Agnolotti, bucatini, cappelletti – the ABC of Italy’s great pasta tradition is upheld to this day by dedicated chefs not only in its motherland, but also at Lake Tegernsee.

The secret behind the success of Salumeria Bruno e Franco in Bologna lies in Signora Grazia’s upper arms. When she works the pasta dough with energetic movements and a long rolling pin, one would rather not get in her way. On a large wooden table, she rolls out the dough — la sfoglia — in every direction until it seems almost transparent. Only then does she straighten up, wipe the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and smile: “The sfoglia must be as thin as a veil; only then is it right for tortellini.”

Tortellini, popularly known as the “navel of Venus”, are something like the culinary mascot of Bologna, probably Italy’s most pleasure-loving city. Many classic Italian recipes and products have their origins here — although not the “spaghetti bolognese” so popular in Germany. These are an adaptation for foreign palates, a distortion of a Bolognese classic: tagliatelle al ragù. The original recipe, notarised by the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, is preserved — as are those of other classics — in the stately Palazzo della Mercanzia, built in the 13th century as the seat of the merchants’ guild.

One senses it immediately: Italian pasta tradition is no laughing matter. Pasta lover Korbinian Kohler thought the same — and today has all pasta served at Bachmair Weissach made by hand by a true pastaio: Fabian Palese. “Passion is the most important ingredient,” says the native Italian, who grew up in the heart of Valpolicella, near Verona. From an early age, he helped his grandmother in the kitchen making pasta, watching how she kneaded the dough, shaped tortellini by hand and cut ribbons of pasta. Later, during his training as a chef, he also learned the typical varieties of the south — orecchiette, cavatelli, strascinati — from an experienced pasta master from Apulia.

Today, Palese teaches the young chefs at Gardone, as well as in all the other restaurants of Bachmair Weissach, the old craft of pasta making — and the regional differences. In the poorer south, the dough was traditionally made only from durum wheat semolina and water; in the wealthier Emilia-Romagna, by contrast, the famous fettuccine or tagliatelle were made with egg. As in Italian kitchens, Bachmair Weissach today uses a special soft wheat flour from northern Italy for egg pasta, while the spaghetti are made with high-quality durum wheat semolina from Altamura in Apulia.

But Gardone is not the only place where guests can enjoy Palese’s pasta artistry. For the Wallberghaus, for example, he creates a different seasonal ravioli variation every few weeks, from beetroot with goat’s cheese to wild mushrooms. And together with Executive Chef Tobias Koch, he developed a raviolo with carbonara filling for the speciality menu at the Gasthof, served with a quenelle of Prunier caviar. “Refinement in simplicity,” is how Koch describes it.

CHARLOTTE MILLER