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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.