Anyone who has lived in or traveled to Italy knows that Italians are very VERY partial to their pastas. The pasta depends on the sauce! Pasta, which as we all know is a staple of Italian cuisine and an incredibly popular food, is used by many people around the world whether making italian dishes or not. In a similar way to rice, potatoes, and other forms of carbohydrates, it is one of the most important ingredients for a huge variety of different mouth-watering Italian and Italian-inspired dishes. Join us in our Florence food tour to learn how to make an authentic pasta.

As a carbohydrate, it is a crucial component of a balanced and healthy diet. Particularly if you swap out white pasta for wholewheat pasta. You only need to walk down the pasta aisle of your local grocery store or supermarket to see how many different varieties and forms of pasta there are! This is one of the reasons why it is so popular – its versatility and availability!

While some of them you may be familiar with, we thought it might be a good idea to have a look at the most popular types of pasta across the globe. We will also offer some suggestions on how best to serve them to enjoy some delicious Mediterranean meals. Additionally, you can read the post to find out more about storing pasta.

Most Popular Pasta Globally

Fusilli 

Fusilli, or the pasta that looks like little corkscrews, is hugely popular! Thanks to its thick, spiral design, it works well with a nice heartier sauce. Not only do any meat and veg pieces in the sauce get trapped in the spirals, but the pasta soaks up the juices too.

 

Elbow Macaroni Pasta

Macaroni in its more traditional form is little tiny tubes and the only difference between that and elbow macaroni pasta is that elbow macaroni pasta is shaped similar to little elbows. Its size and shape are what make this especially popular type of pasta because it is a lot easier and quicker to cook than longer and thicker pieces of pasta.

Baked pasta dishes are often made with this as the pasta element, such as macaroni cheese. Though it works well in a nice soup like Minestrone as well!

 

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Fettucine 

A long-flat strand type of pasta, fettuccine is wider in width than the likes of spaghetti and is one you will find on the menu of most Italian restaurants outside Italy. One of the most famous and popular sauce pairings across the glober for this type of pasta is undoubtedly Alfredo sauce, that decadently creamy and buttery Parmesan-infused sauce (which, by the way, doesn’t exist in Italy!). It works best with a creamy sauces, including those with chicken and seafood.

Lasagne

Lasagne sheets are flat, wide sheets of pasta and are thought to be one of the oldest forms of this foodstuff and ingredient. It is stylized as lasagna in the singular form and lasagne in the plural and used almost exclusively in the all-in-one baked pasta dish that shares the same name.

Lasagne in that form consists of the sheets being used as a separator between alternating layers of red sugo or ragu that normally contains mince tomato and other vegetables, with a white bechamel sauce. It is normally topped off with a final layer of white sauce and grated cheese and served in a similar way to a pie.

Spaghetti

What’s the most popular of all types of pasta? Do you have one in mind that we haven’t included yet? Could it really be anything else other than spaghetti?!? This is often what people first think of when they think of pasta. There is that classic image of a big pile of spaghetti in a bowl or on a plate with a juicy red tomato sauce and meatballs. (again, meatballs on pasta is NOT something you’ll find in Italy but oh so common elsewhere).

There is a lot of debate about how you are supposed to eat these long strands of pasta. Especially whether to use a spoon! This is common etiquette in the US for example, but you’ll never see an Italian eating spaghetti with a spoon.

Of course, you can taste some these pasta’s on our food tours in Rome.

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