Current archeological research is leading us now to believe pasta was in Italy way before Marco Polo did his exploration trip to China. Here are a few finds that establish this:
The year was 1279, when the notary Ugolino Scarpa, listing what the soldier Ponzio Bastone left in his will, cites among other things "bariscella una plena de macaronis" (one basket full of macaroni). Even earlier, in 1244, a doctor from Bergamo promises a weaver in Genoa that he would be healed from a disease he had in his mouth if he stopped eating meat, fruit or cabbage or pasta: "... et non comedere debes de aliquo frutamine carne bovina neque nec neque sicca de de pasta de lissa Caulis nee ... " (Roberto S. Lopez "Down and Out in the history of Genoa").
The case here is this: Marco Polo only returned to Venice in 1292! Proper dating of these three events alone disproves any lingering doubts: the pasta was not brought back to Italy from China, Italians knew already about it before the hero of "il Milione" returned from his adventurous journey.
Then was it actually Italians who invented pasta? It seems very risky to go all in on this one since the invention of pasta, in our opinion, was not an invention but rather
the result of a naturally occuring chain of events.
Wheat was discovered and exploited about 10,000 years ago, when it was discovered that by crushing the beans, one could make flour, the men also began producing the first wheat dough that was baked on hot stones, which must have looked like thin cakes, the famous flat bread . By cooking the mixture flour-water on the stones to boil water in the passage is short and natural. The earliest testimonies of pasta cooked in water in fact date back to 3000 BC.
with sculpted reliefs in an Etruscan tomb of the fourth century. BC, which
depicts the interior of a typical Etruscan house: the two central pillars are hung, among other things, the pastry board, rolling pin, the toothed wheel etc... The presence of these tools in
an everyday life depiction shows us pasta was very much part of their lives back then!
Since its very humble beginnings the dough has been with us, which was discovered probably by accident (like many other great inventions). There seems therefore correct to speak of "invention" when referring to a category of food whose production and consumption are natural consequences of civilization. However, what is undeniable is that Marco Polo was not the one who taught italians to eat spaghetti!
Neither was it the Neapolitans who invented the dry pasta. The macaroni was not born in Naples, this is historically documented, but certainly it was in this city that they have received their highest level of enthousiasm: the innate wisdom of the Neapolitan gastronomy, made of enthusiasm, insight and hints, has been accepted enriched and did just that food. So that towards the end of the 6th century, it has become a staple for everyday meals and, turning the people af Naples from being salad eaters to macaroni lovers, creating an everlasting symbiosis!
To read some traditional, authentic italian recipes,
please click that link.