Here is Marco Razzolini with his “macchina delle noccioline” (literally peanuts machine). I saw him at an otherwise dull Sunday market in Via Grande and his stall was absolutely eye catching. The contraption behind him is an old but perfectly functional wood-fired peanut roasting machine, mounted on the back of a truck. Marco inherited the device from his grandfather Alfeo, a real pioneer of peanut roasting in Italy.
Peanuts were already known here then, but their consumption was marginal and increased greatly only after World War II, with the presence of the Allied troops. In 1951 Alfeo bought the 1200-kg machine from an artisan shop in Padua and carried it around at fairs and festivals for several years. With the advent of more modern machinery the cumbersome device fell gradually in disuse, until his grandson dusted it off from a shed a few years ago, reviving the “Antica Torrefazione della Nocciolina Tostata a Legna” (Wood-fired roasted peanuts Company).
