Did you know that there are more than 600 pasta shapes produced worldwide, with the most popular being spaghetti? Here are some of the more common ones....

Pasta is architecture designed for the taste buds. Every single shape is a brick, different in form, consistency and color, to create an extraordinary construction, both physical and mental, a true expression of taste... This web page shows around 250 different types of pasta!

While the only basic difference between these names is the shape of the pasta, each pasta is typically matched with a particular sauce based on cooking time, consistency, ability to hold sauce, ease of eating, etc. In the same way that hamburgers are generally not eaten on hot dog buns, pasta amatriciana, for example, is not made with angel hair spaghetti, but with bucatini. Some pasta varieties are uniquely regional and not diffused throughout Italy. In other cases, the cut of pasta is present in more than one region, but the cut is called by another name. For example, the cut rotelle is also called by the names ruote and wagon wheel.