If you drive south from Naples and head toward the Amalfi Coast, you’ll just about drive through Gragnano, a small Italian town best known for its ancient flour mills, medieval dwellings and a legendary breeze that forms when the cool air, off the nearby Lattari Mountains, meets the Mediterranean sea air.
Did you know a breeze could be legendary? Thanks to this breeze, we have one of Italy’s most iconic foods: dry pasta. Ever since the 1500s, families in Gragnano have made pasta, leaving it out to dry in this transformative breeze. Gragnano’s main piazza has always been a place for making pasta! Even today, it’s easy to find the center of town. You know when you reached the town’s main piazza because of the splendid smell. It’s the smell of freshly made pasta! Although the piazza used to be home to many pasta makers, today only one still stands: Pastificio Faella. That’s right: Faella is the only pasta maker still making pasta in this historic piazza and their pasta is the best.
