It all began
in a small manufactory
in San Damiano d’Asti
The history of Rey Pastificio is that of a family closely linked to San Damiano d’Asti, where the brothers Damiano and Giuseppe Rey started their business as pasta makers and master bakers in 1851.
From the very beginning, pasta was a passion of the family and the first speciality were the ‘willow leaves’, a shape consisting of a pasta sheet kneaded into a roll, from which small slices were cut and shaped by hand, giving them the characteristic leaf shape, ideal for soups and stews.
1951
In 1951, Maria Rey, the heiress of the founders, took over the business giving it an enourmous boost. In those years, up to 130 quintals of loose pasta were sold on market days. Four people were employed at the counter to weigh and pack the pasta in white paper bags.
The shop opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m., often later. The shapes produced were maccaroni, spaghetti and spaghettini, linguine, casarecce, filini and tagliatelle.
GROTH
In the 1960s, the company moved into a 2500 square metre warehouse, which was gradually expanded to its current size of 11000 square metres.
In spite of the great entrepreneurial growth, the company remained characterised by craftsmanship until 1985: The moulds were still made by hand, the square spaghetti was processed with a cutting machine as in the past and the pasta was dried for a long time in the drying cells.
INDUSTRIALISATION
Maria remained in the business until her death at the age of 92, following the work of her children Domenico, Franco, Pierluigi and Carla, who had joined the company in the meantime.
With them came the turning point, Pastificio Rey embarked on the path of industrialisation and increased production while maintaining product quality.
THE EDEKA GROUP
More recently, Rey Pastificio was taken over by the German EDEKA Group, while maintaining its Italian spirit, philosophy and passion for excellence.
