Italian Pasta Shapes Explained: A Guide to Fresh Pasta

Walk into a good pasta shop in Naples and the shelves look more like an engineering display than a food aisle. There are tubes wide enough to stuff, ribbons with ruffled edges, very long hollow strands, tiny mixed shapes for soups and coils that trap sauce in every twist. Each shape has a job: the shape changes how a dish tastes.

A smooth strand of spaghetti behaves very differently from a ridged rigatone. A wide ribbon carries a creamy sauce differently from a hollow tube, and a spiral holds on to pieces of meat and vegetables that would slide straight off linguine. Italians don’t usually choose the shape separately from the sauce; the shape is part of the recipe. Broadly, delicate strands suit lighter sauces, broad ribbons handle richer coatings, and tubes, grooves and twists suit thick sauces with pieces of meat or vegetables in them.

Naples is a good place to see why. Campania has its own pasta culture, including paccheri, ziti, candele, pasta mista and scialatielli, and nearby Gragnano has made dried pasta for generations. In a pasta-making class in Naples you will probably meet another family too: fresh rolled pasta such as tagliatelle, fettuccine and ravioli.

If you want to learn two of these shapes by hand, the Naples: Pasta Making Class with Starter and Drink teaches ricotta ravioli and fettuccine in about 2–3 hours (4.9/5 from more than 1,300 reviews). Class times change through the year, so check your dates here:

What follows covers how the families fit together and which shape suits which sauce. For the class itself, our guide to what you learn in a pasta-making class in Naples goes step by step.

Pasta shapes at a glance

Pasta is one way into the city’s food. Visitors often pair it with a Neapolitan pizza-making class, a street food walk through Spaccanapoli, a day at Pompeii or Mount Vesuvius, or a boat trip to Capri and the Amalfi Coast, where scialatielli come from:

Why are there so many Italian pasta shapes?

Because different shapes solve different cooking problems. Look closely at a piece of pasta and you can describe it by five characteristics:

1. length
2. width
3. thickness
4. surface texture
5. whether it is hollow

Each one changes how the sauce reaches your mouth. A thin, smooth strand has relatively little surface and works well with sauces that spread evenly. A thick ridged tube carries much more. A spiral traps small pieces of sauce, and a shell scoops ingredients inside itself.

Filled pasta such as ravioli reverses the relationship: much of the flavour is already inside the pasta, so the sauce often needs to be restrained. That is why picking pasta by shape, instead of grabbing whatever is in the cupboard, can noticeably improve a dish.

The basic rule for matching pasta and sauce

There is no universal Italian law, and regional cooking is full of exceptions, but this is the most useful starting point.

Light sauce → lighter pasta

Think:

• spaghetti
• linguine
• thin ribbons

Best with:

• olive oil
• seafood
• tomato
• light vegetable sauces

Rich sauce → sturdier pasta

Think:

• rigatoni
• paccheri
• broad ribbons
• ziti

Best with:

• meat ragù
• sausage
• dense vegetable sauces
• cheese-heavy sauces

Chunky sauce → shapes that trap ingredients

Think:

• fusilli
• rigatoni
• shells
• tubes

The grooves, holes and curves hold the sauce in place.

Barilla’s general pairing advice follows the same principle: delicate shapes with lighter sauces, broader pasta with rich sauces, and ridged or hollow shapes with thicker, more textured sauces. Our fresh pasta recipe applies it to homemade ribbons.

Fresh pasta vs dried pasta: the distinction visitors often miss

People sometimes assume that fresh pasta means better pasta. It doesn’t. Fresh and dried pasta are different products for different dishes.

Fresh pasta

Fresh pasta commonly uses:

• soft wheat flour
• eggs
• sometimes semolina
• occasionally other ingredients

It tends to have:

• a softer texture
• a shorter cooking time
• a delicate structure

Fresh rolled pasta includes shapes such as:

• tagliatelle
• fettuccine
• ravioli
• tortellini

This is the type you are most likely to make in a cooking class for visitors, because you can go from flour and egg to finished pasta in one session. Our pasta dough recipe explains the flour and egg ratios.

Dried pasta

Traditional southern Italian dried pasta is normally made from:

• durum-wheat semolina
• water

The dough is pushed through dies into shapes and then dried. That gives the firm al dente bite of many famous Neapolitan pasta dishes. This family includes:

• spaghetti
• paccheri
• ziti
• rigatoni
• candele
• pasta mista

So if you make tagliatelle in a pasta class in Naples, you have not yet seen the whole local tradition. Much of Naples’ most characteristic pasta culture belongs to the dried-pasta family.

