Focus on Gianduia, Part 13: Michele Prochet and the 1865 Birth of Gianduia

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Apr 042011
 

If the first gianduiotto appeared during the politically pivotal 1865 carnival season, it would contribute significantly to the confection’s legend, associating it with Gianduia’s symbolic reconciliation of the Turinese with Vittorio Emanuel II in the interest of the Risorgimento.  But did it? Continue reading »

Focus on Gianduia, Part 12: Gianduia, the King of Carnival

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Mar 282011
 

Though Gianduia remained both puppet and political symbol through the 1860s, the character adopted a new function.  Gianduia became the central figure in Turin’s celebration of Carnival—the setting for the probable first appearance of the confection that would come to bear his name.

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Focus on Gianduia, Part 11: Gianduia, the Revolutionary

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Mar 212011
 

From March through October of 1847, King Carlo Alberto issued a series of edicts expanding freedom of the press, including the right of publications to comment on matters of public administration (1).  Within months, Turin was flooded with new newspapers with decidedly liberal and revolutionary editorial stances.

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Focus on Gianduia, Part 6: Why Napoleon Mattered (Religious Freedom)

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Feb 142011
 

Unlike the development of a beet sugar industry, Napoleon’s second contribution to gianduia’s invention was not an outgrowth of the Continental System.  In fact, the policy predated the Berlin Decree by more than a decade.  In the closing years of the eighteenth century, Napoleon extended unprecedented civil rights to the Waldenses in Piedmont.

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