Lasagna originated in Italy during the Middle Ages. The earliest written reference is in a ballad transcribed by a Bolognese notary in 1282, which describes two women going to a festival and eating seven dishes of gnocchi and lasagne. A 1284 chronicle mentions lasagna with cheese. Because pasta was expensive, it was a special food. The first recorded recipe appeared in the early fourteenth century in the Liber de Coquina, the Book of Cookery. That dish was a fermented dough rolled into thin sheets, boiled, sprinkled with cheese and spices, and eaten with a small pointed stick. Later recipes boiled the sheets in chicken broth, and a Lenten version used walnuts.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.