Apparently, there are around 700 different types of pasta in Italy, so trying them all is a challenge. Since every village has different names for the same type of pasta, making a complete overview is an impossible task in itself. What is possible, is to classify pasta types into different categories. There are fresh and dried pastas, and pastas with and without eggs. In the cucina povera (poor cuisine) of South of Italy, pasta is almost always made without eggs. Therefore, this is also the case for the pasta that Mezzogiorno offers. Nowadays eggless pasta is increasingly praised for its purity. That's why some dishes call for it.

Making good pasta is a science. Yet there are a few elements that form the basis of any high-quality dried pasta. The pasta is always made from durum wheat semolina, bronze molds are used when dealing with extruded pasta and the drying process is slow and takes place at low temperatures. It is this last step in particular that makes the difference between artisanal pasta and industrial pasta: it is almost impossible to dry slowly on a large scale.