Which 15th-century cook described making Sicilian macaroni as thin as string?

The 15th-century cook who described making Sicilian macaroni as thin as string was Martino da Como.

Martino, also known as Maestro Martino, recorded the method in his Libro de arte coquinaria, one of the most influential European cookbooks of the Renaissance. His instructions describe stretching pasta dough thin and cutting it into narrow strands, using language that compares the thickness with spagho, meaning string or cord.

The recipe belongs to a period when “macaroni” was a broad term for several pasta shapes, not just the short, curved tubes commonly called macaroni today. Martino’s collection includes recipes for vermicelli, Sicilian macaroni, and other long or ribbon-like pastas. He also described drying pasta in the sun so it could keep for years.

This passage is significant because it provides an early, detailed description of pasta resembling modern spaghetti. It does not mean Martino invented spaghetti; earlier string-like pastas existed in Italy and the wider Mediterranean world. The wording instead shows how Renaissance cooks made and classified long dried pasta.