Since 1848, Afeltra has produced its celebrated pasta and sauces in Gragnano, Campania. As early as the 11th century, the first flour mills were constructed along the waterways flowing from Monti Lattari and by the mid 1800s, premiere pastifici like Pastificio del Cavaliere Olimpio Afeltra were air-drying each piece of pasta in the Mediterranean breeze. Today, the more things change, the more they stay the same: Afeltra makes pasta in that same pastificio, uses that same water from Monti Lattari and air dries each shape in that same Mediterranean breeze.
Mezzi Paccheri come from the word for a slap in Neapolitan dialect, reportedly because the large pieces of pasta hit the plate with a satisfying smack! Tossed in sauce, these short pasta pair well with seafood sauces.