the characters — la commedia dell'arte

Born on the Neapolitan stage in the early seventeenth century, from the pen of the actor Silvio Fiorillo, Pulcinella is the soul of Naples made mask: hooked nose, black half-mask, loose white shirt and sugarloaf hat. Lazy yet cunning, melancholy yet quick to laugh, he says out loud what the people only whisper, in a reedy voice nothing can silence. Forever hungry, he dreams only of maccheroni — and will happily eat them with his fingers mid-scene. He carries all the appetite of Campania within him: spaghetti alle vongole fragrant with garlic and the sea, and parmigiana di melanzane, golden and melting like a Neapolitan afternoon.

Meo Patacca sprang to life in 1695 from the pen of the poet Giuseppe Berneri, who made him the swaggering hero of a poem in Roman dialect. A braggart from Trastevere, as quick to draw his blade as to raise a glass, he musters a band of bravi to relieve besieged Vienna — and ends up toasting the victory in the taverns of Rome. Beneath the swordsman's jacket beat a generous heart and a gift of the gab that is Roman through and through. Like him, the cooking of Lazio is bold and unfussy: bucatini all'amatriciana sharpened with guanciale, and saltimbocca alla romana which, true to its name, "jumps into the mouth".

Gianduia was born around 1798 in the hands of the puppeteers Sales and Bellone, who turned this Piedmontese countryman — ponytail wig, tricorn hat and brown jacket trimmed with red — into Turin's mischievous spokesman. His name comes from "Gioan d'la doja", John of the wine jug: a gentleman of good sense who loves good wine and good food. He grew so beloved that in 1865 a hazelnut chocolate took his name: the gianduiotto. Gourmet Piedmont is his mirror, elegant and deep: vitello tonnato under its silky sauce, and tajarin al ragù, fine as golden lace.

Beppe Nappa is the mask of Sicily: a dreamy, indolent manservant lost in an oversized grey-blue costume with endless sleeves. Forever ready to nap or pilfer a morsel, he springs awake with a prodigious leap the moment food is mentioned. Sciacca crowned him king of its carnival: every year his giant float opens and closes the festivities, which end in a great blaze of celebration. His kingdom is the realm of Sicilian flavours: pasta alla Norma crowned with ricotta salata, and crisp cannoli filled with sweet ricotta — enough to rouse Beppe from the deepest of slumbers.

Arlecchino, the most famous of the zanni, is a son of Bergamo: a servant come down from the valleys, empty of stomach and never still. His diamond-patterned costume tells his legend — a suit stitched from patches given out of kindness, which became the most dazzling on any stage. Acrobat, ever-hungry, at once naive and cunning, he triumphed at the French court with Tristano Martinelli before serving two masters for Goldoni. And Bergamo knows just how to quiet his legendary appetite: casoncelli alla bergamasca glossed with sage butter, and polenta taragna rich with mountain cheese.