Long pasta

Long pasta works best when the sauce can coat the strands and has no need to hide anywhere. These are the shapes you are most likely to meet.

Spaghetti

Probably the world’s most recognisable pasta.

Shape: long, round, solid strand

Best with:

• tomato sauces
• olive oil
• seafood
• clam sauce
• carbonara-style coatings
• simple cheese emulsions

In Naples, one important pairing is spaghetti alle vongole: spaghetti cooked al dente and tossed with clams and their juices, usually with garlic, olive oil and parsley. It works because the sauce is mostly liquid and oil, not a chunky ragù. Naples food guides still list spaghetti with clams among the city’s representative seafood pasta dishes.

Linguine

Linguine look like spaghetti that has been gently flattened.

Shape: long, narrow and flat

Best with:

• seafood
• shellfish
• pesto
• olive-oil sauces
• lighter tomato sauces

The flattened surface gives slightly more sauce contact than round spaghetti without the weight of tagliatelle. If you are eating seafood pasta around Naples or on the coast, linguine are a natural fit.

Bucatini

Bucatini look like thick spaghetti until you bite into one and find the hole.

Shape: long, round, hollow

The hollow centre gives the sauce a second surface to reach, which suits sauces more assertive than you would put on thin spaghetti. Barilla, for example, recommends stronger tomato sauces for bucatini, because the sauce coats both the outside and the inside.

Tagliatelle

Tagliatelle are broad ribbons of fresh egg pasta.

Shape: flat, long ribbon

Best with:

• ragù
• mushrooms
• creamy sauces
• slow-cooked meat

The wide surface lets thick sauces cling. Tagliatelle come from Emilia-Romagna, not Naples, but you often see them in Italian cooking classes because beginners can make them easily. Once you have rolled a sheet of fresh pasta dough, you only need to cut it into ribbons, which makes tagliatelle such a useful teaching shape.

Fettuccine

Fettuccine belong to roughly the same family as tagliatelle.

Shape: flat ribbons

They come mainly from central Italy, particularly Lazio. Outside Italy, people know them best with creamy Alfredo-style sauces. The broad surface suits heavier coatings, because each strand carries considerably more sauce than spaghetti. Fettuccine are another common class choice, since students can roll and cut them without complicated shaping.

Mafaldine

One of the prettiest long shapes: long flat ribbons with ruffled edges along both sides.

Shape: long ribbon with curly edges

Barilla places them on the refined side of the Neapolitan food tradition and notes that the shape is named after Mafalda of Savoy. You get two textures in one bite, a soft flat centre and a firmer wavy edge, which gives mafaldine a satisfying chew with substantial sauces.

Good with

• ragù
• slow-cooked meat sauces
• creamy sauces
• cheese-based sauces

You will sometimes see the name reginette used for similar ribbon shapes.

Tubular pasta

With tubes, the engineering becomes obvious. A tube can hold sauce:

• outside
• inside
• and, if ridged, in the grooves too

That makes tubular pasta very effective with substantial sauces.

Rigatoni

Rigatoni are among the most versatile shapes in Italy.

Shape: short, wide tubes with straight-cut ends and ridges

The ridges help hold:

• tomato sauce
• meat
• cheese
• vegetable purées

The hollow centre catches more sauce. De Cecco notes that rigatoni work well with robust sauces, long-cooked meat and baked pasta. In Naples, cooks also often pair rigatoni with Genovese.

Paccheri

If you learn one shape before eating your way around Naples, make it paccheri: enormous pasta tubes.

Shape: very large, short tube

They come smooth or ridged, and they work especially well with sauces that contain large pieces.

Typical pairings

• seafood
• shellfish
• fish
• tomato
• ragù
• ricotta fillings

One traditional Neapolitan example is paccheri al coccio, where the pasta is served with a fish-and-tomato sauce. Naples food guides list it as a traditional local Sunday dish.

Why paccheri work with seafood

Picture a sauce with small pieces of fish or shellfish. With spaghetti, the pieces mostly sit around the strands. With paccheri, some settle inside the tubes, so each forkful combines pasta and sauce instead of giving you two separate textures.

