Gragnano in Corsa, true essence of Italy's pasta capital.

When talking about pasta in Italy, one must always put its capital first: Gragnano. A town clinging to the Lattari Mountains that separate it from the beautiful Sorrento peninsula and the Amalfi coast. A town where the aroma of drying pasta can still be sensed even today at certain times of the morning. People have tied their lives to this magical mixture of semolina from fine durum wheat and the true wealth of this land: the water that springs pure from the Forma and Imbuto springs. Delicious to drink, oligomineral, native from limestone rocks and volcanic tuff. Gragnano is considered the city of white gold and there are documents from the 1400s that attest to its pasta-making vocation. 

A town built to become an open-air drying facility. Streets that open onto the sea and gradually narrow to feed stronger air currents. Roads that were bustling with pasta factories and wooden supports where spreads of spaghetti and fusilli or wooden trays of rigatoni and lumaconi would fall. Even today, if you look at the portals of the buildings at each entrance, you will find the ancient symbol of the Varmicellari corporation. Gragnano is a treasure trove of history and goodness. Ready to open a new Pasta Museum as it deserves.

The mills that processed the wheat are still there, and some beautifully restored ones give us an idea of what the ancient valley of mills was like. We undertook this beautiful journey with Vincenzo Petrone: through the soul of his history, we touched the semolina and drank from the source of the water that transformed this territory into a worldwide icon of food. Vincenzo is the owner of the prestigious pastificio Gragnano in Corsa, located in an ancient building of Vermicellari. 

With his son Ciro Dario and his family, he carries on the ancient tradition of pasta. Small laboratories, one for long pasta and one for short pasta, located in different premises as has always been done in this town where everyone is involved in production. The special shapes are still cut by hand and indeed, if we look at them, there is not one that is the same as the other. The Lumaconi, ‘O Siscariello, the Scialatielli, the Candele, the Mafalde, the long double spaghetti that still bear the mark of the curve taken from the stick to which they are hung. 

Vincenzo Petrone, besides being an excellent modern vermicellaro, is also a great running enthusiast and has participated in all the most important Marathons in the world: New York, Boston, Stockholm, Rome, Valencia, etc. Pasta and running have become his passions that he wanted to immortalize in his brand. 

His pasta has been rated by the best experts as one of the top five in Gragnano for taste, identity, and use in high Italian cuisine. "I am very happy to be part of the Spaghetti & Mandolino project," says Vincenzo Petrone, "and I will ensure a product of the highest quality for everyone. Also because with the name that this project carries, when it comes to pasta, you cannot go wrong!" 

Finally, starting today, you can begin to book the legendary pasta from Gragnano in Corsa produced with water directly channeled from the Lattari Mountains and selected first-quality Apulian grains. We at Spaghetti & Mandolino are extremely happy to have such a prestigious brand with us that will help us promote food culture at your tables in Italy and around the world. 

Bernardo Pasquali
 

S&M