Liguori, officially Pastificio Liguori S.p.A., is an Italian pasta manufacturer headquartered in Gragnano, Campania, a town near Naples historically associated with pasta production. The company traces its origins to 1795, when Gaetano Liguori received permission from the municipality of Gragnano to make and sell macaroni. It is consequently one of Italy’s oldest pasta-producing companies.

Today, Liguori positions itself as a premium Made in Italy pasta brand, combining traditional Gragnano pasta-making techniques with modern production, traceability and food technology. Its products are distributed internationally, with the company’s own website stating that Liguori is present in more than 70 countries.

1795 — Origins

The Liguori story begins in 1795, when Gaetano Liguori obtained a concession from the municipal authorities of Gragnano to produce and sell good-quality macaroni. This small workshop represents the origin of what eventually became Pastificio Liguori. 1

This date is particularly important to the brand’s identity: Liguori doesn’t simply describe itself as an old pasta company; its marketing is built around the idea of more than two centuries of accumulated pasta-making know-how.

1820 — The pasta factory

In 1820, Gaetano’s son Vincenzo Liguori transformed the family workshop into a proper factory and formally established the Pastificio Liguori.

The factory began using early mechanical equipment, including presses for extruding pasta through dies and machinery for mixing semolina and water.

This transition from artisan workshop to industrial production is an important part of Liguori’s story because the company has continued to emphasize the combination of industrial scale and traditional methods.

1845 — Royal recognition

A major historical milestone came in 1845, when Ferdinand II of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies, visited Gragnano and tasted Liguori pasta.

The pasta factory subsequently received the privilege of supplying long pasta to the king’s summer residence, the Reggia di Quisisana in Castellammare di Stabia.

This episode became part of the historical prestige surrounding the Liguori name.

1939 — Adelina Liguori

In 1939, Adelina Liguori took control of the pasta factory. The company became known as Grande Pastificio Elettrico Adelina Liguori e Fratelli.

Under her leadership, the Alba d’Oro pasta brand became prominent in Gragnano and began reaching national and international markets, including the United States. Liguori describes Adelina as one of the pioneering women entrepreneurs in the pasta industry of her era.

Her role is particularly notable because she was not merely an owner: the company says she became the principal public face of the brand.

1980 — Earthquake and relocation

The 1980 Irpinia earthquake destroyed the company’s historic headquarters on Via Roma.

Gerardo Liguori subsequently reopened the factory at its present location on Via dei Pastai 50, in Gragnano’s industrial area. The move gave the company considerably more space for horizontal industrial production and marked an important stage in its modernization.

1993 — Casillo family

In 1993, the history of Pastificio Liguori entered a new phase under the Casillo family.

The company says that Liguori subsequently strengthened its position around high-quality 100% Italian raw materials and developed its identity as a Made in Italy brand.

2013 — Pasta di Gragnano IGP

One of the most significant modern milestones came in 2013, when Pasta di Gragnano received European PGI/IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) recognition.

Liguori says it was a founding member of the Pasta di Gragnano protection consortium and the first industrial pasta factory to obtain the certification.

For the brand, this certification is particularly important because Gragnano isn’t simply used as a geographical marketing reference. The IGP designation establishes requirements connecting the pasta to its geographical origin and production process.

Liguori’s brand proposition essentially rests on four pillars:

1. Gragnano heritage

The company is located in Gragnano, a town internationally associated with dry pasta production.

Liguori makes the location central to its identity, presenting its pasta as a continuation of a centuries-old local manufacturing tradition rather than simply an Italian pasta manufactured anywhere in Italy.

2. The Liguori Method

The “Liguori Method” is the company’s name for its production know-how.

According to the company, the method represents knowledge transmitted through generations while incorporating modern technology. Its philosophy is essentially conservative transformation: using modern equipment to preserve the characteristics of the raw materials rather than radically altering them.

3. Slow, low-temperature drying

Drying is one of the most strongly emphasized aspects of Liguori’s production.

The company states that its certified drying process takes approximately:

• 9 hours for short pasta
• 18 hours for long pasta

and takes place at relatively low temperatures.

The idea behind this approach is to preserve the sensory and structural qualities of the pasta while avoiding the aggressive high-temperature processing associated with some mass-market production.

4. Italian wheat and traceability

Liguori emphasizes the use of 100% Italian durum wheat and a certified Italian supply chain.

Since 2023, the company has also promoted blockchain-based traceability, allowing consumers to trace information about the wheat supply chain through a QR code on packaging. 2

This is an interesting part of Liguori’s positioning because it contrasts a very old-fashioned product category—traditional dried pasta—with relatively modern digital traceability technology.

