There are a lot of Italian pasta brands in the world. Mancini is one we keep coming back to.
Mancini produces premium durum wheat pasta in the hills of the Le Marche region of Italy, using wheat grown in its own fields that surround the pasta factory.
The company controls the entire chain—from wheat production to pasta making—and focuses on letting the grain and the process speak for themselves.
We’re not the makers of Mancini, and we don’t stock it in our store, but we love cooking with it in our DaTerra Cucina pans. We also share an affiliate link so our community can find it easily online (link at the end of this post).
From Nonno Mariano to a Modern Pastificio
Mancini’s story starts in 1938, when Mariano “Nonno” Mancini began farming wheat in Le Marche. His work built the agricultural base the family still relies on today.
His grandson, Massimo Mancini, is a third-generation farmer and agronomist who wanted to do more than grow wheat for others. In 2010, he founded Mancini Pastificio Agricolo, a modern pasta factory built right in the middle of the family’s wheat fields.
Today:
- The factory is run by his son and grandson, keeping it a family operation.
- Massimo is still actively involved.
- The company has even developed its own durum wheat varietal, named “Nonno Mariano”, as a tribute to the grandfather who inspired the project.
It’s a rare setup: one family, one territory, one continuous path from field to pasta.
Wheat from Their Own Fields
Mancini is unusual in that it produces pasta only from durum wheat grown in its own fields in Le Marche, instead of blending grain from multiple regions or countries.
A few key points about how they farm:
- They apply sustainable, “good agricultural practice” methods, including careful crop rotation, with the goal of high-quality grain and minimal environmental impact.
- Wheat is harvested at full maturity, then stored and managed with techniques that avoid chemical treatments wherever possible.
Because the fields and factory are side by side, Mancini can control the process from seed selection and cultivation to milling and pasta shaping.
Only Semolina and Water
Despite all that structure in the background, the ingredient list is very simple:
- Durum wheat semolina
- Water
- That’s it. No eggs in the classic line, no added flavorings, just the grain and clean water.
A couple of details we appreciate:
- The wheat is milled only as needed for pasta production, so they’re not working from old, tired semolina.
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The semolina granulation is tailored to their process, which helps with both texture and cooking performance.
Bronze Dies and Slow Drying
Inside the factory, Mancini combines modern building design with traditional pasta-making tools.
- The dough is extruded through custom circular bronze dies, which give the pasta a rough, porous surface. This texture is what helps sauces cling instead of sliding off.
- The pasta is slow-dried at low temperatures,often for many hours, sometimes over a couple of days, depending on the format to preserve the flavor and aroma of the wheat and support a firm, stable bite when cooked.
That combination of bronze dies, fresh semolina, and gentle drying is a big part of why Mancini feels different from standard supermarket pasta.
Recognition from Chefs and Guides
Mancini is well respected in professional kitchens and by Italian food writers.
- The pasta is used by high-end chefs, including some working in three-Michelin-star restaurants, who value its consistency, flavor, and texture. (This is mentioned often in importers’ and distributors’ notes and is consistent with how the brand is positioned.)
- In 2023, Mancini was awarded “Campioni del Golosario” by Il Golosario, Paolo Massobrio’s guide to good food and wine in Italy.
For us, those things don’t make the pasta “better” on their own, but they do back up what we taste when we cook it.
Visiting the Mancini Pastificio in Le Marche
All of that would already be enough to make us curious. But we were lucky enough to see it in person.
The DaTerra Cucina family had the chance to visit the Mancini pastificio in Le Marche—walking past the wheat fields that surround the building, stepping inside the factory, and watching how the grain we’d read about actually becomes pasta.
Here are some of our favorite snapshots from that visit:
Scroll through the photos below to get a feel for the place where Mancini pasta is born. It’s one thing to read about “field to pasta,” and another to stand where it all happens.
Why We Like Using Mancini with DaTerra Cucina
We’re very picky about what we cook in our pans. Mancini lines up with what we care about:
- clear origin (Le Marche, own fields)
- sustainable farming and thoughtful wheat selection
- only semolina and water
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bronze-die extrusion and slow, low-temperature drying
- a family that still runs and oversees the process
In our kitchen tests, here’s what we notice when we pair Mancini with DaTerra Cucina cookware:
- The pasta keeps a clean, wheaty flavor, especially with lighter sauces.
- The texture holds up well when finished in the pan with sauce (that bronze-die surface really does help).
- Because our pans distribute heat evenly, it’s easy to emulsify sauce with pasta water and get that glossy coating that clings to each shape.
We use it for simple dishes like:
- spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and chili flakes
- rigatoni with tomato and basil
- short shapes with seasonal vegetables and good olive oil
Nothing complicated, just letting the wheat and the cookware do their job.
Where to Buy Mancini
Mancini is an independent Italian producer; we don’t manufacture or sell it directly. But we do think it’s a great match for anyone who already loves cooking with DaTerra Cucina.
To make it easy to try, we’ve included an affiliate link to a trusted shop that carries Mancini pasta. If you purchase through this link, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it helps support the content and testing we do.
If you want to buy Mancini: CLICK HERE.
Why Mancini Stays in Our Rotation
In short, Mancini brings together:
- Wheat grown in the family’s own fields in Le Marche
- A story that starts with Nonno Mariano in 1938 and continues with Massimo and the next generation
- A dedicated durum wheat varietal, “Nonno Mariano,” created in his honor
- A modern factory built among the fields, with full control from grain to pasta
- Two ingredients—semolina and water—shaped with bronze dies and slowly dried at low temperatures
- Recognition such as the Campioni del Golosario 2023 award
For us at DaTerra Cucina, that combination of origin, process, and flavor is exactly what makes Mancini a pasta we’re happy to cook with—and happy to recommend.
