In 1547, in Milan , Duomo building workings have been being under costruction for nearly two hundred years. Beyond the building, there was a real workshop village,where joiners, sculptors, carpenters and artisans, coming from all over Europe, lodged. In the nearby, Valerio di Fiandra, master glass-maker, lived. He was charged with the construction of some glass windows. For the realization of his work, He took some apprentices with him, from Milan.
Among them, there was one, in particular, very clever at colors dosage. What was his secret? He put a pinch of saffron in the color impasto. Just for this usage, clever apprentice was called "Saffron".
Master Valerio was aware of "Saffron" obsession but, he pretended he did not know, he just told him that if he kept on doing like this, he would put saffron even in risotto.
On the day of Master Valerio's daughter marriage , "Saffron" persuaded cook to put a pinch of yellow powder in the risotto, made for wedding reception.
Imagine the astonishment of fellow guests, when that bizarre pyramid of yellow saffron risotto was served! The dish had a lot of success and it suddenly finished.
Milanese risotto was born from "Saffron" joke.