A special postage stamp dedicated to the annual “spaghetti all’amatriciana” festival in the town of Amatrice, northeast of Rome, was released today! We’re running to the post office to get some — hope they come in a scratch-and-sniff edition as there’s nothing lovelier than the scent of a nice pasta all’amatricana wafting through the air.
The amatriciana stamp will be part of a “Made in Italy” series of stamps issued by the Italian postal service and follows on the heels of the stamp dedicated to “Zafferano dell’Aquila” (saffron from L’Aquila), which was released on 26 July.
The 60-cent stamp shows the town of Amatrice’s main thoroughfare, Corso Umberto I, along with images of the ingredients needed to create the well-loved pasta dish which is said to originate in the town: spaghetti, guanciale (pork jowl), olive oil, white wine, tomatoes, chili peppers and pecorino cheese.
This year the amatriciana festival, called the Sagra di Amatriciana and now in its 42nd edition, will take place on 30-31 August. Spaghetti all’amatriciana will be served on both evenings from 17.30 until 21.00 and for the third consecutive year there will also be a gluten-free version of the dish.
Dying to make your own amatriciana? We’d go for this recipe from the New York Times.
