Wheat from the Marches

Wheat from the Marches
Magazine: May 2008

If descending from Colfi orito, leaving the Parco dei Sibillini on your right, you move along the valley of Chienti or Potenza and look up at the hills, you will see that the sides seem faded. This is due to the wheat that once grew there. These were the lands of the Varano, swordsman and merchants. When the Varano fell, the Papal States pushed their cereal cultivation almost up to the top of the mountain, cutting down trees to make room for the seeds and thus transforming the Macerata region into the granary of central Italy. Nearing Tolentino you will notice the Rancia, the fortifi ed granary of the Cistern Abbey of Fiastra, which serves to remind us of the sea of wheat which existed between the Sibillini and the Adriatic. Montegranaro takes its name from wheat and Campofi lone has become the macaroni capital. But if to talk about pasta and wheat in this part of Italy we have to line up the Varano, the Pope and fortifi ed castles, there is a reason. A reason called Nazzareno Strampelli, born in Crispiero a tiny hamlet half an hour from Camerino, who made the fi rst hybrids of wheat. He has left this land with a love for this grain. Looking around the door of the “Pastifi cio” which has the same name of the city we discover women working in a semi artisan way, shaping tagliatelle and gobbetti, maccheroni and chitarrine with Strampelli’s wheat. Fabulous egg pasta is the cornerstone of the economy for the pastifi ci in Macerata.

«A plate of my pasta is a festa!»…
There is another great pasta story to narrate. The story of Luigi Donnari, who continues to work as an accountant even if he has ‘had his hands in’ pasta since 2001. Wonderful pasta! Pasta di Aldo: practically impossible to fi nd because Aldo’s wife manages to make, at the most, 50 Kg a day. But Luigi does not stop experimenting. «You see - he explains - I wanted to make the pasta that my Granny made. I tried all ways to industrialise it, but if you want it porous and the right width you have to exude it. So I invented a machine from the motor of a washing machine, and you know what I say to those who say that the price of my pasta is high? That a plate of my pasta is a party! You have to pay the price for happiness». Then there is the Mancini family in Monte San Pietrangeli who transforms their durum wheat into an anthem to the countryside. The father Giuseppe started to enlarge the company. His son Massimo selected the durum wheat and he too, in 2001, had the idea of transforming his wheat into spaghetti. A gastronomic gem was born. However, pasta is also a social commitment as Enzo Rossi, owner of La Campofi lone, demonstrates. He tried to live on one of his workers wages for a month. «On the 20th I ran out of money. I immediately gave everyone an increase of 200. It is only right that the added value which comes from the transformation of fl our and eggs goes back to my workers. Our pasta is good also because it is backed by a commitment».

Global success
At Campofi lone there is another ‘pasta master’: the man who has taken his maccheroncini out into the world. He is famous amongst the Alitalia hostesses because when he fl ies Rome - New York he often brings out his Spinosini and offers them around on board. «I am like that», says Vincenzo Spinosi. «for me pasta is friendship». Vincenzo has turned his egg pasta into an element of culture and territorial marketing. The commitment to foodl culture is a common trait in the Marches. The best representative of this is Carla Latini. At Osimo, in the province of Ancona, she produces one of the best pastas in the world. She plants the wheat and carries out scientifi c research both on the plants and their nutritional value; she has sponsored all that is culture of food. « Because I am convinced - she explains - that pasta is a message of culture, it is our identity. It breaks my heart to think that even spaghetti has become a luxury item. If the basic prices are like this then at least people have the right to have top quality. To make pasta is almost an inborn act, it means emerging oneself in the desire to nourish and with our pasta we want to give a message of good taste». A plate of Latini pasta can be recognised by the bouquet and tasted with the addition of a drop of oil. The sauce pays homage to the wheat and the countryside. The countryside which, here in the Marches, is still the birthplace of their identity.