Rome (EFE) C., have shown a surprising discovery, as what could be an ancestor dish of the current pizza appears, the archaeological area reported today in a note.
It is clear, they emphasize, that what is seen in this Pompeian fresco from 2000 years ago is not a pizza, “obviously it cannot be, since some of the most characteristic ingredients are missing, such as tomato and mozzarella” but it is that “what was represented on the wall of an ancient Pompeian house could be a distant ancestor of the modern dish, elevated to World Heritage in 2017 as the traditional art of the Neapolitan pizza maker.”
As explained by archaeologists from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, “it is supposed that next to a glass of wine, placed on a silver tray, a ‘focaccia’ is represented, a type of flat bread that serves as a support for various fruits, identifiable is a pomegranate and perhaps a date, seasoned with spices or with a kind of pesto (moretum in Latin), indicated by yellowish and ocher dots. In addition, present on the same tray, nuts and a garland of yellow strawberry trees, along with dates and pomegranates.
They represent gifts that were offered to the guests
They explain that “this type of image, known in antiquity under the name of ‘xenia’, was inspired by the gifts offered to guests according to a Greek tradition dating back to Hellenistic times (3rd-1st centuries BC). .)”.
Of the cities under Vesuvius, they explain, “about three hundred of these representations are known, which often also allude to the sacred sphere, in addition to that of hospitality” but highlight the “remarkable quality of execution” of the new fresco found in the new excavations of Regio IX, as the Pompeian houses are called.
“In addition to the precise identification of the food represented, we find in this fresco some themes from the Hellenistic tradition, elaborated later by authors from the Roman-imperial era such as Virgil, Martial and Philostratus. I think of the contrast between a frugal and simple meal, which refers to an area between the bucolic and the sacred, on the one hand, and the luxury of silver trays and the refinement of artistic and literary representations”, commented the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel.
The Pompeii fresco found next to what was a bakery
The fresco was found in the atrium of a house on Insula 10 of Regio IX, which has an attached bakery, already partially explored between 1888 and 1891 and whose investigations were resumed last January.
The structures excavated in the 19th century and partially exposed already suggested the presence of a large atrium with the classic succession of rooms on the east side and, on the opposite side, the entrance to the kiln’s production sector.