Join us, Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 4pm for a Fellow’s Forum by Pierangelo Castagneto, Research Coordinator at the International Center for Studies on Italian Emigration (Genoa).
Held in the Berkeley Conference Room of the Jefferson Library, this Fellow’s Forum is free and open to the public. The Presentation will begin promptly at 4pm and last for 60 minutes, including an opportunity for Q&A and discussion.
About the Presentation
Around the origins of one of the most popular American dishes, a sort of never ending legendary storytelling has been established. However we can be certain of one thing: although the author of the Declaration was not also the author of macaroni and cheese recipe for sure Jefferson contributed in a decisive fashion to its diffusion. Treasuring his residence in Europe as US ambassador to France, he had the chance to discover and appreciate a rich variety of culinary traditions. Not particularly attracted by the recommended destinations of the Grand Tour, it was especially visiting the Northern Italy countryside that he satisfied his inclination towards the rural way of life. And it was just during this agronomic wandering that Jefferson focused his attention on the mechanical and manual procedures followed to make macaroni and Parmesan cheese. This talk gives just a taste of larger research aimed to highlight Jefferson’s interest for the Italian agrarian culture.
About Pierangelo Castagneto
Pierangelo Castagneto has taught US History at the American University in Bulgaria from 2008 to 2022. He is now Research coordinator at the CISEI - International Center for Studies on Italian Emigration (Genoa). Over the years, his research activity was primarily focused on American Politics in Early Republic, Atlantic History, American Cultural Studies, and Migration Studies. His most recent publication is Algernon Sidney and the Republican Tradition in Jeffersonian America (2022). He edited the first Italian translation of Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia (Note sullo stato della Virginia, 2014). He is currently working on a collection of essays on cultural, diplomatic, and political relations between Europe and America in the age of revolution.