"This is an amazing and deeply valuable work of culinary scholarship--an anthropology of Italian pasta that is also a major contribution to Italian cultural history. Maureen Fant's fine translation does complete justice to Oretta Zanini's scrupulously detailed and lovingly presented compendium. I defy anyone to read this book and not want immediately to board a plane for Italy."--Nancy Harmon Jenkins, author of Cucina del Sole and The Essential Mediterranean "This handsome book will be the authority for settling bets about the history of pasta. Every ambitious cook will covet these authentic and exciting entries."--Paul Levy, coauthor of The Official Foodie Handbook and Out to Lunch "Zanini's singular achievement in this book has been to shine a light into every Italian kitchen where a different kind of pasta is made, entertaining us with pertinent historical anecdotes, instructing us with explicit details and techniques, and making us powerfully hungry."--Victor Hazan, author of Italian Wine