n i , pizza was also a street food that the poor of Naples ate. Pulcinella is related to both. I n o n e l e g e n d , P u l c i n e l l a says he never ate frittata di maccheroni (traditionally m a d e w i t h l e f t o v e r m a c - cheroni) because he always ate all his maccheroni. In another, Spieler tells us that one day Pulcinella unexpect- edly becomes king. He revels in his new-found aristocratic status. However, when he is told that he can no longer eat maccheroni and pizza, because it would be "unking- ly" of him to eat food of the lower classes, he denies the throne and returns to his lazzarone roots and favorite Neapolitan dishes. But history has a mind of its own, ultimately indiffer- ent to class or cultural tastes. In time, as Spieler tells us, aristocrats became curious about the pizza and mac- cheroni lazzaroni ate with such enjoyment. They tried i t a n d f o u n d i t t a s t e f u l . Soon, pizza and maccheroni found their place on palace m e n u s , d i s p l a c i n g e v e n some of the upper class' con- v e n t i o n a l F r e n c h d i s h e s . Indeed, everyone knows the l e g e n d o f h o w p i z z a M a r g h e r i t a w a s b o r n : named in honor of Queen Margherita, the royal appar- ently loved it. W h a t i s m o r e , m a c - cheroni could even be said t o h a v e u n i f i e d I t a l y . I l Fatto Quotidiano online tells us that when Naples finally became part of uni- fied Italy, Cavour suppos- edly wrote, I maccheroni sono cotti e noi li mangere- mo. Even Garibaldi pur- portedly said that spaghetti would eventually unify Italy. The famed chef Pellegrino A r t u s i m i g h t w e l l h a v e agreed. S o , w h e n I l o o k a t m y Pulcinella figurine, I see it as an icon of a very special r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f I t a l i a n culinary and social history. We can thank Pulcinella for his foresight, and for teach- ing us so much about the history of pizza and mac- cheroni - what we today call pasta. To add to Tiepolo's gallery of Pulcinella's many roles, it this old lazzarone was an oracle, as well. K e n S c a m b r a y ' s l a t e s t book is Italian Immigration i n t h e A m e r i c a n W e s t : 1870-1940. (Univ. of Neva- da Press) Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo's etching titled "Punchinello learning to walk" (Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Agreement. Author: www.christies.com. License: Public Domain) A "commedia dell'arte" 's figure, dating back to the sixteenth century, Pulcinella served in his improvised roles as an everyman, assuming any role needed in the early Italian theatre The Pulcinella statuette Kenneth bought: a hungry lazzarone eating his maccheroni (Photo: Carole Scambray)

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