This is the quintessential pasta dish of Abruzzo. Fresh pasta is made using semolina flour and eggs, rolled thin and pushed through steel wires arranged in a wooden frame. The pasta is typically served with a chili pepper-laced tomato sauce or a ragù of lamb or beef. Until 1860, maccheroni alla chitarra did not have their present shape; it was then that the tool used to make them - called a chitarra because it resembles a guitar - was created in the province of Chieti.

These tiny Sardinian dumplings resemble cavatelli and are often called gnocchetti sardi. They are made of semolina flour and warm water tinted and flavored with saffron, shaped into inch-long pieces, and rolled over a sieve (in Sardinia they use a tool called ciurili, or a piece of lined glass) to form their characteristic grooves and indentation. Malloreddus are usually served with butter and Pecorino, a simple tomato sauce, or a rich lamb ragù. (1 recipe)

An irregularly cut egg-and-flour pasta (maltagliati means 'badly cut') native to Emilia. Shaped like small lozenges, it is most often eaten in vegetable-based soups. Usually sold in shops specializing in fresh pasta, maltagliati is sometimes made from the trimmings of lasagna and other homemade pastas. Another pasta, made from semolina and cut into short penne-like shapes instead of lozenges, also goes by the same name, and is served with ragù, tomato sauces, and chunky vegetable sauces.

Made in early spring (in particular the month of March, hence its name), marzotica is a ricotta aged for a few weeks until it acquires its characteristic aroma and pungency. In Apulia it is served grated over pasta.

Another Sardinian way to conserve fish, merca is a type of salami made of gray mullet that is first cooked in salted water, then pressed and wrapped in an aromatic herb called salicornia that grows in the Cabras swamps. The water in which the fish is cooked is more or less salty depending on how long one intends to keep the final product.

A traditional cured meat from Val d'Aosta, it also goes by the name of Motzetta and resembles Bresaola rather closely, although it has a more pronounced, gamy flavor. It used to be made from the deboned leg of wild goat, but since the animal is now one of the species protected within the Parco del Gran Paradiso, domesticated goat or beef have become the animals of choice. Mocetta is prepared much like Prosciutto and allowed to age for 3 to 4 months, at which point it can be kept for up to 1 year. It is typically served thinly sliced as an antipasto, accompanied by dark, buttered bread; a little honey on the bread is a welcome touch, and plays off the saltiness of the meat beautifully. Cooking with Mocetta is generally discouraged, since it has such a particular flavor and loses much of its unique character once it is subjected to heat.

The name of this Italian classic finds its roots in the Latin farcimen murtatum or myrtatum, indicating a forcemeat seasoned with myrtle. Mortadella has its origins in the Emilian city of Bologna (from which the American baloney was derived), although today it is also produced in the nearby cities of Modena and Reggio, and in the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, and Piedmont. Made from 60% lean pork meat and 40% pork fat, mortadella is stuffed into a casing, shaped into a long, fat cylinder, and studded with black peppercorns and/or pistachios. The best mortadella is made only with pork, but other types of meat are sometimes added, including horse and beef; tripe can also be used. As well as being a simple, satisfying sandwich filling, mortadella is ideal for pasta stuffings (it is mandatory in the Tortellini di Parma), meatballs, and savory pies. Authentic Italian mortadella has recently become available on the American market after decades of ban from import.

A tangy fruit preparation - not quite a chutney and not quite a relish - mostarda features fruit that is candied in a syrup spiked with mustard powder. The word comes from the French 'moutarde', or mustard, referring to the mustard powder that is dissolved into the cooking syrup for optimum spiciness. The most popular version of mostarda made today is from the Lombard city of Cremona, although nearby Mantua also offers its own rendition. Mass-produced mostarda has a little less bite than homemade versions, and its spiciness diminishes over time. Mostarda can be made with pears, apples, cherries, apricots, plums, and even citrus fruits, but to be called mostarda, it must contain mustard powder. It is the perfect sweet and pungent accompaniment to boiled and roasted meats and sausages. (2 recipes)

