Voiello, the authentic tradition of Neapolitan pasta-making
26 February 2024
1879. At the same time as Thomas Edison was presenting his incandescent light bulb to the public, Wilhelm Wundt was establishing the Leipzig laboratory where the first generation of European psychologists would be trained, and The Russian Herald was beginning to serialise Fëdor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov, in Italy a man by the name of Giovanni Voiello was founding what he decided to call the “Antico Pastificio Giovanni Voiello”, christening a company destined for a great future with his own name.
The site was a vast piece of land in Contrada Maresca, Torre Annunziata, Italy, the economic centre of an area in the Campania region where pasta-making had flourished since the 18th century. This is where the story of pasta Voiello began: a 145-year-long journey, the origins of which had hitherto been the subject of bold and romantic fantasies that attributed a mythical Swiss origin to Voiello pasta, denied by recent documentary studies which have correctly reconstructed the family’s history.
This family business, born of Giovanni's intuition, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, quickly conquered first the Neapolitan market, churning out the aristocracy’s favourite pasta, and then the national market, achieving record sales. But unprecedented storm clouds were gathering on the horizon: the Second World War hit the world and marked a painful setback for Voiello as well, severely affecting the company's production facilities.
BARILLA AND VOIELLO: A MARRIAGE OF GOODNESS
1973. For the Voiello family, while the difficulties of the war seemed to have been overcome, the sun was slow to shine in the pasta factory's sky. Twenty-five years after the Second World War, an economic crisis gripped Italy in a vice that affected everyone, besieging businesses and seemingly intent on quashing the desire for a future and rebirth. At this point in its history, Voiello crossed paths with our Group, which bought the brand's shares and took over its management, while committing to fully respecting the production autonomy which had been the guarantee of extraordinary quality up to that point. A new chapter in the history of the Voiello pasta factory therefore began.
QUALITY AND CUTTING-EDGE PRODUCTION: THE BIRTH OF THE MARCIANISE PLAN
The meeting between our Group and Voiello, between Emilia and Campania, was much more than a simple business agreement: it was the perfect opportunity to unite a history of great quality- that of Voiello - with our own history, which has always been committed to marrying quality with cutting-edge and technological innovation. With the resources made available by our Group, a new factory was purchased and completed to modernise pasta production more than ever: the factory in Marcianise, a stone’s throw from Naples, quickly became both the headquarters of the "Antico Pastificio Giovanni Voiello” company, and a point of reference for our Group as a whole. By the second half of the 1970s, Marcianise had already surpassed the 10,000-tonne mark - an important milestone, achieved above all thanks to the desire to bring the goodness of our products into every Italian home.,
EVERYTHING STARTS WITH THE BEST RAW MATERIAL
The secret of Voiello's quality lies in the exceptionally rough and porous surface of its pasta, achieved thanks to the use of bronze dies and the exclusive selection of high quality and 100% Italian Aureo durum wheat.
Our raw material comes from Italian highly prized regions (Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Basilicata, Benevento province) and farmers who have signed agreements with our Group to produce high quality wheat with low environmental impact, the cultivation of which requires less water and energy, with obvious benefits for the environment.
Ground in our mill in Altamura, Italy, Aureo is a variety of wheat with extraordinary characteristics. Its high protein content (up to 14.5%) and excellent qualitative index for gluten, makes it resistant to cooking, ensuring it is always al dente.
Finally, the bronze drawing method has the ability to make the surface of the pasta rougher and fuller, allowing it to absorb sauces better, and helps to enhance its flavour, as well as making it particularly easy to digest.
Even today, Voiello pasta continues to be created in the heart of Marcianise, inspired by a concept of quality that is both old and new at the same time, ever closer to sustainability. In 2023, the plant recorded an over 40% reduction in water consumption per tonne of product, a 25% decrease in CO2 emissions and, at the same time, an increase of up to 98% in the amount of waste recycled. What does not change is the value of Voiello pasta: an extraordinary product, designed to delight the palates of anyone who finds both a very personal and a universally shared enjoyment in good food.
OUR PLAYLIST OF THE MONTH
If you want to delve deeper into the topics we have just addressed, here are some reading, listening and watching suggestions:
- Eat, Pray, Love, a 2010 film by Ryan Murphy in which American Elizabeth Gilbert, played by Julia Roberts, undertakes a long journey to find herself. Arriving in Italy, Elizabeth visits the city of Naples, where she discovers her love for good food and begins to indulge in the pleasure of the "dolce vita".
- Voiello. Storia di una famiglia di Torre Annunziata pioniera e eccellenza dell’arte bianca italiana, a book by Vincenzo Marasco, Antonio Papa and Salvatore Cardone of the “Nicolò D’Alagno” Historical Studies Centre in Torre Annunziata, Italy.
- DOI – Denominazione di origine inventata, a podcast by Alberto Grandi, professor of Food History at the University of Parma, and Daniele Soffiati, author of books on cinema and TV, in which episode after episode the true story of some of the most iconic Italian dishes is reconstructed.
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