Pasta Madre – Alessandra Sposetti

On April 3^rd, 1944, the Royal Air Force bombed Macerata, Italy. A bomb hit Via della Nana and killed around 40 people, including women and children who were buying bread. I was born there, 24 years later, and grew up listening to war stories. Today I myself make bread.

Pasta madre is the organic matter used to ferment bread. While revisiting my home town and talking to local bakers – from the oldest, already retired, to the new generations – I discovered how the stories about bread are intertwined with those of the fateful bombing.

Making bread, to me, is not only an occupation but a creative act and a gesture of affection that connects me with people from the past to the present. That is how Pasta Madre, the book, took shape.