Cesaria is 95 years old, but her fingers are as swift and strong as they twist skinny strands of dough into lorighittas, a delicate Sardinian pasta shaped like braided hoop earrings. The process starts with semolina and salted water. Cesaria measures them only by eye and years of practice, coaxes them into a smooth, pliable dough with a good 30 minutes of vigorous kneading, then tapers one end of the dough into a long, fine rope.

With one hand, she wraps the end of the rope twice around three fingers of her other hand, forming a double hoop, and in a flash, pinches the hoop off the rope, slips it from her fingers, and rolls the overlapping strands against each other so that they twist together. The finished hoops are laid out on a large, flat basket to dry.