Artisan pasta factory Gran Pastai

The Gran Pastai dei Fratelli Giacalone artisanal pasta factory is a young company in the Marsala area, in the province of Trapani, and specialises in the artisanal production of fresh and dry pasta in the local tradition.

From the passion of the brothers Giovanni and Giovan Vito Giacalone, the artisanal pasta factory in Marsala was born in 2016, putting to good use the long family tradition, which handed down the art of typical Sicilian pasta from the Giacalone grandparents to the younger generation.

The opening of Pastificio Gran Pastai is the consecration of the expertise and passion of three generations, realising the dream of producing and selling one of the typical Sicilian products par excellence, particularly from the land of Trapani. This is Busiata made from Sicilian durum wheat semolina, a typical product of the area, excellent and genuine, combining taste and digestibility.

The origin of the term Busiate has two hypotheses. The first is linked to the term buso, meaning a particular knitting needle that was used in the Trapani area to knit fabrics such as cotton and wool.

The second hypothesis can be attributed to busa, meaning the stem of the ampelodesmos mauritanicus - or disa, a graminaceous plant typical of the Mediterranean maquis that local farmers used to wrap and bind bundles of ears of wheat. The latter theory is the most widely accepted.