From the outside, the museum on Palatine Hill looked like just another of Rome's elegant palazzi, its entrance graced with statues of Roman soldiers and decorative urns. Inside, however, it was clear that this wasn't your run-of-the-mill Roman mansion.

Hundreds of culinary tools were displayed in glass cabinets: bulky 19th-Century pasta machines, 220-year-old Italian bowls once used by Italian monks and well-worn steel pots designed for making osso bucco, the classic northern Italian veal recipe. What at first looked like medieval plates of armour were in fact metal tray moulds up to 500 years old. Some were for baking, others for making chocolate or ice cream.