It was two Italian-Americans who developed the first machine for the industrial production of fusilli in 1924. The introduction of industrial processing techniques subsequently enabled pasta makers to make the typical spiral fusilli we know today, and make them in large quantities, as traditional fusilli was originally strictly handmade. The spiral, corkscrew shape was obtained by wrapping a strand of pasta dough around a long needle or thin rod, known as a ‘ferro’, using a particular method which was reminiscent of spinning. In fact, the name ‘fusilli’ comes from ‘fuso’ which means spindle. Handmade fusilli look quite different to the machine made versions and the method of making them and their shapes differ somewhat from region to region.
