Amazing Italy: Enjoying Rovigo and its cuisine with Maria Cristina Buoso (Part 7) - by Maria Teresa De Donato

 Amazing Italy:

Enjoying Rovigo and its cuisine with Maria Cristina Buoso (Part 7)

by Maria Teresa De Donato

 

Hello dear friends!

 

Isn't it amazing how our friend and fellow author Maria Cristina Buoso manages to find all these 'pearls' for those who want to visit her city?

 

Today Maria Cristina revisited us with more artistic, historical, and culinary information regarding her Rovigo.

 

So let's immerse ourselves in reading this new interview, imagining that we are visiting this city, even if only virtually, enjoying some other delicacies of the local cuisine that you will want to present to us.

 

Enjoy the reading!

 

 

 

MTDD: Hello, Maria Cristina, and welcome to my Virtual Cultural Salon again. It is always a pleasure to have you as my guest.

 

MCB: Thanks to you, Maria Teresa. I am delighted to participate in your Amazing Italy column and reveal to the public, also and above all to those unfamiliar with these places, the many 'jewels' that we can find in a medium-sized town like the one where I was born, raised, and in which I still live.

 

 

MTDD: Yes, I agree, and thank you for continuing to reveal all her 'secrets' to us.

 

What will you be showing us today, then?

 

MCB: Today, we will be visiting the Rovigo Social Theater together.

 

 

 

MTDD: In our previous articles, you mentioned the construction and the various modifications and renovations the Rovigo’s Theater underwent over the centuries.

 

MCB: No, you're not wrong. Rovigo has an ancient tradition for melodrama in general and opera in particular. In 1683, it was the first show; it was hosted in the hall of the Loggia dei Notai. The first Theater was built on the initiative of Celio Campagnella in 1694.

 

After a few years, to replace the Campagnella, another larger theater was built by the Manfredinis, which subsequently passed from the Venezzes to the Roncales. At the beginning of the XIX century, the audience had become so large that an even larger theater had to be built. It had come to do three seasons a year; the most important was the autumn one in conjunction with the October Fair and was dedicated to opera, much loved by the people of Rovigo.

 

In 1816 the Società del Teatro was established, and it was decided to build it near the square where the church of S. Giustina was previously located. The architect from Rovigo Baseggio directed the works until they were completed in 1819.

 

 

MTDD: When was this Theater inaugurated?

 

MCB: The Teatro della Società, this is the original name, was opened to the public on the evening of 3 March 1819 with "L'ombra di Fetonte," but the official inauguration was made the following month with "Adelaide di Borgogna," written primarily for the occasion by Pietro Generali on a libretto by Luigi Romanelli, on 26 April 1819.

 

 

  

(Piazza Garibaldi, Theater on the right)

 

MTDD: Were there any further restructurings after that period?

 

MCB: Yes, there were. A fire destroyed that Theater on the night between 21 and 22 January 1902 and of the Sala del Baseggio, built mainly with wood; for acoustic reasons, only the facade and the foyer remained.

 

The Theater was rebuilt in two years. The project was by the Paduan engineer Daniele Donghi, who kept the front part of the previous building because it was undamaged with the beautiful neoclassical facade and the grand foyer decorated with pleasant paintings. He was the first to experiment with reinforced concrete for the hall, and the result, from an acoustic point of view, was good. The decorations by the Paduan Giovanni Vianello are simple and elegant and place the Rovigo theater among the first in the Veneto region to have adopted the new canons of the liberty style.

 

The new Teatro Sociale was inaugurated by Pietro Mascagni with "Iris" on 12 October 1904 and can boast of having baptized two of the greatest singers of our century: Beniamino Gigli and Renata Tebaldi.

 

In 1967 it was included in the small group of "traditional opera houses."

The Municipal Administration took it over in 1964, oversaw its radical restoration, and its management was entrusted to the Department of Culture and Entertainment.

 

Today, in addition to the opera and ballet season, the Teatro Sociale hosts an established and trendy prose season, a concert season, and numerous other entertainment initiatives also aimed at young people.

 

For further information, as always, I leave you their links.

 

https://www.culturaveneto.it/it/luoghi/lista-teatri/claa0aopb058mv56z634bezlf

 

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_Sociale_(Rovigo)

 

 

MTDD: The history of this Theater is fascinating. I am happy to know that this structure has not only been restored but is still used and continues to play a leading role in the cultural landscape of your beautiful city. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

MCB: Yes, we from Rovigo are as happy as we are proud of it.

 

 

MTDD: Maria Cristina, do we want to conclude our meeting today with a local recipe?

 

MCB: Certainly! Today I present to you the Brazadea.

 

 

 

Recipe

 

Brazadea

 

 

 

 (Web photo)

 

This is a recipe linked to my memory; it was a dessert with different shapes, the most classic of them being made with an “s” shape, or the classic donut or even like a large loaf, a dessert that was cut in the morning to dip in caffellatte or in the evening to "pucciarlo" (dip it) in a glass of red wine, usually either the one from the last harvest or the good one from the holidays.

 

The secret to making it suitable is in the dough. Our grandmothers knew it well, and the one made by them was always the best; it was the dessert for the holidays because, once upon a time, it was not eaten every day, and every family had its own variant.

 

The origins of this dessert date back to the “S” made in Adria and the brazadela from Ferrara; it is known and loved throughout the polesine and in my city.

 

I am writing you the recipe in general.

 

 

Ingredients

 

300 gr flour; (usually 00)

 

100 g sugar; (but you can vary it to your taste)

 

2 eggs;

 

0.5 dl of milk;

 

100 melted butter; (once they also used lard)

 

1 sachet of baking powder;

 

a small glass of liqueur to taste;

 

salt; (a pinch)

 

granulated sugar; (my mom used to replace it with granulated sugar)

 

raisins or chocolate chips, if desired (usually, they didn't put them in my house)

 

 

 

PREPARATION:

 

Place the flour in a large bowl, make a hole, and put the eggs and sugar in the center. Once this is done, add the melted butter, the milk, the yeast, the small glass of liqueur (or other flavorings, to taste and according to taste, such as anise, for example), a pinch of salt, and the raisins or chocolate chips, if you love this variant.

 

The consistency to be achieved must be solid enough to be able to create the typical shape of them. The secret, however, is that there are no lumps. First, mix with a fork; when they are well blended, you can use your hands. If it is too sticky, add a little flour. It is, therefore, clear that you will have to knead a lot to obtain a homogeneous product.

 

Create a long enough loaf and, after slightly moistening it, sprinkle it with granulated sugar. A quick way is to turn it upside down on the board and roll the dough over it so that everything sticks quickly. Put it on the oven plate or in a relatively large pan; if you want, use parchment paper.

 

Cook at 190° for about 30 minutes. Check the cooking with a toothpick that you will insert in the dessert. If it's dry when you take it out, it's ready.

 

Enjoy the tasting!

 

 

https://rovigo.italiani.it/esse-adriese-dolce/

 

https://lendinara.italiani.it/la-brazadea/