While ames like Antonio Meucci, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison dominate the pages of technological history, not many know Innocenzo Manzetti, an Italian inventor whose remarkable innovations included one of the earliest prototypes of the telephone and, very importantly for every food lover, one of a pasta-making machine.

Born in Aosta, on March 17, 1826, Manzetti displayed a fascination with mechanics and science from an early age, an interest that was nurtured by his studies at the Collège Saint-Bénin, where he excelled in mathematics and science.