Gragnano has a strategic position on the Lattari
Mountains and has always been very important for the defence
of Amalfi,
in fact
the castle of Gragnano was in defense of the territory. Gragnano
borders the following municipalities: Agerola, Casola
di Napoli, Castellammare
di Stabia, Lettere, Pimonte, Ravello, Sant'Antonio
Abate, Santa
Maria la Carità, Scala.
This town is very famous for the production
of pasta, produced since 1500. "A hill town wedged between
a mountain crest and the Amalfi Coast," Gragnano is home
some of the best dried pasta in
Italy. Gragnano's "main street was laid out expressly to
capture the mountain breeze mixed with sea air back when
pasta makers hung spaghetti on drying rods like laundry," according
to a Forbes Life write up. More
recently heaters are used to dry the pasta at low temperatures
(approximately 122 degrees fahrenheit) for two days and it
is shaped with bronze to give it a rough texture.
The pasta of Gragnano is delicious
and of high quality and the first type of pasta was
called "macaroni": for foreigners macaroni has always been
a "synonymous" of Italians. A group of artisan
producers in the area are seeking a European
Union designation that would protect the pasta's provenance.
Agriculture and wine production are important resources
too and have been practised since Roman times. Wine production
is very known and the typical red sparkling wine produced
in this area is appreciated worldwide. Gragnano, the frizzante
red that comes from the town of the same name on the Sorrentine
Peninsula.
Gragnano surely deserves a visit, because pasta and wine
are delicious, nature is beautiful, and the interesting
fortresses from the XII century, its churches and water mills
are worth to be seen.
|
