I ricettari federiciani: appunti di lavoro

Abstract This paper presents recent research findings on the so-called «Frederician cookbooks» – better known as the Liber de coquina –, with specific reference to some new etymological hypotheses about medieval Italian food names. Moreover, through a palaeographic and linguistic analysis, this article discusses the geographical localization and dating of the major manuscripts within this textual tradition, in a new attempt to cast light on a very complex documentation. Specifically, by interacting with Anna Martellotti’s work (I ricettari di Federico II. Dal «Meridionale» al «Liber de coquina», Firenze, Olschki, 2005), the results presented here hope to bring a new perspective to the lively debate on the southern origin of this medieval tradition, which is probably the oldest Italian recipe collection.