Bartolomeo Scappi (c. 1500 – 13 April 1577) was a famous

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a ki ...

. His origins had been the subject of speculation, but recent research shows that he came from the town of Dumenza in

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, according to the inscription on a stone plaque in the church of

Luino Luino (Western Lombard: ''Lüin'') is a small town and ''comune'' near the border with Switzerland on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, in the Province of Varese (Lombardy, northern Italy). Luino received the honorary title of city with a presi ...

.. Prior to this, the first known fact in his life had been that in April 1536 he organised a

banquet A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

while he was in the service of

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Lorenzo Campeggio Lorenzo Campeggio (7 November 1474 – 19 July 1539) was an Italian cardinal and politician. He was the last cardinal protector of England. Life Campeggio was born in Milan, the eldest of five sons. In 1500, he took his doctorate in can ...

. He served several other cardinals after this, then began to serve pope

Pius IV Pope Pius IV ( it, Pio IV; 31 March 1499 – 9 December 1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 December 1559 to his death in December 1565. Born in Milan, his family considered ...

, entering the service of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

kitchen. He continued to work as a chef for the pope

Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...

. Scappi is often considered one of the first internationally renowned

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

s. He gained new fame in 1570 when his monumental cookbook, ''Opera dell'arte del cucinare'', was published. In the book, he lists about 1,000 recipes of Renaissance

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...

and describes cooking techniques and tools, giving the first known picture of a

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...

.. He declared

Parmesan Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' ...

to be the best cheese on earth,. and noted that "the liver of domestic goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs etweentwo and three pounds",. indicating that Jews of the time were practising the overfeeding needed to produce ''

foie gras Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding). Foie gras is a popular and well-known delica ...

''. Reprints of ''Opera'' were continually published from 1570 to 1643.. Scappi died on 13 April 1577, and was buried in the church of SS. Vincenzo and Anastasio alla Regola, dedicated to cooks and bakers.. The ''Opera dell'arte del cucinare'' was partially translated in Spanish (''Libro de cozina'', 1599, by Diego Granado Maldonado) and Dutch (''Koocboec oft familieren keukenboec'', 1612, by Antonius Magirus)..Schildermans – A Dutch translation of Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (1612)
URL accessed 19 December 2007. An English translation was done by food historian Terence Scully in 2008. Another Dutch translation was done by Ika Cialona in 2015.

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References

*. *. *. *. *. *. 1500s births 1577 deaths Renaissance cuisine Italian Roman Catholics Italian chefs Italian food writers Roman Catholic writers {{Food-bio-stub