[The first printed witness of the term 'spaghetti’] Li Maccheroni di Napoli poemetto giocoso

8° (mm 183x155); pp. VIII, 48, (2). Cartoncino rigido moderno che conserva le brossure originali in carta decorata. Bella copia, intonsa.

Only edition, very rare.

In the poemetto of the Neapolitan poet and playwright Antonio Viviani, Li Maccheroni di Napoli, published in 1824, the term 'spaghetti' appears for the first time (intended as a diminutive name for the word 'string') in reference to this type of pasta. A name that will last over time, until today, and which will replace the more generic 'macaroni' (or 'maccaroni'), as well as the term 'vermicelli' (which will remain in use as a synonym for thicker spaghetti), names with which, the same food was referred to in previous literary sources. This same work also illustrates the different stages of processing this pasta shape (cf. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti).