Lumache

Lumache (‘snails’) are much like the gomiti but often larger, and with one end crimped so as to be partially closed – better to impersonate the model snail shell, and better too to hold the sauce once it gets into the pasta. ‘Average’ ones are the size of a thumb joint (indeed, the size of an average snail), but giant versions best used for stuffing like cannelloni or manicotti exist too. Whilst most versions are clearly modified but basic tubes of pasta, others are tightly spiralled and look alarmingly like the recently raided snail shells you might find in your garden after an attack of starlings.