Morelli

Since 1860 the Morelli family has made pasta in San Romano, in Tuscany's province of Pisa, folding fresh wheat germ back into the semolina.

About Morelli

Based in
San Romano (Pisa), Tuscany, Italy
Founded
1860
Known for
bronze-drawn pasta enriched with wheat germ

Antico Pastificio Morelli was founded in 1860 in San Romano, a village in the province of Pisa. It is still a family business, run today by the fifth generation: siblings Lucia, Antonio and Marco Morelli.

The house signature is wheat germ. Normal milling strips the germ from the semolina, and Morelli adds fresh germ back in, which gives the pasta its distinctive taste and turns the cooking water slightly green. The factory's methods include bronze dies, hand-rolling on frames and drying at no more than 50°C (122°F) for 36 hours.

Morelli questions

Why does Morelli pasta turn the cooking water green?

Wheat germ is the embryo of the wheat kernel, the part that would grow into a new plant. Ordinary milling removes it from semolina, the durum wheat flour used for pasta, so the flour keeps longer. Morelli adds fresh germ back in, which gives the pasta its own taste and an aroma you notice as it cooks, and the fresh germ tints the cooking water slightly green.

What does bronze-drawn mean?

Dried pasta gets its shape when the dough is pushed through a metal plate with shaped holes, called a die. Bronze dies leave the pasta with a rough surface, and a rough surface helps sauce cling to it. Morelli uses bronze dies at the family pasta factory in San Romano, near Pisa, where it has worked since 1860.

See all brands

Where it comes from See Morelli on our producer map (San Romano (Pisa), Tuscany, Italy) More producers from Italy