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MINESTRONI

Source of Recipe

Here and there
Monks kept large pots of soup going for wayfarers, thus, name comes from the latin for "hand out".
Kay Shaw Nelson
The magic of mushroom cookery
1971 Lib C C C # 79-148961.
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Minestrone (Italian: minestra [soup] + -one [augmentative suffix] hence "the big soup," the one with many ingredients) is the name for a variety of thick Italian soups made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes. In Slovenia, it is known as mineštra.
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There is no set recipe for minestrone, since it is usually made out of whatever vegetables are in season. It can be vegetarian, contain meat, or contain a meat-based broth (such as chicken stock). Angelo Pellegrini, however, argues that the base of minestrone is bean broth, and that Roman beans "are the beans to use for genuine minestrone."[1]
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Minestrone is one of the cornerstones of Italian cuisine, and is just about as common as pasta on Italian tables.[2]
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Some say it is based on fava beans, and pancetta with a meat broth
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Mama Leones, called for cranberry beans and salt pork, green beans and spagettini, plus vegetables.
Peasants added spareribs and cabbage, and whatever else
Sometimes I wonder if it is not confused with Pasta Fazoolle, ( I'm sure I misspelled that) Many arguments over that one also, such as it is based on beans and vegetables and pasta, Period.
About as many opinions as ther are on Cincinnati Chili ( spaghetti, no spaghetti, cinnamon or mace etc....)