Macaronis with ceppe (locally called "i makkarù nghe li cèpp") are so called because they are “bucatini”(a particular size of pasta) hand made rolling each  ones around a stick. A legend says that they were created by a military cook that, during the Civitella Fortress siege, used a wood stick because of the lack  of suitable tools, so he made up “Macaronis with ceppe”. They are the most delicious kind of  pasta typical of Abruzzo but they risk to disappear because of their complex process of preparation coming from tradition and experience. To make the hole of this macaroni, housewives used a well smoothed thin stick (called ceppa) of wood, now replaced with a fine thread of stainless steel, but  the skill used to unthread a whole macaroni from steel thread  have to be unchanged.

• Directions

Pour the flour into a fountain, add eggs and enough water, knead the dough until it becomes smooth, oil and let it stand in a terrine for 30 min; cut out the dough into little slices and then lengthen  each ones 15 cm.

With tremendous patience wrap each ones round a thin knitting needle without chromium- planting, to obtain  holed macaronis. Boil in salted water for 10/15 min adding oil to avoid macaronis stick each other

Drain them and dress generously with meat sauce, pecorino or parmesan; in alternative dress with  thinly sliced courgettes cooked with onion and pine nuts, or aubergines  according to the season. Even the most delicate and exacting stomach will appreciate this great delight of Civitella because of its digestibility.

You can taste this course in every local restaurant, but it’s very difficult to buy macaronis because they are not for sale and only few housewives of Civitella do them.