MUSIC BY LARS FORSLUND Music for Mandolin and Harpsichord

HISTORY AND LEGEND Pietro Querini from Venice

QUERINIS ROUTE - “VIA QUERINISSIMA” Thanks to this trip Pietro Querini has managed to popularize a successful combination of Norwegian dried fish and Italian cooking in the Veneto region. The dried fish is cooked as Bacalà alla vicentina and is regarded as a national dish. THE TRAGIC END OF THE TALE OF QUERINI After a few years in Venice Pietro Querini went out on a new voyage with his ship in order to explore the North Pole, but this time he did not manage to survive and disappeared in the eternal ice forever.

PIETRO QUERINIS TRIP IN SWEDEN On the return trip to Venice visited Pietro Querini a Venetian Count Giovanni Franco, who lived on Stegeborgs castle near Söderköping in Sweden. Querini stayed there for a time and after fourteen days following the Count them with 100-120 fine riding horses to Vadstena. The purpose of the trip across Östergötland, which took them five days, was to seek indulgences during the annual Peter Festival on August 1, 1432, and that of the crowd which inquire about possible boat trips from Lödöse. In Vadstena their host Mathias, called Mafio and Mapheo in the stories, took after a few days the visitors to the port city Lödöse at the Göta River, where the family is said to have owned a large manor-house in the neighborhood. From Vadstena it was eight days' journey, and Pietro Querini, which during the trip had fever, praising his host's kindness to provide him with one of their best horses; it was a horse with so soft walk that he said he never experienced anything like that.

Pietro Querini was a nobelman, navigator and captain from the Republic of Venice. He became famous after he and his crew were shipwrecked on the Røst, south of Lofoten in northern Norway, January 5, Winter 1432. When he later returned to Venice, he wrote a report about his travels to the Senate. It was published and printed in Venice. Here you can read an excerpt from Pietro Querinis own story.

In October 1431 was Captain Querini and his ship, a cog, on its way from Crete with a cargo to Bruges in Flanders, where they encountered a terrible storm off the west coast of France. The storm broke the masts of the ship and they were driven by the Gulf Stream across the North Sea. They had to jump into the lifeboat and they fought in the icy storm in many weeks. Most of the sailors drowned or died of hunger and exhaustion when they were left to their cruel fate. Shortly after New Year 1432 became the surviving stranded on an island in the archipelago of Lofoten near Røst. Only eleven men, of a crew of 68 men was survived. They were found by local fishermen after 29 days. They became taken charge of by the fishermen and spent more than three months, together with the inhabitants of the island Røst.

This dramatic event was the origin for trade between northern Norway and Italy. After many months in Lofoten Pietro Querini realized benefits of the dried fish, possible to store a long time and it had great nutritional value, so he decided to send a couple of boxes of dried fish to Venice. This was also the origin of the success of baccalà in Italy.

Lars Forslund and Angelica Selmo gave a concert during the festivities at Sandrigo and performed Lofoten Suite and told the story and the legend of Pietro Querini. Lars has also played a concert in Querinis palace in Venice. On SVT Play, you can see Lars Venetian friends cook an authentic Venetian baccalà, along with Ann Lundberg in the television program “Landgång” (gangway), section 6, Season 8. The recipe is on the website www.svt.se

FESTA DEL BACALÀ ALLA VICENTINA During the festivities in the village Sandrigo near Vicenza in Italy the annual ceremony is celebrated with cooking of the bacalà alla vicentina in large quantities. It is a cultural and culinary events between the small island of Røst in the Lofoten Islands and the city of Sandrigo. Over 35,000 visitors take part in the festivities, visiting cultural events and concerts.