Salento, Lecce province, Puglia. The dish is specifically Salentine and is considered one of the oldest documented pasta preparations in Italy. The Arab influence on Salentine cooking (via the Norman-Arab-Byzantine Sicily connection) is preserved in the name tria.
Ciceri e tria is one of the oldest documented pasta dishes in Italy, specifically associated with the Salento area of Puglia: wide pasta strips (tria — derived from the Arabic 'itria', meaning pasta) half-fried in olive oil until crisp and half-cooked in the chickpea broth. The fried and boiled tria are combined with the chickpeas — the fried strips provide crunch and a roasted-oil flavour; the boiled strips provide the familiar soft pasta texture. The combination of two textures from the same pasta, in the same bowl, is the central technique of the dish. It has been prepared in Salento since at least the medieval period.
Ciceri e tria is a study in textural contrast — the soft, broth-soaked boiled pasta strips and the crisp, oil-roasted fried strips in the same bowl create an alternating experience of yielding and crunchy. The chickpeas are earthy and soft; the broth is starchy and slightly sweet; the olive oil ties everything together. It is one of the most ancient pasta preparations still served, and it still surprises.
The tria dough: semolina rimacinata and warm water, rolled thin (2mm) and cut into wide strips (2-3cm, 15-20cm long). Divide the cut pasta: one-third is reserved for frying, two-thirds for boiling in the chickpea broth. Fry the reserved strips in olive oil at 175°C until golden and crisp (2-3 minutes per side). Drain on paper. Cook the chickpeas in plenty of water until tender (the cooking liquid is kept as the broth). Add the remaining two-thirds of pasta to the chickpea broth — cook until al dente. The dish is assembled: chickpeas and broth in bowls, topped with the boiled pasta, then the fried crisp pasta strips arranged on top. Finish with raw olive oil, garlic, and optional dried chilli.
The Arabic name 'tria' (from 'itria') preserves one of the oldest documented references to pasta in the Mediterranean world — it appears in the 12th-century Sicilian-Arab geographic source Kitāb al-Rujārī. The dish's structure (fried and boiled pasta combined) may reflect the ancient practice of preserving pasta by frying it for storage. The fried strips keep well in a sealed container for a day — they can be prepared ahead.
Frying too much pasta — the contrast requires more boiled than fried; the fried strips are the garnish, not the main element. Frying in oil that isn't hot enough — the strips become greasy rather than crisp. Not cooking the chickpeas in the same pot the pasta will cook in — the starchy broth is the sauce. Losing the crunch by adding the fried strips too early — they go on immediately before serving.
Oretta Zanini de Vita, Encyclopedia of Pasta; Slow Food Editore, Puglia in Cucina