Strozzapreti and Pici

Once the dough is made, these hand-shaped spaghettoni (thick spaghetti) require no special skills, and so are excellent for beginners—though patience helps. The name pici is associated with southern Tuscany, but the simple shape is known by many names, including "earthworms," lombrichelli and ombrichelli, in Umbria. It's a quick, simple pasta to make, and as a result can be found in varying lengths and thicknesses, as well as with different names. "Strozzapreti" is a popular favorite as names go because it means "priest stranglers," the origin of which is variously explained. Most probably it comes from the underground humor in the former Papal States, in which gluttonous priests were seen as the unwelcome minions of an oppressive ecclesiastical regime. Strozzapreti, unlike names like "earthworms," which actually suggest a shape, contains no inherent information about what the pasta looks like, and indeed the name is used throughout central and southern Italy for a number of shapes. To simplify things, think of strozzapreti as essentially the same as pici, but shorter, any length you like.