Sacred and profane in the Roman Empire

Apicius, the chef of the Roman emperors

Marcus Gavius ​​Apicius (late Roman Republic – era of Augustus and Tiberius) was a gastronome, cook, and writer renowned for his lavish banquets and refined recipes. Admired and controversial, he is remembered by Seneca as an example of debauchery, while Pliny calls him “an ingenious inventor of every refinement.” His fame reached the court: Drusus, son of Tiberius, imitating his tastes, rejected cabbage tops, a food considered poor. The origin of the word “liver” is linked to him: by feeding pigs dried figs and mulsum, he obtained larger livers; from this practice came the Latin word ficatum, which gave rise to the Italian word fegato.

The treatise that bears his name, De re coquinaria, is the oldest complete record of Roman cuisine. The manuscript, which fully records five hundred recipes, was copied during the Carolingian era, in the second half of the 9th century, likely at the Abbey of Tours. In the 15th century, it entered the ducal library of Urbino, and in 1657 it was transferred to the Vatican Apostolic Library, in the Fondo Urbinate. A witness connecting antiquity to tradition, Apicius continues to inspire the imagination: in these pages we recognize the art of conviviality and a curiosity that spans the centuries.

Vita Sancti Marini

The birth of the oldest republic in the world, a story of migrations, freedom and friendship between its Saints

The medieval manuscript codex F. III. 16, kept at the National University Library of Turin, on pages 182r-190v, contains the oldest existing testimony of the Vita Sanctorum Marini et Leonis, more briefly known as the Vita Sancti Marini.

The work narrates the material and spiritual journey of the stonecutter Marino, who between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD left the Dalmatian island of Arbe (now Rab, Croatia) to reach the Roman city of Ariminum (Rimini) and finally settle on Mount Titano, a place that would become the cradle of the Republic of San Marino.

Written in a Latin that can be traced back to the late Imperial or early Medieval period, the text goes far beyond geographical and material references: it recounts the individual choice of faith and the construction of a community founded on the principles of industriousness, solidarity, independence, and freedom.

In the panorama of medieval hagiographic works, often collected in the so-called Passionales, the Vita Sanctorum Marini et Leonis stands out for:

the narrative structure of the journey, which traverses the territories of the Roman Empire;
the surprisingly modern civil and social content, which anticipates models of coexistence and community organization that would only be codified centuries later.

Why buy them together?

The Combo “Sacred and Profane in the Roman Empire” creates a dialogue between two eras and two souls of Roman civilization.

Apicius dates back to the dawn of the imperial age (between Augustus and Tiberius), when banquets were art, representation, and material culture: a tradition of taste and conviviality that continues to permeate contemporary Italy and its food supply chain.

The Vita Sancti Marini opens the horizon three centuries later, when Christianity is now widespread: the faith that establishes community and civic identity. In these pages, we recognize the embryo of modernity, the universal values ​​of freedom and tolerance, and the story of the birth of the oldest modern republic. In the past, the future is being born.

Together, the two works show how pleasure and devotion, table and altar, shape civilization itself in different eras.

TECHNICAL DATA – VITA SANCTI MARINI

• Original dating: 10th – 11th century AD
• Page size: 20 × 30 cm
• Volume dimensions: 21 × 31 × 3 cm
• Weight: about 1,1 Kg
• Binding: wood and leather
• Number of pages: 18
• Gold decorations: none
• Condition: new
• Publisher: Imago, Rimini
• Warranty: 60 mounth

WHAT YOU ARE PURCHASING

• The complete facsimile of the Vita Sanctorum Marini et Leonis
• Critical commentary and translation of the work
• Luxury box made of eco-sustainable cardboard or, optionally, plexiglass display case
• Certificate of the olive tree donated to Salento
• Certificate of authenticity, “colophon.” It contains the following information: title of the work, owner, print run, number of the work, date, followed by the stamp and signature of the owner (usually a public library), stamp and signature of the publisher, stamp and signature of a Notary Public of the Italian Republic.
• Exclusive access to the Antiquus reserved area with in-depth digital content

TECHNICAL DATA – APICIO

• Places of conservation: Vatican Apostolic Library
• Signatures: Urb. Lat. 1146
• Dating: 851-875 AD Monastery of Tours
• Dimensions: pages 23.5 x 19, manuscript 24.8 × 20.5 cm; maximum height 2.5 cm
• Weight: approx. 1,200 g
• Binding: leather
• Number of pages: 58
• Pages with thumbnails and drop caps: 6
• Gold decorated pages: 6
• Number of copies produced: 500 (50 for exclusive sale)
• Publisher: Imago, Rimini
• Condition: new
• Warranty: 60 mounth

WHAT YOU ARE PURCHASING

• Exact three-dimensional facsimile reproduction of the manuscript De re coquinaria Critical commentary
• Luxury box made of eco-sustainable cardboard or, optionally, plexiglass display case
• Certificate of the olive tree donated to Salento
• Certificate of authenticity, “colophon.” It contains the following information: title of the work, owner, print run, number of the work, date, followed by the stamp and signature of the owner (usually a public library), stamp and signature of the publisher, stamp and signature of a Notary Public of the Italian Republic.
• Exclusive access to the Antiquus reserved area with in-depth digital content

YOUR SEAL

To make your specimen unique, choose:

The number that best represents you
Storage method: a luxury, eco-friendly cardboard box or one of our plexiglass display cases, to display the manuscript as a collector’s item.

Your manuscript, your number, your display case: a unique legacy for you and for those who come after you.

Note: Each piece is created exclusively after purchase. During the process, we strive to keep the customer updated with photos and videos of the preparation stages of the purchased piece.

All this allows us to make your experience and the work you decide to purchase truly exclusive. For this reason, production will take 14 business days from the time of purchase. We will then ship the product via insured courier.