Over the centuries, pasta has maintained its privileges and characteristics while lending itself to the contemporary interpretations of modern Chefs. With its wide range of shapes Pastificio Fabianelli has identified one of the secrets of this marvelous product: versatility. Spaghetti, penne, tortiglioni and so forth; it is impossible not to find the right shape for any type of dressing.
Italy has always been the cradle of creativity and imagination that have found a wide expression in the capacity to invent and produce an impressive number of pasta shapes. To classify them all is an arduous task to say the least; more than 300 different shapes have been identified that vary from region to region and frequently even from one city to another.
Many shapes have been handed down from one generation to another thanks to tradition like in the case of Pastificio Fabianelli which produces pasta since 1860 using only durum wheat semolina. Geniality is demonstrated also in the choice of names borrowed from the animal world such as farfalle (butterfly), orecchie d’asino (donkey ears), conchiglie (shell) from botany like nocciole (hazelnuts), sedani (celery), gramigna (couch grass) and from religion like capelli d’angelo (angel hair), paternostro (Our Father), strozzapreti (priest strangler).
Each shape represented in Fabianelli’s catalogue is the expression of a unique character, of a tradition that brings back to mind a specific corner of the country, regional dishes and culinary customs; from spaghetti to orecchiette, from penne to ziti and from macaroni to sverzino (a shape of pasta created and produced exclusively by Fabianelli)
A special moment is dedicated to spaghetti, so loved and appreciated all over the world that it has become a trademark of the “Bel Paese”. Love for spaghetti is timeless: it is not only the favorite of all shapes but it is also the king of sales. Its name was registered for the first time in 1819 when it was mentioned in the Italian Language Dictionary by Tommaseo and Bellini under the entry “spago” (string) with reference to a “minestra di spaghetti” or “small strings soup”.