L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano M i s t r a l m a d e o f G r a g n a - no, a town o f j u s t under 30.000 not far from beautiful Naples, the histo- rical heart of dry pasta- making in Italy. But we're not talking about the dry wind born in the South of F r a n c e t h a t g r a c e s t h e whole Mediterranean with its coolness, but of a pecu- liar variety of it, the Mari- n o — 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 cha- r a c t e r i s t i c t h a t m a d e o f G r a g n a n o t h e c i t y o f pasta. The reason is well explained to BBC Travel by Giuseppe Di Martino, head of Pastificio Di Martino a n d m e m b e r o f a f a m i l y that has been producing pasta for three generations: " You could produce and d r y p a s t a e v e r y d a y ( i n Gragnano) because of the predictability of this wind blowing inside the village into the val l ey. " I t 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 b y m o u n t a i n s , g u a r a n - teeing the precious marino wind doesn't get dispersed. The town itself was, in fact, cleverly built to "channel" the breeze through buil- dings and maintain venti- l a t i o n c o n s t a n t i n i t s streets, especially in Via Roma, where most of pasti- fici are set. Yes, because the wind is a key ingredient h e r e , a s i t i s n e e d e d t o make of local pasta, dry p a s t a , t h e " w h i t e g o l d " Gragnano is known for. Let's clarify one impor- tant thing before going on: t h e c r u c i a l d i f f e r e n c e between dry and fresh p a s t a . T h e s e c u l i n a r y sisters are just as popular a r o u n d t h e w o r l d , b u t 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 ver- sions of some varieties of fresh pasta nowadays, but they don't really compare with the real thing. Dry pasta, on the other h a n d , u s e s o n l y d u r u m wheat semolina and water, and it's made using bronze dies that gives it a particu- larly rough texture, perfect to hold better to the sauce. C r u c i a l f o r t h i s t y p e o f pasta is the drying process, which makes it more dura- ble in time. Since the 18th century, G r a g n a n o m a d e o f d r y p a s t a i t s m a i n e x p o r t . Before then, the town was k n o w n f o r i t s s i l k , b u t when, towards the end of the 1700s, silkworm fell victim to a devastating ill- ness, locals had to reinvent their trade and maccheroni making became their thing. H o w e v e r , a c c o r d i n g t o h i s t o r i a n G i u s e p p e d i Massa of the Centro di C u l t u r a e S t o r i a d i G r a g n a n o e M o n t i Lattari Alfonso Maria Di Nola, the town's love story with pasta is much older than that and dates to t h e e a r l y y e a r s o f t h e Renaissance, in 13th cen- tury, when official records speak of the local produc- t i o n o f s e c c a t a, a n o t h e r way to call dry pasta. Di Massa also mentions what probably is the first health endorsement of pasta con- CHIARA D'ALESSIO Gragnano, the real home of maccheroni The bay of Naples is home to Gragnano, Italy's capital of quality dry pasta (Photo: Dreamstime) Gragnano has always been known as the city of "maccheroni" (Photo: Dreamstime) LIFESTYLE FASHION FOOD ARTS ADVICE Continued to page 32

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