Ligabue Magazine 59

The journey was undertaken by a group of Italian geneticists who set out to explore the connection between tastes and genes in various Asian peoples. The geneticists were looking for answers to questions such as why people perceive bitterness in different ways. The answer of course lies in our DNA. Thousands of years of history and have led to a great diversification in peoples, and this is also true of sensibility to bitter tastes along the Silk Road. Taste in turn has inevitably influenced the food in the various culinary traditions in Asia. The medical geneticist Paolo Gasparini illustrates the expedition and much more in this highly original story of population genetics, history and cuisine. The mathematician Michele Emmer takes us on a very much “lighter” but equally fascinating trip. This time we will float back in time astride soap bubbles. They have had a surprising influence on art, physics and even architecture.

In his wide ranging article, Emmer starts from the Flemish painters who first immortalised soap bubbles in their works and then moves on to Newton, who studied the colour effects on soap film (the phenomenon of interference) and the 19th-century French physicist Plateau, who first discovered that bubbles only join up in two kinds of configurations with very precise angles. The article ends with the Watercube, the swimming pool building constructed for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, a landmark in modern architecture. The next time we wash our hands or do the dishes, perhaps we’ll look more closely at the wonderful world of ordinary bubbles.

Agnès Benoit, head keeper of the Department of Eastern Antiquities at the Louvre, takes us back in time 4,000 years and as far afield as Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Pamir, i.e. modern day Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, where the great culture known as the “Oxus Civilisation” once flourished. What strikes you most about this ancient culture are its enigmatic statuettes of sumptuously dressed woman and men with a deep cut in their faces (so striking that the archaeologists call them “Scarfaces”). Who were they? What did they represent? No one knows. The female figures may have been protective deities. They were probably greatly worshipped in daily life and were certainly placed in burials beside the dead, probably to accompany them to the hereafter. But for the time being, we can only surmise. Indeed it’s rather paradoxical that modern science can’t yet fully understand such simple objects made 4,000 years ago. But we can find out more in the article about recent developments that have cast further light on this remote period. On the next journey were bound to get lost as the journalist Sandra Gastaldo takes us into an intriguing maze of labyrinths. But thanks to her explanations, a kind of “Ariadne’s thread”, we can explore thousands of years of mazes, beginning from the most celebrated: the legendary Labyrinth of King Minos, where the Minotaur, half man and half bull, was kept. Did this labyrinth really exist? Was it in the famous Knossos Palace or in some underground caves around thirty kilometres from the palace, as the findings of a recent expedition have suggested?

This is only the first step on a long walk through the millennia, following the twists and turnings of labyrinths. Having come out of the labyrinths, we set sail on an exciting trip across the seven seas with the latest generation of tall ships. Often called “the most beautiful ship in the world”, the Amerigo Vespucci is the pride of the Italian Navy. Having sailed for eighty years, this authentic gem of Italian shipbuilding is now something of a veteran. Nonetheless, anyone who meets her falls in love, even the commanders of rival schooners. Adriano Favaro spins a good yarn as he describes this splendid lady of the seas and her many adventures. On the subject of sailing, we also feature somereminiscences of the expert mariner Vincenzo Onorato.

A member of the fourth generation of a ship-owning family, his considerable sailing feats include taking part in the America’s Cup. His words – raw and authentic like the hands of someone used to hauling ropes stiff with seawater – describe a great quality in seaman of the past but not so common today: humility. He also explains the importance of respecting the sea and being aware that a sudden change (especially in the Mediterranean) can daunt even the most resolute minds. Probably only experienced sailors will understand the full import of Onorato’s words. After the unbounded expanses of heaving seas, what could be better than dropping into the much quieter world of a Venetian bar to drink a glass of Malvasia, especially if it’s in the company of Michela Dal Borgo, an archivist and director-coordinator in the historic Venetian State Archives. She tells us all about this truly special wine. It turns out that every time you pour some Malvasia into a glass, you’re unwittingly decanting a piece of history. Michela Dal Borgo dips into the historic archives and comes up with some surprising stories about the history of Malvasia, but also about Venice. Her article describes periods and people now long gone but who are ideally reunited when we absentmindedly fill a glass, while chatting at the dinner table. Another way of travelling back through history.

Enjoy!