The legend of “al turtlèin,”
the tortellino…

Tortellini, small circles of rolled dough folded around a filling, are one of the most renowned members of the Italian pasta family…no foodstuff in Italian cuisine is surrounded by so much history and lore. Legend has it that Venus, the goddess of love, once stayed at the local tavern in the town of Castelfranco Emilia, halfway between Bologna and Modena. The innkeeper spied on his guest through the keyhole of her room and got a partial glimpse of her. Struck by what he saw, he rushed to his kitchen, rolled out a sheet of fresh egg pasta and invented a shape inspired by Venus' navel. Which is why sometimes the tortellino is called belly button, or ombelico.