PrimoGrano Pasta Trio from Rustichella d'Abruzzo

If you’ve ever been curious what Italian pasta tasted like 100 years ago, Rustichella Abruzzo’s PrimoGrano pastas are as close as you can get. Gianluigi Peduzzi, third generation owner of Rustichella d’Abruzzo, wanted to understand the flavor of authentic pasta made from heirloom Abruzzo-grown wheat, the kind his grandfather would have made in the early 1900s when he founded the company. In partnership with the Italian agricultural research institute CREA, Gianluigi identified local heritage wheat varieties San Carlo, Varano, and Mongibello to create the primo grano or “first grain” pasta line. 

Every year, Rustichella d’Abruzzo and a small group of farmers plant very few amounts of these heritage grains to make into shapes similar to the traditional cuts Gianluigi’s grandfather made. When you bite into this special pasta, you’ll notice a difference right away. It’s soft, tender and fragrant with the aroma of freshly baked bread. We recommend serving these pastas tossed with extra virgin olive oil or light sauces to allow the pasta’s unique flavor to take center stage.

Each set includes the following pasta from Rustichella d'Abruzzo's PrimoGrano line:

• Sagne a Pezzi
• Penne Rustiche
• Traghetti

Due to the artisan nature of these products, some pasta cuts may vary depending on availability. When this happens, we substitute items of equal quality, value and good taste.

About the producer

In 1924, Gaetano Sergiacomo started making rustic pasta using the whole wheat flour produced at his family’s stone mill in the small town of Penne in Abruzzo. In 1981, his daughter, Nicolina Peduzzi, decided to revive the pastificio, (pasta factory) naming the new product line Rustichella d’Abruzzo. Soon after, Nicolina’s adult children Gianluigi and Stefania joined the family business, and within a few years, the small pastificio had grown into one of the most extensive artisanal pasta lines in Italy. Today, Rustichella d’Abruzzo offers a diverse selection of pasta, pasta sauce, holiday goods and more, but they’ve still remained true to their core traditional values. All of their pastas are still made with the finest quality grains, blended with pure mountain spring water, extruded through bronze dies, and slowly air-dried at low temperatures for a rustic texture that holds sauce beautifully.