Gragnano Italy Pasta and Wine Traditions

Mountain and Sea Air Spring Water and Sunshine are Key to Pasta Quality

Gragnano is a hill town 30 Km south of Naples, overlooking Pompeii and Vesuvius, just outside Castellammare and it port in Naples Bay; it’s location halfway between Sorrento and Amalfi is ideal to visit Sorrento, Capri, the Amalfi Coast as well as the countryside of the Campania region of Italy.

Pasta Tradition making pasta in Gragnano is an ancient art form that involves history, culture, patience, secrets and traditions. The town’s main street was laid out expressly to capture the mountain breeze mixed with sea air back when pasta makers hung spaghetti on drying rods like laundry. Now, heaters are used to dry the pasta at 122 degrees Fahrenheit for two days, resulting in a nuttier aroma and a chewier feel.

A History of the Valley of the Mills

The Valley of the Mills is famous for its spontaneous springs and Gragnano’s water is important for its therapeutic and diuretic properties. It is also a favorite destination for tourists who sip delicious water in full contemplation of the area’s landscape while its artistic patrimony is reflected in the many centuries-old churches such as Corpus Domini, which houses one of the largest canvases in Europe - over 400 square meters.

Gragnano's Pasta Factories Contributed 10 Percent of Italy’s Production a Century Ago

The Gragnano Pasta Cooperative represents small producers in the area; it holds that the dough should be made solely from Italian wheat, be pushed through perforated bronze plates to mold it, and that the resulting strands, sheets and elegant shapes must be dried at temperatures no higher than 122 degrees. Higher temperatures burn the dough.

Visit Gragnano Naples and Italy with Knowledge Tourism

Greco di Tufo is one of Campania’s finest whites and is perhaps the oldest wine in all of Italy. Greco refers to its Ancient Greek origins, after those who first brought the grape to Italy and cultivated it on the slopes of the Vesuvius. The first written account is found in a poem fragment from 6 BC in Pompeii. Written on a wall, it reads: You are cold, Bice, truly a piece of ice, if even the Greco wine could not warm your heart last night.

It is Cultivated in Tufo, Santa Paolina, Prato di Principato Ultra, Montefusco, Altavilla Irpina, Chianche, Petruro Irpino, and Torrioni. Only the hillsides of these areas are considered suitable for this wine as valleys and points of lower elevation are humid and lack the necessary sunlight and mountain breezes. To be considered Greco di Tufo, which has had DOC appellation since 1970 and DOCG since 2003, 85% must be of Greco di Tufo, with up to 15% coda di volpe. The wine can also be a sparkling spumante.

Greco di Tufo is not a mild-mannered wine. With zesty, fresh flavors of peaches, pear and herbs, coupled with restrained aromas of almond and apricot; a fully dry white wine with a sharp minerality. It is these distinct notes that place Greco di Tufo one step above the two-other great white Campania wines, Falanghina and Fiano di Avellino. Some believe that it complements mild dishes nicely, such as seafood, rice and pasta in butter or white sauces; others think that it pairs perfectly with strong dishes of veal, chicken, and cheeses.

Social Networking, Southern Italian Style!

family travel Italy small towns Naples

A travel client from my home town of Philadelphia visited for the first time the place in Southern Italy where his parents came from; he was accompanied on the trip by 14 family members spanning three generations.

One of the objectives of the trip was to find and meet his relatives and, over the course of several months, we inquired without success by phone and in person with the local officials of this small town to identify these relations. We were told to seek additional documentation such as marriage certificates to speed-up the search, which we did, but without results.

When our client finally arrived in the town, he went to the municipality where he was promptly invited to return in the afternoon. More of the same! While waiting to return, he and several family members decided to go to a nearby restaurant; here, over a leisurely Southern Italian lunch, he explained his predicament to the host who volunteered to accompany him to his afternoon appointment as well as ask around regarding his relatives.

At the town hall, prompted by the restaurant owner it was finally revealed that most paper records were lost in a flood some years back! Meanwhile, the informal Southern Italian style search quickly paid off as a few relatives where identified and contacted. It turns out the family house in the town was in the same neighborhood as the restaurant and the town hall - a small town and a small world!

When my patient and savvy client recounted this experience and how his family went on to have a pleasant stay getting together on numerous occasions with the local family members, I said to myself all is well that ends well; but there is more to this story.

I have heard this happen over and over in Italy and elsewhere; it once happened to me too in Naples when a shopkeeper left a store full of customers and personally escorted me to one of those impossible to find addresses in the old quarter of the city. When I reminded him of his store full of customers, he just shrugged and replied that they could wait!

What is it about these people! Why are they so gracious and attentive in these times of unreturned calls and emails, unresponsive bureaucrats and others who think they can “app” their way around town and life?

I can think of several reasons; they all revolve around words and themes such as respect, responsibility, values and culture. You are cordially invited to post your views and true stories on communities, travel and related topics.

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Belriguardo Castle near Ferrara Italy

Renaissance Art  Archeology History and Regional Cuisine

Belriguardo Castle gets its name from a fifteenth century poet, so impressed with its beauty, that he exclaimed that he planned on bel riguardare, keep looking at it and admiring it!

It was built in 1435. At that time it had some of the characteristics of a castle - tower, battlements, drawbridge and a moat. However, all these elements had more of a decorative and less of a defensive function: in front of the tower there is a porch, behind the battlements there were no walk ways for the soldiers, along with many fixed bridges.

In practice, Belriguardo was a medieval castle turned into a Renaissance villa designed along the lines of a Greek one: the first courtyard had porticoes on three sides, with the second on all four sides. It was built as the summer residence of the Este family, rulers of nearby Ferrara from the 13^th century until 1598. In fact, Belriguardo can be considered the first summer residence of a European ruling family; a precursor of Versailles for the French monarchy, Venaria for the Savoy dynasty, the Quirinale and Castel Gandolfo for the popes, the Tsars’ palaces and the Caserta royal palace for the Bourbon kings of Naples.

With as many as 360 frescoed halls, on one occasion Belriguardo hosted simultaneously the courts of Ferrara, Bologna, Milan and Mantua; at least two thousand people could eat and sleep at court and its stables could hold 800 horses. The Este family entertained its guests with naval battles in the fishpond.

Inside this UNESCO protected property, one can admire the Sala della Vigna (1536), built by Duke Ercole II, son of Lucrezia Borgia, as well as many 16^th century frescoes by the Dossi brothers, Benvenuto Tisi and Girolamo da Carpi. The floor is one of the few orginals from this period.

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The Civic Museum of Belriguardo is based in the castle and its archeological section includes the original wooden beams, known as composite beams, each in turn formed by seven smaller ones interlocked without the use of nails. Their design originates from a Leonardo Da Vinci drawing.

The Archaeological section contains finds from the Etruscan (IV-III century BC), Roman (I-III century AD) and Byzantine (VI-VII century AD) periods.  Some of the Roman period items are considered by researchers of great interest and a few are even unique in the world.

Belriguardo Castle is an excellent starting point for a visit to Ferrara and surrounding areas, one of the cradles of the Italian Renaissance. Nearby, you can taste the regional cuisine, considered the best in Italy.

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