“Christmas 1948. With many good wishes. Pinuccia ". When I buy a used book I always have the curiosity to know who it belonged to or who was the person who gave it. In my case I will never know who Pinuccia was but surely the owner of the book was a history buff. Yes, because unwittingly, one day a few years ago, to deceive the wait for a train in considerable delay, I entered a small book store that was out of business inside the Termini Station and my eye has fallen on some volumes of the work The Second World War, written by Winston Churchill between 1946 and 1952.
The four books I had on my hands were only a part of those published, but they were too greedy to leave them on the library counter, also because they were all first editions of the work printed in Italy by Arnoldo Mondadori: 1948, 1949 and 1950.
So from Rome to Milan, so from Pinuccia's hands to mine. And in mine an unedited version of the statesman, that of a prolific nonfiction writer and Nobel prize for literature in 1953 "for his mastery of the historical and biographical description".
Churchill liked to write and also to paint but two other things attracted her: Italy and her food. In 1944 he was often a guest at Naples by General Maitland Wilson, supreme commander of the allied forces in the Mediterranean, who carried him with the admiral's spear to Ischia, Procida, Capri and Sorrento. The headquarters of the command was in Villa Rivalta, a splendid home from the late 1800s, requisitioned in 1943, after the armistice, by the English command. Located in the upper part of Posillipo, it enjoyed a large terrace and a magnificent view, where it is said that the English statesman enjoyed the sunset with his cigar in his mouth.
But it was not only the sunset that enchanted the prime minister, but also the Neapolitan cuisine, of which he especially loved the eggplant parmesan and macaroni alla puttanesca seasoned with oil, tomato, garlic, capers, Gaeta olives and parsley. At Villa Rivalta on 12 August 1944 there was also a secret meeting between the English statesman and General Tito, which ended with canapes stuffed with Neapolitan salami, homemade fusilli topped with fried tomato and eggplant, mackerel fillets with vinegar and oregano and baked apples, all washed down with Pozzuoli white wine.
And the parmesan? He did not eat it that day, but all the other times he visited Villa Rivalta, enjoying it alone. Maybe at sunset with the sea in front. Maybe already thinking about writing the history of the Second World War.
Laura Maragliano, director of Sale & Pepe
July 2020
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