Antonio Mattei: Maker of Cantucci, Biscuits, and Other Delicacies, and His Friend Pellegrino Artusi

We dedicate our blog to Antonio Mattei this January, the founder of the factory that has been crafting traditional sweet treats since the mid-1800s.

Three key dates connect Antonio Mattei to this month. He was born in Prato on 17th January 1818, married his first wife on 19th January 1840, and passed away on 11th January 1885. This year marks the 140th anniversary of his death. Taking inspiration from this last date, we recall the tribute paid to him by Pellegrino Artusi:

"The recipe for this ‘stiacciata’ and the recipe for the Mantovana cake (page 247) were kindly given to me by that good man, already mentioned, Antonio Mattei of Prato. And I call him good because he had the genius for his craft and was honest and very industrious. But this dear friend of mine (...) passed away in 1885, leaving me deeply saddened. Letters and sciences are not always necessary to earn public esteem: even a very humble craft, accompanied by skill and decorum, can make us worthy of respect and love from our fellow man." (page 257)

In total, three recipes connect Mattei to Artusi, who, like all good friends, exchanged advice and recipes. On page 348, Artusi shares the recipe for Pasta Margherita (Margherita Cake) and mentions Antonio Mattei for the first time:

"One day, my poor friend Antonio Mattei of Prato (whom I will have the occasion to mention again) tasted this cake at my house. He asked for the recipe and, being the industrious man he was, immediately improved it, perfecting it to a very fine degree and started selling it in his shop. He later told me that the cake was so well-received that there was hardly a meal in the surrounding countryside where it wasn’t ordered. This is how fortune helps industrious people who are eager to carve out a path in the world, they seize any opportunity to try their luck, while it never smiles upon the idle and lazy." (page 246)

As Pellegrino notes, Antonio Mattei created his own interpretation of Pasta Margherita. This dessert was produced by the Prato bakery until the 1960s/70s under the name PASTA REGINA (Margherita, in essence).

Note: The page numbers and recipe references correspond to the first edition (Landi 1891) of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. A copy of this edition is preserved in the National Library of Florence.

The "Stiacciata unta"

This dessert is usually baked at weekends at the Mattei biscuit factory, except during the summer months and December. Starting in February, however, it is baked daily until the end of Carnival. To ensure availability, we recommend reserving it at our shop in Prato (tel. (+39) 054725756). If you have the time and patience, we invite you to try making Artusi's version of Mattei's recipe. For those of you who don’t like lard, we suggest substituting it with good olive oil.

Let’s get to work pastry chefs!
Happy New Year to everyone!

Letizia Pandolfini