haikuman

Acini di peppe “peppercorns” — tiny balls
Agnoletti “priests’ caps” — small stuffed crescents
Anellini “Little rings” — tiny pasta rings
Armoniche Rigatoni “accordian” — heavily ridged, cylindrical shape. Holds a lot of sauce.
Bavette — narrow linguine
Bavettine — even narrower linguine
Bucatini — hollow strands
Calamari or Calamaretti — Naples. Thick pasta rings dyed with squid ink to resemble sliced Calamari (squid)
Campanelle “Little Bells” — Small cones
Candele “candles” — hollow tubes as long as candles.
Cannaroni — wide tubes (also, Zitoni)
Cannelloni “large reeds or pipes” — round stuffed tubes
Capelli d’Angelo “angel hair” — finest strands of pasta. Delicate. Capellini “fine hairs” — long, fine strands only slightly thicker than “Angel Hair”
Capelveneri — very thin noodles
Capunti — a rolled pasta sliced open on one side like a pea pod or canoe
Cappelletti “little hats” — stuffed hats
Casarecci — half-circles rolled into “S” shaped scroll
Castellane “castle dwellers” — long oval shaped rolled pasta, like a elongated cowry shell but opened at one end. Called “castle dwellers” because the open winglike end looked like women of Italian aristocracy walking with their full skirts draped over one arm.
Cavatappi — short, thin, spiral macaroni
Cavatelli — short, narrow, ripple-edge folded shape
Cavaturi — small rolled shape
Cellentani “whirls” — open tubular corkscrew shape with ridged surface
Cechetti “little tin cans”
Chitarra “guitar strings” — rectangular strand shape but thinner than spaghetti
Conchiglie “conch shells” — shells “also, maruzze”
Corallini — tiny tubes, generally used in soup
Corzetti “little crosses” — From Liguria. Pasta shaped like coins from ancient times. Rolled out, stamped and cut into coins. The “little crosses” may have refered to the appearance of a family crest in the stamp.
Ditali “thimbles” — small macaroni
Ditalini — smaller ditali
Elbow macaroni — small to medium tubes
Eliche “propellers — highly twisted spiral pasta.
Elicoidali root word “helix” — deeply grooved rigatoni
Farfalle “butterflies” — little bows
Farfallini — smaller farfalle
Farfallone — bigger farfalle
Fedelini “little faithful ones” — very fine spaghetti
Fettucce “ribbons” — flat wide egg noodles, about 1/2-inch
Fettuccelle — flat narrow egg noodles, about 1/8-inch
Fettuccini — flat medium egg noodles, about 1/4-inch
Fideo — thin, coiled strands that unwind in cooking into vermicelli
Fregula from the Latin “fricare” little pieces or crumbs — From Sardinia, very small balls of pasta, like couscous, but toasted and rougher textured.
Fusilli “little springs or spindles” — spiral-shaped, corkscrew noodles
Fusilli Bucati — long hollow Fusilli, a specialty pasta with a tiny tube
Fusilloni — Giant spiral-shaped, corkscrew noodles
Galletti “Cock’s Combs” — half circle, tube pasta with ruffled edges
Garganelli from the latin “gargala” or trachea — Looks like Penne pasta but with the ridges running around the tube, like a trachea tube or windpipe.
Gemelli “twins” — short 1 and 1/2-inch twists of two strands of pasta
Girasole “Sunflower” — Ravioli made in a sunflower shape
Gnocchi “dumplings” — Can be made from flour, semolina, or potato. Usually in a ball or oval shape.
Gramigna “dumplings” — Thin, short tube of pasta with a short spiral shape.
Lasagne “La Sagna” — long, broad “2-3 inches” noodles, straight or ripple-edge
Lasagnotte” — wide lasagna, broken into small pieces before cooking
Linguine “little tongues” — narrow, long ribbons
Lumache “snails” — large, stuffed shells
Lumaconi “snails” — giant basket-shaped shells
Macaroni or Maccheroni — Pasta made without eggs, usually tube shaped, but can include all sizes and shapes of pasta made without eggs. Macaroni types will usually swell generously when cooked.
