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Penne  is an extruded type of pasta with cylinder-shaped pieces, their ends cut at a bias. Penne is the plural form of the Italian penna (meaning feather but pen as well). When this format was created, it was intended to imitate the then-ubiquitous fountain pen's steel nibs.

Penne is traditionally cooked al dente and its shape makes it particularly adapted for sauces, such as pesto, marinara, or arrabbiata.

Vermicelli is very fine, long strands of pasta – like a skinny spaghetti – often used in soups. The name means ‘little worms’ in Italian (though in America, it is described more ethereally 'angel hair' pasta). It is available fresh or dried.

Trottole comes from Campania. The name means “spinning top,” perfect for this squiggle-shaped noodle.

These long, flat, and slightly narrow noodles come from Emilia-Romagna and Marche. According to legend, a chef in Bentivoglio invented tagliatelle in honor of Lucrezia Borgia in 1487. He cut the pasta into long strips to resemble her blonde hair. While that story might be romantic, it’s likely that tagliatelle is centuries older. One mention of a precursor to this ribbon pasta appears in a 1338 encyclopedia of foods from the Emilia-Romagna region. Tagliolini is tagliatelle’s distance cousin. It comes from the Liguria region of Italy, and it’s thinner than tagliatelle though still a long ribbon-style pasta, similar to spaghetti.

The name for these short tubes of pasta comes from the word rigato, which means “ridged.” Rigatoni likely comes from central Italy, around Rome. Though rigatoni is generally bigger than penne (and doesn’t have the curved ends) it can be cut in a variety of diameters.

Cavatappi is a type of macaroni, known for its hollow, corkscrew shape. Sometimes cavatappi is scored with ridges, which help capture the pasta sauce.

Orecchiette, which means “little ears,” comes from Puglia, Italy, though a very similar version of this pasta also emerged in France in the Middle Ages. Orecchiette is shaped like a cup or a small bowl, which catches the sauce. One of the most popular ways to serve orecchiette is with broccoli rabe and sausage.

This ridged, shell-shaped pasta is served with chunky sauce. The shape is very similar to that of a snail’s shell. Lumanche appears in both Roman and southern Italian cuisine. The larger version is known as lumaconi.

The Leccino olive is one of the primary olive cultivars used in the production of Italian olive oil. Across Italy, it is one of the primary olives cultivars found in olive groves. It is believed to have originated in Tuscany, and it is now grown all over the world. 

Sauce easily adheres to the ridges in this seashell-shaped pasta. Conchigliette are “little shells.” Another version, conchiglie al nero di seppia, is dyed black with squid ink.

The Kalamata olive is a large, dark purple olive with a smooth, meaty texture named after the city of Kalamata in the southern Peloponnese, Greece. Often used as table olives, they are usually preserved in wine vinegar or olive oil. Kalamata olives in the European Union are protected with PDO status. Olives of the same variety grown elsewhere are marketed as Kalamon olives.