Dough kneaded strictly by hand, a filling made of ground beef and top-quality mortadella, spinach, homemade bread soaked in fresh milk, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, eggs, spices.
This is his majesty the tordello, a Denominazione Comunale d’Origine certified typical pasta product, an excellence of Italian cuisine as interpreted by the Antica Tordelleria Giusti of Massa: a family business with a long tradition in the Apuan capital that has recently opened in Marina di Massa as well.

When making her tordelli, Giusy Giusti, who with her children Lisa and Matteo manages both Tordelleria locations, follows the recipe book of Massese tradition to the letter. “Our tordelli are ‘pizzicati’ and humpbacked,” she explains. “We seal them one by one, by hand, and we give them this special form – by now almost a trademark – to let all the air out: otherwise, they would burst during cooking. In the filling we use spinach, not chard, because the leaves are more tender and have a tang that goes well with our mix of spices, which includes thyme and nutmeg.” The quality of the ingredients is fundamental: Giusti uses only ancient grain flour that is easy to digest and stone-ground to conserve all the grains’ nutritional qualities. “We make our specialties fresh every day, to guarantee goodness,” says Lisa. “And we enjoy keeping the traditions of our land alive – for ourselves and our many clients in and outside of Tuscany.”

But everything at the Tordellerias is not pasta (though pasta is available in many variants, to cook at home or ready-to-eat). There’s also ragù made with artisan tomato purée bottled only in the summer, savory pies filled with garden vegetables, marinated salt cod, stuffed mussels. Tarts made with 100% fruit jams – rigorously organic – and other sweets and rice cakes in all sizes complete the offer at this royal palace of good home cooking and all the flavors and aromas of times past. Delicacies you can also enjoy right on the premises – in Massa at the tables on the terrace and in Marina under beach umbrellas a step from the sea.

Antica Tordelleria Giusti
via Carducci 56, Massa | +39 346 677 3914; via Colombo 28A, Marina di Massa | +39 333 6913649
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