Pasta di Gragnano is a centuries-old product, considered the quintessential representative of Italian culinary culture. Renowned abroad as well, Pasta di Gragnano brings history, tradition, and flavor to the table.
Restaurateurs and food lovers know well that Pasta di Gragnano is a product that, with just a few simple ingredients, can create extraordinary dishes, and this is well understood in Gragnano: durum wheat semolina and water form a dough that is expertly worked and then dried, creating a product accessible to all that has made Gragnano famous worldwide as the city par excellence of high-quality pasta.
But who knows its history? Let’s discover it together!
The pasta-making tradition of Gragnano has origins that date back to the time of the Romans. Back then, the waters of the Vernotico stream flowed towards the "Valley of the Mills," grinding wheat that was then used by the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum to make bread.
Due to the necessity of the poorer classes to have low-cost food supplies that provided quick satiety, a new production emerged, that of dried pasta, which allowed semolina to be preserved for a long time. However, the Pasta di Gragnano, until that moment not widely spread, gained success in the 16th-17th century, a period during which, due to famine, it was essential to have food that would keep for a long time, was economical and filling.
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The origins of the production of Pasta di Gragnano as we know it today date back to the 16th century. We are in the Kingdom of Naples, where the "Maccheronari" (or pasta vendors) already dominated the local market thanks to the low cost of pasta, encouraged by the growing demand due to the vast population of Campania. Various family-run pasta factories flourished around cities where there was a large presence of mills and water, such as Gragnano.
In 1845, a turning point occurred: Ferdinand II of Bourbon, during a lunch, granted the Gragnano pasta makers the privilege of supplying long pasta to the royal kitchens. From this moment, Gragnano was dubbed "the City of Maccheroni"; 75% of the population of Gragnano worked in pasta making, producing over 1000 quintals of pasta per day. Pasta was dried in the streets of Gragnano, and subsequent developments and constructions in the city were made to facilitate pasta production, making the streets ventilated and sunny. In short, Gragnano transformed into a large natural drying room, where the predominant element in the streets was bamboo canes that served as supports for laying out the pasta. In 1885, the railway network reached Gragnano, allowing for the distribution of products throughout Italy.
Towards the end of the 1800s, there was a boom in pasta production and a huge increase in exports, primarily directed towards countries significantly affected by Italian emigration, such as the United States, bringing traditional Pasta di Gragnano to abroad. Exports grew exponentially for about two decades, reaching a peak of 709,000 quintals in 1913. About three-fifths of this pasta was produced in the province of Naples, particularly in Gragnano and Torre Annunziata.
The name Gragnano became established in the U.S.A, making Pasta di Gragnano a famous and highly appreciated product. Its success – due to high-quality raw materials and the centuries-old art of drying – was such that many American industries attempted to emulate its success by creating fake brands to pass off their products as Pasta di Gragnano.
The pasta industrialists of Gragnano between 1892 and 1913-14, before the outbreak of the Great War, made significant investments in mechanization of production, greatly increasing outputs. These were factories equipped with steam engines, electric lighting, and many employees. However, this mechanization of production came at the expense of traditional pasta factories, which still worked pasta manually and which drastically decreased.
In 1915, the outbreak of the First World War sent the pasta industry of Gragnano and the entire peninsula into crisis. Exports collapsed, creating a chain reaction: industries went into underproduction and the stocks of pasta factories plummeted.
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With fascism, the situation worsened further. On July 4, 1925, Benito Mussolini launched the Battle of Grain, aimed at bridging the gap between wheat consumption and its production in Italian territory. The high demand for wheat, a consequence of population growth, forced supplies to be sourced from abroad. To ensure the self-sufficiency of Italian granaries, a customs duty on imports was implemented, raising the price of wheat.
In the early post-war years, large pasta companies from central-northern Italy began to expand. The artisanal pasta factories in Campania that survived the previous crisis underwent significant downsizing. In Torre Annunziata, almost all factories closed, while in Gragnano only the most established managed to stay afloat.
In the 90s, there was the rise of Italian pasta in international markets, an unstoppable phenomenon still ongoing.
Today, Pasta di Gragnano is a certified I.G.P. product, a mark that guarantees protected geographical indication. In order for the pasta to be certified I.G.P, it must meet certain requirements, first among which is production confined to the Municipality of Gragnano, using only local water and durum wheat semolina.
Thus, here is the story of one of the most typical and appreciated Italian products in the world. How can we not love it? All that’s left is to prepare a good plate of pasta, choosing from the many available formats. Check out the selection from Spaghetti e Mandolino and let yourself be tempted by this delicious dish!
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