The story of Tortellino

The legend says that the tortellini has the shape of the navel of Venus. His popularity – divinity or not – is undoubted.

History tells that …

In 1200 he arrived at an inn called Corona, in Castelfranco Emilia, a young and beautiful f Marquise rom a carriage pulled by four horses, to rest.

The innkeeper accompanied the lady in the room and attracted irremediably from her beauty remained to spy on her from the keylock, being struck by her navel.

At the time of preparing the dinner the image had so inspired him to pull the dough reproducing the features of the navel of the young noble but not knowing what to do with those pieces of dough, filled them with meat. And so the delicious tortellini was born. For others, the same story takes on a divine value, putting the Venus Goddess in place of the Marquise.

The legend of the navel of Venus

After spending the night in an inn, Venus was completely surprised by the owner who went to wake her up. The charmed man tried to reproduce the features, specifically of the beautiful navel, with a small piece of dough.

The story of Tortellino

Bologna – Modena dispute

Tortellino was born in one inn located in Castelfranco Emilia, a border town, today it is in the province of Modena, which until 1929 belonged to the Bolognese. Hence the historic ‘dispute’ about the paternity of the tortellino.

In Castelfranco Emilia it is possible to visit the monument to the Tortellino

In reality, all of Emilia tells about stuffed pasta with some small or large variations. the shape of the tortellini is reminiscent of a small ring and the filling is a mixture of various pork meat with ham, mortadella, parmesan and nutmeg. Tortellini are traditionally served in broth, capon or chicken.

For the preparation of the best tortellino, the secret to preparing it is in the pasta: We must strive to pull the dough very thin and then obviously choose the best materials.

The story of Tortellino

The pasta of the partys

Tortellini have always had an extraordinary success. Housewives who prepared fresh pasta every day, the stuffed one was prepared to celebrate and enrich particular moments like weddings, Christmas, etc.

If you want to learn how to make fresh handmade pasta with the traditional Bolognese Meat Sauce, booking one of my classes.
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or the new Online Cooking Classes  to live a cooking experience directly at your home

See you soon with a new article.

Chef Luigi