It is in Risorgimento Italy that there is an incessant quest for a definition of what it means to be Italian amongst a reality of economic paucity and clear social divisiveness. During this tenuous yet crucial epoch, there is a cohesive attempt to define Italian taste with an ideological terminology previously absent from sensorial and aesthetic discourse. A fundamental purveyor of this novel approach is the self-defined "poligamo delle scienze," Paolo Mantegazza. To the plurality of roles attributed to the medic (anthropologist, pathologist, senator, writer, etc.), there is one yet to be explored-Mantegazza as didactic gastronome. In the attempt to combat what he considers the anti-hygienic conditions plaguing the nation, the medic inaugurates a pedagogic process that would ideally lead to the formation of the Italian citizen. With the goal of creating a stronger and more capable Italian populace, the author goes to great lengths to provide guidelines for maximizing nourishment through the humblest of foods. Ultimately, Mantegazza's pedagogic gourmandism is integral in the propagation of a social model of comportment that defines the Positivist framework of biological and nationalistic renewal and to a new vision of taste.Keywords: Mantegazza; Artusi; Italian taste; food as art; Italian nationalism Nell'amore il prima è spesso un prurito che fa male o un uragano che schianta gli alberi e rovina le messi. Il mentre è dolcissimo, ma ahimé, dura troppo poco. Non dirò coll'epicurea francese, che cela ne dure que le temps d'avaler un oeuf, ma dobbiamo pur confessare, che il mentre si misura non a giorni, né a ore; ma coll'orologio a minuti secondi.Il poi, poi, è ora acido, è ora amaro: nei casi più fortunati è un languore, cioé una forma di stanchezza. Nei casi più disgraziati, che pur son frequenti, è un dolore o un pentimento o l'uno e l'altro insieme.

Acid sphingomyelinase deficiency (ASMD) – also known as Niemann–Pick (NP) disease – is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder which is characterized by deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme acid sphingomyelinase (ASM), thus resulting in excessive storage of lipids in organs (i.e. spleen, liver, lung, bone marrow, lymph nodes, and vascular system). Literature provided few cases of moderate–to–severe valvular heart disease due to ASMD, mostly in adulthood. We reported the case of a patient with B–subtype NP disease which was diagnosed during his adulthood. NP disease was associated to situs inversus. Specifically, a severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis was also identified and the need for surgical or percutaneous intervention was deemed. The heart team chose Trans Aortic Valvular Implantation (TAVI) which was successfully performed with no further complications at follow–up.

This book explores how women’s relationship with food has been represented in Italian literature, cinema, scientific writings and other forms of cultural expression from the 19th century to the present. Italian women have often been portrayed cooking and serving meals to others, while denying themselves the pleasure of the table. The collection presents a comprehensive understanding of the symbolic meanings associated with food and of the way these intersect with Italian women’s socio-cultural history and the feminist movement. From case studies on Sophia Loren and Elena Ferrante, to analyses of cookbooks by Italian chefs, each chapter examines the unique contribution Italian culture has made to perceiving and portraying women in a specific relation to food, addressing issues of gender, identity and politics of the body.

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