Chitarra, pasta cutter

An original Abruzzese chitarra, wires in steel, two sizes to cut traditional chitarra maccheroni and a larger size for fettuccini. Also included a small wooden roll (matterello).

The wooden chitarra that was in every grandmother's kitchen is a rectangular case with thin wire strings used for cutting the classic Abruzzese pasta known as maccheroni alla chitarra, a little thicker cut of spaghetti. Chitarra means guitar and the tool is so called because as pasta sheets are rolled over it, the wires produce melodic sounds. The chitarra here has two sides for different width of cutting.