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Promoting old Italian recipes

By Dong Fangyu ( China Daily ) Updated: 2014-11-22 11:26:16

Promoting old Italian recipes

Spinosini Omega 3 with ham and lemon. [Photo provided to china Daily]

The first exponent of Campofilone homemade pasta was Spinosi's father, Nello Spinosi. In the 1930s, the elder Spinosi used to travel to Rome from Campofilone by horse to sell vegetables and other produce grown on his farm at markets. "At that time, there was not much money and my father brought along the maccheroncini made by my mother to pay for his accommodation in Rome", the younger Spinosi recounts.

After a while, the Roman businessmen and gourmets started to appreciate his maccheroncini, and his father started to sell it. He then created the first factory in Campofilone to produce homemade pasta in 1933.

It was considered the first such factory to feature and enhance the tradition of homemade pasta, both in Italy and worldwide.

In 2013, Spinosi's "Maccheroncini di Campofilone" got Indicazione Geografica Protetta recognition, a protected geographical indication within the European Union. The official document names Nello Spinosi as the person behind the first laboratory to produce maccheronicini.

To carry on the family tradition, the names of all the varieties of Spinosi pasta share the same semantic origins from his home.

Spinosi's signature pasta "Spinosini" was given the name used for Spinosi's kids: Spinosini! In Italian, he explains, the suffix "ni" is used for describing younger people, or babies.

Spinosi also named the "SpinoBelli" pasta, dedicating it to his now-grown sons, Marco and Riccardo. SpinoBelli pasta has a thicker section than the Spinosini. In 2012, Vincenzo Spinosi created a new product "Spinosina", this time named for his first granddaughter, Emma.

On Sundays, he likes to make Italian dumplings, called gnocchi, at his home in Campofilone.

"Sunday is the day of the family gathering", he says.

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