The original recipe for fettuccine Alfredo, one of the symbols of Italian cuisine exported to the United States, is very simple: egg fettuccine, parmesan (or alternatively grana) and butter . If butter Beppino Occelli , who makes every dish special with his delicate and unmistakable flavor, even better .
But what is the history of fettuccine Alfredo?
Let's start with the name: fettuccine Alfredo were born in Rome, in 1908 , and are an invention of Alfredo Di Lelio , son of Sora Angelina, owner of a trattoria in Piazza Rosa. This little square no longer exists: in its place was built the Galleria Colonna (which today is called Galleria Sordi), but the legend of fettuccine Alfredo still hovers in that place.
Let’s go back to Di Lelio, who had been waiting tables at the trattoria run by his mother since he was a boy. His wife Ines had just given birth to her firstborn Armando and was particularly debilitated, and Alfredo prepared this dish for her, as simple as it was “energizing”: fettuccine, butter and melted parmesan. Good and substantial.
Di Lelio opened his restaurant in 1914 in Via della Scrofa , Rome, calling it simply “Alfredo Restaurant”, which he ran until the Second World War, in 1943. His fettuccine continued to be one of the most requested and appreciated dishes by customers.
How did they get to America , then?
The credit goes to two Hollywood actors, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford , who tried fettuccine Alfredo during a vacation in the Eternal City and fell madly in love with it. They decided to export it to the United States and, when they returned to Rome in 1927, they gave Alfredo Di Lelio two solid gold cutlery sets with the engraved dedication “To Alfredo the King of the noodles”.
And behold, even though it is not tied to any particular territory, fettuccine Alfredo has been one of the quintessential Italian-American dishes for almost a century: try it !
