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I'm Italian, now living in US for some months.
As you may know we like pasta, I tried Barilla here, our best known pasta brand. Well.. the taste seems a little bit different for me.
It is actually produced here and not imported, so could be different.
Looking at the Italian/US version of package doesn't seems to be a big a difference, except the fact that US version is enriched with vitamins (they shouldn't change the taste).
To did deeper into the question and avoid any other factor (cooking water, sauce, subjectivity) I want to bring a box back to Italy and run a test with a panel (10 friends basically).

I would cook the same quantity of the same pasta shape of Barilla (ITA/USA) in the same pan (keeping them separated of course), so same water and same salt amount. Then same sauce (same quantity) for both.
Suppose A is italian pasta and B is US pasta.

Now.. how should I give it to the participants ? same amount of A and B in a blind test and ask whether are different or not ? Maybe giving to some participants A-A or B-B (always blind test). Or maybe give first A (which they already know, so not blind) and then give someone (blind this time) again A or B and ask which one they think it is..

Looking for suggestion, I want to be as most scientific as possible.
I also contacted Barilla, they claim the pasta is exactly the same.
Thanks

The best approach is to use a triangle test. This would be the standard used in sensory sciences. It is easy, and it will be a fun thing to do with friends. Basically, each friend (panelist) is provided with three blind samples. Two are the same, and one is different. The objective is for them to tell you which one is different. The validity is enhanced if you randomize the possible combinations across your participants. All the necessary info is in the link. I would be curious to hear the results!

I would suggest rather than testing it on other people who may not be able to tell the difference to have someone do a blind taste test on you. I would try the pasta without a sauce, or have a very simple sauce so you can really taste the pasta. Cooking it in the same pan at the same time sounds tricky, but if you can figure a way to keep them separated it would eliminate some variables.

If you want to test on a group of people it's best to keep it simple. An A-A and B-B test is never a bad idea, but you'd need to double your sample size in order to get decent results. If you have 8 or 10 guests split them in half and give half A first and the other half B first, that way you have 4 or 5 people trying each.

By the way, De Cecco pasta is available in the states and I'm pretty certain it's only made in Italy. I way prefer it to Barilla, if you can find it that might be the way to go.