Pasta From Abruzzo                                               

Pasta started out as a food from the cucina povera tradition predominately in the south of Italy, where it was made with flour and water without eggs. Traditionally pasta was a staple in the South, while people in the north ate rice and polenta. 

Spaghetti Chitarra is a Vasto favorite. It gets its name from a wooden frame that is strung with metal wires. Sheets of pasta are pressed down with a roller, and then the wires are "strummed" so the strands of pasta fall through. Spaghetti Chitarra is often served with vongole, olive oil, and pomodorini datterini (cherry tomatoes).

If there is one brand of pasta that is synonymous with Abruzzo and Vasto, it is Di Cecco from the town of Faro San Martino, called “La casa della Pasta” (The Home of Pasta), tucked into the foot of the Maiella Mountain. This world-famous pasta is made from two quality ingredients, high-gluten semolina wheat from the fields of the Abruzzo hillsides and the mineral rich water from the snow fed springs of the Maiella Massive. The dough is then pressed through bronze forms that give the finished product a slightly rough texture that helps the sauce cling to it.

However, pasta aficionados might enthusiastically point out that DiCecco pasta, excellent as it may be, is surpassed by another pasta from Fara San Martino.  Artisanally produced pasta from the small Cocco factory, is still made in the same way that its founder, the Pastai Mastri Domenico Cocco did a hundred and fifty years ago, and his knowledge has been passed on to his descendants, who have the same sense of pride in their product. 

There are going to be differing opinions on which pasta is the best depending on where you come from. One of Italy’s oldest and most renowned brands is the excellent pasta that comes from the town of Gragnano outside of Naples.  Dried pasta has been made in the village since the Middle Ages and was said to be invented there.