Last updated on August 5, 2023
Long like spaghetti or short like mezze penne, with ridges, fresh like gnocchi or dried like farfalle: but always buonissima. An overview of the types of Italian pasta, made by Italians.
After our introduction to Italian pasta, we dedicate this page to the different types and shapes of pasta.
Classifying Italian pasta is not easy: because there are as many varieties as there are traditional local cuisines; and often a single type of pasta is known by several names.
Besides the shapes, we also speak about the ingredients with which the pasta is made - different between the north and south of the peninsula.
As on all pages of All Italian, we share occasional anecdotes about the Italian Culture and explain the meaning of the Italian words and pronunciation. For example, we say 🔊 spaghetti and not 🔊 spagetti.
On this page
When we Italians write about pasta in English, we sometimes confuse the plural and the singular. This is because the names of pasta in Italian are usually plural.
In the plate there are many pieces of pasta: tagliatelle, spaghetti, penne. They are all plural words.
The Italian words we use on this page:
| 🔊 Orecchiette | (literally) Little ears |
| 🔊 Conchiglie | (literally) Shells |
On All Italian we often talk about traditional Italian pasta. But of course the traditions are many and change from region to region.
For example, spaghetti and fusilli are types of pasta typical of the regions of southern Italy, because they are made with durum wheat semolina, produced in the south.
In northern Italy, instead, soft wheat flour was used, with which we traditionally make tagliatelle and gnocchi.
The shape of the pasta therefore depends on the local ingredients, just like for Italian pasta sauces.
🔊 Fusilli is a type of pasta typical of the regions of southern Italy. Fusilli can be fresh or dried and in both cases it is made with durum wheat semolina, salt and water.
It is a popular type of pasta, thanks to the shape that holds the sauce well.
The spiral shape of modern dried fusilli, that of the supermarket, was invented in 1924 by an Italian in New York, Guido Tanzi.
Fresh fusilli have a different shape: they are typical from the regions of Campania, Molise, Basilicata, Sicily.
👉 If you look closely, you can see that the classic fusilli of Barilla are different from those of other brands, such as De Cecco: the spiral of fusilli is less dense.
The Italians notice: the shape changes the perception of the taste of pasta.
There is a controversial relationship between Italians and 🔊 penne. All good with penne rigate, but penne lisce?
When Italians ran to the supermarket to get some supplies in March 2020, the pasta shelves emptied.
Only one type of pasta remained: penne lisce.
The newspapers then wrote: Italians want no penne lisce, even in an emergency.
We at All Italian also confirm: a plate of penne rigate with minced meat sauce? Good idea. But a plate of smooth pen? No, thank you.
This is because penne lisce, the one from the big brands, doesn't hold the sauce as well, because it doesn't have grooves on the surface.
Moreover, it is more difficult to pick up with a fork.
Penne made by artisanal pasta factories (🔊 pastificio) is different.
When made with high-quality ingredients, such as 100% durum wheat semolina, the surface of penne lisce is rough and porous, suitable for combining with the sauce.
The ridges were originally used to mask inferior quality pasta: the ridges work as a reinforcement structure.
🔊 Farfalle means butterflies in Dutch: thanks to the shape of course.
A type of pasta loved by many, less so by some. I who write belong to the latter: because it is difficult to cook farfalle al dente.
In the middle the dough is very dense, folded four times, unlike at the ends.
Farfalle are very tasty with minced meat sauce, and also in the classic and elegant farfalle recipe with salmon and cream .
Farfalle is also an excellent type of pasta for pasta salads (🔊 pasta fredda in Italian), a fresh summer pasta dish.
Farfalle has a simple and creative origin: it is made from leftover pasta, for example when making lasagna or tagliatelle. The leftover pasta is squeezed between the fingers and this creates the shape of butterflies.
We've written a whole page about macaroni because it's not easy to understand what Italians call macaroni mean.
Macaroni is an American word, and refers to a specific type of pasta, such as here in the Netherlands.
In Italy, on the other hand, they say 🔊 maccheroni, not "macaroni"; word that symbolizes a different type of pasta for each region.
When macaroni is mentioned, this famous scene from the movie Un Americano a Roma with the Italian actor Alberto Sordi is shown.
The main character calls «maccheroni» a pasta dish that resembles spaghetti.
Italian maccheroni are also sold in supermarkets, with a shape that is practically the same as another type of pasta, the mezzi sedani.
🔊 Orecchiette means "little ears", because of their shape. It is a kind of fresh pasta that is typical from Apulia.
On the page dedicated to orecchiette we mentioned Via delle Orecchiette in Bari, where the ladies produce handmade orecchiette all day long.
Making fresh orecchiette is easy and very satisfying.
The ingredients of the orecchiette are typical of pasta from southern Italy: durum wheat semolina, water and salt.
The most typical recipe for orecchiette is with turnip greens, as they cook it in the regions of Apulia and Basilicata.
Typical of the Emilian tradition, tagliatelle pasta is made with eggs.
The name 🔊 tagliatelle comes from "to cut", "to cut": this type of pasta is made by cutting large sheets of fresh pasta.
This type of pasta is rolled into a spherical shape after cutting; for this reason in Italy it becomes 🔊 pasta a nido ( nest form).
As we wrote on the page about Italian pasta, the tradition of pasta in Italy differs between the south and the north of the country.
In the south it is typical dried pasta, of excellent quality, and made exclusively with durum wheat semolina that grows there.
In Northern Italy, with a different climate, soft wheat grows, used for fresh pasta.
Especially in Emilia Romagna, the great tradition of fresh egg pasta has developed. Tagliatelle, together with lasagne, is a famous example of this tradition.
Tagliatelle is already mentioned in 1891 by writer and gastronome Pellegrino Artusi in the most important Italian cookbook of all time: The science in the kitchen and the art of eating well (La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene).
The iconic tagliatelle recipe is of course with meat sauce, the bolognese sauce. Tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce is the typical festive dish in Italian homes, like the smell of ragu prepared on Saturday or Sunday morning.
Bucatini is a type of pasta similar to spaghetti, but thicker and hollow in the middle. It is typical from the Lazio region in central Italy.
Bucatini goes well with meat sauce, tomato sauce and amatriciana sauce: bucatini all'amatriciana is an iconic pasta dish from Rome.
Amatriciana sauce was invented in the nearby town of Amatrice, on the border between the regions of Abruzzo and Lazio, where it was typically eaten with spaghetti.
In Rome, on the other hand, amatriciana is eaten with bucatini.
Tip: don't order bucatini with tomato sauce if you wear white clothes. With bucatini it is even very easy to get your shirt dirty: when you roll bucatini around the fork, the sauce is thrown from the inside to the edges of the plate with a whip effect.
👉 If you cook bucatini, you don't have to break it before putting it in water; just like spaghetti and other types of long Italian pasta.
Bucatini only needs a few seconds to completely submerge in the boiling pasta water.
We frequently update our pages on Italian pasta with new traditional regional recipes.
I am Italian from Trentino. I studied philosophy in Padua and worked for many years between Milan and Amsterdam in the field of media and culture.
Since 2021 I write on All Italian to practice foreign languages; meanwhile I share with you the customs and traditions of my country, and the recipes that I prepare at home.