Spaghetti with Asparagus and Tomato

For those few precious weeks that asparagus are available I take every opportunity to eat them. Whenever you use asparagus for pasta sauces, be sure not to overcook. If anything, they should be underdone since they will receive further cooking in the sauce. I tasted this dish in Orvieto, birthplace of Luigi Mancinelli (1848-1921), a conductor who was considered a direct predecessor of Toscanini. Mancinelli conducted at the world premieres of Verdi’s Falstaff and of Tosca. This