Abruzzo classic Spaghetti alla Chitarra with homemade veal meatballs, hot sausage and Sunday gravy available at legendary Italian restaurant on 5th Avenue South

Naples, FL: (December 20, 2022) . . . While there are many varieties of different pasta dishes based on spaghetti, it’s the sauce that determines the name of most of them, says Abel Tirado, executive chef at Pazzo! Cucina Italiana on 5th Avenue South in Naples. Favorites include spaghetti ala carbonara, garlic and oil, tomato sauce, meat sauce, Bolognese, Alfredo sauce or clam sauce.

To celebrate National Spaghetti Day Monday, January 4, 2023, Chef Abel offers guests his inventive version of the Abruzzo classic Spaghetti alla Chitarra served with homemade veal meatballs, hot sausage and Sunday gravy for $30. The restaurant is open daily 5 pm until 9 pm with both indoor and al fresco dining options. Reservations are recommended by calling (239) 434-8494 or visit PazzoItalianCafe.com.

The name of this spaghetti comes from the Italian tool the chitarra, literally “guitar,” a pasta is produced with a tool which gives spaghetti its name, shape and a porous texture that allows sauce to adhere well. The chitarra is a frame with a series of parallel wires crossing it. The word spaghetti is the plural for the Italian word spaghetto, which is a diminutive of spago, meaning “thin string” or “twine.”

Chitarras originated in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Sheets of pasta were rolled over a wooden frame with metal wires strung across it and cut pasta into precise strands that end up with squared off edges instead of the more common round spaghetti that is extruded. The resulting shape of these noodles — square, rather than round — gives them textural appeal and makes them an ideal pasta partner for a hearty sauce.

“Spaghetti alla chitarra is a pasta that calls for a bit of bite to it as it needs some strength to carry the hearty, rich sauces it usually accompanies — chunky ragu, particularly made from young lamb, a staple in Abruzzo’s cuisine, or, like Pazzo’s version — a combination of pork and veal,” confides Chef Abel. “While simple, traditional and tied to the land, the food of this mountainous region is incredibly hearty and this pasta dish is an excellent example,” he says.

Complete the meal with abundant pecorino cheese and a glass of Rosso di Montepulciano Italian wine advises corporate bar manager Kendra Rizzi.

Culinary Concepts recently completed a one-million-dollar restoration of its award-winning Italian restaurant following damages incurred by Hurricane. Naples’ oldest Italian restaurant its celebrating its 27th year anniversary reports Skip Quillen, chef/founder and owner of the Southwest Florida restaurant group that includes Chops City Grill, Pazzo! and Yabba Island Grill on 5th Avenue South, Chops City Grill in Bonita Springs and The Saloon in Estero at the Coconut Point Shopping Center.