The Pasta Museum

It was inaugurated on 10 May 2014 at the wonderful medieval rural court of Giarola (Collecchio) located on the right bank of the Taro River, in line with the Via Francigena, the Way through which the pilgrims used to head towards the eternal City. The Pasta Museum was placed right next to the already existing Tomato Museum, in the wider context of the Food Museums of the province of Parma (Parmigiano Reggiano Museum in Soragna, Wine Museum in Sala Baganza, Salame Museum and Ham Museum in Langhirano) to complete a journey for studying the most important gastronomic products of the territory.
The dry pasta made from durum wheat, of southern origins, found in Italy his homeland and within the centuries, it developed in different Country areas: in Sicily, in Liguria, in Bologna, in Naples.
In the XIX century in Parma the Barilla activity, today world leader in the field, starts. The Company contributed in a crucial way, thanks to the collection of machines, tools and document of the Barilla Historical Archive by will of Pietro Barilla, to the creation of the museum, which was divided into ten sections dedicated to the historical, technological and cultural knowledge of pasta.

1. The wheat
The first section, dedicated to the wheat, to its features and modalities of cultivation, presents models, old rural tools and documents that testify the evolution of the agricultural techniques.

2. The grinding process
The second section is dedicated to the grinding process, to the various types of mills with some models and deeply interesting historic iconography, the reconstruction of a grindstone mill and a modern cylinder mill.

3. Fresh pasta
The homemade preparation of fresh pasta, to which the third section is dedicated, is described through small domestic tools, the art of the rolling pin and the extraordinary variety of the richer Italian collection of “speronelle”, the small wheels for giving shape to pasta.

4-5. The historic technology of the pasta plant
A real industrial pasta plant from the first half of XIX century, perfectly restored by the Medaglie d’Oro technicians, allows the visitor, in the fourth section, to understand the various dry pasta production phases, with original and perfectly restored machines. A second part of old machines, shows in the fifth section, the production methods in an Emilian handmade pasta laboratory of the last century.

6. The modern pasta plant
The sixth section, with models and videos, allows the visitor to learn more about the current and cutting edge technologies that are used in the pasta plants to guarantee a constantly high quality product.

7. The shapes of pasta
The section number seven shows through the dyes, the way of extrusion of over 100 different shapes of pasta, real “architectures for the mouth”.

8. The communication
In the section number eight we can find the communication of pasta, with posters, advertisings, historical affiches realized by famous graphics and poster designers.

9. The gastronomy
The gastronomic section presents the history of the strainer, of the recipe books and the ideal matches between shapes and sauces, giving value to the typical techniques of the various Italian regions.

10. Pasta in the arts and culture
A panoramic on pasta in the arts and culture – from the paintings to the stamps – closes the exhibition that can be completed by a visit to the tomato museum downstairs, to its history, cultivation and transformation, typical of Parma.

CONSULT THE CATALOGUE OF THE PASTA MUSEUM