List of Pasta

Some different colours and shapes of pasta, in a pasta specialty store in Venice.

While the only basic difference between these names is the shape of the pasta, each pasta is typically matched with a particular sauce based on cooking time, consistency, ability to hold sauce, ease of eating, etc. In the same way that hamburgers are generally not eaten on hot dog buns, pasta amatriciana, for example, is not made with angel hair spaghetti, but with bucatini. Some pasta varieties are uniquely regional and not widely known. In other cases, the cut of pasta is present in more than one region, but the cut is called by another name. For example, the cut rotelle is also called by the names ruote and wagon wheel.

Pasta-like shapes

Image	Type	Common?	Description	Translation
	Campanelle	No	Flattened bell-shaped pasta with a frilly edge on one end	Little bells
	Capunti	No	Short convex ovals resembling an open empty pea pod
	Casarecce	No	Short lengths rolled into an S shape	From Casereccio meaning Homemade
	Cavatelli	Yes	Short, solid lengths	From the verb Cavare meaning Hollow inside
	Cechetti	No	Spherical, stuffed with basil, served with liver and cloves of garlic	Little dancing tin cans
	Cencioni	No	Petal shaped, slightly curved with rough convex side	Little rag
	Conchiglie	Yes	Seashell shaped	Shells
	Conchiglioni	Yes	Large, stuffable seashell shaped	Large shells
	Corzetti		flat figure-eight stamped
	Creste di galli	No	Short, curved and ruffled	Cocks' combs
	Croxetti	Yes	Flat coin-shaped discs stamped with coats of arms	Little crosses
	Fantolioni	No	Panda-shaped bow-ties commonly served with boiled clives	Pre-packaged pandas
	Farfalle	Yes	Bow tie or butterfly shaped	Butterflies
	Farfallone	No	Larger bow ties	Large butterfly
	Fiorentine	Yes	Tuscan pasta shape	Florentines
	Fioriettini	Yes	Shaped like a flower	Little flowers
	Foglie d'ulivo	Yes	Shaped like an olive leaf	Olive leaf
	Fusilli	Yes	Three-edged spiral, usually in mixed colours. Many vendors and brands sold as fusilli are two-edged	From fusile, archaic/dialect form of fucile, meaning rifle. As the inside barrel of a gun is "rifled" using a similar screw-shaped device
	Fusilli Bucati	No	A more spring shaped variety	Holed rifles
	Gemelli	Yes	A single S-shaped strand of pasta twisted in a loose spiral	Twins
	Gigli	No	Cone or flower shaped	Lilies
	Gramigna	No	Short curled lengths of pasta	Scutch-grass; more generically, "infesting weed"
	Lanterne	No	Curved ridges	Lantern holders
	Lumache	No	Snail shaped	From lumaca, meaning snail
	Lumaconi	No	Jumbo Lumache	Large snails
	Maltagliati	Yes	Flat roughly cut triangles	Badly cut
	Marille	No	Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in 1983 - like a rolling ocean wave in cross-section, but unsuccessful & no longer produced	From mare, meaning "sea"
	Orecchiette	Yes	Bowl or ear shaped pasta	Little ears
	Pipe	Yes	Larger versions of macaroni	Smoking pipes
	Quadrefiore	No	Square with rippled edges	Flower quadrants
	Radiatore	Yes	Shaped like radiators	Radiator
	Ricciolini	No	Short wide noodles with a 90-degree twist	Curly
	Ricciutelle	No	Short spiralled noodles	Curly
	Rotelle	Yes	Wagon wheel shaped pasta	Little wheels (from ruota—wheel)
	Rotini	Yes	2-edged spiral, tightly wound. Some vendors and brands are 3-edged and sold as rotini
	Spirali	Yes	A tube which spirals round	Spirals
	Spiralini	No	More tightly-coiled fusilli	Little spirals
	Strozzapreti	Yes	Rolled across their width	Priest-chokers or priest-stranglers
	Torchio	No	Torch shaped	Winepress
	Trofie	Yes	Thin twisted pasta

