Cenni sull'alimentazione nei testi medievali

The essay aims to investigate medieval texts that deal with the topic of food, starting with literary works that concern the genre of «visioni dell’aldilà». Then, it moves on to reviewing medieval recipe books, which refer to two main traditions: the first one known as the Liber de coquina tradition and the second one as the «Dodici ghiotti» tradition. Furthermore, nutrition has great centrality in medical documents, in accordance with the very tight link between food and health established in the Middle Ages. Consilia, treaties on the preservation of health (De conservanda sanitate), and Regimina Sanitatis are the main works attesting to various medieval medical reflections on food. Similarly, there are texts linked to university teaching: quaestiones, quodlibeta and commentaries on the works scheduled in the course of studies, as a matter of fact, are often dedicated to nutrition.