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 name	English Translation	Shape
Bucatini	Little holes	Tubular spaghetti
Cannelloni	Large little canes	Large stuffed tube
Conchiglie	Shells	Sea shells
Capellini d’angelo	Angel hair	Finest round-rod strands
Farfalle	Butterflies	Bow-tie, butterfly shape
Fettucine	Little ribbons	Ribbons
Fusilli	Rifles	Corkscrew
Gomiti	Elbow macaroni	Bent macaroni
Maccheroni	Macaroni (Often used in Southern Italy as a general word for all pasta)	Short tubes
Gnocchi	Knots (as in wood)	Balls
Lasagne	Cooking pot	Wide flat pasta sheets
Linguine	Little tongues	Long ribbons
Orecchiette	Little ears	Ear shaped
Mezzelune	Half moons	Semi-circular parcels
Paccheri	Slaps (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
Penne	Pens, quills	Tubes cut diagonally like a quill
Pipe	Smoking pipes	Ridged bent macaroni
Radiatori	Radiators	Shaped like radiators
Ravioli	Little turnips	Square parcels
Rigatoni	Large ridged ones	Large short ridged tubes
Rotelle	Little wheels	Cartwheels
Spaghetti	Little twines	Long round-rod strands
Spaghettini	Thin little twines	Thin spaghetti
Strozzapreti	Priest-chokers	Tubes rolled widthways
Tagliatelle	(From the Italian verb tagliare – to cut)	Ribbon (finer than fettucine)
Tortellini	Little pies	Ring-shaped parcels
Tortelloni	Large little pies	Large tortellini
Vermicelli	Little worms	Thicker than angel hair, finer than spaghettini

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