Mafalde “Named for Princess Mafalda di Savoia” — broad, fat, ripple-edge noodles
Magliette “links” — short, curved tubes
Malloreddus — From Sardinia. Half-inch long tightly rolled and shaped like a grubworm
Manicotti “little muffs or sleeves” — very large stuffed tubes
Maritati “married” — combination of two different pastas, Orecciette “little ears” and Cavaturi a short rolled shape,
Margherite “daisies” — narrow flat noodles with one rippled side
Maruzze “seashells” — any size of shells, from tiny to jumbo
Mezzani — very short curved tubes
Mezzalune “half moon” — crescent shaped stuffed pasta
Mezzi Rigatoni — shortened version of Rigatoni
Mezzi Tubetti — Small, short tubes. Great in soups.
Mostacciioli “little moustaches” — 2-inch tubes, smooth, usually cut on the bias like Penne
Occhi di lapo “wolves’ eyes”
Orecchiette “little ears” — tiny disk shapes
Orzo “barley” — rice-shaped grains
Pappardelle — wide noodles with rippled sides
Pastina “tiny dough” — little bits used in soups
Penne “pens or quills” — diagonally cut tubes, smooth
Penne Rigate — diagonally cut tubes, ridged sides
Pennette — small diagonally cut tubes, usually with ridged sides
Perciatelli — thin, hollow pasta strands (like bucatini)
Pezzocheri — thick, buckwheat noodles
Puntalette — like orzo, rice-shaped. Used mostly is soups
Quadrettini — small flat squares
Radiatore “little radiators” — thick rippled boxes
Ravioli — stuffed squares
Ravioloni — big stuffed squares
Rigatoni — big, ridged slightly curved tubes. Same as Penne Rigate, but with square-cut ends
Rigatoncini — smaller version of Rigatoni. Perfect for thick sauces and oven-baked recipes
Riccia Larga — Medium wide Lasagna noodles with frilled edges
Riso — rice-shaped grains “like Orzo”
Rotelle “little wheels” — small, spoked wheels
Rotini — short spirals
Ruote, or Ruote de carro “cartwheels” — spoked wheels
Sacchette — sacks, “begger’s purses” a filled pasta like ravioli,
Sagne — long cuts of pasta twisted in to ringlets
Sedanini “Little Celeries” — short tubes, with ridged surface
Semi di melone “melon seeds” — tiny, flat seed shapes
Spaccatelli — long strand of tube pasta slit from end to end
Spaghetti Lunghi — really long “50cm”, thin, round strands
Spaghetti — long, thin, round strands
Spaghetti a Matassa — noodles dried into a coil or figure 8
Spaghettini — thin spaghetti
Spaghettoni — a thicker, more hearty spaghetti style
Stiraletti “little boots”
Strangozzi an egg pasta in strands. From Umbria.
Stricchelli “bows or butterflies”
Strozzapreti Literally “priest stranglers” a square of pasta is rolled into a ringlet - filling!
Tagliarini — long paperthin ribbons (also called tagliolini)
Tagliatelle — long, thin, flat egg noodles, about 1/4-inch wide
Torchietti “little torches” — Short, bell shaped (or torch shaped when looking at it correctly)
Torcoletti — a twisted pasta shape - holds sauce well.
Tortellini “little twists” — small stuffed bows
Tortelloni — big tortellini
Tortiglioni — twisted spiral tubes - great for oven-baked recipes
Trenne — triangular tube pasta cut like Penne on the ends.
Trenette — narrow, thick Tagliatelle, or Linguine Tripolini — small bow ties with round edges
Trofie — pasta rolled into short ringlets
Trofiette — same as Trofie, but thinner. Delicate.
Trottole — rings of pasta coiled around a center stalk
Tubetti “little tubes” — tiny, hollow tubes
Tubetti Rigati “little tubes with ridges” — tiny, hollow tubes with ridges
Tubettini “little tubes”
Ventagli — Short wide ribbons with ruffled edges
Vermicelli “little worms” — extra thin spaghetti
Ziti “bridegrooms” — slightly curved tubes, usually ridged, from 2 to 12 inches long
Zitoni — long pasta tubes

Tags: italian, list, pasta, shapes, types