Did you know we have completely ad-free early access to all of our episodes?

Well, we do.

Not only that, but we have dozens of bonus episodes waiting for you.

Head on over to patreon.com slash ghost town pod.

And you can check it out for seven days absolutely free.

That's patreon.com slash ghost town pod.

Death by pasta. I'm Jason Horton. I'm Rebecca Leab. And this slash Ghost Town Pod. Death by pasta.

I'm Jason Horton.

I'm Rebecca Leeb.

And this is Ghost Town.

Though it's not on many American menus,

Strozapretti is a typical pasta of Rome, made from water and flour without eggs.

It looks like an elongated cavitelli, or a smaller pasta-sized canoli shell,

or a kind of finger-sized tube. Appetizing, I know.

However, I describe it, I want you to get a sense of how it looks. I want you to visualize it,

because stroza-prety isn't just any ordinary food. It's a pasta with a dark reputation. Murder.

Today on Ghost Town, the history of Strozzapredi, which translates to the priest strangler.

Until the birth of a unified Italy back in 1861, Owen in Rome were under the jurisdiction of the church. At the time,

priests were the ones that collected taxes, often showing up around lunchtime when their debtors were at home. Part of the custom, or perhaps the unwritten law, was that citizens had to host

the tax-collecting priests for lunch. If Italians couldn't provide lunch or foot the bill,

clerical authority would literally take something valuable in their home, be it a possession,

some crops, or even an animal. Needless to say, these priests often were unwelcome, but a kind

...