Even during the hardest times, there is something that never changes in Italy: we have plenty of pasta in the larder: it’s cheap, versatile, and makes everyone happy.

When the country went into lockdown for the first time, in March 2020, pasta was the first product, followed by flour, bottled water and, of course, toilet paper, to fly off supermarkets shelves. Like coffee, pasta is a natural of the Italian kitchen, and it’s as normal to find it in the press as it is to find toothpaste in the bathroom or a blanket in the bedroom.