[Essay] The Tortelli wars

[Andrea Locati]

Can someone please proofread this article and suggest enhancements? I'm aiming at improving my language and style.
Thanks.

TITLE: The Tortelli wars

Sitting in the impressive Ponchielli theatre stalls in Cremona, I was waiting for the show to begin. To be true, it was not a proper show, but a food and wine event staged in the frame of the 450th anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi’s birth and the award won by four East Lombardy provinces as European region of gastronomy. A lady approached my row and stooped over to talk to my neighbour, reassuring him that the booklet published after last week’s conference provided hard evidence that the Crema tortello had been treated fairly.

The lady had been the representative of Cremona at the conference, in charge of expounding the complex geography of local stuffed pasta in its three main varieties and thousands of realisations. Well aware the subject is fraught with the highest sensitivities and the risk of making a faux pas lurks at every word uttered, the expert had played in advance by starting to show on a map the three separate districts of Crema, Cremona and Casalmaggiore that the flat terrain province is made of. No geographical barriers whatsoever, but three different counties that look like as many independent states, and the different recipes for the local stuffed pasta prove that they behave like warring fiefs.

The man sitting next to me was the president of the Cremona Flavours Route, an organism that promotes producers, hospitality and restaurants. He confided, between amused and resigned, that this situation was recurrent. The restaurateurs and people of Crema are easy to take offence at the smallest slight, and local politicians are ready to amplify the reaction.

The rivalry between the two neighbouring towns has historical reasons. It all goes back to 1000 years ago, when Cremona lay siege to Crema adding its troops to the imperial army led by Barbarossa. Crema bravely resisted the assault, even when the besiegers tied hostages from Crema to their war machines to stop the defenders pounding them. The same hostages are said to have incited their fellow townspeople not to be discouraged and continue targeting the machines. But in the end the attackers gained the upper hand and Crema was thumped into a heap of fuming rubble.

This episode dealt a hard blow to the city’s pride. The division between Crema and Cremona was later exacerbated with the former submitting to Venice and the latter following the destiny of the Duchy of Milan. Now the rivalry lives on in football, with the fiercest matches disputed between Crema and Cremona teams, and cooking. In fact, the tortello of Crema has a sweet filling, and – to the cardiologists’ delight – is served with a liberal pouring of melted butter and sprinkled with an equally abundant amount of raped parmesan cheese. The Cremona marubini, on the contrary, are filled with meat and are definitely salty, whereas the southernmost corner of the province traditionally makes another sort of tortello, which only shares the name with Crema. This is in fact, again, somewhat sweet, although not from the candied fruits but from Mantua pumpkin in the filling.

After listening to these complicated historical facts it is plain that the desire of revenge was never satisfied and if today warfare is not possible anymore, modern people still make war with tortelli, marubini and other stuffed pasta. A quite amusing trait of the Italian character.

 

[teechar]

Can someone please proofread this article and suggest enhancements? I'm aiming at improving my language and style.
Thanks.

TITLE: The Tortelli Wars

Sitting in the impressive Ponchielli Theatre stalls in Cremona, I was waiting for the show to begin. To be precise, [STRIKE]true,[/STRIKE] it was not a proper show, but a food-and-wine event staged [STRIKE]in the frame of[/STRIKE] to mark the 450th anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi’s birth and the award won by four East Lombardy provinces as European regions of gastronomy. A lady approached my row and stooped over to talk to my neighbour, reassuring him that the booklet published after last week’s conference provided hard evidence that the Crema tortello had been treated fairly.

The lady [STRIKE]had been[/STRIKE] was the representative of Cremona at the conference, in charge of expounding the complex geography of local stuffed pasta in its three main varieties and thousands of forms. [STRIKE]realisations.[/STRIKE] Well aware the subject is fraught with the highest sensitivities, and with the risk of making a faux pas lurking [STRIKE]at[/STRIKE] with every word uttered, [STRIKE]the expert had played in advance by starting to[/STRIKE] she started by showing on a map the three separate districts of Crema, Cremona and Casalmaggiore that the flat-terrain province is made of. She pointed out there are no geographical barriers whatsoever, but three different counties that look like [STRIKE]as many[/STRIKE] independent states, and the different recipes for the local stuffed pasta prove that they behave like warring fiefdoms.

The man sitting next to me was the president of the Cremona Flavours Route, an [STRIKE]organism[/STRIKE] organization that promotes producers, hospitality and restaurants. He confided, [STRIKE]between[/STRIKE] amused and resigned, that this situation was the norm. [STRIKE]recurrent.[/STRIKE] The restaurateurs and people of Crema [STRIKE]are[/STRIKE] easily [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] take offense at the smallest slight, and local politicians are always ready to amplify the reaction.

The rivalry between the two neighbouring towns has historical reasons. It [STRIKE]all[/STRIKE] goes back [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] 1000 years, [STRIKE]ago,[/STRIKE] when Cremona lay siege to Crema, adding its troops to the imperial army led by Barbarossa. Crema bravely resisted the assault, even when the besiegers tied hostages from Crema to their war [STRIKE]machines[/STRIKE] chariots to stop the defenders pounding them. The same hostages are said to have incited their fellow townspeople not to be discouraged and to continue targeting the chariots. [STRIKE]machines.[/STRIKE] But in the end, the attackers gained the upper hand, and Crema was thumped into a heap of fuming rubble.

This episode dealt a hard blow to the city’s pride. The division between Crema and Cremona was later exacerbated with the former submitting to Venice and the latter following the destiny of the Duchy of Milan. Now, the rivalry lives on in football, with the fiercest matches disputed between Crema and Cremona, [STRIKE]teams,[/STRIKE] and cooking. In fact, the tortello of Crema has a sweet filling, and – to the cardiologists’ delight – is served with a liberal pouring of melted butter and sprinkled with an equally abundant amount of [STRIKE]raped[/STRIKE] grated parmesan cheese. The Cremona marubini, on the other hand, [STRIKE]contrary,[/STRIKE] are filled with meat and are definitely salty, whereas the southernmost corner of the province traditionally makes another sort of tortello, which only shares the name with Crema. This is, in fact, again, somewhat sweet, although not from the candied fruits but from the Mantua pumpkin in the filling.

After listening to these complicated historical facts, it is plain that the desire [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] for revenge was never satisfied, and if today warfare is not possible anymore, modern people still make war with tortelli, marubini and other stuffed pasta. A quite amusing trait of the Italian character.

.