Gragnano Pasta: here’s how Paccheri, Penne and Artisan Spaghetti are born

Gragnano. Via Roma. If we had passed from here a century and a half ago we would have seen almost each door the sign of a pasta factory. At the end of the 800 they were a hundred, many were requisitioned for the needs of troops and population during the First World War. Now they are about thirty in the town, all handcrafted. Those with industrial extent have moved outside the center, while remaining in the territory of the Municipality which boasts the title of European capital of the pasta for which, since 2013, there is also a disciplinary of the Pasta di Gragnano PGI.

We enter the Pastificio Afeltra awardedfounded in 1848the only one remained to produce on the pasta road, which creates the pasta with the artisanal method Eataly100% Italian wheat, born at Christmas 2023 and leader of the line of the over 100 Eataly products. The occasion is the transition a few kilometers from here of the Giro d’Italia 2025of which Eataly is official partner: the stage is the power-Napoli with arrival in the sprint on the promenade of the Campania city. For the second year Eataly, an ambassador of the Italian High Quality Italian Gastronomic Quality and symbol of Made in Italy, is present at the pink race. .

“Also this year we run with the Giro d’Italia, an institution affine in Eataly because it shows the world and Italy the best of our country” he explained Andrea Cipolloni, Group CEO Eataly.

Adds Paolo Bellino, CEO of RCS Sports & Events: «Eataly is a symbol of Italian gastronomic excellence in the world, and its commitment to support our events highlights the strong link between sport, the territory and its traditions. Italian cuisine, with its extraordinary biodiversity and its food and wine heritage, has no equal in the world and the presence of Eataly, not only as an official partner but also in promoting the best culinary excellence along the way, is an added value that makes the experience of the pink race even more complete and fascinating “

Eataly’s 100% Italian wheat pasta is one of these products.

All pasta were made like this

Tells Ciro PunzoGeneral Manager of the Pastificio Afeltra, that all the pastaifications were made in the same way: it was produced on the high floor, it was descended to pack and then send. The three floors are still there, but the production is now done on the ground floor. There are machinery that need space horizontally. They do, as is obvious, what was up to the last century done by hand. And also outdoors. The pasta factories in Gragnano were all in via Roma because this was the road of the wind, the way that had the best exposure to dry the pasta: on the one hand the good air of the lactari mountains, on the other the breeze that comes from the sea. Even now there is this meeting of good arias in this road where the buildings were built in such a way that the sun beats at the right times to dry the pasta.

The process that was made at 30 degrees of the open air, but which stopped if it rained, now it becomes more controlled in the 48-50 degrees of closed cells. This is the last step, before packing and shipping. The starting trucks have the entrance right next to the shop that exposes all the pasta formats, currently there are 30, which are produced. It was this pasta factory that launched, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, an original format, the Macarrone, Also appreciated by Ferdinand II of the Bourbons and the second wife Maria Teresa Isabella, Archduchess of Austria. Now spaghetti and rigatoni win.

The secret? Semolina, water and pastaio

There are two ingredients of the pasta. Semolina and water. They must be perfect for producing a pasta that has flavor. Turn around the pasta factory and the tasting in the end, in the dedicated area where courses and lessons take place, tasting the pasta in the different steps, the key question is precisely this: what flavor does the pasta have? And immediately afterwards it comes another: why have we never asked us? By trying this artisan dough, without seasoning, only with a drizzle of oil, the pasta feels in the mouth and it would be said that the right adjective is powerful, full in its flavor that is wheat and beyond.

Samuele Romano

The semolina, 100% Italian, comes all from the same manufacturer, a quality choice that allows a widespread control. Every day it is mechanically sifted. The pastaio controls it because not all the semolina is the same, not every day the conditions are the same even if the water is always that of the nearby sources of the Valle dei Mulini. It is not correct to call it magic, but this is a bit the hand of the pastaio, the one who controls semolina and water, look at the dough, mix it, changes it. Luca, he arrives here at six less ten every morning and does all the steps. It makes evidence, checks the humidity, the stress of the pasta. All before it passes into the transfilating machines, rigorously bronze: an artisan process that gives pasta its characteristic rough and porous surface. Rugity is the essential feature that allows the pasta to absorb and retain the condiments, enhancing the flavors and ensuring an extraordinary seal. The bronze labor are made to measure, chosen for the various formats, calibrated according to the will of those who make the pasta. The last phase is that of the drying, strictly made at low temperature and for a long time, in compliance with the tradition and organoleptic qualities of the product.

This artisan knowledge is present in every family in Gragnano. “In every house there is someone who works or has worked in a pasta factory,” says Ciro Punzo, “and pasta is the first topic of conversation: not a paste to feed, a dough to enjoy”. The cost is higher than that of the pasta found on the supermarket shelves: the difference is the raw materials and the processing because the process lasts two or three days, not 8 hours as in an industrial factory.

Production

Here 20 people on two shifts work, 6-14 and 14-22, with the possibility of an additional turn. However, the choice of Afeltra is not increasing: the will is to maintain quality. The modernization of the production process of the pasta factory does not aim to reduce costs through an increase in volumes but, but, looking for an ideal balance between tradition and innovation without which every culture risks decaying. The pasta factory, in compliance with this balance, produces a maximum of 50 quintals of pasta per day. This figure acquires more value if compared with the volumes reached by industrial pastaifications that often exceed 5000 quintals of pasta per day.

For a fusillo

Hand -processed fusilli are the most typical and traditional format of Gragnano. They are born by rolling it around a wooden spindle, hence the name Fusilli. Before being worked, it is a periatiello, that is, a hole that is then rolled up. The ability lies in pressing the ferretto to ensure that the hole will always remain open. So the pasta absorbs sauce. Each fusillo has a different flavor on the other, manual skills in fact is always different and characterizing.

Here the teachers Fusillaie work. Not daily, but for a quality production that has over 400 years of history: 4-5 people make 200 kilos of pasta. The method of creating hand fusilli has always been the prerogative of women And it has never been changed and has been handed down through generations. In the Eataly around the world it is the women of Gragnano who teach this method that has as its decisive point the movement of the hands, its speed and strength.

Are you sure you know how to cook pasta?

Count: 10-100-1000 which represent salt, pasta and water. 10 grams of salt per 100 grams of pasta and a liter of water. With the water you can abound, when turning the pasta in the pot you do it from the bottom up. The cooking water must be preserved, it has the starch which can be useful for tie the sauce to the pasta. The first advice, however, comes even before cooking, at the time of opening the package of craft pasta, in particular of the long pasta. It must be pulled out of the package and slammed a little to remove the accumulated semolina.