De Cecco Flagship Store

2026

Client: De Cecco


Conceived as a scalable and flexible retail format, this pilot project marks De Cecco’s first proprietary retail space. The design translates nearly two centuries of industrial heritage into an architectural experience.

Rather than a conventional point of sale, the space is designed as a cultural outpost and a curated exhibition environment—a place where the everyday act of buying pasta becomes an experience of discovery, education, and dialogue. The modular system establishes a direct relationship between the brand and its customers, complementing De Cecco's longstanding distribution network with an environment that showcases rare, curated selections.

The Concept: Water, Wheat, Steel, Stone, and Bronze

The spatial concept translates the essence of De Cecco into an architectural language, balancing advanced industrial production with the precision and values of artisanal pasta making. Five elemental materials articulate the space:

Water and Stone: Water flows directly from a monolithic service counter carved from white Maiella stone. This interactive installation pays tribute to the natural spring that has supplied De Cecco's historic production site for nearly two centuries.

Wheat: A vertical wall installation distills pasta production to its most essential ingredients, presenting the milling and refining of wheat as a contemporary narrative rather than a nostalgic rural image.

Steel and Bronze: Steel structures define the display system, expressing the precision and serial logic of industrial production. Authentic bronze extrusion dies—sourced directly from De Cecco’s factories—are integrated into the architecture to celebrate the brand's manufacturing heritage.

The Entrance Pedestals: Visitors are greeted by two sculptural plinths in white Maiella stone topped with circular bronze extrusion dies. This dialogue between raw stone and precision-engineered bronze sets the tone for the entire interior.

A Dynamic Display System: Drawing inspiration from museum exhibition design, a modular timber wall supports a framework of vertical steel tubes. Facing the entrance, free-standing stainless-steel modules present individual pasta shapes as singular artifacts. Behind the counter, the same system adopts an ordered, geometric configuration to display the wider product range. Entirely modular, every component of the display system has been engineered for serial manufacture, ensuring controlled production costs and straightforward replication across future locations.

Visual Research: The space features a dedicated photographic series by Alessio Pellicoro, offering an honest, uncompromised look at the production steps inside the historic factory in Fara San Martino, reinforcing the dialogue between design and industrial manufacturing.

De Cecco Flagship Store | Model 1:20

Project Credits: