The art of fresh pasta alla chitarra
There is an instrument in our kitchen, and it does not play: it cuts. The chitarra is a frame of steel strings on which the sheet of pasta is pressed until it becomes square-cut strands. That is where the spaghetto alla chitarra comes from, with its rough texture that grips the sauce like no other.
It starts with the flour
Good pasta does not start in the kitchen, it starts at the mill. We work with flour milled in a village near Ravenna, because it is the one that gives the dough the right Romagna texture: neither too fine nor too coarse.
With that flour and good eggs we make a dough that is kneaded, rested and rolled the same day. No rushing and no freezers.
The string that gives character
The chitarra looks simple, but it asks for a steady hand. The rolling pin presses the sheet against the strings and, in one motion, turns it into perfect strands. The surface stays porous, and that porosity is what holds the ragù or the carbonara.
It is an old method, almost a ritual, and that is why we look after it. What seems like a detail is, really, the difference between a decent pasta and one you remember.