Evoluzione

During the mediaeval period, the tradition of pasta, passed down from the ancient Greek, Arabic, and Etruscan cultures, was further developed by the introduction of new forms, such as hollow pasta, and pasta ripiena (filled pasta), and a new method of cooking. In antiquity, pasta was cooked, together with its condiment, directly al forno (in the oven) without being first boiled in water. It was the introduction, during the middle ages, of the process of cooking pasta in boiling water that created the familiar dish which today is more or less synonymous with la cucina italiana (Italian cuisine): la pasta.

The most influential innovation during this period however was the development of techniques for making ‘pasta secca a lunga conservazione’ (long life dried pasta), an invention which is generally attributed to the nomadic Arabs who needed to be able to carry their provisions over long distances during their travels through the desert. Due to the fact that the process of essiccazione (drying) allowed pasta to be conveniently transported by both land and sea, it was this development above all which enabled the widespread commercial distribution of pasta.

By the middle of the XIII secolo (13th century) the first professional botteghe per la preparazione della pasta (pasta making shops) appeared in Napoli and Genova, both important cities in the story of pasta. During the middle ages the coastal city of Genova was one of the most important international ports in Italy, and it was the Genovesi (the people of Genova), in fact, who became specialists in the trading of pasta secca. The northern regions of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia and Veneto however, maintained the tradition of fresh pasta, which still persists to this day.

In the XIV secolo (14th century) two new development in the story of pasta made their appearance: the founding of the first corporazioni di pastai (corporations of pasta makers), and the introduction of ‘lo punctorio ligneo’, a pointed wooden eating implement. Yes, whilst in the rest of Europe people still ate with their hands up until the 16th and 17th centuries, in the Italian peninsula la forchetta (the fork), which made it easier to pick up and eat hot slippery pasta, had already been in use for 200 years!

In part 4 we’ll be paying a visit to Gragnano, ‘Città della Pasta’ (Gragnano, ‘Pasta Town’), in the province of Napoli.