- I am Nonna Dora.
I can make pasta almost all my life.
- That's so good.
- Addolorata Marzovilla, also known as Nonna Dora
or the Pasta Machine,
has been making pasta at i Trulli for more than 20 years.
- Nonna Dora definitely is a pasta machine.
- My mom has been making pasta since she was a little girl.
I would put it closer to 70 years.
We named her Pasta Machine because my mother
has the knack of making piece of pasta
after piece of pasta exactly the same,
and some people accused us of actually using a machine,
so often we encouraged her to mess one up.
- [Narrator] At the age of 83, Nonna Dora refuses to retire
and enjoys making her handmade pasta on the weekdays.
- She's here every day Monday through Friday.
People who walk in, she's the first thing they see,
and people like to even sit down and eat with her.
Even when she has people sitting in front of her,
she's still just making pasta and pasta and pasta.
- When my son, he want to open the restaurant,
I said I'll come with you and make pasta.
I offered to make pasta.
I teach the girl in the restaurant to make pasta.
I come here to work Monday to Friday,
five or six hours a day.
- [Narrator] Some of the more popular pasta dishes
she makes include orecchiette,
cavatelli,
and malloreddus.
- This is orecchiette.
I am from Puglia, Italy.
I came in the '70s.
They teach me to make pasta, my mother, my mother-in-law,
my sister, the whole family.
- [Narrator] Do you think your mother would be proud
of the pasta you make today?
- Yes, yes. Every mother is proud
for the daughter to make something.
- [Narrator] Nonna Dora likes to keep things fresh
and makes sure that different kinds of pasta
are always on rotation.
- Now I have to make malloreddus.
Now I have cavatelli.
- I don't know that our pasta is that much better,
but I'm sure that the love and care
that she puts into it probably adds something to it.
- [Narrator] I wanted to try Nonna Dora's pasta myself
and get a taste of her magical touch,
so I ordered the orecchiette with rabbit ragu
and the malloreddus with saffron sausage.
- Nonna Dora is really, I mean, really the Pasta Machine.
She just cranks out that pasta
like it's second nature.
I expect it to be soft and plush
and still have a great flavor.
So we're gonna first start off with the orecchiette,
orecchiette, orecchiette.
- This is orecchiette.
- Orecchiette?
I've only had store-bought, dry orecchiette before,
and I thought it tasted fine,
so hopefully when I taste this handmade one,
it's gonna be blow me out of the water.
So also, fun fact, I've never tried rabbit before, so
there's a first time for everything,
and today's the day.
Each pasta...
Ooh, that's gamey.
Each pasta bit, shell,
is all uniformly shaped.
I know that if I was making this pasta,
there would be one that's teeny tiny
and one giant old one,
there'll be rips everywhere.
Delicious.
I don't...I can't really say anything about the rabbit.
As I'm eating this orecchiette,
as I'm eating Nonna Dora's pasta,
she's right behind me making more.
She really is a pasta machine!
Each pasta is handmade by Nonna Dora,
and so I know that each of these little pasta bits
are made with love.
I'm eating 50 years in the making.
Next up, the malloreddus.
Oh, f--- yeah.
Sorry.
That's so good.
This is it.
I mean, all of them are delicious, but
this tastes like a gnocchi, but the ridges just,
I think each of the crevices kind of hug the sauce more
because there's more surface area,
and it's plush and soft.
- What do you think?
- It's not a bad gig.
That's really good.
- This dish, honestly, just feels like Nonna Dora
has fluffed up some pillows,
put me to bed, and tucked me in.
- I'm happy when the people say,
"Oh, it's beautiful, the pasta.
It's good!"