Rigatoni () are a form of tube-shaped

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ar ...

of varying lengths and diameters originating in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. They are larger than

penne Penne () is an Extrusion, extruded type of pasta with cylinder (geometry), cylinder-shaped pieces, their ends cut at an angle. ''Penne'' is the plural form of the Italian ''penna'' (meaning ''feather'' but ''pen'' as well), deriving from Latin ' ...

and

ziti Ziti is an extruded pasta, originating in Campania. It is shaped into a long, wide tube, about 25 cm long, that needs to be broken by hand into smaller pieces before cooking. Ziti have similarities to bucatini but are much thicker. Ziti are ...

, and sometimes slightly curved. If so, they are not as curved as elbow macaroni. Rigatoni characteristically have ridges down their length, sometimes spiraling around the tube, and unlike penne, rigatoni's ends are cut square (

perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

) to the tube walls instead of

diagonal In geometry, a diagonal is a line segment joining two vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, when those vertices are not on the same edge. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word ''diagonal'' derives from the ancient Greek δ� ...

ly. The word ''rigatoni'' comes from the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

word ''rigato'' (''rigatone'' being the augmentative and ''rigatoni'' the plural form), which means " ridged" or "lined", and is associated with the cuisine of southern and central

. Rigatoncini are a smaller version, close to the size of penne. Their name takes on the diminutive suffix ''-ino'' (pluralized ''-ini'') denoting their relative size. Rigatoni is a particular favorite pasta shape in the south of Italy, especially in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. Its eponymous ridges make better adhesive surfaces for sauces and grated cheese than smooth-sided pasta like ziti.

References

Cuisine of Lazio Types of pasta {{Italy-cuisine-stub

See also

References