Ziti

Ziti matter far more to Naples than many visitors realise. Traditional ziti are not short tubes: they start as very long hollow pasta, almost like oversized bucatini, and cooks traditionally break them by hand before cooking. Pastificio dei Campi, a Gragnano producer, describes ziti as a historic shape of the Neapolitan kitchen, linked with festive meals and celebrations.

Best-known Naples pairing

Ziti alla Genovese. Despite its name, Genovese is a quintessential Naples sauce: a huge quantity of onions cooked slowly with meat. Visit Naples lists ziti and rigatoni as the typical pasta for Genovese.

Candele

Candele look almost comically long when they come out of the packet. The name means candles, and that is exactly what they resemble.

Shape: extremely long, wide, hollow tubes

They are wider than ziti. You do not try to fit them whole into an enormous pot: you break them by hand into several pieces before cooking. Pastificio dei Campi describes candele as a traditional Neapolitan and Gragnano shape for rich sauces and suggests breaking each one into roughly three to five pieces.

Good with

• Neapolitan ragù
• Genovese
• substantial meat sauces

Candele show clearly how regional pasta can be. Outside Campania, many people have never seen them; around Naples, they are part of ordinary cooking.

Short pasta

Short pasta helps most when the sauce contains ingredients you want to pick up together with the pasta.

Penne

Penne are short tubes cut on the diagonal. The name comes from their resemblance to the nib of a pen. There are two broad varieties.

Penne lisce

Smooth.

Penne rigate

Ridged.

The ridged version grips sauce more firmly, while smooth penne give a different, often silkier coating. Penne work well with:

• tomato
• spicy sauces
• vegetables
• cream
• meat

They are versatile and not strongly tied to Naples.

Fusilli

The twist defines fusilli.

Shape: spiral

The spirals trap sauce and small ingredients, which makes fusilli useful when a sauce includes:

• minced meat
• chopped vegetables
• pesto
• cheese
• herbs

The Campanian tradition also includes fusilli lunghi bucati, a long hollow spiral. De Cecco notes that this long version works especially well with Neapolitan ragù and Genovese, because the spiral outside and the hollow inside both hold dense sauce. It shows what a pasta shape does: it catches the sauce in several places at once.

Pasta mista

Pasta mista may tell you the most about pasta in Naples, because it is not one shape at all. It is a mixture. A packet might contain:

• tiny tubes
• broken spaghetti
• short curved pieces
• small ridged pieces

Pasta mista began as the remnants of different shapes, mixed so that nothing went to waste, which suited Naples’ cucina povera tradition. Visit Naples describes pasta mista, pasta ammescata, as coming from leftover stocks of different pasta formats. Today producers make it deliberately as a shape in its own right.

Why pasta mista is ideal for pasta e patate

One of Naples’ most characteristic dishes is pasta e patate: pasta and potatoes. It sounds excessively starchy until you eat a good version. The pasta cooks with the potatoes instead of being served on top of them, and the starch thickens the cooking liquid into something closer to a creamy stew than pasta with sauce. The different shapes in pasta mista release starch and give slightly different textures.

Traditional versions may also include:

• tomato
• Parmesan
• provola

Visit Naples names pasta mista as the classic pasta for the dish. If you want to understand Neapolitan pasta culture, this humble dish tells you more than a plate of beautifully shaped ravioli.

Fresh pasta shapes

Fresh pasta changes the equation, because you roll it by hand instead of pushing it through an industrial die. That makes some shapes particularly suitable for cooking classes.

Ravioli

Ravioli are filled pasta parcels.

Structure:

• thin pasta dough outside
• filling inside

Possible fillings include:

• ricotta
• spinach
• meat
• pumpkin
• seafood
• cheese

Because the filling carries so much flavour, ravioli don’t need a strong sauce. You often see them with:

• butter and sage
• tomato
• cheese
• light cream
• cooking juices

Why ravioli are good for a pasta class

Ravioli teach several skills at once:

1. rolling dough evenly
2. portioning filling
3. controlling moisture
4. removing air
5. sealing edges
6. avoiding bursting during cooking

They teach you more than plain ribbon pasta does.

Scialatielli

If you take a cooking class in Campania, scialatielli are one of the most interesting fresh shapes to look for: short, thick fresh ribbons from Campania, particularly the Amalfi Coast. La Cucina Italiana describes them as a traditional fresh Campanian pasta, especially popular along the Amalfi Coast.

They look a little like short, thick tagliatelle, but the proportions and dough traditions differ.

