Martino da Como

Martino da Como, or Martino de Rossi and Martino de Rubeis, called Maestro Martino from Como, born in the Blenio Valley (in the Italian speaking part of today's Switzerland), was a 15th-century culinary expert who was unequalled in his field at the time and could be considered the Western world's first celebrity chef. He made his career in Italy and was the chef at the Roman palazzo of the papal chamberlain ("camerlengo"), the Patriarch of Aquileia. Martino was applauded by his peers, earning him the epitaph of the prince of cooks. His book Libro de Arte Coquinaria (The Art of Cooking) is considered a landmark in Italian gastronomic literature and a historical record of the transition from medieval to Renaissance cuisine.

Biography Maestro Martino was born around 1430 in Torre, a village in the Blenio Valley, then in the Duchy of Milan, today in Canton Ticino, Switzerland. His early career probably began in northern Italy, as he is referred to variously as both Martino di Como and Martino di Milano, but it seems likely that he spent some time in Naples as many of his recipes show the influence of Spanish cuisine and with the Catalan manuscript , Naples having come under lasting Catalan influence after its conquest by Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442.

Between 1460 and 1470 he made his way to Rome in order to cook for Ludovico Trevisan, Cardinal Patriarch of Aquileia, who made a name out of lavish banquets and opulent receptions. Later, his services passed on to Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, a Milanese condottiere (adventurer) and eventually he ended up at the Vatican.

The first mention of a vermicelli recipe is in the book De arte Coquinaria per vermicelli e maccaroni siciliani (The Art of Cooking Sicilian Macaroni and Vermicelli), compiled by Martino. In Martino's Libro de arte coquinaria, there are several recipes for vermicelli, which can last two or three years (doi o tre anni) when dried in the sun.

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