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In the year 1154 AD, a full century before Marco Polo was born, an Arab geographer named al-Idrīsī sat in the court of King Roger II of Sicily, completing one of the most ambitious and advanced mapping projects of the medieval world.

His book, 𝘕𝘶𝘻𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭-𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘵𝘢̄𝘲 (The Pleasure of One Who Longs to Travel), documented cities, trade routes, and resources across the known world.

When he described Sicily, al-Idrīsī recorded something remarkable about a small village called Trabia, just outside Palermo:

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘺𝘺𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘴.”

Read that again.

Exported 𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘺𝘺𝘢 (dried pasta). In great quantities. By ship. To Christian and Muslim lands.

This wasn’t a mere kitchen curiosity. This was an industry. A trade good. Food deliberately prepared for one revolutionary purpose…

𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭.

Fresh dough pasta spoiled in days. But dried pasta could survive Mediterranean crossings, desert caravans, and months in a ship's hold. It was portable calories in an age when much fresh food spoiled before reaching distant markets.

In a world connected by trade routes spanning three continents, this was extraordinarily valuable.

So if pasta was already flowing out of Sicily in 1154, carried on the same ships and caravans as pepper from India and silk moving west through Persia…

Where did it go?

Who ate it?

How far did those sun-dried wheat strands travel along the medieval world’s greatest highways like the spice routes and the Silk Road networks?

𝘐𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘺𝘺𝘢: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 is a social media chronicle of one fictional Sicilian merchant who decided to find out...

His name is Amir ibn Yusuf al-Trabī.

His family has made itriyya in Trabia, Sicily, for three generations.

And in 1154, instead of simply selling his pasta to middlemen in Palermo’s port, he makes a choice that will change his life…he will follow it himself.

From Trabia to Palermo, across the sea to Alexandria, up the Nile to Cairo, then by ship to Aden, through the Strait of Hormuz, into Baghdad, across deserts to Samarkand, and finally to Kashgar…a single journey tracing how pasta traveled the medieval world’s greatest trade arteries, from the heart of the Mediterranean to the threshold of China.

𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵…

Amir is an invented character.

But the cities are real. The trade routes are real. The dates, rulers, and geographical details are real. The cosmopolitan markets, the monsoon-driven commerce, the legendary caravanserais (fortified roadside inns) are real.

The journey Amir takes, the merchants he meets, and the foods he discovers reflect the historical mechanisms through which pasta could travel the medieval world.

It was carried by people who understood something we’ve largely forgotten: that the roads connecting us have always been there, and the food we share has always been the language we all speak.

Spanning 10 posts over 10 days starting February 1st, you’ll follow Amir’s journey.

Each installment will take you to a new city along the Spice Routes and Silk Road.

Each one reveals not just where pasta went, but what it meant: how trade worked, how cultures blended, how a simple food became a bridge between civilizations.

By the end, you’ll never look at a bowl of Sicilian pasta the same way again.

𝘐𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘺𝘺𝘢: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴.