Everybody loves pasta, but how many people know that the different pasta shapes and their names have meaning? Below you will find pictures of shapes both traditional and modern, along with literal definitions of their Italian names.

Instructions:

Drag your mouse along the letters inside the square to spell out the name of one of the pasta shapes you will find below. The names may be listed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally... and some of them are spelled backwards.

You may rescramble the words by clicking the "Rescramble" button or reloading this page, or you may try another Seek-a-Word puzzle on The Cities of Italy.

Are you stuck on one especially tricky name? Click your mouse on it to highlight it, then click the "Find Words" button.

Have fun!

	Lasagne (Latin lasania, "cooking pot"): Usually used as a base for layered oven-baked dishes, but sometimes for roll-ups. Gemelli ("twins"): Two thick strands rolled together. Gemelli works well in entrées, side dishes, oven bakes and cold salads.
	Fusilli (from fuso, "spindle"): Traditionally molded by hand around a knitting needle, fusilli can be up to 12 inches long! Linguine ("little tongues"): A specialty of southern Italy, this narrow flat pasta is often served with white or red clam sauce.
	Rotini ("spiral"): The twisted shape holds meat, vegetables and cheese, so it works well with any sauce, salad, or casserole. Rigatoni ("large ridged"): Often used in oven baked dishes, rigatoni's robust shape goes best with hearty, rich sauces.
	Farfalle ("butterfly"): Popular in both hot and cold dishes, farfalle is thick enough to take any sauce. Best served "al dente." Macaroni ("dumpling"): This elbow-shaped pasta is good in soups, casseroles, salads, and of course with cheese sauce!
	Ziti ("bridegrooms"): A classic from southern Italy, served at Sicilian weddings. Ziti Rigati has a ridged surface to hold thinner sauces. Cavatappi ("corkscrew"): These curved, ridged tubes are excellent for holding chunky sauces.
	Radiatore ("radiators"): A relatively new pasta shape, with delicate ruffled ridges that work best with thinner sauces. Penne ("feather"): Smooth penne is good for white, cream-based sauces; Penne Rigate are better for tomato or meat sauces.
	Conchiglie ("shells"): A smaller version for soups is conchigliette; larger, stuffable shells are called conchiglioni. Ditalini ("little thimbles"): Ditalini is often the shape used in Pasta Fagioli ("pasta and beans"), a classic thick Italian soup.
	Acini di Pepe ("peppercorns"): A tiny bead-shaped pasta popular in soups and cold salads. Spaghetti ("a length of cord"): Very thin spaghetti is called Capelli d'angelo, which is Italian for "angel hair."

 

UCO Passport to Italy pages designed and maintained by Susan Spencer, Department of English