Casa Artusi

Pellegrino Artusi was born in Forlimpopoli in 1820. A successful merchant in Florence, in 1891 he published at his own expense La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene: 790 recipes collected from all over Italy, written with irony and clarity. The book became one of the most widely read in Italy and unified the cuisine of the newly unified Italians.

Casa Artusi, opened in 2007, is the first centre of gastronomic culture dedicated to Italian home cooking. It is housed in the restored complex of the church and convent of the Servi: it contains Artusi's personal library with his papers, the civic library, a restaurant, a wine bar and a cookery school.

The cookery school is the living heart of the house: with the Mariette, the local pasta-makers who take their name from Artusi's housekeeper, you can learn to roll out pasta dough with a rolling pin, make tagliatelle, cappelletti and piadina. Courses are also available for tourists, in several languages.

At the end of June the Festa Artusiana transforms Forlimpopoli into a great open-air table, with street kitchens and performances. A stone's throw away is the rocca, with its archaeological museum.