Favorite Regional Italian Pasta Dishes

 
 

Pasta and sauce (or sugu, as my mom called it in Sicillian dialect) is much more than the meaty tomato ragu mama might make on Sunday.  Italy has 20 different regions, and each region's specialties are based on the products of that region.  In my travels around "the boot" I'm always usually up to trying the local dish (couldn't bring myself to bite into the milza in Sicily).  Sometimes they are surprisingly tasty (the offal dishes in Rome), and others, like the Nerro di Seppie, I wouldn't eat again.  Below are six of my favorite Italian pasta dishes from six different regions around the boot.   

 

  

Bucatini all' Amatriciana - This Roman dish is made with guanciale (pork jowl), sweet tomatoes, onions, chile peppers, and Pecorino Romano cheese. The bucatini (meaning little hole) is a spaghetti-like pasta that has a little hole running through it.  The hole makes it impossible to slurp up the ends that dangle from your mouth, and leave you spraying your shirt with sauce. The rich sauce melds the sweet and salty guanciale, tomatoes and a hint of heat and leaves you happy to have a few red dots reminding you of your meal, but many Roman trattorie will give you a bib to keep your shirt clean.

 

Trofie al Pesto - This is a special treat when I'm in Liguria because nowhere else is the basil as sweet and intense. Trofie is a twisted maccheroni-like noodle (without a hole) about 3 inches long. The twists in the noodle help to hold on to the pesto.

 

Spaghetti con Le Sarde - Moving down the boot and onto the island of Sicily for this pasta of Palermo. The city of Palermo sits between the mountains and the sea.  This dish brings the land and sea together, and blends the flavors of Sicily's former Arab conquerers into the dish. Tomatoes, wild fennel that grows in Sicily, Sarde (large version of sardines), pine nuts, and sultanas make this dish.

 

Bigoli in Salsa - This Venetian dish, traditionally eaten during fasting days of Easter and Christmas, is simple but packed with flavor:  Bigoli is a whole-wheat pasta that looks just like bucatini.  The sauce is made with onions, anchovies and olive oil.  The onions are slowly poached in the olive oil to form the creamy base for the sauce, and the anchoives are added at the end.

 

Spaghetti Cinta Senese - A truly Tuscan pasta with sauce from its own wild boar, the Cinta Senese. The sauce is mostly meat with a few finely chopped vegetables (carrot and celery), a little broth and herbs. The meat is hearty with a little sweetness to it. It is delicious and a not-to-miss if you're in the Chianti region. 

 

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina - Back down the boot to the Campania region, this dish is made in the "style of Sorrento," one of the towns that winds around the Amalfi coast. Potato gnocchi (pronounced nyoh-key) dressed with a tomato sauce of San Marzano tomatoes and basil.  Chunks of fior di latte (mozzarella made from cow's milk) are dropped into the hot sauce, giving you a creamy oozing bite of mozzarella with each taste. 

 

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What are your favorite Italian pasta dishes?  What dish was surprisingly good or surprisingly disappointing?

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Related Posts:

 

The Art of Making Pasta by Hand: A Pugliese Pasta Lesson with Nonna Vata

Pugliese Pasta: Sagne Ncannulate con Schiattariciati (with "squished" tomato sauce)

Roman Pasta Dishes and 10 Best Places to Eat Them in Rome

Cacio e Pepe Inspired by Roma Sparita

Pasta all'Amatriciana - A Roman Treat

The Dish from Italy and Liguira - Trofie al Pesto

Pasta Con Le Sarde and Cooking in Palermo

Best Ways to Savor Venice

Comments

[Paula Aiello]

I gnocchi!!!!

[Paula Aiello]

What happened to my icon? It disappeared and I don't know how to get it back! (I don't want to be a Slinky)

[Jozee Pizzurro]

Any pasta dish is a favorite with me. I may not like that inky pasta that you posted a few months ago. I have never had it, but it is not appealing, so I wouldn't even try it. (Maybe on a bet, I would!)

[Tami]

I had an amazing pasta with a creamy walnut and Wild Boar sausage sauce in Tuscany that totally changed how I see nuts. And certainly Trofie al Pesto is a whole other way of enjoying pesto. But I would say Spaghetti aglie e olio simply because of its perfect simplicity.

[Gourmantic]

I have a weakness for gnocchi. An Italian friend makes it with a light creamy prawn sauce. I can't resist going for seconds!

[Bernie Ross]

Yup. All good ones here. Mind you, I do find that the IDEA of all that wild boar stuff is better than the actual eating. True of most gamey stuff, in my very humble....

The fabulous exception (also from Tuscany, I believe) is that glorious hare sauce, for which fresh parpardelle are obligatory. Fill your face with that one, foodies !

[Chocolate Gifts]

Any pasta as long as its Italian!...

[Liana]

I do love any and all pastas (my family gave me the nickname Pasta Queen at a very early age). For me, pasta, like pizza, is best when it is simple. Just plain tomato sauce--homemade. My favorite pasta dish from Italy was one I had on a small boat cruise taken around the islands of Ponza, Palmarola. It was made on the boat, by the family who ran the tour...simple tomato sauce with black olives. Perfect. I also had a great pasta dish at Buca di Bacco in Positano..Tagliatelline with angler fish, cherry tomatoes and black summer truffle

[Jen Laceda]

Yum...they all sound / look delicious! I'll also add alla vongole - for some reason, I really, really, really like this!

[Paula]

What about Lombardia? I would guess rissotto.

[Peter Fraher]

Can I suggest a bottle of Zenato Valpolicella Ripassa It goes really well with rich pasta dishes.