When our American cousins, Steve and Kip, learned how to make pasta from our friend Graziella, her husband Claudio was so impressed they were able to make it so well with the Imperia at their first try, that he insisted on giving them a special 'diploma' for a job well done!

Roundup: If we look at the technical specifications of the two pasta machines, the Marcato is the better choice. The Wellness rollers that keep out any harmful metal out of your pasta is a big plus compared to the Imperia, as health is very important in our food. Imperia pasta machine attachments provide easy, aesthetic ways to make the pasta of your dreams - both by hand and electrically. A manual option does take a little bit of elbow grease, but can be an immensely satisfying ritual that you can enjoy prior to a homemade Italian feast. Design and Ease of Use: As we performed our tests, we noted whether any of the machines were especially complicated to set up and break down, as well as if they had any features to make managing the dough simpler. We paid special attention to how smoothly and easily the crank turned the rollers and cutters with manual models. For extruder machines, we also judged the simplicity of the dough-making and kneading process that comes before pasta-shaping. We were impressed with this inexpensive model's clamp. It has a concave washer that holds tightly against any flat surface. Once screwed down finger-tight, the thing wouldn't wobble no matter how much we tried to move it. The removable crank also turns very smoothly and easily, but it doesn't attach very securely into the side. It slipped out several times in testing, especially while cutting. This versatile machine may have made the tastiest pasta of our testing, but the problem is that the whole batch wasn't equally tasty. The Starfrit continually kneads the dough while squeezing it through the die, and the part at the end winds up overkneaded. The beginning of the batch had perfect texture, but the dough got too springy to push through the holes effectively. Where the Philips Plus did better with a larger batch, this machine did better with a smaller one.

Video showing the Marcato Atlas 150 in use

Beside the roller and the two cutters, there are more attachments available for the two pasta makers. The Marcato has a total of 9 different attachments available for long types of pasta, and Imperia sells up to 6 different attachments for the Imperia. Pros: Comes with pasta recipes and is the only machines in this buying guide to mention reginette as a different pasta shape you can make.

Attaching the metal clamp and attaching it to the surface is easy. I only wish the table clamp had some rubber at the end, I don’t wanna end up ruining my wooden table for some pasta. Take a hint Imperia and just copy what Marcato is doing with their Marcato 150! My likes and dislikes of the Imperia 150 I recently bought the bigoli attachment for my 30 year old Marcato Atlas. It works flawlessly, and a plus is that it also makes passable Shanghai noodles for a Chinese stir fry. They are almost identical to the Shanghai noodles I’ve been buying in China Town in Montreal, for decades. Customers are saying: Takes a bit of practice but makes lovely fresh pasta and once you know what you're doing it's so easy to use all the time! How good the finished pasta tasted: We performed lots of taste tests! Each batch of fresh noodles was boiled in salted water for three minutes before draining and sampling. We rated the noodles on doneness, texture, and flavor.In regards to quality, the Imperia 150 is a good machine. Made in Italy and it has been on the market for a very long time. Choosing a manual machine, it’s either the Imperia or the Marcato 150. Should you buy the Imperia 150? If you want a high quality machine, but would like to save where possible, the Imperia is a perfectly good choice. Just remember there are less attachments available, but if you don’t care about these attachments, and are just looking for a flat pasta roller then the Imperia is a great, authentic Italian machine that offers solid value for money. This thing's rather expensive for a pasta maker overall, but its price is pretty average for an extruder. If you're looking to upgrade from a manual maker to something more automatic, or if you're looking to create a wider variety of shapes than a roller/cutter is able to, the Philips Viva is a good place to start. Customers are saying: Is stylish, makes rolling pasta easy and comes with a recipe book to make kneading and preparing the dough all the more straightforward before you actually roll and cut it. Accessories: Most pasta makers can make two different kinds of noodles, but some come with tools and parts needed to create a wider variety—while other brands sell them separately. Machines also might include custom-shaped cleaning tools, while you have to supply your own brush with others. We considered the accessories included in the box, as well as the availability of additional attachments.

I have a light blue Marcato Wellness, bought about 17 years ago. The rollers broke down two years ago and I could not repair them – but at that time they had been processing probably above 100 kg of pasta dough.The Marcato Atlas 150 is equipped with Wellness rollers which are made of anodized aluminum. Anodized aluminum is twice as hard as stainless steel, making the chance of metal particles less likely with rollers made from anodized aluminum. As Marcato has patented this technology, there are no other pasta rollers that have this same feature. If you and your family try to avoid aluminum with cooking altogether, The Spruce Eats commerce writer Jason Horn updated this story with results from the latest round of Lab testing. He's been writing about food and drinks for nearly 20 years, for publications from Playboy to HGTV to Serious Eats. He loves fresh pasta, but his favorite dough-based Italian food to make at home from scratch is definitely pizza,

The Imperia on the other hand has a very basic design, as the Imperia looks very comparable with all the other pasta rollers out there on the market. The design doesn’t reflect the quality of the machine and the Imperia definitely looks good in your kitchen. Especially the wooden handle is a lovely touch and it lovely on the shiny Imperia. Using the machine, it feels quite sturdy on your kitchen counter or table. It weighs around 8 pound, giving it some extra grip on the surface. Both are great models. If both machines were at the same price point, I can’t see a reason to buy the Imperia over the Marcato. But with the Imperia priced lower, it does offer a solid choice as a budget high quality pasta maker.There are two basic ways a pasta machine can work. The classic tabletop machine uses a pair of rollers to flatten dough into a sheet, then passes the sheet through a cutter to slice it into individual noodles. These can use a hand crank or an electric motor to turn the rollers and cutter. Pasta makers that attach to a KitchenAid or other stand mixer work the same way, using the mixer's onboard motor for power. There are cutters available that can make a variety of sizes of noodle, but a roller-style machine can pretty much only make flat pasta and not more complex shapes like penne or macaroni.