While the bigger pasta companies cannot subsist on Italian wheat alone, for smaller manufacturers, it is an increasingly appealing option.

Mr. Felicetti began his foray into domestic wheat 16 years ago, inspired by another Italian specialty: grappa. In the early 1970s, Italian distillers, which had long made virtually indistinguishable grappas from mounds of undifferentiated grape pomace — the freshly crushed skins, seeds and pulp — began using the carefully selected pomace of single grape varieties.

“Once, there was grappa, period,” Mr. Felicetti said. “Now there are monovarietal grappas — chardonnay, pinot nero, etc.” He added: “Around 2000, I began thinking you could do something similar with pasta. Instead of using a mix of Italian and imported grains, we could use monovarietal grains, grown in a specific place. Certainly, it would be a lot more complicated, but it would have a distinctive value and a competitive advantage.”

In 2004, after extensive experimentation to determine which wheat varieties performed best in particular regions, Pastificio Felicetti began manufacturing a line of pasta called Monograno, or “one grain.” Tasting notes on the packaging resemble the jottings of a sommelier: “stone cooked bread, butter and bamboo shoots” or “peanut butter and red date.”

Pastificio Felicetti makes about 400 tons of Monograno pastas annually, about 15 percent of its total production. In 2014, its Monograno Spaghettoni, made from a variety of wheat called Matt, grown in Apulia in southern Italy, won the Specialty Food Association’s Sofi Award in the pasta, rice or grain category. Another Monograno pasta won the same prize in 2016.

In 2013, Pastificio Felicetti began using only Italian wheat for all of its pastas, although Mr. Felicetti emphasized that the decision had more to do with streamlining production than it did with concerns about the quality of his ingredients.

“We don’t necessarily consider Italian durum wheat to be the best,” he said, “but for us, getting wheat from Italy simplifies control of the supply chain.”