Tubular pasta

Image	Type	Common?	Description	Translation
	Bucatini	Yes	Hollow spaghetti	little hole
	Calamarata	No	Wide ring shaped pasta	squid (also known as "calamari")
	Calamaretti	No	Smaller Calamarata
	Cannelloni	Yes	Large stuffable tubes	big pipes or big reeds
	Cavatappi	No	Corkscrew-shaped macaroni	corkscrews
	Cellentani	No	Corkscrew-shaped tube
	Chifferi	No	Short and wide macaroni
	Ditalini	Yes	Short tubes; like elbows but shorter and without a bend	small fingers
	Fideuà	No	Short and thin tubes
	Gomito maccheroni	Yes	Bent tubes	Elbow macaroni
	Elicoidali	No	Slightly ribbed tube pasta; the ribs are corked as opposed to those on rigatoni	Helicoidal
	Fagioloni	No	Short narrow tube	little beans
	Garganelli	No	Square egg noodle rolled into a tube
	Maccheroni	Yes	As long as a little finger, usually striped. Note: The English term macaroni is used in the US for any tubular pasta, not just maccheroni.
	Maccheroncelli	No	Hollow pencil shaped pasta
	Maltagliati	No	Short wide pasta with diagonally cut ends	Roughly cut
	Manicotti	Yes	Large stuffable ridged tubes	Sleeves (from the Italian, "manica")
	Mezzani pasta	No	Short curved tube	From Mezzo meaning half-size
	Mezze Penne	Yes	Short version of penne	half-pens
	Mezzi Bombardoni	No	Wide short tubes	Half bombards
	Mostaccioli	Yes	Sometimes confused to be another name for Penne, Mostaccioli differs in that it does not have ridges. Mostaccioli is also called Penne Lisce or "smooth penne"	"mustaches"
	Paccheri	No	Large tube
	Pasta al ceppo	No	Shaped like a cinnamon stick
	Penne	Yes	Medium length tubes with ridges, cut diagonally at both ends	literally "pens" because the tip is similar to that of a quill, or fountain pen
	Penne rigate	Yes	Penne with ridged sides
	Penne lisce	Yes	Penne with smooth sides
	Penne Zita	No	Wider version of penne
	Pennette	No	Short thin version of penne
	Pennoni	No	Wider version of penne
	Perciatelli	No	Thicker bucatini	From the verb Perciare meaning Hollow inside
	Rigatoncini	No	Smaller version of rigatoni
	Rigatoni	Yes	Large and slightly curved tube	from "riga," meaning line: rigatoni means that with lines (large). "rigato" or "rigate", when added to another pasta name means lined, or, with ridges added, as in "spaghetti rigati"
	Sagne Incannulate	No	Long tube formed of twisted ribbon
	Trenne	No	Penne shaped as a triangle
	Trennette	No	Smaller version of trenne
	Tortiglioni	No	Narrower rigatoni	From the verb Torcere meaning To Twist; Twisted, wringed
	Tuffoli	No	Ridged rigatoni
	Ziti	Yes	Long, narrow hose-like tubes
	Zitoni	No	Wider version of Ziti

Strand noodles

Straight round-rods

In order from thickest to thinnest.

Image	Type	Common?	Pronunciation	Description	Translation
	Spaghetti	Yes	[spaˈgetti]	A round-rod pasta, thicker than fedelini.	spago means twine. spaghetto means little twine. spaghetti is plural
	Spaghettini	Yes	[spagetˈtini]	Thin spaghetti.	thin twine
	Fedelini	No	[fedeˈlini]	A round-rod pasta, thicker than vermicelli, and thinner than spaghetti.	little faithful ones
	Vermicelloni	No	[vermitʃelˈloni]	Thick vermicelli.	Thick worms
	Vermicelli	Yes	[vermiˈtʃɛlli]	A round-rod pasta, thicker than capellini, and thinner than fedelini.	little worms
	Capellini	Yes	[kapelˈlini]	A round-rod pasta, thicker than angel hair, and thinner than vermicelli.	thin hair
	Capelli d'angelo	Yes	[kaˈpelli ˈdandʒelo]	The thinnest round-rod pasta.	Angel hairs

Other

Image	Type	Common	Description	Translation
	Barbina	No	Thin strands often coiled into nests	little beards
	Spaghetti alla chitarra	No	Similar to spaghetti, except square rather than round, and made of egg in addition to flour	named after the device used to cut the pasta, which has a wooden frame strung with metal wires. Sheets of pasta are pressed down onto the device, and then the wires are "strummed" so that the slivers of pasta fall through.
	Ciriole	No	Thicker version of chitarra
	Fusilli lunghi	No	Very long coiled rods (like a thin telephone cord)	long rifles
	Pici		Very thick, long, hand rolled

Ribbon pasta noodles

Image	Type	Common?	Description	Translation
	Bavette	No	Narrower version of tagliatelle	Little thread
	Bavettine	No	Narrower version of bavette
	Fettuce	No	Wider version of fettuccine	Ribbons
	Fettuccine	Yes	Ribbon of pasta approximately 6.5 millimeters wide	Little ribbons
	Fettucelle	No	Narrower version of fettuccine
	Lagane	No	Wide noodles
	Lasagne	Yes	Very wide noodles that often have fluted edges	cooking pot
	Lasagnette	No	Narrower version of lasagna
	Lasagnotte	No	Longer version of lasagna
	Linguettine	No	Narrower version of linguine
	Linguine	Yes	Flattened spaghetti	little tongues
	Mafalde	No	Short rectangular ribbons
	Mafaldine	No	Long ribbons with ruffled sides
	Pappardelle	Yes	Thick flat ribbon
	Pillus	No	Very thin ribbons
	Pizzoccheri	No	Ribbon pasta made from buckwheat
	Reginette	No	Wide ribbon with rippled edges	Little queens
	Sagnarelli	No	Rectangular ribbons with fluted edges
	Scialatelli of Scilatielli	No	Homemade long spaghetti with a twisted long spiral
	Stringozzi	No	Similar to shoelaces	From Stringhe meaning shoestrings
	Tagliatelle	Yes	Ribbon fairly thinner than fettuccine	From "tagliare" - to cut
	Taglierini	No	Thinner version of Tagliatelle
	Trenette	No	Thin ribbon ridged on one side
	Tripoline	No	Thick ribbon ridged on one side

