Facts and misdemeanors in the kitchen: from Pellegrino Artusi to curdled mayonnaise.
Reflections on science, traditions and costumes in the kitchen.
Marco Malvaldi and Fabio Bruni in conversation. Q&A session to follow.
In English. Q&A session in Italian.
Register here
Marco Malvaldi is an Italian chemist and novelist, who began his writing career in 2007 with his first mystery story La briscola in cinque (Game for Five, 2014), published by the Italian Sellerio Editore and featuring Massimo, the barista and owner of the cleverly named BarLume (“Bar Light”, also a wordplay for “flicker, glimmer of light”) who is forced into the role of investigator in the fictional seaside resort town of Pineta, along the Tuscan coast. He followed up by other episodes in the series: Il gioco delle tre carte (2008, transl. Three-card Monte, 2014), Il re dei giochi (The King of Games) (2010), La carta più alta (The Highest Card) (2012). Another novel of his, Odore di chiuso (The Scent of Must) (Sellerio, October 2011), a historical mystery with the renowned Romagna gastronomist Pellegrino Artusi as the amateur detective in 19th century Italy, was awarded the Isola d’Elba Award and the Castiglioncello Prize. This book was published in English under the title The Art of Killing Well (2014). In October 2011, Malvaldi also published a guidebook about his own hometown Pisa, with the title Scacco alla Torre (Checkmate to the Tower) (Felici Editore): one of the book’s first stories is Finalmente soli (Alone At Last), narrating of a nocturnal walk, inspired by an image taken by professional photographer Nicola Ughi, Malvaldi’s official portraitist and fellow citizen; the book was presented at the Pisa Book Festival The image of Pisa by night, which inspired the story Finalmente soli. The four books comprising the BarLume series, have the same characters in each episode: the barista Massimo, the four aged regular patrons (Massimo’s grandfather Ampelio, Aldo, Rimediotti, and Del Tacca – often speaking in the local Tuscan dialect), obtuse Inspector Fusco, and sexy bar assistant Tiziana. At end of October 2012, Malvaldi published a mystery thriller, Milioni di milioni (Millions of Millions) (2012), set in the fictional Tuscan town of Montesodi Marittimo, and with its main personages an odd couple of investigators – a university geneticist and a female archivist. In July 2013 he was awarded the Italian literary prize “Premio letterario La Tore Isola d’Elba”. Malvaldi authored also books of popular science. His book Le due teste del tiranno. Metodi matematici per la libertà (The Two Heads of the Tyrant. Mathematical Methods for the Freedom) (2017) won the third edition (2018) of Premio ASIMOV for the best book in scientific dissemination published in Italy, in ex aequo with Helen Czerski’s Storm in a Teacup.
After graduating from La Sapienza University of Rome in 1986 in Physics, Fabio Bruni has completed his Ph.D. in Biophysics at Cornell Univeristy (USA) in 1991. Bruni is currently Ordinary Professor at the Roma Tre University. He has been a member of the ISIS Spallation Neutron Source selection panels (ISIS, UK), a member of the Board of the International Dielectric Societ, and of the ILL Neutron Source selection panels (ILL, France). He has been a consultant for the Lincean Academy’s Centro Linceo Interdisciplinare “B. Segre”, and for the Office for the Conservation of Artistic Heritage. He has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the European Spallation Source (ESS), currently under construction in Lund, Sweden. From January 2017 he is president of SISN Società Italiana di Spettroscopia Neutronica, Project Coordinator of a Eurpean grant, and Condensed Matter Physics, Nanoscience and Complex Systems Ph.D. pPogram Coordinator at the Roma Tre University’s Science Department.
