Bucatini is a hollow long-length pasta with a smooth surface: remember to tuck your napkin into your shirt like a bib when you eat them! Amatriciana is the sauce that best fits this pasta: pork jowl, tomato sauce and grated pecorino cheese. They were already world-renowned prior to the tragic earthquake that shook the city of Amatrice now we can say that they have brought together a whole nation. When we are thinking about pasta from Latium, we think straight away of bucatini all’amatriciana.
The pasta is stuffed with local delicacies, such as Mortadella, Parma ham and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Stuffed pasta also comes in many different forms: tortellini, anolini, ravioli, tortelli and tortelloni. Long-length pasta from Emilia-Romagna - such as fettuccine, tagliatelle and lasagna - is rooted in centuries-old traditions: women from this region crafting this pasta shape are called ‘sfogline’ and they are internationally renowned because of their excellent skills in rolling out the pasta dough, until it has reached the perfect thickness off to the nearest millimetre. This Italian region is the homeland of stuffed pasta and egg pasta. Vermicelli, mafalde, scialatielli, paccheri, rigatoni, ziti and fusilli are the most famous pasta shapes from Campania. How can we not think straight away of the amazing pasta from Gragnano? In Campania, in the South of Italy, there are many traditional pasta shapes which can be combined with tomato or fresh fish sauces. This is definitely one of the best regions for pasta variety.
The dough is pressed onto the ‘strings’ with a rolling pin the result is very porous square-shaped spaghetti which go perfectly well with a rich sauce, such as for instance meatballs. This region is home to Spaghetti alla chitarra, a type of egg pasta made using a traditional tool called ‘chitarra’ (literally guitar). Photo credit: "L'enciclopedia della cucina italiana volume 2" - La pasta - De Agostini Editore Pasta in Abruzzo: Let’s go on a journey exploring Italian typical pasta types region by region. Crafted in the housewives’ kitchens from the North to the South, from the East to the West of our country, each traditional pasta shape is forever linked to typical dishes of every region. Last but not least, we have to mention dough types:īy combining all these features, a wide range of pasta shapes was created all these shapes are deeply tied to local traditions of each Italian region. Pastina is a small short pasta type which is usually eaten with soups.Īnd what about the pasta surface? Italian pasta can be smooth, rough or ridged each surface type goes well with specific sauces. Short-cut pasta includes many shapes of fresh stuffed pasta as well as new innovative types of pasta. Or it can be round-shaped, like spaghetti, or square-shaped, such as linguini lastly, you can find hollow long pasta, such as bucatini or long ziti. Long-length pasta is then divided into wide pasta, such as lasagne or pappardelle, and thin pasta, such as tagliolini. This great range of pasta is the result of both marketing choices and attempts to preserve traditions therefore, we can now all enjoy pasta whichever way we like and can change pasta shape way more often than we could back in the days, when pasta was only homemade. Now everything has changed we can find many different pasta brands, whose quality often varies according to price. At that time Giorgio Albertazzi used to tell the story of Italian pasta he would visit the homes of housewives to see how they cooked typical pasta shapes of their region, which you could find for the first time in the large retail market.
#PASTA SHAPES AND NAMES TV#
In the ‘50s Italian people used to spend their evenings watching a TV show called Carosello.
#PASTA SHAPES AND NAMES FREE#
Each region has given free rein to its creativity, helping to shape a one-of-a-kind culinary and cultural landscape.įROM THE HOUSEWIVES’ KITCHENS TO THE LARGE RETAIL SECTOR Then they can also be sorted according to the type of surface, whether they are dried, stuffed etc. First of all, Italian pasta shapes are divided into two main categories: long-length and short-cut. How many pasta shapes exist in Italy? Around three hundred! Any pasta shapes that you can think of has been created over the years and combined with a specific sauce. A JOURNEY THROUGH ITALIAN PASTA REGION BY REGION