Chemists at universities in England not Italy are responsible for developing nanopasta--the world's thinnest spaghetti. It's not just a minutely fine thread of material but, specifically, white flour so it's technically pasta by, at least, English standards.
The nanopasta measures 370 nanometers across. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. You can read the science-y bits in the article published a few months ago in Nanoscale Advances. Their process is called electrospinning, which I gather means using electrical current to create fibers small enough that you wouldn't be able to roll it out on your cutting board.
-via Dave Barry | Images: Nanoscale Advances