This is a guest piece by Andrea Carloni
When talking about lighting a fire, especially for domestic use, modern man automatically thinks of matches and lighters, because collective memory actually ignores that, for thousands of years and at least up to the end of 19th century, this task had been invariably performed through strike-a-lights, flints and tinders. The longevity of this outdated custom is confirmed by many historical literature quotes, even from worldwide known works, such as I Promessi Sposi by Alessandro Manzoni (1842) which reads in a passage: «...cava fuori esca, pietra, acciarino e zolfanelli ed accende un suo lanternino» (transl. «...takes out tinder, flint, strike-a-light and sulfur sticks and lights up his little lantern»).
