What Would The World Be Missing If Italy Did Not Exist? Told In Three Parts And Well Worth Its Parts!

Look at a map of Europe.  Look at where Italy sits on that map, with its boot-like shape, Sicily at its toe, Sardinia floating freely near its knee and surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean Sea. 

   Now, imagine Italy wiped out.  No more boot-like shaped mass and islands, no more Alps and Apennine Mountains, no more Italy, just water, just water. 

If Italy never existed, what would the world be missing?  Think about it?  What would the world be missing?  I’ll give you some time to think, maybe jot some things down on a piece of paper…what’s on your list?  Now, as I continue, I do not want to imply that one country alone is the sole contributor of the following and if Italy did not exist, other countries would have given the world these things (maybe, not in the same way) yet as you read on, read again, and truly absorb what Italy has given the world…

Some of the Obvious:
 
*Italian Food—pizza and pasta         
*Italian Art         
*Italian language
*Italian inventions                
*Roman Empire…
 
What’s on your list?  Are any of these on your list?  Are there more contributions on your list?  I hope so…
 
Pizza has a history that goes back to the ancient Egyptians, yet the flat bread with toppings evolved with the Greeks and the Romans who would sprinkle olive oil and add toppings similar to that of the pizza we know of today.  In the mid to late 1800’s in Naples, it is said, that Queen Margherita was hungry and wanted something different to eat, in order to impress, Pizzeria Brandi made a pizza with the colors of the newly united Italian flag:  Green-basil, White-mozzarella and Red-tomatoes and called this flat bread-like concoction after the queen herself, Margherita.  Hence the Margherita pizza was born.  Today in Italy, if you want, you can get hot dogs, which they refer to by the German name wurster, on your pizza.  My favorite is the Pizza Napoli with anchovies.  What’s your favorite?

Pasta, it has been said was brought back to Italy by Marco Polo from his journey to China yet evidence now has found that the noodle existed in Italy prior to Polo’s journey.  It may be Chinese in origin, or Greek, or Arabic, or African, at least all these theories have been stated but we now know for sure that Pasta is very much Italian and a staple of its culinary make-up and tradition.  Spaghetti and tomato sauce is known all over the world today; however, the tomato is not Italian in origin.  Christopher Columbus brought the tomato back from his explorations of South America and Italians cultivated the plant called il pomodoro.  It’s name, pomodoro has many stories in regards to its meaning.  Pomo, from the Latin Pomus (fruit), means apple.  Mela is the standard Italian for Apple.  D’oro in Italian means of gold, which referenced the tomato’s golden color as it ripens, hence the meaning golden apple--pomodoro.  Other meanings of the name pomodoro recount that pomodoro was originally named pomo di moro (fruit of the Moors) and it was later referred by the French as pomme d’amour as legend has it a Frenchmen was so impressed by the flavor, he had asked the Italian chef what the fruit was called.  The chef responded pomo di moro which the Frenchmen misinterpreted as pomme d’amour meaning the fruit of love.  Whichever, the true history of its name, today il pomodoro is integral in Italian food culture.

Can you imagine a world without Italian food?  No more pizza or pasta as we know it, no more prosciutto di Parma or mortadella di Bologna, no more balsamic vinegar from Modena, no more cannoli from Sicily, no more ricotta, Parmigiano Reggiano, asiago or mozzarella, no more espresso or Italian wines, no more capers di Pantelleria, no more Sicilian pistachios, no more Italian almond trees, lemon trees, olive trees, no more risotto, no more pesto di Genoa, no more polenta, no more tiramisu, no more gelato and on and on…did you get that?  No more gelato!?
 
Read about gelato’s history here

Let’s discuss more of what the world would be missing in part two of this post…until next time…una buona giornata ed a presto!  A good day to you and see you soon!




Some Public Domain Photos Used