The Guru’s Guide to Pasta in Italy

Hailing from the Tuscan province of Siena, these noodles look like an extra-plump version of spaghetti. Frescoes of banquets with bowls of pici suggest that its origins date back to Etruscan times. Pici is traditionally served one of three ways: with pecorino cheese and pepper (cacio e pepe), topped with toasted breadcrumbs in olive oil (pici con le bricole), and in a garlicky tomato sauce (pici all’aglione).

Simply crafted from flour, water, and salt, this rustic handmade pasta was an important staple in Italy’s rural peasant population. Making pici was a pastime for children and family elders while adults went to work in the fields. Using a long wooden pici board, the dough is cut into pieces and rolled out by hand to a length of up to several meters. Tuscan towns like Montalcino still host contests to see who can make the longest strand.

Also try in Tuscany: flat, wide pappardelle smothered in wild boar sauce and ruffled gigli served with ragù, swiss chard, and fresh ricotta.

As dusk settles over the Mincio River, waiters scurry back and forth between the village’s oldest tavern and candlelit tables. In their hands are steaming plates of melt-in-your-mouth tortellini, known affectionately by the locals as nodo d’amore or “knots of love.”

Likened to a petite, more delicate version of ravioli, these miniature masterpieces can be filled with creamy pumpkin, sage and ricotta, or duck topped with freshly shaved truffles. In June, tourists and villagers gather in Borghetto to celebrate these “knots of love” with fireworks and an open-air feast on the town’s 14th-century bridge. Eat your fill of Boghetto’s tortellini on a DuVine Verona + Lake Garda Bike Tour.

Also try in Veneto: Long, thick strands of bigoli pasta with duck ragù and melted butter.

Rich, delicate, and impossibly thin, tarajin is the crown jewel of Piemontese pasta. In the kitchen of Trattoria del Bivio, chef Massimo Torrengo separates the sunny orange yolks from dozens of farmhouse eggs to make the day’s dough—this classic Piedmontese recipe contains a staggering 40 egg yolks per kilo of flour, which lends the pasta its golden hue. The tarajin are then sliced into ⅛-inch strips and carefully coiled into nests to dry.

Once cooked, these ribbonlike threads are often served with sauces that reflect the earthy flavors of Piedmont: butter and sage, porcini mushrooms, decadent white Alba truffles, or Massimo’s pork sauce made of local salsiccia di Bra, which you can taste at Trattoria del Bivio on a DuVine Piedmont Bike Tour.

Also try in Piedmont: Pillowy agnolotti pasta stuffed with meat or roasted vegetables.

On the day of a Sicilian wedding, women gather for the ritual “breaking” of ziti pasta, sectioning the long tubes into two-inch pieces. Ziti gets its name from the Italian word for “single woman” because it’s served as the traditional first course at weddings and bridal banquets—ideal for feeding a crowd. Ziti celebrates the bride’s transition from the status of zitella to wife.

Topped with a creamy lemon alfredo made from Siracusa lemons or bubbling in cheese, ziti’s sturdy ridges and hollow shape hold sauce exceptionally well. As is typical of Sicilian pasta, ziti is made from durum wheat, which gives the pasta a firm texture that maintains a delicious al dente chewiness and fresh-bread flavor.

Also try in Sicily: Spaghetti topped with fresh sardines and wild fennel or pasta alla norma served with fresh tomatoes, fried eggplant, basil, and ricotta salata.

Literally meaning “priest-choker,” strozzapreti’s name is rooted in sinister origins. Some say it’s a nod to greedy priests whose gluttony led them to choke on their pasta. Others claim the name originates from the Catholic church renting out land to farmers: wives would make pasta for the local priests as rent payment, and the resentful husbands hoped that the priests would choke while enjoying it.

Either way, this ancient pasta reflects central Italy’s complicated feelings about clergy, with records of strozzapreti dating back to the 14th century. Made of flour and water with the optional addition of local Parmigiano-Reggiano and egg whites, the pasta is shaped by hand into its irregular form. Topped with a rich sauce of minced meat or sausage, it’s not hard to imagine why hungry priests would gobble it up.

Also try in Emilia Romagna: Half-moon shaped toreloni drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with parmesan cheese, tagliatelle, and fluffy gnocchi loaded with truffle sauce.

The name of this pasta comes from its shape: orecchia for “ear” and -ette for small. These “little ears” are made from water, salt, and a hard wheat flour called semolina, which gives the pasta a pleasantly firm bite.

To make orecchiette, dough is cut into small logs and deftly rolled using the edge of a knife. Each piece is unfurled by hand and pressed into a concave shape with the thumb. The final product has a rigid, cup-like shape designed to scoop up sauces and whatever Pugliese vegetables are in season. Try orecchiette with turnip greens alle cime di rapa, or a tomato-based sauce and sheep’s milk ricotta forte—then learn to make it while on a DuVine Puglia Bike Tour.

Also try in Puglia: Ciceri e tria tagliatelle pasta with chickpeas and arugula or tubettini served with fresh mussels.

Legend has it that trofie originated in the seaside town of Recco when a pasta maker rubbed her hands together after kneading a batch of dough; the curled pieces that fell away became Liguria’s prized pasta. In the autumn and winter months, Ligurian families saved money by replacing imported and expensive durum wheat with chestnut flour from the area’s ubiquitous chestnut trees.

Trofie quickly became Italy’s preferred vessel for pesto made with aromatic Genovese basil. With pointed ends and a thicker center, these short, dense spirals catch and hold pesto perfectly. You can still find traditional trofie made with a mix of durum wheat and chestnut flour on Ligurian menus. The slightly sweet and smoky chestnuts complement the bold flavors of basil, garlic, pine nuts, and pecorino or parmesan cheese.

Also try in Cinque Terre: Pansotti in salsa di noci, a classic Ligurian pasta dish similar to ravioli that’s stuffed with herbs and cheese in a walnut sauce.