Pesto sauce is a signature seasoning of Italian cuisine, which is served with all dishes — salads, soups and hot. It is believed that the real sauce recipe appeared in Genoa, the capital of the region, and later the Genoese appropriated the right to call their sauce the right one — Pesto Genovese (which means in Genoese). The sauce got its name from the cooking method: the ingredients were ground with a marble pestle. The words "pestle" and "pesto" come from the Italian verb "pestar", which means "crushing". The full name of the product is pesto Genovese a la Olivia, where the first word means the method of preparation, and the last is the main ingredient. There are also other types of pesto adapted by residents of different regions of Italy, taking into account the products available to them. Having spread throughout Italy, each region began to adapt this recipe to itself, to its local products. This is how alternatives to the classic green pesto were born. The recipe for Sicilian red pesto originated in Sicily, the port of Trapani. Here the sailors from Genoa introduced the locals to Ligurian pesto, and the Sicilians, using their products, remade it for themselves. So red pesto was born. It can be cooked with both fresh tomatoes and dried tomatoes, both options are listed below. Sicilian pesto is well suited not only for pasta, but also for bruschetta. The recipe for pesto sauce originates in ancient Rome. The Romans prepared a mixture of cheese, pine nuts, olive oil and herbs and called it moretum. The first reference to this version of the sauce is in Appendix Vergiliana by the Roman poet Virgil. Judging by the fact that cookbooks dated 1865 describe several variants of cooking the original Italian seasoning, the product was widely distributed in Italy. It is assumed that this recipe is an evolution of an older ground garlic sauce used in the XIII century. But it is impossible to ignore the famous legend according to which a monk who lived in the monastery of San Basilio collected in the mountains the fragrant herb basilium, named after St. Basil. After grinding it in a mortar with other ingredients brought by the pilgrims, the ascetic received the first Pesto sauce. There is also an opinion that the invention of pesto sauce was accidental. Basil was used as an antidote after snake bites and poisonous insects — tarantulas and scorpions, for the treatment of infectious diseases, including tick-borne encephalitis, and skin problems. Someone tasted the medicine, and it turned out to be fine.