Adri Barr Crocetti

A Pasta with a Past

Win this corzetti stamp made by Artisanal Pasta Tools!
Tell me your favorite pasta shape in the comments at the end of the article!

This is Part 5 of The Corzetti Files

Call this pasta what you will, the craze is on. When I first wrote about corzetti stampati (stamped pasta coins) almost three years ago, a Google search yielded few hits in English. Today there are hundreds. Corzetti even has its own Twitter hashtag: #corzetti. Tradition is a good thing, especially when it comes into vogue. One of the people driving this popularity is Terry Mirri, owner of Artisanal Pasta Tools. In his Napa California workshop he fashions wooden corzetti stamps and other tools of classic Italian cooking. I extend my thanks to Terry who has provided a hand made corzetti stamp fashioned of Osage Orange wood as a prize for this Giveaway.

Liguria is a verdant strip of Italy that arcs along the Italian Riviera. Green herbs, garlic, vegetables, fruit and nut trees grow in profusion in this sun-drenched land, protected from the bitter northern winds by the mountains that form Liguria’s land borders. As the summer sun recedes and the wet weather arrives, the fertile earth gives forth meaty porcini mushrooms. This is a land where plants and flowers thrive, and the silvery leaves of olive trees glimmer in the Italian sun.

Corzetti stampati has been part of the region’s culinary tradition for hundreds of years. The pasta stretches back to the height of The Most Serene Republic of Genoa. A maritime titan, Genoa (now the capital of Liguria) grew rich through trade. Her gold and silver Crusader coins with their images of the Crusader’s cross, also known as the Jerusalem cross, and the gates of the city were memorialized through the two piece wooden stamps used to make this pasta.

Stamps also feature coats of arms, lucky symbols, Christian crosses, and other decorative designs, all made to order for families and cooks. These ingenious tools both cut and imprint the pasta. Traditionally they are made of neutral woods such as pear or beech, woods that will not flavor the dough.

The dough can be made with white, whole wheat, or chestnut flours. Often all three versions are served together for textural and color variation. Vermentino wine and marjoram can be added to the dough, imparting true regional flavor; even the steam that rises from the pot is remarkably fragrant. For this recipe I used proportions I learned from Giuliano Bugialli, the master himself. Read the remainder of this entry »

More from the Corzetti Files

I have heard from many of you out there who said you need help finding a corzetti stamp (stampa). While I have included sources for corzetti stamps in my other articles about corzetti, (corzetti stampati or croxetti), here is a list of corzetti stamp makers and how to contact them.

One can purchase corzetti stamps from Terry Mirri of Artisanal Pasta Tools in Sonoma, California. The stamps are fabricated to order; you can choose from three different styles of stamp, multiple choices of woods and a wide variety of choices in carved design.

Artisanal Pasta Tools
Sonoma, California, USA
707-939-6474 between 9 AM and 6 PM Pacific time

Visit Artisanal Pasta Tools

Intagliatore Signor Franco Casoni of Chiavari, Liguria. Sig. Casoni will make a custom stamp to order from your own design. He carves his stamps from beech.

Franco Casoni
Via Bighetti 73
16043 Chiavari (GE) Italia

Visit Sig. Casoni’s web site

Intagliatore Signor Pietro Picetti will carve a custom stamp for you from historic designs or a design of your own. He uses beech, pear, and other hard, fruit woods.

Mr. Pietro Picetti
15 Via Pieve
19028 Varese Ligure
La Spezie, Liguria, Italia
Telephone 0187/842195

Filippo Romagnoli
3/5 Via Firenze
50028 Tavarnelle Val di Pesa
Firenze ITALIA

visit: Florentine Touch

This is Part 4 of a series – The Corzetti Files.
For detailed information and photo essays on how to make corzetti, along with recipes, please delve further into The Corzetti Files:

Edible Art, The Corzetti Files – Part 1

The Intagliatore of Chiavari, The Corzetti Files – Part 2

Corzetti agli Spinaci con Gorgonzola, The Corzetti Files – Part 3

Where to Buy Corzetti Stamps, The Corzetti Files – Part 4

Corzetti Stampati – and a Giveaway! The Corzetti Files – Part 5

And if you have questions about this delightful pasta or the tools used to make it, please feel free to leave your inquiry in the comment section.

I have no affiliation with any product, manufacturer, or site mentioned in this article.

This is Part 2 of a series – The Corzetti Files
For detailed information and photo essays on how to make corzetti, along with recipes, please delve further into The Corzetti Files:

Edible Art, The Corzetti Files – Part 1

The Intagliatore of Chiavari, The Corzetti Files – Part 2

Corzetti agli Spinaci con Gorgonzola, The Corzetti Files – Part 3

Where to Buy Corzetti Stamps, The Corzetti Files – Part 4

Corzetti Stampati – and a Giveaway! The Corzetti Files – Part 5

A Gold Coin
The pasta we know as Corzetti started with a gold coin, the Genovino d’oro. Rome had fallen, and the curtain of The Dark Ages had descended over western Europe. Trade has fueled society for centuries, and it is trade that brought gold coins and light back to western Europe. The gold came across the Sahara from north Africa and Genoa’s harbor assured her of preeminent mercantile stature. King Conrad granted Genoa the right to mint her own gold coinage in 1252, and these pieces of almost pure gold summon up the history and wealth of The Most Serene Republic of Genoa.

Coming in at about 3.5 grams, the earliest of these coins feature the city gate and to honor King Conrad and his participation in the Crusades, a Crusader cross on the reverse. The coins are covered with a beautiful relief. One of the most famous coins honors the first Doge of Genoa, Simone Boccanegra, and later coins honor subsequent families and Doges. Today one must visit a museum or be fortunate enough to know a collector to view these coins, but with Liguria’s gift to the world of the pasta known as corzetti stampati (kohr-TSEHT-tee stahm-PAH-tee), the legacy of these glorious coins is alive and well and available to us all.

A Piece of Wood
I have an ongoing love affair with handmade pasta, and this one captivated me from the start. Imagine my delight when I discovered its history, how it was made, and that I could do it at home. All I needed was a corzetti stamp, the two piece tool that cuts and imprints the pasta. By the way, you may come across pasta in shops, in recipes or on menus called croxetti, crosetti or curzetti – these are all names for corzetti. Read the remainder of this entry »

This is Part 1 of a series
For detailed information and photo essays on how to make corzetti, along with recipes, please delve further into The Corzetti Files:

The Intagliatore of Chiavari, The Corzetti Files – Part 2

Corzetti agli Spinaci con Gorgonzola, The Corzetti Files – Part 3

Where to Buy Corzetti Stamps, The Corzetti Files – Part 4

Corzetti Stampati – and a Giveaway! The Corzetti Files – Part 5

When I first saw one I knew I had to have one. To those of you who know me – no laughing, no eye rolling, please. This time it was for real. And to those of you who do not know me, my friends are laughing because when ever I see any new kitchen item I say I have to have it. But corzetti stamps and the pasta made with them are in a class by themselves. Read the remainder of this entry »