Ask the Author: Michael A. Ponzio
Answered Questions (6)
Michael A. Ponzio
Dive into research.
Michael A. Ponzio
Experiencing the story and the interaction with readers.
Michael A. Ponzio
Hire professional editors, open your mind to accept criticism, and don't give up. At the same time, stick to your own "voice".
Michael A. Ponzio
The sequel to Lantern Across the Sea, the continuing story of Esmeray and Bastone.
Michael A. Ponzio
Since childhood, Mike Ponzio has read about history, trading books with his father, Joseph E. Ponzio. Research into history revealed that there were several real characters with the ancient surname of his family, inspiring him to write Ancestry Novels. The stories chronicle the lives of historical characters which the author imagines may have been his family’s ancient ancestors.
Michael A. Ponzio
Before the internet, I studied history from books and papers written by scholars. So, it surprised me to find a rare bit of history as I glanced through my mother’s Italian cookbook. The author dismissed the popular legend that pasta was introduced to Italy by Marco Polo from China. “Thirteen years before Marco Polo returned from China, a will dated 1279, bestowing a basketful of dry macaroni, was recorded in the city archives of Genoa. The will was written by Ponzio Bastone, a military man and a sailor, and indicated the great worth of pasta. From the 13th to the 16th centuries, dried pasta was the [Mediterranean] sailor's sustenance while at sea. It was cooked with lard and vegetables if they were available.”
Other sources stated that “The Genoese notary, Ugolino Scarpa, compiled a list of the effects of a Genoese soldier, an arbalester, a crossbower (sic), Ponzio Bastone. Included in the inventory of possessions was Una bariscela plena de macaroni (a barrel full of macaroni).”
This example from the sailor’s will was to document that Italians had pasta before Marco Polo returned to Venice. However, over a thousand years before Polo went to China, the ancient Etruscans and Romans made a pasta called lagane, which evolved into lasagna.
The quote from my mother’s cookbook was all the inspiration I needed to envision the adventures of Ponzio Bastone, an arbalester, a marine, a sailor, during the exciting period of the maritime Republic of Genoa in the thirteenth century.
Other sources stated that “The Genoese notary, Ugolino Scarpa, compiled a list of the effects of a Genoese soldier, an arbalester, a crossbower (sic), Ponzio Bastone. Included in the inventory of possessions was Una bariscela plena de macaroni (a barrel full of macaroni).”
This example from the sailor’s will was to document that Italians had pasta before Marco Polo returned to Venice. However, over a thousand years before Polo went to China, the ancient Etruscans and Romans made a pasta called lagane, which evolved into lasagna.
The quote from my mother’s cookbook was all the inspiration I needed to envision the adventures of Ponzio Bastone, an arbalester, a marine, a sailor, during the exciting period of the maritime Republic of Genoa in the thirteenth century.
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