stopitaliansounding

Always defending Italian food 🛡️🍝

While many people around the world associate Bologna with “spaghetti bolognese,” the dish is largely an international creation.

In Bologna, the traditional meat sauce is called ragù alla bolognese, and it is typically served with fresh egg pasta such as tagliatelle, not spaghetti.

Why? Because the broad, porous surface of tagliatelle holds the rich meat sauce much better than spaghetti.

In fact, one of the most iconic dishes of Emilia-Romagna is Tagliatelle al Ragù, a recipe deeply rooted in the culinary traditions of Bologna.

Have you ever had it? 🍝

Why is this pasta called Strozzapreti? 🍝⛪

The name literally translates to “priest stranglers,” making it one of the most unusual pasta names in Italy.

Its origins are uncertain, but the pasta is believed to date back to the Middle Ages and is traditionally associated with regions such as Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche.

Several legends attempt to explain the name. One says local priests loved the pasta so much that they ate it too quickly and risked choking on it. Another reflects anti-clerical sentiment during the time of the Papal States, when some locals jokingly gave foods names that poked fun at the clergy.

The pasta itself is simple: strips of dough rolled and twisted by hand into an elongated shape perfect for capturing sauce.

Today, Strozzapreti is commonly served with ragù, sausage and mushrooms, or other rich sauces throughout central Italy.

AD | Pretty cool isn’t it? 🍹 🇮🇹

Have you ever seen a machine dedicated entirely to making the perfect Spritz?

The Sprizzer is a 100% Made in Italy Aperol Spritz machine designed for one thing: preparing a Spritz using the traditional 3-2-1 ratio — 3 parts Prosecco, 2 parts bitter, and 1 part soda.

What I found interesting is that it’s completely mechanical. Just add your favorite Prosecco and bitter (Aperol, Select, Campari, and others) and you’re ready for aperitivo 🎉

Check out www.sprizzer.com for more info!

So much fun celebrating Italia 🇮🇹

On June 2, 1946, Italians went to the polls in a historic referendum to decide the future of the nation after World War II.

The choice was simple: keep the monarchy or become a republic.

The republic won, and Italy officially began a new chapter in its history. Today, June 2 is celebrated as Festa della Repubblica, honoring the birth of the modern Italian Republic.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of that historic vote.

To celebrate, we gathered at Leonardo in Philadelphia — one of the world’s leading aerospace, defense, and security companies, headquartered in Rome, Italy, with a significant presence here in Philadelphia as well 🇮🇹

Have you ever had this dish? 🔪 🍝

Spaghetti all’Assassina comes from the city of Bari in Puglia and is believed to have been invented in 1967.

Unlike most pasta dishes, the spaghetti isn’t boiled first. Instead, it’s cooked directly in the pan with tomato sauce until parts of the pasta become crispy, charred, and caramelized.

As for the name, one popular story says the dish was so spicy that customers jokingly called the chef an assassino (“assassin”). Another theory is that the pasta’s dark, almost burned appearance looked as if the cook had “assassinated” it.