An introduction to the many shapes of pasta

Pasta comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. It can be long and thin or short and curly. The many shapes include ones that are associated with particular dishes. Some people want to be able to eat their pasta with a fork and others enjoy using both a fork and a spoon.

Whichever shape you choose, these days you can probably get it whole wheat, gluten-free or with semolina as well as dried or fresh.

According to the Sicilian Culture website, The best known of  the  many shapes of pasta is spaghetti, which means "thin strings" or "twine" in Italian. It is long and thin and is often served with meatballs and red sauce. It can be used in all kinds of other dishes as well and even broken and added to soups.

there are more than 350 different shapes of pasta in Italy. The basic division between the shapes is short and long.

Fettuccini

Fettuccini is a long flat noodle that is often served with an Alfredo sauce. According to Ronzoni, this shape originated in Rome and means little ribbons.

Linguini

Seafood lovers enjoy their clam sauce with linguini. It is flat shape but not as wide as fettuccine but it is wider than spaghetti. Creative cooks can combine it with a variety of different shellfish including shrimp and scallops as well as crab and lobster.

Elbow

Elbow macaroni is a staple in many households. It is the traditional shape used for macaroni and cheese and also for goulash. These days it comes in different sizes and also may be ribbed.

Penne rigate

Penne is a popular choice in many restaurants. Penne is a hollow tube; penne rigate has ridges which make it great for picking up more sauce. Penne means pen in Italian and it is cut on an angle which gives it a pointed look. Popular dishes include penne ala vodka.

Ziti

Ziti is very much like penne except that it is a smooth tube. It can, however, be found in the rigate style of penne and then it is called ziti rigate. Ziti means bridegroom and it is commonly served at weddings in Sicily.

Farfalle

Farfalle is shaped like a bow tie. They are an attractive shape that works well in cold salad with mayonnaise and tuna. Farfalle means butterfly in Italian.

Campanelle

Campanelle means bellflower in Italian and these do have a very floral shape. They are twisted to form a flute where sauce can gather and so are perfect served with hot sauces, however; they are so pretty that they also are a good choice for a cold salad.

Orecchiette

Orecchiettes are shaped like an ear and they are from the Italian region of Apulia.

Shells

Shells are a very common shape and yes, they are shaped like a shell. They come in small shells and in large shells. The large shells are often stuffed with ricotta cheese and baked. 

These are just a few of the many shapes of pasta that are available probably at your local grocer. Among the many other shapes is rotini which is shaped like a corkscrew, rotelle which is shaped like a wheel, tortellini which comes in tri-colors and is stuffed and ravioli which can be square or round, large or small and filled with a wide variety of cheese, vegetables, and meat.