Rotini is a pasta shape on every American shelf. It is also my name, the one that, as our family tells it, my great-great-grandfather carried from Umbria to America in 1882. Everyone else just has the name. We have the family name.
Livio Rotini
The Box · La scatola
Francesco's curls are the pasta.
A single line of gold draws Francesco Rotini as he left Umbria in 1882. Where his curls should be, the box opens, and the giant fusilloni inside become his hair.
One gold lineHot-foil gold on deep midnight-blue paper.
A window, not a pictureWhat you see in his curls is the real pasta, sealed in its inner bag.
Umbria, tone on toneHills, cypresses and a hilltop village, printed so softly you feel them more than see them.
ROTINI 1882 in reliefOn the side, the name is pressed into the carton. Run your fingers over it.
Detail · bronze-cut fusilloni behind the die-cut curls
The Rotini Family Legend · La leggenda di famiglia
A wheel that never stops turning
In our family, this story has never been written down. It has been handed down from generation to generation, at the table, and we tell it the way it was told to us: as a family legend. What every generation has shared is the same thing: a passion for food, and for this pasta adventure.
1882
Francesco leaves Umbria
As the family tells it, Francesco Rotini, a young farmer from the hills of Alta Umbria, left for America carrying little more than his name. He settled in Brooklyn, "Broccolino" to the Italian immigrants. Exactly where, we don't know.
There, the story goes, he opened a small pasta workshop and made a pasta in his own image: a wheel that turns and never ends. Rotini, like his name.
After the early 1900s the trail goes quiet. The family believes he came home to Italy, leaving his Brooklyn workshop behind.
Today
Livio picks it up again
Livio Rotini grew up with these stories, told by his grandfather and his father. After many years in Italian food and olive oil, he decided the story deserved more than the dinner table.
He brought Francesco's wheel back to life, here in Umbria.
Next
Another Francesco
The name kept turning too: Francesco, then Francesco, then Francesco. Great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather.
Livio is not the end of the story. He is the next turn of the wheel. And the turn after that already has a name: Francesco.
The hills of Alta Umbria, where the story begins.
A family legend, handed down by word of mouth and never documented. The surname, and the passion for food, are the parts nobody had to tell us: we were born with them.
The Pasta · La pasta
One pasta. Only one.
When you have the original, you don't need anything else.
ShapeFusilloni: a giant rotini, much larger than the usual shelf spiral
WheatDurum wheat semolina and water. Nothing else.
CraftBronze-cut for a rough surface that holds the sauce, slow-dried
Box1 lb (454 g), about 8 servings. Carton outside, sealed bag inside.
Made inUmbria, Italy
«A tavola non s'invecchia.»
At the table, nobody grows old. — Italian proverb
How to Cook · Come si cucina
Cook it the way we do
A big pot · La pentola grande
Fusilloni need room to turn. Bring 5 quarts of water to a rolling boil for the whole box.
Salt the water · L'acqua salata
Two tablespoons of coarse salt once the water boils. No oil in the water.
Stir in the first minute · Il primo minuto
Pour in the pasta and stir right away, so the spirals don't stick together.
Taste, don't trust the clock · L'assaggio
Start tasting at 14 minutes. Ready when the center is still firm.
Finish in the pan · In padella
Save a cup of pasta water, drain, then toss the fusilloni in the sauce with a splash of that water for one minute.
Recipes · Le ricette di casa
Six ways to turn the wheel
You know how to cook rotini. These are the ones a Rotini cooks at home.
Shop · Il negozio
One box. Delivered to your door.
Rotini 1882, Giant Rotini · 1 lb (454 g). The same box you find in our stores, shipped across the United States.
The online shop opens with the U.S. launch. Prices and shipping will be shown here.
Where to Buy · Dove trovarci
Coming to the finest Italian shelves in America
Rotini 1882 will be available in selected Italian delis and gourmet grocers in the United States, and online in our shop.
Retailers, importers and restaurants: write to us for samples and the trade sheet.
