Bigoli
Also known as: bigoi
Thick long pasta from Veneto, very similar to thick spaghetti, with a rough surface, traditionally pressed through a bronze die with a hand-crank bigolaro.
Bigoli is a thick long pasta from Veneto, very similar to thick spaghetti, with a rough, porous surface that holds sauce. It is traditionally made fresh, and dried bigoli are also sold.
The Veneto regional list of traditional agri-food products (PAT, updated 24 July 2026) includes “Bigoi” among fresh pasta products and “Bigoli in salsa” among gastronomic products.
The traditional tool is the bigolaro, a hand-crank press with a hollow cylinder, a piston-driven lid and a perforated bronze die. The Accademia Italiana della Cucina writes that documents show bigoli popular in northern Italy as early as 1600, in Padua, where a pasta maker built the hand-crank machine to meet demand.
The Accademia's recipe uses semolina and whole wheat flour with eggs; an egg-free version mixes the flours with water. Dried bigoli exist too: Pasta Morelli's are bronze-drawn pasta of Italian durum wheat semolina, dried at low temperature, which it calls typical pasta of Veneto.
In Venice bigoli are served in salsa, with a sauce of onions and anchovies to which raisins and pine nuts may be added; sardines can replace the anchovies. Elsewhere in Veneto, sauces of duck or wild boar are used.
Facts
| Raw material | Semolina and whole wheat flour, with or without eggs 2 |
|---|---|
| Region | Veneto 12 |
| Main use | In salsa (onions and anchovies), duck and wild boar sauces 12 |
How it connects to Pasta
Bigoli → kind of → Dry durum wheat pasta → kind of → 🍝 Pasta
Links
- Used in
- 🧅 Bigoli in salsa
- What it contains
- Wheat flour, Whole wheat flour, 🥚 Chicken egg, Semolina
- Part of
- Fresh pasta, Dry durum wheat pasta
- Similar and different
- Pici, Spaghetti, Bucatini
Frequently asked questions
How is bigoli different from spaghetti?
The Accademia Italiana della Cucina calls it very similar to thick spaghetti, with a rough, porous surface that holds sauce. Traditionally it is pressed through a bronze die with a hand-crank bigolaro.
What is bigoli in salsa?
A Venetian dish of bigoli with a sauce of onions and anchovies; raisins and pine nuts are optional and sardines can replace the anchovies. It is on the Veneto PAT list.
What is a bigolaro?
A hand-crank press with a hollow cylinder, a piston-driven lid and a perforated bronze die, used to make bigoli.
Recipes
What to read next
- Wheat flour — Finely ground common wheat: in Italy it is used for home-made fresh and egg pasta, in Germany for spätzle.
- 🧅 Bigoli in salsa — A Venetian first course: thick bigoli with a sauce of slowly stewed onions and salted sardines in oil.
- Pici — Thick, irregular spaghetti-like pasta made from flour and water, hand-rolled or machine-made (at least 3 mm across); a traditional Tuscan product.
- Spaghetti — Long, thin dry pasta with a round cross-section, made from durum wheat semolina.
- 🥚 Chicken egg — The egg of the domestic hen: in pasta it gives yellow colour, an elastic dough and protein, and in the EU it must be highlighted on labels as an allergen.
Similar
Sources
- Regione del Veneto — Elenco dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali del Veneto (aggiornamento al 24/07/2026)
- Accademia Italiana della Cucina — Bigoli: the original Venetian recipe
- Pasta Morelli — Bigoli (product page)
- DPR 9 febbraio 2001, n. 187 — Normattiva