World Notes ITALY

Crisis time in Rome. Had another government fallen or the lira tumbled? Worse. Thanks to a ruling issued this month by the European Community's Court of Justice, Italy's lasagna may go limp and its fettuccine flaccid. For a nation that eats its pasta al dente, or firm to the tooth, such news is hard to swallow.

The decision struck down a 1967 law that requires all pasta sold in Italy to contain durum wheat flour, which is firmer and more expensive than other varieties. Italians, of course, will still be able to buy their favorite pastas, but their grocery shelves will also contain what the newspaper La Repubblica called "gluey and insipid pasta from Germany or the Netherlands."

Not all Italians found the ruling indigestible. Said Restaurateur Aldo Di Cesare, who owns a popular Rome eating place and admits somewhat sheepishly that he can consume more than 2 lbs. of pasta a day: "We're going to wait and see what the other stuff tastes like and, if it's better than ours, I for one will buy it." Buon appetito!