Liguori’s portfolio extends well beyond basic spaghetti. Its official range includes:

1795 — Origins

• Classiche IGP
• Speciali IGP
• Speciali – I Nidi
• Tradizionali IGP
• Organic whole-wheat pasta
• Biodynamic pasta
• Organic IGP pasta
• Gluten-free pasta
• Gnocchi
• Oven/baking products
• Squid-ink pasta

The company therefore operates across both the traditional premium-pasta segment and more specialized dietary/product categories.

Pasta di Gragnano IGP

This is probably the most important certification associated with Liguori.

Pasta di Gragnano IGP is protected under the European geographical-indication system. The designation connects the product with Gragnano and establishes requirements concerning how the pasta is produced.

Liguori describes Pasta di Gragnano IGP as the only dried durum-wheat semolina pasta to have received this particular IGP protection.

For Liguori, IGP functions as more than a regulatory label: it reinforces the brand’s central argument that place, production technique and pasta quality are interconnected.

Liguori underwent a significant rebranding and packaging redesign in 2019.

The company restored elements of its historic 1950s logo and adopted a distinctive white, blue and red corporate color scheme. The packaging also incorporated a 100%-recyclable paper format, according to the company.

In 2023, Liguori carried out a further, more conservative packaging restyling. The new presentation was designed to make several product claims more immediately visible, including:

• 100% Italian certified wheat supply chain
• Slow drying
• Certified drying times
• The Liguori Method
• Blockchain-based traceability
• FSC-certified paper packaging

So visually, the brand tries to balance heritage and modernity: historical logos and Italian identity on one side, certification, blockchain and sustainability messaging on the other.

Although Liguori has extremely old origins, its current international strategy is comparatively modern.

The company says Pasta Liguori is now sold in more than 70 countries.

A 2026 trade publication profile provides a somewhat different and more recent figure, reporting that the company had expanded from approximately 40 markets to more than 96 countries and that around 65% of its products were exported. The same profile reported 105 employees, a 30,000-square-metre site and annual production capacity of approximately 115,000 tonnes.

The discrepancy with Liguori’s own “70+ countries” figure may reflect different definitions or different reporting dates, so the 70+ figure is treated as the company’s conservative published figure and the 96-country figure as a more recent trade-publication report.

The company operating the brand is Pastificio Liguori S.p.A., based at:

Via dei Pastai 50, 80054 Gragnano (Naples), Italy.

Liguori describes itself as an Italian family-owned food company.

The modern company therefore combines a family-business heritage with industrial-scale manufacturing and international distribution.

Sustainability is increasingly incorporated into Liguori’s brand proposition.

Some of the initiatives highlighted by the company include:

• Italian agricultural supply chains
• Blockchain traceability
• Recyclable/FSC-certified paper packaging
• Shorter supply-chain relationships
• Emphasis on local agriculture
• Modern production technology intended to preserve traditional processing

The blockchain initiative is particularly distinctive. Rather than using traceability purely as an internal supply-chain system, Liguori has incorporated it into the consumer-facing experience through package QR codes.

In simple terms, Liguori sits in the premium Italian pasta segment.

Its positioning can be summarized as:

Ancient Gragnano heritage + Italian ingredients + traditional production + modern traceability.

It is not trying to compete primarily as the cheapest everyday pasta. Instead, the brand emphasizes provenance, craftsmanship, certifications and production methodology.

This puts it in a similar broad competitive space to other premium Italian pasta brands, but Liguori’s strongest differentiator is its combination of 1795 heritage, Gragnano IGP certification and the Liguori Method.

Liguori is an interesting example of how an old Italian food manufacturer can modernize without abandoning its historical identity.

Its brand story has several layers:

1. 1795 origin — gives the company exceptional historical credibility.
2. Gragnano — connects the product to one of Italy’s most famous pasta-making locations.
3. Family heritage — reinforces authenticity and continuity.
4. Pasta di Gragnano IGP — provides geographical and regulatory credibility.
5. Slow drying and bronze-die production — communicate traditional quality.
6. 100% Italian wheat — reinforces Made in Italy positioning.
7. Blockchain traceability — gives the centuries-old brand a modern technological dimension.
8. International expansion — transforms a historically local Gragnano producer into a global premium-food brand.

Liguori (Pastificio Liguori S.p.A.) is a historic Italian pasta manufacturer founded in Gragnano in 1795 by Gaetano Liguori. After developing from a family workshop into an industrial pasta factory in the 19th century, the company survived major changes including the 1980 Irpinia earthquake and entered a new phase under the Casillo family in 1993. Today, Liguori produces a broad range of Italian pasta, with particular emphasis on Pasta di Gragnano IGP, 100% Italian durum wheat, slow low-temperature drying and its proprietary Liguori Method. The brand combines centuries-old Gragnano pasta-making traditions with modern technology such as blockchain supply-chain traceability and sustainable packaging, and has established an international presence across dozens of countries. 3

1. I Valori | Pastificio Liguori
2. Pastificio Liguori
3. Pastificio Liguori – Flipbook by Proactive Publications Ltd