Mosto, or "must" as it is called in English, is the juice extracted from pressed grapes before it undergoes fermentation. Must contains about 65%-85% water and 10%-30% sugar and, when fermented, turns into wine. Concentrated must, which contains about 50%-60% sugar, is obtained by heating the must in special containers under reduced pressure until reduced to roughly a third of its volume. When concentrated must is cooked over direct heat to eliminate the water content, you obtain mosto cotto, or cooked must. Because of the partial caramelization that direct heat entails, mosto cotto has a very distinctive sweet taste, and is used in making Marsala and in cooking savory and sweet dishes. For example, mostacciolo is the name of a biscuit made with flour and mosto cotto, whose recipe dates back to Roman times. You will find different versions of mostaccioli in a number of Italian regions: in Abruzzo they produce a particularly rich, chocolate-coated version made with almonds, honey, and cinnamon, in Emilia candied peel is added to the dough, while pepper is one of the ingredients in the mostaccioli of Lazio.

A soft and spongy Sicilian bread. Thanks to Italian emigrants, it has found it's way to New Orleans, where the term is used to identify a particular sandwich stuffed with olive salad, mortadella, ham, aged Genoa salami, mozzarella cheese, and provolone cheese. Naturally, the bread used should be muffuletta, but it is also made with soft Italian bread covered in sesame seeds. Strangely enough, this sandwich is not found outside of the American city.

Term that identifies two particular gatropods, know as "murex" in English, whose scientific names are: Murex trunculus and Murex brandaris. The name, in Italy, varies from region to region: "cornetto de mà" (mother's small horn) in Liguria, "garusolo" in Veneto, "quecciuolo" in Apulia, "buccuni" (small bite) in Sardinia and Sicily, and "sconciglio" in Campania.

The meat of this gastropod is served as antipasto: the shells are first cleaned thoroughly and then boiled in a mixture of water, bay leaves, thyme and black pepper corns. After cooking the meat is extracted from the shell with a tooth pick and seasoned with olive oil and a few drops of lemon juice. It is served cooked. In many venetian restaurants, it is served in the seafood antipasto, already shelled.

A curiosity: in ancient times, the secretions of the murex were used to obtain the color purple for cloths: originally white, the secretion oxidizes with the air and turns first green and then purple.

Also known as suffrittu or mursiello (especially in the towns of Reggio Calabria and Cosenza), murseddu is among the most notable of Calabria's dishes. It is an old specialty that combines tripe cut into thin, long strips with slices of calf's liver and pork liver, red wine, bread dough, tomatoes, chili pepper, aromatic herbs, and olive oil. The whole is cooked very gently in lard until tender, and is often tucked into warm pitta, a yeasted Calabrese flatbread, as a hearty filling. In its most refined version, it is baked in a deep pie dish, whereas in trattorias the more time-consuming bread dough is replaced with simple slices of bread. The name murseddu originates from the Spanish almuerzo, or breakfast, and to this day, Calabrese farmers eat a heaping portion of murseddu before setting out for a day in the fields.

A favored antipasto in Calabria, mustica is otherwise known as "Calabrese caviar" or rosamarina. It's prepared with newborn anchovies (called bianchetti) that have been salted, strewn with black pepper or chili, and packed in olive oil to be kept for months in glass or enameled terracotta jars. The name is derived from the ancient Arab jug made of clay called mustica, also a hint of Arab occupation in Calabria centuries ago.

This elongated, conical sausage is made of pork, lard, rind, and jowl (muso means jowl, hence the Furlan name muset or the Italian musetto), and resembles cotechino. Spices used include cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, chili, and pepper. A little wine - usually Tocai, Picolit, or Marsala - is also added. The meat for musetto is ground more finely than for cotechino. Typically prepared during the chilly winter months in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, musetto is aged for a maximum of four to eight weeks before it is cooked.