GETAWAY PASTA MASTERS T

HERE’S a loud crash as the rolling pin tumbles from the workbench to the tiled floor, and a gentle scolding look from our tutor tells me I’m not quite getting the hang of this pasta-making.

She adroitly scoops up the dough and spreads it like butter with her rolling pin until it’s translucent.

“You need to be able to see through it,” she says as she holds it up to the sun.

In Italy, pasta making is an art form, a skill passed down through generations. But as women’s roles have changed, pasta making has moved out of the home and into the deli, where busy Italians can pick up their pre-made tortellini on their way home from work.

Every area of the country has its own style of pasta, and in Bologna, the country’s famed foodie region of Emilia Romagna, they favour rich, unctuous flavours.

Located in the North of Italy, it’s in this university city that I’m trying to glean as much wisdom as possible from the pasta pros before me.

Simona and Rita are two friends who share a pasta-making passion, so much so that they quit their office jobs in favour of pursuing their dreams.

They opened Uova e Farina, a tiny restaurant and deli with just a handful of tables serving fresh, hand-made pasta.

Back to the pasta making, and Simona stuffs the freshly rolled parcels with the region’s famous local ingredients – Parma ham and Parmaggiano Reggiano.

Before the folded tortellini can reach the bubbling sea, a couple are tossed straight into our mouths raw.

It’s something that our tour guide Chiara is particularly fond of as it reminds her, she tells us, of stealing her nonna’s pasta straight from under her rolling pin when she was young.

This is what makes Italian food so satisfying; the ability to tap into childhood memories. That’s what imbues the country’s cooking with so much emotion, and in turn, helps to preserve the food traditions of the region.

“There are just three things you need to know about Italian cooking,” Ciara announced when I arrived in Italy. “Tradition, tradition, tradition.”

One look at the produce of Emilia Romagna and it’s clear it’s all about the tradition.

Parma ham, for example, is known the world over, but so much of the food’s heritage is unknown.

A trip to the Fratelli Galloni factory fixes this, offering an insight into the centuries of technique and tradition inherent in the region’s food.

By request, visitors can tour the family owned company, which is turns 100,000 Northern Italian pig’s legs – the animals feast on the leftovers from the ParmigianoReggiano cheesemaking process – into some of the best parma ham in the world.

On the tour, it’s fascinating to see the level of instinct and skill required.

Salt is applied by hand by a workforce with years of experience, a workforce who can tell just by looking at a leg of ham just how many more weeks of maturation are required, and how many grams of salt need to be added.

But not only does the perfect Parma rely on the workforce, it relies also upon the environment.

In the latter stages of the meat’s fermentation the team will open the windows in which the legs are hung, to allow the air to circulate.

This simple step demonstrates how these products are embeded in the culture, and unique to each region.

With so much prized produce coming from this area, no wonder it’s bursting with Michelin-starred restaurants.

So much so that the Michelin guide moved the Italian guide announcement from Milan to Parma for the first time last year.

But what’s most exciting about Italian food and drink is where adventurous chefs can take their heritage in the future.

Back in Bologna, and we’re sitting around the table with Chiara, Simona and Rita, enjoying the fruits of our labour. Tiny tortellini sit in a simple clear broth, topped with sage and a touch of parmiggiano.

Across the table, Chiara says: “In Italy, everything started with the pasta, with the family. The tradition is connected with the food.

“In the past, normally the women collect all the women around the table, so how to save this? How to save the past? To keep alive the tradition, we understand we have to do something if you don’t want loose the past, your tradition, your roots.”

“We change how we live, but we are still really proud and connected to our traditions.”

Like Simona and Rita in Uova e Farina, members of the next generation are taking traditional practices into their own hands, and adapting it to suit modern times.

In the cooking culture, recipes are passed down through generations.

Now, there are young generations rediscovering their grandma’s recipes, taking it to the next level, experimenting.

But ultimately – it’s the nonnas who are still at the head of the table.