It wasn’t until 1861 that Italy became a united nation. It would be another 30 years before Pellegrino Artusi got people thinking about the country’s culinary identity. In 1891, Artusi published La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene — Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, a cookbook compiling 475 recipes from the diverse culinary traditions across Italy. Over the next 20 years, he published another 15 editions, updating as he went until the final recipe count reached 790, just before his death.

These additional recipes largely came from Artusi’s women readers who read his earlier versions and decided he must include their original recipes. La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene would go on to become a mainstay of kitchens both in Italy and abroad; today, it’s sold over a million copies worldwide.