8 Pasta Styles You've Never Heard Of

When you're in the mood for pasta, you make a run to the grocery store and take a look at the local selection, and you're faced with a usual cast of characters. Spaghetti, fettucine, ziti, fusilli, rigatoni... it's the same old same old. But if you find yourself in Italy you'll realize that there's a whole world of dried pasta styles that you've most likely never heard of. Here are eight.

Busciata Trapanese
This long, twisted pasta is popular in western Sicily.

Caccavelle
The world's largest dried pasta shape (measuring more than four inches across), this Neapolitan pasta resembles a large ridged shell, and is usually stuffed and baked.

Candele
These long, hollow pasta tubes resemble long tapered candles.

Cellentani
These twisted and ridged tubes resemble long elbow macaroni. They are ideal for macaroni and cheese.

Corzetti
This Ligurian pasta is flat and stamped to resemble coins.

Pasta Al Ceppo
These are shaped exactly like cinnamon sticks.

Quadrefiore
These funky-shaped pastas have six or seven wavy ridges coming out from a central tube.

Trottole
These are rings of pasta twirled around a central column, which are usually used in soups.