Book excerpt: A palate-pleasing cookbook that “enables us to virtually visit Italy’s 20 regions and savor its pastas” (Booklist, starred review). In Pasta Modern, Italian food authority Francine Segan challenges the notion that pasta must be traditional or old-world. In this beautifully photographed cookbook, Segan details the hottest, newest, and most unusual pasta dishes from Italy’s food bloggers, home cooks, artisan pasta makers, and vanguard chefs. The one hundred distinctive pasta recipes, including many vegan and vegetarian specialties, range from simple and elegant (Pasta with Caramelized Oranges) to more complex (Neapolitan Carnevale Lasagna) to cutting-edge (Cappuccino-Caper Pasta). Tips and anecdotes culled from Segan’s Italian travels enhance the easy-to-follow directions, and a glossary of more than fifty extraordinary dried pastas showcases shapes to revive any pasta lover’s repertoire. For contemporary, authentic Italian pasta, Pasta Modern is the go-to guide.