A visual guide to every type of pasta

There are several variations of spaghetti, including spaghetti alla chitarra, spaghettini, and spaghettoni.

Most famously, spaghetti is served with tomato sauce, or with meatballs, but there are plenty of dishes you can make with spaghetti.

Other names and variations include bavettine, bavette fini, radichini, trenette, and linguettine. Linguine is typically served with pesto.

Fettuccine has multiple variations and other names, like lasagnette, fettucce, ramicce, and sagne.

The most famous fettuccine dish is fettuccine Alfredo, which comes with a heavy cream sauce.

Tagliatelle is "excellent for capturing every drop of sauce," and can be served with "meat or Bolognese sauces, as well as garnished with options such as nuts, cheese, tomato and basil," according to Barilla.

Scialatielli was only invented in the '60s by a chef called Enrico Cosentino, making it one of the most recent types of pasta created.

Pappardelle is the largest of the ribbon-shaped pastas, and according to Barilla works best in a "thick rabbit ragu, but equally [as well in] a slow-cooked meat of any kind."

It's also known as reginette, which means "little queens" — due to its connection to Princess Mafalda.

According to Taste Atlas, mafaldine is good with "game sauces, ragú Napoletano, fish sauces made from seafood or shellfish, and white sauces made from soft cheeses with the addition of ginger, horseradish, or saffron."

There's a similar pasta called tripoline, that's only ridged on one side.

Capellini pairs well with "simple light tomato sauces, broths, consommés, and soups, or in light dairy sauces like parsley crème," Barilla's website states.

Barbina, or barbine, is commonly sold in this coiled nest-like structure. It's served with a light broth or light sauce.

Bucatini differs from spaghetti in that it's hollow, like a thinner, longer penne-style noodle. The most beloved bucatini dish is bucatini all'amatriciana, named for the Italian town of Amatrice. The key ingredient is guanciale, cured pork cheek.

There's another type of pasta, perciatelli, that is virtually identical to bucatini.

Bigoli is thicker than spaghetti, and softer too. It's sometimes made with duck eggs.

What makes pici special is that every piece is different — no two pieces of pici are the same length or thickness, due to its handmade nature. It can be eaten with almost anything.

Maccheroni alla molinara is another very long, hand-rolled, thick type of noodle — but it gets shaped into loops. In fact, the Washington Post reports that the pieces are originally 5 feet long before they're put together.

Vermicelli has been adopted by many other cultures' cuisines, like Vietnamese food.

But, in regards to pasta, Pasta Fits recommends topping it "with any sauce," or using it in a salad or stir fry.

The two pieces of pasta are often sealed with a fork, giving the pieces ridges.

Tortellini also resemble navels, which gives them the nickname of belly buttons. They're essentially interchangeable with tortelli (larger) or tortelloni (only filled with cheese or vegetables).

Another similarly shaped variety is cappelletti, which means "little hats." They are also usually filled with cheese.

That's where its name comes from too — those caramel candies that all grandparents seem to have. It also comes in plenty of fun colors.

The full list of ingredients is "a mixture of bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, eggs, nutmeg and lemon zest."

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Cavatappi is typically used in pasta salad. It's called cellentani.

The longer version is called strozzapreti, which means "strangle the priest."

Creste di galli also kind of resembles a mohawk, and "possesses ultimate sauce-retention due to it's tubular shape and ruffled edge," according to Pastosa.

There's a similar four-sided variant called quadrefiore.

Busiate can be prepared by twirling the pasta around a long pin, like a knitting needle, or by wrapping it around a twig.

The most common dish made with busiante is pesto alla trapanese, an antipasto made with red tomato pesto.

Maybe it's because it comes from the same region of Italy as basil pesto Genovese, the most well known of all pesto sauces, or maybe it's because the pesto gets caught in the spirals.

Fusilli noodles also resemble springs. The name comes from the word "fuso," or spindle. Fusilli is perfect in cold pasta salads.

Another variation is the radiatori, which looks like a squished fusilli with a ridge along one side.

Rotini is perfect for "light tomato sauces (with or without finely diced vegetables), dairy-based sauces, or oil-based sauces," according to Barilla. It also works well in pasta salad.

It differs from rotini and fusilli in that it looks like a double helix or double corkscrew, though it's still one piece. Barilla also recommends gemelli for pasta salad.

