When he opened a modest pasta shop in Parma, Italy, in 1877, Pietro Barilla had a dream:  to supply his neighborhood with the freshest, most delicious food to be shared with loved ones at home.  Now, 130 years later, his handiwork has become the best-selling premium pasta in Italy and around the world. 
 
Pietro opened his small shop on Via Vittorio Emanuele, a busy shopping street in the northern Italian city of Parma, located in Emilia-Romagna, a region renowned for its cuisine and rich
agricultural heritage.  Pietro and his son, Riccardo, worked side by side making fresh bread and pasta by hand.  Their signature sunshine yellow, horse-drawn carts would travel through the early morning streets of Parma, laden with fresh Barilla products. By the turn of the century, father and son purchased a warehouse, which today still stands on the same street – now renamed Viale Barilla – in Parma.
 
Quality and Family
From the beginning, product quality was paramount for Barilla, a factor dependent on the superior quality of the durum wheat flour, or semolina, used to make the pasta.
 
 
Legend has it that Riccardo Barilla would dust the sleeves of his black suit with the semolina.  If no specks remained after he brushed it off, the flour was dry enough and finely ground enough to use in Barilla pasta.
 
This strong dedication to quality stems from the belief that food is not purely functional, but serves to nourish our soul and to enhance our way of life.
 
Pasta itself, is more than just an ingredient, it is the central thread that binds a culture and families. These are the values Pietro embedded in his company. Today, Guido, Luca and Paolo Barilla are the fourth generation of the Barilla family to carry on Pietro’s dedication to tradition and excellence.
 
Barilla is now the world leader in pasta production, manufacturing over 4,000 tons of pasta daily in over 120 shapes and sizes at 30 state-of-the-art facilities around the globe. 
 
Despite its global scope and international popularity, Barilla has not changed the philosophy that has guided it for four generations – it remains dedicated to developing, creating and sharing delicious, wholesome products with the “global neighborhood.”