Good with

• seafood
• shellfish
• cherry tomatoes
• lemon
• vegetables

Italia.it, Italy’s official tourism site, highlights scialatielli ai frutti di mare among the characteristic dishes of the Amalfi Coast.

Why they matter for a Naples cooking class

A Naples pasta class that teaches scialatielli, and not only tagliatelle, is offering something more local. You learn a shape with a much closer regional connection.

Gnocchi

Strictly speaking, gnocchi are dumplings and differ from pasta such as spaghetti or ravioli. On an Italian menu, though, they sit in the same group of primi piatti.

Potato gnocchi are made from:

• cooked potato
• flour
• sometimes egg

The goal is almost the opposite of kneading pasta. With pasta dough you develop structure; with gnocchi, too much handling makes them tough and heavy.

One famous Campanian dish is gnocchi alla sorrentina: gnocchi baked with tomato, basil, mozzarella or fiordilatte and Parmesan. Italia.it lists it among the characteristic dishes of the Sorrento area.

Filled pasta

Ravioli are only one member of a much bigger Italian family. Others include:

• tortellini
• tortelloni
• agnolotti
• cappelletti
• mezzelune

These tend to have strong regional identities, so the filling and the place matter almost as much as the shape. Tortellini, for instance, point you to Emilia-Romagna far more than to Naples. When a Naples cooking class teaches ravioli, think of it mainly as Italian fresh-pasta technique unless the filling or sauce is specifically Campanian.

Ridged vs smooth pasta: does it matter?

Yes, though not always in the simple way internet arguments suggest. Rigate means ridged; liscia/lisce means smooth.

Ridges add texture and help thicker sauces cling to the pasta. That is why shapes such as rigatoni work so naturally with:

• ragù
• sausage sauces
• baked pasta
• thick tomato sauces

De Cecco describes the grooves of rigatoni as useful for spreading substantial sauces inside and outside the pasta. Smooth pasta is not inferior, though. Finished properly in the pan, with the sauce emulsified, it can give an exceptionally silky result. The difference is one of texture, not quality.

What does “bronze-cut pasta” mean?

You may see packets labelled trafilata al bronzo or bronze die pasta. In production, the dough is forced through a shaped die. Traditional bronze dies leave a comparatively rough surface, and the roughness helps the sauce stick.

Many premium Gragnano producers make bronze extrusion part of their pitch; Pastificio dei Campi, for example, says its Gragnano IGP ziti are bronze-drawn and slowly dried. If you buy pasta in Naples as a souvenir, a bronze-cut label tells you more about quality than elaborate packaging does.

What is Pasta di Gragnano IGP?

If you are interested in pasta while visiting Naples, you will probably hear the name Gragnano. The town lies southeast of Naples, close to the Sorrentine Peninsula, and has an unusually long association with dried pasta. Today Pasta di Gragnano IGP is a protected geographical product.

Gragnano producers commonly sell traditional Campanian shapes such as:

• ziti
• candele
• paccheri
• fusilli
• spaghetti

A good food shop in Naples makes a useful follow-up to a cooking class. Learn fresh pasta in the class, then buy dried Gragnano pasta to explore the other side of Campania’s pasta culture at home.

Which pasta shapes hold the most sauce?

It depends on what you mean by “hold”. There are several mechanisms.

Grooves

Examples:

• rigatoni
• penne rigate

Sauce sticks to the outer ridges.

Hollow centres

Examples:

• paccheri
• rigatoni
• ziti
• bucatini

Sauce moves inside the pasta.

Spirals

Examples:

• fusilli

Sauce and chopped ingredients get trapped between the twists.

Broad surfaces

Examples:

• tagliatelle
• fettuccine
• mafaldine

Sauce spreads across a large surface.

Cups and cavities

Examples:

• shells
• orecchiette

Small pieces of food sit inside the pasta.

So there is no single “best pasta shape”: different shapes solve different problems.

Pasta shapes you are likely to learn in a cooking class

If you book a pasta-making class in Naples, these are the most common shapes.

Fettuccine

Easy to cut, and good for teaching how to roll dough.

Tagliatelle

A very similar learning process.

Ravioli

Excellent for learning filled pasta.

Gnocchi

Useful for learning an entirely different dough technique.

Less common, but more appealing from a regional point of view:

Scialatielli

Fresh Campanian pasta with a genuine local connection. If a class advertises scialatielli, take note.

The pasta class with starter and drink covers ravioli and fettuccine; the Pasta & Tiramisù Making Class in Naples, Appetizer and Drink (4.9/5 from more than 700 reviews) pairs your own hand-shaped noodles with tiramisu.

