The tragedy of central Italy’s earthquake brought attention to the small town of Amatrice: once one of the “Borghi più Belli d’Italia“, very little of it remains today. Before, Amatrice was mostly known for another reason: being the hometown of one of the country’s most famous dishes, pasta all’Amatriciana. So much is it associated to the town, it has been widely used all over the world as a means to gather funds for victims, with several restaurants introducing it to their menu to donate the profits derived from its sales to the areas striken by the earthquake.

Surely, the name itself of the dish, “amatriciana,” should leave little or no doubt about its origins. However, things are more complex and less straightforward than it may seem, not only in relation to how pasta all’Amatriciana came to be, but also about the actual ingredients that go in it, as well as the type of noodles better mirroring the original recipe.