Il talismano della felicità

Il talismano della felicità (lit. 'The Talisman of Happiness'), written by magazine editor Ada Boni, is a well-known Italian cookbook originally published in 1929. It is believed to be the first Italian cookbook specifically targeted towards housewives, and along with the work of Pellegrino Artusi and Editoriale Domus' Il cucchiaio d'argento, it is considered one of the defining recipe and cooking-advice collections in Italian cuisine. It quickly became a staple for generations of Italian women. The standard edition is 1054 pages long and was last reissued in 1999. There is also an abridged version known as Il piccolo Talismano, published by the same publisher. When it was first published in 1928, it contained approximately 882 recipes. Subsequent editions included over 2,000 recipes.

An abridged translation, by Matilde La Rosa, who added some "American-style" Italian recipes, with an introduction and glossary by Romance linguist Mario Pei, was published in 1950 as The Talisman Italian Cookbook: Italy's Bestselling Cookbook Adapted for American Kitchens (Crown/Random House, 1950). La Rosa and Pei decided to exclude recipes that were not of Italian origin for the American edition and also included a few Italian-American recipes that were considered necessary at the time in an Italian cookbook. The La Rosa translation is now out of print.