A FAMILY STORY

THE GREAT DREAM

Following years spent studying far from home, the brothers Angelo and Giacomo Barbagallo decided to return to Sicily and together made a dream come true, A. Barbagallo di Mauro, a company specialised in the processing and world-wide exporting of Sicilian agricultural excellence. Two distinct processes were thus started. The so-called “white art”, in other words the milling of Sicilian durum and soft wheats and the distilling of citrus and aromatic herb essences for the perfume industry. A long-lasting dream carved into the stone of the original entrance to the plant, which still today shows a sheaf of wheat and a basket of citrus fruit.

THE PASTA FACTORY

Wheat, citrus fruit and pasta! The first two original company activities were joined in 1934 - as shown by export documentation of the time - by the art of pasta-making. This was the beginning of the long-standing history of our pasta factory, which began to export the best of the florid and beautiful island of Sicily worldwide. New York, Paris, Brussels, London and Madrid are just some of the stages in our long journey, memories that are impressed on the iron labels that at the time were used to indicate the destination of the merchandise and that we still have today.

LOCUST BEAN GUM

Having abandoned the extraction of natural citrus essences in the 1950s due to the emergence of more economical synthetic processes, the company, following on an idea by Giuseppe Barbagallo, decided to focus on another typical Sicilian product, carob, the seeds of which are used to extract the precious flour that is widely used in the food industry as a thickener and stabiliser. Rejecting the traditional chemical method of extraction of locust bean gum due to its devastating impact on the environment, after years of research and experimenting Giuseppe successfully perfected a system of thermo-mechanical husking that allowed the company to produce and export this “natural and pure” product worldwide.

ORGANIC FORERUNNERS

The young and recently graduated Angelo, with the support of his father, decided to convert the entire flour and pasta manufacture to organic. Thus, even before the relative European law was created, the company chose to undergo voluntary certification via the French certification agency “Nature & Progrès”, forever abandoning conventional production in favour of processes that protect the environment and the biodiversity of Sicilian crops.

SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

This was a period characterised by important innovation. The production lines in the pasta plant were totally replaced by new avant-garde and low-environmental-impact systems, specially modified to keep drying temperatures low, and maintain hourly production below the capacity of the systems in order to leave the fragrance and aroma of our pasta intact, as tradition dictates. A photovoltaic system was installed on the roof of the mill, and an innovative recycling system was set up for the hot water used in the drying stage in order to reduce the consumption of electricity and methane gas.

PLASTIC-FREE PACKAGING

Pioneers from the outset in the field of sustainability, following a period of attentive research and development, the company is now ready to bring to the tables of the world its most beautiful product: its genuine and authentic pasta in a 100% biodegradable and compostable package. A package that brings an end forever to the use of plastic, to safeguard and pass on to future generations the precious resources of this planet that has given us so much. For what has been and for what will be.

PACK IN 100% RECYCLABLE PAPER

Always attentive to the environmental impact of its products, A. Barbagallo Di Mauro says goodbye forever to plastic pack for pasta by adopting a 100% recyclable paper pack for its entire line of Sicilian organic semolina. So after introducing the compostable and biodegradable plastic free packaging for pasta from Sicilian organic ancient grains in 2019, the company confirms its sustainable commitment and the will to reduce its ecological footprint.