Faella - Fusilloni (500g)

Fusilloni is the oversized relative of fusilli - a thick, hand-twisted corkscrew that traces back to the old practice of winding fresh pasta dough around a knitting needle or thin iron rod to give it its spiral shape. The name itself comes from "fuso", the spindle used to wind wool, and the shape has kept that spun, coiled character even now that it's pressed through bronze dies rather than twisted by hand. Compared to standard fusilli, Fusilloni is longer, thicker, and more substantial - closer to a short tube that's been stretched and spiralled than a delicate curl.

Faella has been making pasta in Gragnano since 1870, when Gaetano Faella founded his mill in a town whose winds, descending from the Lattari Mountains toward the Bay of Naples, created near-perfect natural conditions for drying pasta. Those conditions are the reason Gragnano became a pasta town in the first place, and the reason the EU granted it IGP protected status in 2012 - the first such designation ever given to a pasta-producing town.

Faella was one of just ten original producers to carry the IGP stamp, which requires pasta to be made within Gragnano using local Lattari spring water, bronze extrusion dies, and low-temperature air drying for a minimum number of hours. The Fusilloni is pressed through bronze dies that leave the surface rough and porous rather than smooth, then air-dried for a minimum of 40 hours - slow enough to preserve the durum semolina's structure so the cooked pasta holds real bite.

The tight spiral traps sauce inside its coils rather than letting it slide off, and the thick cross-section means it stands up to hearty, substantial preparations without going soft or losing shape. It's a shape built for sauces with real body - not delicate oils, but ragù, sausage, and baked preparations where the pasta needs to hold its own.

Best for: Meat ragù, sausage and broccoli rabe, baked pasta, hearty vegetable sauces, and any preparation with a thick, chunky sauce that benefits from a spiral that traps rather than sheds it.