What does a sound taste like? I don’t know. Perhaps there is a formula hidden away in some laboratory or kitchen capable of transforming musical notes into flavours, or maybe a scientist is busy somewhere inventing a way of listening to music through taste buds. But that is not where we wanted to take you. For us, talking about music and food means talking about two worlds that touch each other in a thousand different ways. We are accustomed to looking at the world through the prism of flavours, so this time we decided to focus on hearing. We created a kind of editorial staff band with each member playing whatever they wanted. Together with writers, photographers and illustrators we pricked up our ears and realised that there is music everywhere: in the buzz of bees, in the brewing of beer, in a political and culinary revolution on the Baltic Sea, in Massimo Bottura’s project in Rio de Janeiro and the Antoniano in Bologna, at the festival for young chefs in Portugal. And food is everywhere too: in the backstage of a concert at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, in a dance hall on the Romagna coast, in a theatre in Lucca. Food and music together on a journey across Italy: from the Santa Rosalia celebrations in Palermo to the Rock of Courmayeur Mountains. In this issue you will come across sounds, noises and lands. Stories about food and people. And music.

We enjoyed putting together a playlist to accompany each article. Just in case the familiar rustle of theses pages does not suffice as musical accompaniment.

So delve into your Dispensa, dance your way from story to story. And listen.

Martina Liverani, the founder and editor of Dispensa