Stand in the center of Gragnano, or maybe have a seat on the piazza fountain, and there is no mistaking you are in The Pasta City. It’s in the air. You can literally smell it. Pasta. Specifically, in our case, Sedani. We could smell the aromas from the freshly made sedani coming from Pastificio Faella before we even walked through the pasta making shop’s door.
Every few days Pastifico Faella receives freshly milled semola di grano duro from a local flour mill. You can see this precious semola in Danielle’s hands here, in the first photo. When the semola is mixed with Gragnano’s pristine mountain spring mineral water, and the dough is ready, it passes through these bronze die forms. This gives the pasta its Sedani shape and its essential rough texture. The only way to achieve this texture is with bronze!
When the pasta is formed, it comes out as you see here, in the 3rd photo. However, it is not ready yet. The pasta here is soft and chewy. It needs to dry. The sedani are then laid out, as you see here in the last photo, on wooden-framed screens that allow air to pass though. They are left like this for days, until they are completely dry.
The air is essential. In fact, hundreds of years ago, Gragnano was chosen as the city for making dry pasta because of the wonderful breezes that naturally come through the town. You see, water and air are the most important elements of pasta making!
Final phases? Packaging, cross-Atlantic ship journey, arrival in the Bronx, shipped to you, and ecco your dinner! How about some Sedani with Radicchio & Sausage?