Episode
Ep. 2739 A Bite-Sized History of Italy by Dr Danielle Callegari | Book Club with Richard Hough
- Podcast
- Italian Wine Podcast
- Published
- Jul 17, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3854
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.italianwinepodcast.com/
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Summary
Welcome to Book Club and Episode 2739 of the Italian Wine Podcast with Richard Hough. In this episode, Richard is in conversation with professor of Italian wine and culture, Dr Danielle Callegari, author of (amongst other things) “A Bite-Sized History of Italy: Tales of the Roman Empire, Renaissance, and Republic.” This conversation explores Danielle’s Italian ancestry, her career as an academic, the importance of Dante to Italy’s linguistic identity, the role of food and wine in shaping Italy’s cultural identity, the beer before bread hypothesis, “carbonaragate” and other Italian food controversies, and Italy’s evolving culinary habits. Further reading and other resources mentioned in the conversation: “Dante’s Gluttons: Food and Society in Medieval Italian Literature” by Dr Danielle Callegari “Drunk” by Dr Edward Slingerland “Tracing one delicious snack around the Mediterranean showed me that modern borders are absurd” by Federico De Blasi, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/26/chickpea-snacks-mediterranean-migration-cultural-exchange-europe-africa The Gola Podcast, https://www.golapodcast.com/ Cabinet Travel, https://www.cabinettravel.com/ “This Italian Wine Paradise Is More Than Just a Pretty Coastline” by Danielle Callegari, https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/travel/sardinia-food-wine-culture/ The Book Review by Richard Hough: Dr Danielle Callegari is a renowned academic in the field of medieval Italian literature, which explains the intellectual depth and rigour that underpins “A Bite-Sized History of Italy: Tales of the Roman Empire, Renaissance, and Republic.” Callegari takes us on a fascinating historical journey to explain how food became the defining characteristic of Italian national identity, tackling the m…