Micro pasta

Image	Type	Common?	Description	Translation
	Acini di pepe	No	Bead-like pasta	Peppercorns
	Alphabets	Yes	Pasta shaped as letters of the alphabet	Letters
	Anelli	No	Small rings of pasta	rings
	Anellini	No	Smaller version of anelli	little rings
	Couscous	Yes	Grain looking pasta. Most common in North Africa and Europe (especially France). Increasingly more common in Asia and North America
	Conchigliette	Yes	Small shell shaped pasta	little shells
	Corallini	No	Small short tubes of pasta	little corals
	Ditali	Yes	Small short tubes	thimbles
	Ditalini	Yes	Smaller versions of ditali	little thimbles
	Farfalline	No	Small bow tie shaped pasta	either bow ties or little butterflies
	Fideos	No	Short thin noodles
	Filini	No	Smaller version of fideos	From Filo meaning thin threads
	Fregula	No	Bead-like pasta from Sardinia
	Funghini	No	Small mushroom shaped pasta	little mushrooms
	Israeli couscous	Yes	wheat-based baked pasta	baked flakes
	Occhi di pernice	No	Very small rings of pasta	Partridge's eyes
	Orzo	Yes	Rice shaped pasta (also, Risoni)	Barley
	Pastina	Yes	Small spheres about the same size or smaller than acini di pepe	Little pasta
	Pearl Pasta	No	Spheres slightly larger than acini di pepe
	Quadrettini	No	Small flat squares of pasta	little squares
	Risi	No	Smaller version of orzo	little rice
	Seme di melone	No	Small seed shaped pasta	melon seeds
	Stelle	No	Small star shaped pasta	stars
	Stelline	No	Smaller version of stelle	little stars
	Stortini	No	Smaller version of elbow macaroni	Little crooked ones
	Trachana	No	Granular, irregular shaped pasta of Greek origin

Stuffed pasta

Image	Type	Common?	Description	Translation
	Agnolotti	Yes	Semi-circular pockets; can be stuffed with ricotta or mix of cheese and meats or pureed vegetables.	Lambs' ears
	Cannelloni	Yes	Rolls of pasta with stuff inside. Usually cooked in oven.	Big tubes
	Casoncelli	Yes	A semi-circular stuffed pasta, specifically associated with the style alla bergamasca, which is stuffed with a mixture of bread crumbs, egg, cheese, ground beef, salami, raisins, Amaretti biscuits, pear, and garlic.
	Fagotini	Yes	A 'purse' or bundle of pasta, made from a round of dough gathered into a ball-shaped bundle, often stuffed with ricotta and fresh pear.	Little purses
	Mandu	Yes	Commonly referred as dumpling, "potsticker" or "gyoza." Stuffed with vegetables, meat, and seafood. Pronounced [Mah-n-doo]. Can be steamed, boiled, pan-fried or deep-fried.
	Mantı	Yes	Turkish dumplings. Small squares of dough with a bit of meat put in the middle, after which the four corners are pressed together, giving a pyramidal shape. Served with yoghurt sauce and melted butter. Central Asian mantı is more like mandu.
	Mezzalune	No	Semi-circular pockets; about 2.5 in. diameter.	Half-moons
	Panzarotti	Yes	the pasta is made from eggs cheese and flour
	Pelmeni	Yes	Meat-filled dumplings, usually served in broth.
	Pierogi	Yes	Dumplings filled with meat, vegetables, cheese or fruit.
	Ravioli	Yes	Square. About 3x3cm. Stuffed with cheese, ground meat, pureed vegetables, or mixtures thereof.
	Sacchettini	No		Little sacks
	Tortellini	Yes	Ring-shaped. Stuffed with a mixture of meat and cheese.
	Tortelloni	Yes	Round or rectangular, similar to ravioli. Usually stuffed with a mixture of cheese and vegetables. (The term tortelloni is also used for a larger variety of tortellini.)

Irregular shapes

Image	Type	Common?	Description	Translation
	Gnocchi	Yes	Round in shape and often made with flour plus potatoes.	From the Italian gnocco, meaning "a knot in wood"
	Spätzle	Yes	German egg pasta that is either round in shape or completely irregular, when hand made.	Means "little sparrow" in German.