Protected pasta names

Protected pasta names are pasta products whose name is registered in the EU as a geographical indication, so only producers in a defined area who follow an approved specification may use it. The rules are set by Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, and the official register is eAmbrosia. Almost all pasta names are PGIs (protected geographical indications): at least one stage of production must take place in the named area, but raw materials such as semolina may come from elsewhere. A PDO, by contrast, requires every stage to happen locally.

The register lists 13 registered pasta names. Italy has six: Pasta di Gragnano, dry durum wheat pasta from the town of Gragnano near Naples, traditionally bronze-drawn and slowly dried; Maccheroncini di Campofilone, very thin egg pasta from the Marche; Pizzoccheri della Valtellina, short flat ribbons made with buckwheat flour in Lombardy; Cappellacci di zucca ferraresi, filled pasta with pumpkin from Ferrara; Culurgionis d'Ogliastra, Sardinian dumplings filled with potato, cheese and mint and closed with a wheat-ear pleat; and Sebadas di Sardegna, fried pastry filled with cheese and served with honey. Germany protects Schwäbische Spätzle and Schwäbische Maultaschen, France protects Pâtes d'Alsace (egg pasta) and Raviole du Dauphiné (small ravioli with cheese and parsley), Cyprus protects Makaronia tis Smilas and Tertziellouthkia, and China's Longkou Fen Si, a starch vermicelli, is also registered. Applications have been filed for Turkish Kayseri Mantısı and Slovak Pukanské párance.

Each specification fixes the ingredients, method and area. Products from the EU must show the registered name together with the yellow-and-blue PGI symbol, and imitations or evocations, such as a "Gragnano-style" pasta made elsewhere, are prohibited.

For the buyer, the name is a short guarantee of origin and method and an easy way to find regional specialities. Many of them belong to other groups on this site: Filled pasta, Egg pasta, and Gnocchi and spätzle. A PGI does not grade taste: it certifies only that the product follows its specification.