Pici
Also known as: pinci
Thick, irregular spaghetti-like pasta made from flour and water, hand-rolled or machine-made (at least 3 mm across); a traditional Tuscan product.
Pici are a thick, spaghetti-like pasta. According to the Tuscany Region's card of traditional agri-food products, hand-made pici are rough and irregular, while machine-made pici are more uniform and at least 3 mm across.
The traditional ingredients are flour, water and salt; fresh pici also contain extra virgin olive oil, and eggs (one per kg of flour) may be added for a firmer bite. Originally they were made only of flour and water, a simple peasant dish. In the province of Siena the traditional recipe uses soft wheat flour, not semolina. Hand-made pici are rolled by hand on a wooden board and cooked in boiling water for about 5 minutes; dried pici are made only from durum wheat semolina and water.
The card gives the provinces of Siena, Grosseto, Arezzo, Pisa and Pistoia as the main production area; around Montalcino the pasta is called pinci. The Montopoli Valdarno variant, pici a parabola, consists of strands of about 3 mm dried in an open parabola shape and has been produced since 1860.
Pici are served as a first course with meat or vegetable sauces. The card names ragù, tomato, garlic (aglione), oil and chilli, duck sauce and cacio e pepe.
Facts
| Raw material | Flour, water, salt (fresh pici also olive oil) |
|---|---|
| Region | Tuscany: Siena, Grosseto, Arezzo, Pisa, Pistoia |
| Duration | About 5 min (hand-made) |
| Main use | Meat and vegetable sauces, cacio e pepe |
What it includes
How it connects to Pasta
Pici → related → 🫒 Olive oil ← related ← 🍝 Pasta
Links
- Used in
- 🧄 Pici all'aglione, 🍝 Cacio e pepe
- What it contains
- Wheat flour, 🌾 Common wheat
- Part of
- Fresh pasta, Dry durum wheat pasta
- Similar and different
- Bigoli, Spaghetti, Spaghettoni
- In other topics
- 🧀 Pecorino, 🫒 Olive oil
Frequently asked questions
What are pici made of?
Traditionally flour, water and salt; fresh pici also contain extra virgin olive oil, and eggs may be added (Tuscany Region card).
How long do hand-made pici cook?
About 5 minutes in boiling water, according to the Tuscany Region card.
What do pici go with?
Meat or vegetable sauces; the card names ragù, tomato, aglione, oil and chilli, duck sauce and cacio e pepe.
Recipes
What to read next
- 🧄 Pici all'aglione — A Tuscan first course: thick hand-rolled pici in a sauce of tomatoes cooked slowly in olive oil with plenty of garlic or the aglione of the Val di Chiana.
- Bigoli — 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.
- 🌾 Common wheat — The most widely grown wheat species, milled into flour for bread, fresh and egg pasta, spätzle and noodles.
- 🧀 Pecorino — Italian sheep’s milk cheeses, from mild and young to hard and salty; the best known is Pecorino Romano.
- 🫒 Olive oil — Oil pressed from the fruit of the olive tree.
Similar
Testaroli · Bigoli · Corzetti · Busiate · Fileja · Passatelli