Maccheroni alla Chitarra con Ragù di Agnello
Abruzzo (throughout the region)
Abruzzo's defining pasta format: square-section spaghetti formed by pressing fresh egg dough through the strings of a wooden 'chitarra' (guitar), creating a surface texture unlike any other pasta — the strings cut rather than extrude, producing a rough, toothsome square cross-section that grips sauce with extraordinary efficiency. The canonical sauce: lamb ragù (shoulder and rib) slow-cooked with peperoncino, tomato, white wine, and olive oil for 3+ hours. Every Abruzzese family owns a chitarra; the pasta cannot be made without it.