Pasta shapes you’re more likely to eat than make

A three-hour class cannot reproduce traditional dried-pasta production. Shapes such as:

• paccheri
• ziti
• candele
• rigatoni
• spaghetti
• dried fusilli
• pasta mista

are far more likely to turn up in a restaurant meal than at your cooking station. That does not make the class less authentic. It teaches a different side of pasta-making.

Which pasta should you try in Naples?

For a quick checklist, look for these combinations.

1. Pasta mista with pasta e patate

Why: perhaps the clearest example of everyday Neapolitan comfort food.

2. Ziti or rigatoni with Genovese

Why: one of Naples’ great slow-cooked sauces. Visit Naples links Genovese with ziti or rigatoni.

3. Spaghetti alle vongole

Why: the classic meeting of Naples, pasta and the sea.

4. Paccheri with seafood

Why: the huge tubes suit substantial pieces of fish and shellfish. Paccheri al coccio is one traditional Naples example.

5. Scialatielli ai frutti di mare

Why: fresh Campanian pasta plus the seafood of the coast.

6. Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

Why: a Campanian classic of potato gnocchi, tomato and cheese.

7. Neapolitan ragù with substantial pasta

Why: slow-cooked ragù needs a shape that can stand up to it. Long hollow fusilli, rigatoni and similar sturdy shapes all make structural sense.

How to identify pasta shapes on an Italian menu

These words help enormously.

So fusilli lunghi bucati tells you the structure: long hollow fusilli. Learn a few of these words and Italian pasta packets become surprisingly easy to read.

Does the number on a pasta packet mean anything?

Sometimes you’ll see Spaghetti No. 5 or another number. Don’t treat these numbers as a universal classification. They usually belong to the manufacturer’s own catalogue, so a No. 5 from one company does not necessarily match a No. 5 from another. The shape name tells you more than the number.

Why are some pasta names plural?

Because Italian pasta names are generally plural. You’ll commonly see:

• spaghetto → spaghetti
• raviolo → ravioli
• rigatone → rigatoni

English speakers almost always use the Italian plural as the standard name, so you ask for ravioli, not “raviolis”.

Pasta shape vs pasta recipe: what matters more?

Both. A good sauce still tastes good on the “wrong” pasta. But the right shape changes:

• how much sauce reaches each bite
• how the dish feels in your mouth
• whether chunky ingredients stay with the pasta
• how quickly the pasta softens
• how balanced the final forkful feels

That is why traditional pairings survive: they are practical combinations refined over time.

Five pasta-shape mistakes beginners make

1. Using thin pasta with a very chunky sauce

The sauce falls away while the strands come up on the fork.

Better: rigatoni, paccheri or fusilli.

2. Drowning delicate filled pasta in heavy sauce

Ravioli already contain flavour, and a big ragù can hide it.

Better: a light tomato sauce, butter, oil or another restrained sauce.

3. Assuming fresh pasta is always superior

A bowl of pasta e patate does not need hand-cut tagliatelle. It needs the right pasta for the dish.

4. Ignoring texture

Rigatoni and spaghetti may be made from exactly the same ingredients, but they do not eat the same.

5. Treating every pasta as interchangeable

You can substitute when you need to. If you understand what a shape is doing, you can usually choose a better substitute.

How to choose a substitute when you can’t find the exact pasta

Match the structure, not just the size. If you cannot find:

Paccheri

Try:

• rigatoni
• very large tubular pasta

Ziti

Try:

• rigatoni
• penne lisce
• another sturdy tube

Tagliatelle

Try:

• fettuccine
• pappardelle, if the sauce is substantial

Fusilli

Try:

• another spiral or grooved short pasta

Scialatielli

Try:

• thick fresh tagliatelle cut shorter

It won’t be identical, but it will eat more like the original.

Which pasta shapes are easiest to make at home?

For beginners:

Easiest

1. tagliatelle
2. fettuccine
3. simple hand-cut ribbons
4. gnocchi

Intermediate

5. ravioli
6. scialatielli
7. hand-shaped pasta

Harder to reproduce traditionally

8. spaghetti
9. rigatoni
10. paccheri
11. ziti

A rolling pin and a knife cannot make the last group; it generally needs extrusion equipment, which is another reason cooking classes concentrate on fresh pasta.

Best pasta shape to learn in Naples

If we could choose three techniques from a cooking class, we would pick these.

