About Long Pasta

Capelli D'Angelo, Capellini
Angel hair, Fine hair
Use capelli d'angelo in broth; capellini in broths, with delicate sieved sauces, or in pasticci.

Vermicelli, Fedelini
Little worms, Very fine noodles
Choose fine vermicelli, and fedelini noodles, broken up, for broth based soups. Certain thicker varieties of vermicelli are suitable for sauces.

Spaghetti Alla Chitarra, Spaghetti
Guitar (square-cut)spaghetti, Lengths of cord
Spaghetti alla chirarra is named after the wire-stringed implement on which it is cut. Use spaghetti with tomato or fish sauces, or oil-based sauces.

Bavettine (Mezze Linguine)
Narrow flat noodles (half linguine)
Use these half-thickness linguine noodles with seafood sauces and delicate olive oil-based sauces.

Linguine
Little tongues
Traditionally, linguine are used with "white" clam sauces, pesto, and delicate oil-based sauces.

Perciatelli
Small pierced macaroni
Use with ragù, other meat sauces, and baked dishes with eggplant.

Bucatini
Long "holed" string noodles

These long, thin hollow tubes of pasta are used with pesto and sauces containing pancetta (such as bucatini all'amatriciniana), vegetables, and cheeses.

Fusilli Bucati Lunghi
Long, hollow twists
Springy shapes for meat sauces that are traditionally served with Neapolitan ragù. They can be used in baked pasta dishes.

Ziti
Long bridegrooms
These lengthy tubes are commonly broken into pieces before cooking. Use with ragù and meat and vegetable sauces.

Candele
Candles
Traditional with Neapolitan-style ragù, candele are ideal for all meat sauces.