The passatini press currently lives in the kitchen cabinets of my mother’s home on Long Island. Other cooking tools surround it within her white cabinets. Now, it is used in her kitchen on Sundays to make soup for my grandfather who misses my grandmother’s cooking more than anyone. For years, a passatini press was used in my grandmother’s kitchen to make traditional Sammarinese meals. In San Marino, I realized how the passatini press had made its way through not only two generations of my own family but through generations of so many other Sammarinese homes.

While in San Marino, I went on a couple of hikes. On our last hike, our coordinator, Leopoldo, took us to see the old water mills that had run down and we ended our hike with a tour of the Museum of Agriculture. The museum was established in what is assumed the oldest house in San Marino dating back to 1770. The house had been restored to display the way of life from the past. The museum contains hundreds of ancient items that relate to agricultural life and work such as copper pots, flat irons, looms, and so much more.

The museum preserves these items that relate to the Sammarinese customs and traditions of rural life in the past. When walking through the museum, I remember seeing certain items in the historical kitchen that looked familiar. I saw an old cheese grater similar to the one in my grandmother’s cabinets. On the mantle of the museum, it was placed with others of varying sizes with wooden drawers to catch the cheese and a handle that turned the grater on the cheese. On the opposite wall of the mantle, I also saw an assortment of passatini presses hanging. They looked a little different from the one I have today because it was more of a flat iron sheet with holes and handles on the side. It was explained to us that all of these kitchen tools had been used in Sammarinese households for centuries to make the traditional Sammarinese meals.

I really enjoyed this museum because it showed us the way that our grandparents lived and generations before them. The press has lived in the homes of Sammarinese for centuries. In their kitchens, it waits amongst other cooking tools to bring the flavors and textures of a home cooked meal to a family just as mine does. Without certain kitchen tools, cooking these traditional Sammarinese meals would be impossible. While I know my press is only one of many,  the museum made me realize that the passatini press has been a staple in the kitchens of Sammarinese homes for generations and will keeping being in them through the efforts of the new generation.