Short Wide Pasta
Shapes of Pasta
The following table maps out the various shapes and forms of pasta:
Unique Shapes Name | Description | Translation | Campanelle | Flattened bell-shaped pasta with a frilly edge on one end | Little bells | Capunti | Short convex ovals resembling an open empty pea pod | | Casarecce | Short lengths rolled into an S shape | From casereccio meaning homemade | Cavatelli | Short, solid lengths | From the verb cavare meaning to hollow | Cencioni | Petal shaped, slightly curved with rough convex side | Little rags | Conchiglie | Seashell shaped | Shells | Conchiglioni | Large, stuffable seashell-shaped | Large shells | Corzetti | Flat figure-eight stamped | | Creste di Galli | Short, curved and ruffled | Cocks’ combs | Croxetti | Flat coin-shaped discs stamped with coats of arms | Little crosses | Fantolioni | Panda-shaped bow-ties commonly served with boiled olives | Pre-packaged pandas | Farfalle | Bow tie or butterfly shaped | Butterflies | Farfallone | Larger bowties | Large butterfly | Fiorentine | Grooved cut tubes | Florentine | Fiori | Shaped like a flower | Little flowers | Foglie d’ulivo | Shaped like an olive leaf | Olive leaf | Fusilli | Three-edged spiral, usually in mixed colors. 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 | A spring-shaped variety of the above | Holed rifles | Gemelli | A single S-shaped strand of pasta twisted in a loose spiral | Twins | Gigli | Cone or flower shaped | Lilies | Gnocchi | Round in shape and often made with flour plus potatoes | From the Italian gnocco, meaning “a knot in wood” | Gramigna | Short, curled lengths of pasta | Scutch-grass; more generically, “infesting weed” | Lanterne | Curved ridges | Lantern holders | Lumache | Snail-shaped | From lumaca, meaning snail | Lumaconi | Jumbo
The following table maps out the various shapes and forms of pasta:
Unique Shapes Name | Description | Translation | Campanelle | Flattened bell-shaped pasta with a frilly edge on one end | Little bells | Capunti | Short convex ovals resembling an open empty pea pod | | Casarecce | Short lengths rolled into an S shape | From casereccio meaning homemade | Cavatelli | Short, solid lengths | From the verb cavare meaning to hollow | Cencioni | Petal shaped, slightly curved with rough convex side | Little rags | Conchiglie | Seashell shaped | Shells | Conchiglioni | Large, stuffable seashell-shaped | Large shells | Corzetti | Flat figure-eight stamped | | Creste di Galli | Short, curved and ruffled | Cocks’ combs | Croxetti | Flat coin-shaped discs stamped with coats of arms | Little crosses | Fantolioni | Panda-shaped bow-ties commonly served with boiled olives | Pre-packaged pandas | Farfalle | Bow tie or butterfly shaped | Butterflies | Farfallone | Larger bowties | Large butterfly | Fiorentine | Grooved cut tubes | Florentine | Fiori | Shaped like a flower | Little flowers | Foglie d’ulivo | Shaped like an olive leaf | Olive leaf | Fusilli | Three-edged spiral, usually in mixed colors. 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 | A spring-shaped variety of the above | Holed rifles | Gemelli | A single S-shaped strand of pasta twisted in a loose spiral | Twins | Gigli | Cone or flower shaped | Lilies | Gnocchi | Round in shape and often made with flour plus potatoes | From the Italian gnocco, meaning “a knot in wood” | Gramigna | Short, curled lengths of pasta | Scutch-grass; more generically, “infesting weed” | Lanterne | Curved ridges | Lantern holders | Lumache | Snail-shaped | From lumaca, meaning snail | Lumaconi | Jumbo