Perfect for cherry tomato and basil sauce, seafood, a fillet of fish, zucchini with ricotta, or simply a drizzle of olive oil and lemon: mezzi paccheri were designed for one thing—to be filled with a light sauce and release it with every bite.

You recognize a paccheri by its shape: a generous, wide tube that fills up before it even reaches your mouth. Mezzi paccheri are the shorter version. Bronze-extruded at a low temperature, they retain the full firmness of durum wheat under the tooth.

First bite, and the tube opens under the tooth like a little surprise. It is firm, al dente, then the sauce—fresh tomato that still smells of basil—bursts from within, warm, sweet, and light. I am on a terrace in Italy, on an endless summer evening, a frosted glass of white wine within reach, and someone places a second dish on the table without anyone having asked for it. No one speaks, because every bite is full.

The taste
First bite, and the tube opens under the tooth like a little surprise. It is firm, al dente, then the sauce—fresh tomato that still smells of basil—bursts from within, warm, sweet, and light. I am on a terrace in Italy, on an endless summer evening, a frosted glass of white wine within reach, and someone places a second dish on the table without anyone having asked for it. No one speaks, because every bite is full.

Imagine a summer table in Italy…
The tomatoes were picked that very morning, the olive oil shines in the bowl, the basil is still on the cutting board. Someone calls out: “The pasta is ready!” The mezzi paccheri arrive in the large dish, steaming, and are passed from hand to hand. A simple, quick dish, and yet the one everyone talks about the next day.

The house behind the package
Pasta Alica’s Mezzi Paccheri are made from selected 100% Italian wheat, bronze-extruded at a low temperature to preserve all the nutritional value and healthy proteins of durum wheat. Pasta Alica carries on a family expertise that began in the 1920s in Laurenzana, in the province of Potenza, with Grandmother Anna and two of her thirteen sons, Rocco and Francesco, who opened a small grocery store for the region’s farmers. In 1928, this shop became the wholesale business of Michele Crisci, one of the most important in southern Italy, and that same family passion still guides Pasta Alica today.

Ingredients: durum wheat semolina and water. Nothing else.

How to cook them
The cooking time is indicated on the package. But, as the manufacturer says, pasta is like a feeling: it is ready when it is ready, neither before nor after. Taste, trust your heart rather than the clock, and serve them with a fresh, light sauce.

You don’t buy mezzi paccheri for an ordinary meal…
You buy them for that moment when the light sauce slips inside each tube, when the kitchen smells of tomato and basil, and when a weeknight dinner feels like a vacation.

A moment of escape, anywhere in Canada
It is 5:30 p.m., the sky is already gray, and the snow is melting on the front door mat in Halifax, Ottawa, and Calgary alike. You drain these mezzi paccheri, the steam rises, and for the duration of one plate, you are elsewhere: in Italy, where this gesture has never changed. And you find yourself asking: “Is there any left?”

Why our customers love them

• 🇮🇹 Made in Italy
• 🌾 100% selected Italian wheat
• ⚙️ Bronze-extruded at a low temperature to retain the nutritional value and proteins of durum wheat
• 🍝 Generous wide tube, ideal with fresh, light sauces
• 🍅 Perfect with cherry tomatoes, seafood, fish, or vegetables
• 👵 Italian family heritage passed down since the 1920s
• ⏱️ Cooking time indicated on the package
• ❤️ And above all: a weeknight dinner that tastes like summer in Italy