It’s the world’s rarest pasta, made to a secret recipe that, for more than 300 years, has been passed down from mother to daughter in a single family and is held by just five rightful heirs.

But now Melbourne’s Mr Pasta, Leo Gelsomino from Lello in the city, is the first Australian and one of just a handful of chefs around the globe who have been let into the secret and taught how to make Su filindeu.

Known as “threads of God”, this Sardinian pasta is only served for 10 days during the biannual San Francesco Festival in the tiny village of Lula.

This fine, needle-like pasta — a fraction the size of angel hair — is woven by hand into 256 strands that are stretched into an intricate net before being sun dried. The net is then broken and served in a meaty sheep broth and finished with young pecorino.

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“It’s thick and gooey, absolutely delicious,” Leo says. “It’s almost like a ramen.”

Leo first came across Su filindeu while researching pasta online and says learning it is “like making black belt in karate”.

Leo travelled to Sardinia earlier this year and, over five days, was taught the pasta in a masterclass run by La Cucina Delle Matriarche — a Slow Food organisation that’s dedicated to preserving food heritage and culture.

While the chef says there’s no huge secret behind the pasta “it’s all about the feel and reading the dough to stretch it to a point without breaking it” he says there’s still some way to go before he truly masters the technique.

And while Su filindeu will be on offer at Lello for just one day — next Thursday, August 29 — other rarely seen delicacies you will always find on the menu include culurgiones — delicately pleated, potato and mint-filled Sardinian dumplings — and the signature lasagne vincisgrassi, a version of the classic dish from the Marche region that includes sweetbreads for added creaminess.

“It’s all about showing dishes that aren’t typical, that you won’t find in other Italian restaurants,” he says.