Faella - Linguine (500g)

Gaetano Faella started making pasta in Gragnano in 1870. Not as a creative venture - in Gragnano, practically everyone made pasta. The town had been doing it since the 1600s, when the Duke of Gragnano granted permission for mills along the Vernotico river, and the streets were literally used as drying racks, pasta hanging out in the mountain air like laundry. What made Faella's pasta different then is the same thing that makes it different now.

Every shape is pressed through custom bronze dies - not Teflon, not stainless steel - bronze. It's slower, it wears out faster, and it costs more. But bronze gives the pasta a rough, slightly porous surface that sauce actually holds onto, instead of running off the way it does with the glassy finish Teflon produces. You'll notice the difference the moment you plate it.

After extrusion, the linguine dries for at least 40 hours in the cool air of the Lattari Mountains. Industrial pasta is blasted dry in under an hour. That slow drying matters - it preserves the structure of the gluten, which is why Faella pasta holds its bite properly and doesn't turn to mush the second you stop watching the pot.

In 2012, Gragnano became the first pasta-producing town in Italy to receive EU IGP certification. Faella was one of just ten original producers to earn that designation - a label that means the pasta is produced start to finish within the town, using local spring water, bronze dies, and low-temperature drying.

Linguine is the right shape for sauces that need the pasta to show through - vongole, aglio e olio, a light basil oil, fresh seafood.

Best for: Pasta alle vongole, aglio e olio, pesto, light seafood sauces, pasta al limone.