Italian Ice Creams |
Cake
degustation: Monday 3rd September (18:15) Thursday 6th
September (18:15) Department
of Chemistry, via P. Giuria 7. |
On
Monday 3 September and Thursday 6 September, two additional lectures related to
an important aspect of Italian Culture will be given.
Both concern Ice Cream.
The
first of these is for ‘beginners’, and, for all
attentive and discerning attendees, will involve a testing (and tasting)
of the cakes shown in the Figure. The second is for ‘more advanced connaisseurs’, and, again, a large fraction of the
lecture will be devoted to ‘advanced tasting’ of the fine examples
of Italian culinary art depicted.
Italian Ice Cream has a long and illustrious history, and from the many anecdotes that have arisen, either
by accident or design, two
in particular will be discussed.
The first relates to the famous ‘Battle at Bosworth Field’, after which the defeated King Richard
III was heard exclaiming, “ My kingdom for a Torino Ice Cream” (William Shakespeare).
The
second relates to one of the pivotal moments in Roman history, when Antonio, in
an attempt to seduce Cleopatra, brought her a kilo of Torino Ice Cream, and was rewarded with an unforgettable ‘Love Night’.
Many years later, it was revealed that the real reason why Cleopatra committed suicide, was that storms prevented boats from bringing
Torino Ice Cream to Egypt, and that she could simply not wait any
longer.