Ferragosto

Ferragosto falls on 15 August, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Catholic calendar, and is observed throughout Italy as a public holiday at the height of summer. The name is commonly derived from the Latin feriae Augusti, the rest days of Augustus, which the Church later joined to the Marian feast. Because Gosetti della Salda arranges her book by region, it offers no single Ferragosto menu; it is best read as a record of the dishes each province sets on its summer table.

Ferragosto is a day of the table before it is a day of anything else, and its character is that of a gathering of family and friends at midday, often out of doors, around dishes that can be prepared ahead and eaten without ceremony. The regional repertory that Gosetti della Salda assembles allows the cook to see how that principle is met in different places. Where the coast is near, the table inclines to fish and shellfish, to cold preparations and to vegetables at their summer peak; in the hills and the interior it inclines to roasted and braised meats, to cured pork and to pasta dressed with what the garden gives. The common thread is not a fixed menu but a habit of choosing dishes that suit the heat and the length of the afternoon. The order of the meal follows the Italian pattern of antipasto, primo, secondo with contorno, and fruit, though the weight of each course is lightened in August. Antipasti tend to carry the day: cured meats, preserved vegetables, and cold dishes that keep without refrigeration at the table. The primo is frequently a pasta or rice dish that can be eaten warm or at room temperature, and the secondo is often a roast or a cold meat or fish, accompanied by salads and vegetables dressed with olive oil. Fruit of the season, notably melon, peaches and figs, closes the meal in preference to heavier sweets. The vessels and manner of service follow from the occasion. A meal carried to the countryside or the shore calls for dishes served from the platter in which they were made, passed by hand and shared, and for food that tolerates travel. The cook's task is therefore one of organisation: choosing preparations that improve on standing, seasoning them with restraint, and keeping anything perishable cold until the moment it is served. Gosetti della Salda's regional recipes should be read with this discipline in mind, adapting each to the hour and the setting rather than treating it as a formal course. As a feast day, Ferragosto stands apart from the winter and spring festivals of the Italian calendar, which are bound to particular dishes and ritual foods. Its dishes vary from one household and province to the next, and the cook is best guided by the local book and the local market. The authority of the day lies in the shared table itself, and in the plain observance that the best produce of the summer, simply prepared, is what the occasion asks for.