Etica alimentare e dietetica nel “De Educatione” (1505-1506) di Antonio De Ferraris Galateo al duca di Calabria Ferdinando d’Aragona

With the Spanish conquest of the Kingdom of Naples at the beginning of 500, the new rulers introduced their own customs,
fashion, literary and musical tastes, imposing on populations a humiliating social and cultural subjugation that they even extended to food. The doctor-humanist Antonio de Ferraris, called “il Galateo”, fearing that the legitimate heir to the throne, the young Ferdinand of Aragon, on exile in Spain, hope of nostalgic and pro-Aragonese supporters, could be corrupted, wrote the treatise De Educatione and sent it to the tutor to the Prince, Crisostomo Colonna, exhorting him to supervise the boy, and bring him up according to the Italian tradition that derived from the Greek and Roman civilizations. His dietary and food ethics advice is very important for a healthy and manly growth, recommending moderation, healthy food,frugality, simplicity, and abhorring the elaborate and refined food and the complex protocols of the new barbarians. Only with a serious physical and literary education, could he acquire the skills necessary to get back the usurped kingdom and govern it with wisdom and balance.