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What’s your pasta?

As the 2023 Giro d’Italia races towards Rome, we take a look at the origins of pasta – Italy’s staple food and the fuel of the cycle pros…

Pasta was first served in Italy as early as the 4th Century BC, having travelled from China’s Shang dynasty around 1700 BC in the form of flour noodles. After a stop-over in Ancient Greece in 1000 BC where it collected the Greek term laganon, (strips of dough made with flour and water known today as lasagne) it arrived in Etruscan Italy around the 4th century BC and was soon the dish of the day throughout the regions known today as Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany.

Later, thanks to the Renaissance, pasta was transformed from a humble staple into the passionate, culinary art it is today.
But if Il Bel Paese can’t claim to have invented dry pasta (pasta secca), Ancient Rome was at least the birthplace of fresh pasta (pasta fresca), made by adding water to semolina flour and intended for immediate consumption.

Most pastas take their name from the Italian description of their shape. And while the Italian names for the everyday nosh may sound exotic to the non-Italian ear, here’s the meaning of some familiar pasta favourites. Enjoy!

Italian Pasta nameEnglish TranslationShape
BucatiniLittle holesTubular spaghetti
CannelloniLarge little canesLarge stuffed tube
ConchiglieShellsSea shells
Capellini d’angeloAngel hairFinest round-rod strands
FarfalleButterfliesBow-tie, butterfly shape
FettucineLittle ribbonsRibbons
FusilliRiflesCorkscrew
GomitiElbow macaroniBent macaroni
MaccheroniMacaroni
(Often used in Southern Italy as a general word for all pasta)
Short tubes
GnocchiKnots (as in wood)Balls
LasagneCooking potWide flat pasta sheets
LinguineLittle tonguesLong ribbons
OrecchietteLittle earsEar shaped
MezzeluneHalf moonsSemi-circular parcels
PaccheriSlaps (with reference to the slapping sound they may make when eaten!)Large stuffed tube (shorter than cannelloni)
Pappardelle(From the Italian verb pappare – to devour)Wide long ribbons
PennePens, quillsTubes cut diagonally like a quill
PipeSmoking pipesRidged bent macaroni
RadiatoriRadiatorsShaped like radiators
RavioliLittle turnipsSquare parcels
RigatoniLarge ridged onesLarge short ridged tubes
RotelleLittle wheelsCartwheels
SpaghettiLittle twinesLong round-rod strands
SpaghettiniThin little twinesThin spaghetti
StrozzapretiPriest-chokersTubes rolled widthways
Tagliatelle(From the Italian verb tagliare – to cut)Ribbon (finer than fettucine)
TortelliniLittle piesRing-shaped parcels
TortelloniLarge little piesLarge tortellini
VermicelliLittle wormsThicker than angel hair, finer than spaghettini


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