You are in: Home Page > Made in Basilicata > Gastronomy > ...per area > Melfi (PZ) - The Menu of Frederick II

Melfi (PZ) - The Menu of Frederick II

Many evidences show that Federico used to love convivial occasions.

He did not particularly like sumptuous banquets, but refined meals that his whole court would take part to, as well as some of the major characters of the time.

The Emperor used to love having meat cooked on the spit, both while he was in war and during long hunts, in particular hares and nightingales.

Boar, widely used at the time, was amongst his favourite dishes. He used to appreciate birds, pheasant included, that he used to hunt with hawks. Hawking was one of his favourite pastimes and he also wrote an essay book about ‘De arte venandi cum avibus’.

Federico II used to love fish too, particularly rays and eels (eels used to come expressly for him from the Lesina Lake, fief of the Earl Matteo Gentile) processed with vinegar and stored in jelly, just as people still do nowadays in Puglia and Molise.