Barilla recommends putting farfalle in "light sauces with vegetables or fish, dairy-based sauces, simple oil-based sauces, or in pasta salads."

It's also known by the names fiochetti, fiocconi, farfalloni, galla genovese, strichetti, and nocchette.

Tripolini is similar to canestrini, which means "little baskets." Its baskets make an "excellent scoop for sauces, especially types of fish and meat ragù in larger sizes, and in smaller ones the texture is delightful in soups and broths."

Shells are a good choice for any heavy sauce, since the pocket-esque design helps sauce stay inside. Conchiglie also come in different colors, like black squid ink, or green spinach.

There's a smaller variety called cicioneddos.

Cavatelli is frequently paired with broccoli rabe, or just garlic and broccoli — or you can add ricotta to the dough.

The hollow center is perfect for catching sauce.

Typically, ditalini are as tall as they are wide, and are used commonly throughout Sicily. Frequently, pasta e fagioli, a type of soup made with pasta and beans, is prepared with ditalini.

Gnocchi is characterized by the ridges on top, which are made with a fork.

Penne can be spotted due to its diagonal holds at each end. Penne is also recommended for heavier sauces and dishes, including the famous penne alla vodka.

Trenne is similar to penne, except its is more triangular.

Ziti means bride and groom, which makes sense as ziti is served at Sicilian wedding feasts. In America, ziti is part of the famous dish, baked ziti.

Rigatoni is also cut straight, unlike the diagonal of penne. Rigatoni's ridges make it easier for sauces and cheese to cling on compared to smoother pastas, like ziti.

A classic rigatoni dish is baked rigatoni.

The name comes from the Latin verb "torquere," which means "to twist."

Other varities include corallini, grattini, tempestine, and others. Pastina is normally a component of Italian soups.

Acini di pepe is used in soups, due to its small size. It resembles couscous.

Orzo can be made into a pilaf, baked, served alone, or as part of a soup like minestrone, or salad.

Orecchiette have a small dip in middle, making them resemble small ears.

A common dish cooked with orecchiette is orecchiette alle cime di rapa, which is just the pasta and broccoli rabe (aka rapini). Some cookbooks suggest that orecchiete is perfect for vegetable sauces, while others pair them with pork or capers.

A similarly shaped pasta is cencioni, which is a bit bigger and flatter — it resembles a petal.

Lasagna is made by layering lasagne noodles and different foods, like spinach, beef, tomato sauce, onions, cheese — really anything you can think of.

Lasagne is also one of the oldest pastas in the world, and can be traced back to the ancient Greeks.

It also normally has wavy ridges at its ends, unlike lasagne. According to the New York Times, fazzoletti can be served "with nothing more than butter and Parmesan, or a drizzle of garlic-infused olive oil."

Casarecce means "homemade" in Italian.

"Made from a semolina dough normally colored with a little saffron, these tiny dumplings have an elongated, elegant conch shape that is ridged on the outside to catch sauce," writes the Geometry of Pasta.

"Typical garganelli pasta recipes include serving it with meat ragu, normally Bolognese or alla salsiccia (with sausage)," writes the Pasta Project.

Garganelli get their name from the word esophagus in Italian, "garganel" — their tube-like shape is similar.

Fileja looks like an elongated screw, and is "the best Southern Italian pasta for heavy or spicy sauces," according to the Pasta Project. It's one of the few types of pasta that's traditionally made without eggs.

Cannelloni and manicotti have a slight difference — cannelloni is smooth, while manicotti has ridges.

According to Pasta Fits, it "pairs nicely with chunky, cream- or oil-based sauces."

Barilla calls rotelle the "perfect choice for pasta salad," and also suggests pairing rotelle with "light tomato sauces (with or without finely diced vegetables), dairy-based sauces, or oil-based sauces."

There is a flower-shaped alternative called fiori which — of course — means flower.

According to Pasta Fits, "Anelli lovers can celebrate December 11, which is National Noodle Ring Day." Pasta Fits also says Americans frequently find anelli in canned soups, but it is also found in the Italian dish called timballo, which also has meat and cheese.

Due to its namesake, it's sometimes dyed black with squid ink, and is frequently served with seafood.

Agricola del Sole writes that it "pairs nicely with any sauce, both red and white."

According to Food Republic, lorighittas are "named after the Sardinian word for the iron rings used to hitch horses."

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