Mistral made of Gragnano, a town of just under 30.000 not far from beautiful Naples, the historical heart of dry pasta-making in Italy. But we’re not talking about the dry wind born in the South of France that graces the whole Mediterranean with its coolness, but of a peculiar variety of it, the Marino — as it is commonly known — which blows from the sea towards the land and brings humidity and saltiness to the coast.
This is the natural characteristic that made of Gragnano the city of pasta. The reason is well explained to BBC Travel by Giuseppe Di Martino, head of Pastificio Di Martino and member of a family that has been producing pasta for three generations: “ You could produce and dry pasta every day (in Gragnano) because of the predictability of this wind blowing inside the village into the valley.” It is as simple as that.
Indeed, the geographical location of the town has been key to its role in dry pasta production: facing the sea, it is protected on the remaining three sides by mountains, guaranteeing the precious marino wind doesn’t get dispersed. The town itself was, in fact, cleverly built to “channel” the breeze through buildings and maintain ventilation constant in its streets, especially in Via Roma, where most of pastifici are set. Yes, because the wind is a key ingredient here, as it is needed to make of local pasta, dry pasta, the “white gold” Gragnano is known for.
Let’s clarify one important thing before going on: the crucial difference between dry and fresh pasta. These culinary sisters are just as popular around the world, but some may not know the real difference between the two. Fresh pasta, which is typical of the northern regions of the country, is made with water, flour and egg, and consumed “fresh,” that is, when it’s still “soft.” Tagliatelle, all filled pastas and lasagna sheets are just some examples of it. Sure, you can now find dry versions of some varieties of fresh pasta nowadays, but they don’t really compare with the real thing.
Dry pasta, on the other hand, uses only durum wheat semolina and water, and it’s made using bronze dies that gives it a particularly rough texture, perfect to hold better to the sauce. Crucial for this type of pasta is the drying process, which makes it more durable in time.
Since the 18th century, Gragnano made of dry pasta its main export. Before then, the town was known for its silk, but when, towards the end of the 1700s, silkworm fell victim to a devastating illness, locals had to reinvent their trade and maccheroni making became their thing. However, according to historian Giuseppe di Massa of the Centro di Cultura e Storia di Gragnano e Monti Lattari Alfonso Maria Di Nola, the town’s love story with pasta is much older than that and dates to the early years of the Renaissance, in 13th century, when official records speak of the local production of seccata, another way to call dry pasta. Di Massa also mentions what probably is the first health endorsement of pasta consumption in history, found in the knowledgeable words of Giovanni Ferrario, personal physician to King William II of Sicily and teacher at the renowned medical school of Salerno University, who waxed lyrical about the benefits of al-dente vermiculos (vermicelli) for those recovering from typhoid fever.
Thanks to its pasta-making — and drying, of course — tradition, Gragnano was also part of the Grand Tour, as Di Martino explained to BBC Travel: “When European nobles came to Gragnano, in order to prove they had done part of the Grand Tour, they would bring pasta back to say they’ve been to Gragnano,” just like we do today, when we come to Italy and bring back heaps of food to our family and friends.
In the early 20th century, the role of Gragnano as queen of dry pasta was well established, with almost 120 pasta factories at work in town, but crisis was just around the corner. The creation of special ventilation rooms, which made drying quicker, and the mechanization of the pasta-making process reduced the number of factories to about 40 and caused an increase in unemployment.
And so people emigrated to the US, exporting their pasta-making know-how to the other side of the pond, which came quite handy during the First World War when Italy stopped exports.
In spite of the difficulties, Gragnano didn’t let change ruin its century-long tradition, it quite simply tweaked its objectives a little to focus no longer on quantity but quality: this is how its dry pasta became the champagne of dry pasta. Today, the wheat used by Gragnano 14 pasta-making factories all comes from close by Gravina di Puglia, which means there is no time for molds and toxins to develop, granting quality to the final product. Key to pasta production are traditional methods and the idea of “terroir,” borrowed from the world of wines, to the point that, just like it happens for wine producers, Gragnano pasta makers must comply with rigorous regulations if they want their product to be considered bona fide “pasta di Gragnano.”
And it is this pasta that, every year in September, is cooked in stands along the town’s streets during the Festa della Pasta di Gragnano, an occasion for the local community to celebrate the product and the heritage that placed it onto the world’s culinary map and to remember that, sometimes — and especially today — local and old fashioned is, indeed, better.
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