Tubetti, or ditalini, or ave marie, that’s the beauty of Italy, the way every region, or better yet every town has its own dialect and its own distinct recipes.

These tubetti are the little brothers of maccheroncini e pennette. They pass through the same bronze dies but with a different cut. Cooking times are the same.

Their thick structure suits them well to summertime pasta salads with diced cherry tomatoes, tuna, anchovies, pecorino cheese and olives, though they’re also nice in a winter soup.

 

Mirko of Villa Federici at Cartoceto in the Marche let me taste his tubetti in a tomato broth with guanciale (hog’s jowl bacon) and pungent pecorino di fossa cheese.  

 

Luca Zamparini of GVSTIBVS at Osimo, near Ancona, suggests dressing them with ‘day-after lentils’.