1. Tagliatelle or fettuccine

To understand rolling and cutting dough.

2. Ravioli

To understand filled pasta.

3. Scialatielli or gnocchi

To add something with a stronger Campanian identity.

That gives you three different skills instead of several versions of the same ribbon.

A useful rule to remember

If you forget every pasta name on this page, remember this: look at the sauce first, then choose a shape that can carry it.

• Silky sauce? Use something the sauce can coat.
• Chunky sauce? Give the ingredients grooves, twists or holes to settle in.
• Heavy sauce? Choose pasta sturdy enough not to disappear under it.
• Filled pasta? Let the filling lead.

That principle gets you a long way.

Pasta shapes FAQ

How many pasta shapes are there in Italy?

There is no single accepted number, because regional variations, historical shapes and manufacturers’ own formats overlap. You’ll often see claims running into the hundreds. It helps more to learn the main structural families: strands, ribbons, tubes, twists, shells, small soup pasta and filled pasta.

What are the most common Italian pasta shapes?

Internationally, some of the most familiar are spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, fusilli, tagliatelle, fettuccine, linguine and ravioli.

What pasta shapes are traditional in Naples?

Shapes closely tied to Naples and Campania include ziti, candele, paccheri, pasta mista, mafaldine and scialatielli, alongside widely eaten formats such as spaghetti and rigatoni. Ziti and candele have especially strong links with Gragnano and the Neapolitan tradition.

What pasta is used for Genovese in Naples?

Ziti and rigatoni are the traditional choices. Visit Naples names both for Neapolitan Genovese.

What pasta is used for pasta e patate?

Pasta mista, or pasta ammescata, is the classic Neapolitan choice.

What is paccheri?

Paccheri are very large pasta tubes closely tied to Campanian cooking. They work well with substantial seafood, tomato and meat sauces.

What is the difference between tagliatelle and fettuccine?

Both are flat ribbon pasta. Their exact width and regional identity differ: tagliatelle come from Emilia-Romagna, fettuccine mainly from central Italy. In practical cooking terms, both suit substantial sauces.

What is scialatielli?

Scialatielli are short, thick fresh pasta ribbons from Campania, especially the Amalfi Coast. Seafood is one of their classic partners.

Is gnocchi pasta?

Technically gnocchi are dumplings, not conventional pasta, but they play the same role as an Italian primo. Potato gnocchi are central to Campanian dishes such as gnocchi alla sorrentina.

Why does pasta have ridges?

Ridges add surface texture and help thicker sauces cling. Ridged tubes such as rigatoni hold sauce both outside and inside.

What does rigate mean?

Rigate means ridged. Lisce means smooth.

What does bronze-cut pasta mean?

The dough has been extruded through bronze dies, which leave a rougher surface that helps sauce stick. Premium Gragnano producers commonly use bronze dies.

Which pasta shape is best for meat sauce?

Broad ribbons such as tagliatelle work well with a smooth meat ragù, while tubes such as rigatoni and ziti are excellent for substantial, slow-cooked sauces. There is no single best choice.

Which pasta shape is best for seafood?

Spaghetti and linguine suit lighter seafood sauces. Paccheri work well when the sauce has larger pieces of fish or shellfish, and scialatielli are a classic Campanian choice for seafood.

Which pasta is easiest to make from scratch?

Ribbon pasta such as tagliatelle and fettuccine is among the easiest, because once you have rolled the dough you only need to cut it into strips.

If you’re taking a pasta class in Naples

A class that teaches tagliatelle and ravioli gives you excellent Italian fresh-pasta technique. A class that teaches scialatielli, gnocchi or a Neapolitan sauce brings you closer to Campanian food culture. Neither is automatically better: the first shows how Italians make fresh pasta, and the second shows how Naples eats pasta.

If you have the choice, combine both. Learn to turn flour and eggs into fresh pasta with your own hands, then spend the rest of your trip eating the dried pasta Naples does so well: ziti with Genovese, pasta mista with potatoes, paccheri with seafood and spaghetti with clams. That gives you a much better picture of Italian pasta than memorising fifty shapes. To book the hands-on half, check dates on the pasta class with starter and drink.

Related reading

• Pasta-making class in Naples: what you’ll learn
• Fresh pasta recipe: how to make pasta from scratch
• Pasta dough recipe: ingredients, flour, eggs and ratios
• Cooking classes in Naples: pizza, pasta, tiramisu and more