Cellentani? Mafaldine? Strange pasta shapes and their origin stories

“Did you make pasta?” Um, no, not just any. we do fusilli. Or strozzapreti. Or rigatoni.

The hundreds of different pasta shapes don’t just exist for themselves. Certain sauces require the correct paste shape. For example, people like to eat pesto with it trophy or fusilli. The cima di rapa agreement orecchiette; the cent for the sugo all’arrabbiata etc.

And some of these pasta shapes have amazing origin stories. Here are five of the more interesting ones (with their recipes!):

This beautiful thing came in the mail recently.

A brand new pasta shape!

And so beautiful!

The inspiration for this completely new design was the iconic shapes of the Italian design factory Alessi. To be precise: those of the successful “Twergi” salt and pepper mills.

A pasta shape from the design house. This is probably the most Italian combo that can exist.

Or not …? Stop! It works still Italian:

When a car designer creates a paste shape, the highlight may well be the shape of a paste Italianita reaches. And it wasn’t just any designer who got to work with the Marille, but none other than Giorgetto Giugiaro,…

…an absolute legend in automotive history. As a young designer at Bertone and Ghia, he created style icons such as the Iso Grifo and Maserati Ghibli. Later, as head of his own company Italdesign, he was responsible for the Lotus Esprit, BMW M1, VW Golf and Scirocco, Alfa Romeo Brera and the DMC DeLorean, among others.

In 1999 he was voted Car Designer of the Century. In 2013, he received the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize, Italy’s highest award for science and culture.

But Giugiaro was not only active in the automotive industry: he designed camera housings for Nikon, pistols for Beretta, the organ of the cathedral of Lausanne and – ha! – a pasta shape for Voiello.

apricot was the name of his creation – a filigree design designed in such a way that the shape could hold a maximum of pasta sauce.

The wider tagliatelle with the beautifully ruffled edges originated in Naples and was popular in the Campania region until the early 20th century fettucelle rich or manfredi known.

To celebrate the birth of the second daughter of the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III, and his wife Elena del Montenegro in 1902, they were named after Principessa Mafalda di Savoia (1902–1944). mafaldine (“little Mafaldas”) renamed. It is also rarely found under the designation regenette (“little queens”).

Yes, that actually means “radiator”. And although rumor persists that it was developed by an industrial designer in the 1960s, this type of pasta was already on the market between the First and Second World Wars. They are often used in similar dishes as rotel or fusilli used because their shape gives them a cavity for the sauce to collect in.

Yes Yes! Actually, these spiral tubes owe their name to the world famous singer, songwriter and actor Adriano Celentano. This because of Celentano’s nickname, it is molleggiato – ‘the springy one’ – which he got because of his elastic dance style, which is said to resemble a softly springy car.

And so in 1970, pasta manufacturer Barilla decided to name the new pasta shape, which looked a bit like a car suspension coil spring, after the iconic entertainer. Today, however, is the designation cavatappi – corkscrew – more common. Because only Barilla has the trademark rights to the name celtani property, other manufacturers had to switch to other names.

Of course, each of these pasta shapes has the right recipe. About:

Phew, not exactly a catchy title, but a recipe that the pasta company made explicitly for this new pasta shape. Look, I’ve tried:

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The recipe was invented by designer Giorgetto Giugiaro himself for his pasta shape.

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Since this pasta shape is originally from Napoli, here’s a classic sauce from the southern Italian city:

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Equivalent to fusilli the shape of is suitable radiatori ideal for pesto and similar sauces:

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This savory ragù is made for him by the pasta maker celtani recommended.

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