N o trip to Italy is complete without art appreciation. But not all of the country’s great works are on display in museums or public squares. Aesthetically pleasing and mouthwater-ing pastries, breads and pizzas are edible works of art that epitomize Italy’s reputation as a center of culinary masterpieces. These edible creations require the best ingre-dients. Behind the scenes, bakery customers across Italy rely on flour miller Agugiaro & Figna, a family-owned firm with operations dating to the 1400s, and a customer of CHS hard red spring wheat originating in western North Dakota. “In Italy, we have a lot of bakery products,” says Giorgio Agugiaro, company president. “The wheat CHS provides from the United States has charac-teristics not available in Europe, which reduces stress for us and our customers. Removing the stress is extremely precious to us.” keeps a close eye on the 40,000 tons of wheat he purchases from CHS each year, going as far as western North Dakota to visit Southwest Grain Co-op, its growers and their crops. When you’re putting your family seal on the bread you bake, there’s no cutting corners. “This organization and its plants are really amaz-ing in doing what we require,” he says. “What we have to achieve is consistent, good quality.” From massive elevators in North Dakota’s far reaches, identity-preserved wheat bound for Italy travels by rail to the CHS export terminal at Superior, Wis. At the terminal, it is loaded into 18,000-to 22,000-metric-ton oceangoing vessels and shipped across the Atlantic to Ravenna, Italy, on the Adriatic Sea. From there, it travels by truck to Agugiaro & Figna mills. Art Meets Science As Italy’s third-largest miller, Agugiaro & Figna produces more than 100 varieties of flour. The company supplies a wide range of customers, but made its mark three decades ago as the first miller to produce flour specifically for pizzerias. Today it is considered the industry quality leader, serving 60 percent of that vast market. Pizza dough requires a high-gluten, “strong” flour to provide the elasticity that gives it “tossed-in-the air” consistency. The company operates three mills: one at Perugia near Rome; one at Parma, the city famous for Parmesan cheese; and a third at Padua, with a main structure erected in the 15th century by a Venetian lord. The Agugiaro family has been involved in that mill since 1831 and became its owner in 1916, establishing the current joint venture company with the Figna family in recent years. Despite the picturesque settings and quaint exteriors, there is nothing Old World about Agugiaro & Figna. Its mills feature leading-edge equipment, along with modern laboratories and testing facilities. At Padua, a well-equipped bakery allows two researchers to put flour and other ingredients to the test under real-life conditions to craft crusts, breads and traditional delicacies like the barrel-shaped Italian panettone Christmas cake. To maintain the company’s high-end reputation and customer commitment, Riccardo Agugiaro Vital Link Careful handling and identity preservation also are critical to another Italian family business, the Lusignani artisan bakery located an hour’s jour-ney from Parma via winding mountain roads. Inside a building recently constructed with only “natural” materials, Gabrielle Lusignani, his father, brother and uncle proudly bake the old way. Dough for their 20-plus varieties of hearty Riccardo Agugiaro, left, general manager of Agugiaro & Figna mills, discusses upcoming needs for North Dakota wheat with Roger Baker, CHS grain merchandiser. Your CHS Connection 21