{{Short description|Type of pasta}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2025}} __NOTOC__ {{Infobox food | name = Ziti | image = Ziti al ragù.jpg | image_size = | caption = Served with Neapolitan ragù | alternate_name = {{lang|it|Busiata}}, {{lang|it|maccheroni di zita}}, {{lang|it|a pasta d'à festa}} (Molise), {{lang|it|stivalette}} (Apulia) | country = Italy | region = Sicily | creator = | course = | type = Pasta | served = | main_ingredient = Durum wheat flour, water | variations = {{lang|it|Zitoni}}, {{lang|it|zitoni rigati}} }}
'''Ziti''' ({{IPA|it|ˈdziːti|lang}}) or '''''zite''''' ({{IPA|it|ˈdziːte|lang}}) is a shape of extruded pasta originating in the Italian region of Sicily.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Oretta Zanini |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa00zani |title=Encyclopedia of Pasta |publisher=University of California Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-520-94471-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa00zani/page/315 315]–316 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
Factories make ziti out of durum wheat flour and water, forming long, narrow tubes. In baked macaroni dishes, these tubes are used unbroken, but for preparations serving ziti with sauce, they are broken or cut into pieces around {{Convert|5|cm|sigfig=1}} long. In the past, this was generally done by cooks before cooking, but is today more frequently performed by manufacturers, who sell the pieces under the name "cut ziti".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Arthur |title=Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1998 |isbn=0-06-018261-X |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/naplesattablecoo0000schw/page/132/ 132]}}</ref> These cuts are made straight across, rather than diagonally as is the case with penne.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rosso |first1=Julee |author-link=Julee Rosso |url=http://archive.org/details/newbasicscookboo00jule |title=The New Basics Cookbook |last2=Lukins |first2=Sheila |author-link2=Sheila Lukins |publisher=Workman Publishing Company |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-89480-341-3 |location=New York |page=130}}</ref> Like penne lisce, plain ziti has a smooth surface, making thin sauces less appropriate for this dish. Variations of ziti include {{lang|it|zitoni}}, a thicker pasta, and {{lang|it|zitoni rigati}}, which, like rigatoni and penne rigate, does have ridges on its surface.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinclair |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mdwm7jI9J10C&q=zitoni&pg=PT1453 |title=Dictionary of Food: International Food and Cooking Terms from A to Z |date=2004 |publisher=A & C Black |isbn=978-1-4081-0218-3 |location=London |language=}}</ref>
Ziti is known under the alternative names {{lang|it|busiata}} and {{lang|it|maccheroni di zita}}, as well as {{lang|it|a pasta d'à festa}} and {{lang|it|stivalette}} in Molise and Apulia respectively. The phrase "box of ziti" has become a colloquial euphemism for $1,000 in New York, after its use was popularized in the crime-drama series ''The Sopranos''.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=McKinley |first1=Jesse |last2=Wang |first2=Vivian |date=2018-02-27 |title='This Is How Criminals Talk': Closing Arguments Focus on Ziti |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/nyregion/percoco-albany-corruption-trial.html |access-date=2023-06-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=James |first=Caryn |date=2000-01-14 |title=TV WEEKEND; The Ziti's in the Oven and the Matriarch's Still Not Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/14/movies/tv-weekend-the-ziti-s-in-the-oven-and-the-matriarch-s-still-not-dead.html |access-date=2023-06-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wynn |first=Neil A. |date=2004 |editor-last=Barreca |editor-first=Regina |editor2-last=Bishop |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Chase |editor3-first=David |editor4-last=Gabbard |editor4-first=Glen O. |editor5-last=Rucker |editor5-first=Allen |editor6-last=Simon |editor6-first=David R. |editor7-last=Lavery |editor7-first=David |title=Counselling the Mafia: "The Sopranos" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27557467 |journal=Journal of American Studies |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=127–132 |doi=10.1017/S0021875804007947 |issn=0021-8758 |jstor=27557467 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The literal translation of {{lang|scn|ziti}} is either 'brides' or 'grooms'; in the past in Sicily, ziti was a mainstay at the weddings of all economic classes, served with stewed pork. The name {{lang|it|maccheroni di zita}} similarly references weddings, meaning "bridal macaroni". Today, ziti is eaten throughout Italy, in several regions during feasts. An example of this is in Molise, where it is popularly believed that by eating ziti on the Feast of the Epiphany, the devil will not appear at one's deathbed.<ref name=":0" />
The pasta is often served with Genovese sauce or ragù, as well as in baked pasta dishes.<ref name=":1" /> In Apulia, ziti is used in {{lang|it|pasta seduta}} ({{literally|seated pasta}}). In this dish, a bowl of ziti, covered with tomato sauce, meatballs and cheese, is covered and immersed in boiling water. Baked ziti is a {{lang|it|pasta al forno}} (baked pasta casserole) characteristic of Italian-American cuisine, made of ziti, bechamel, ragù, and topped with cheese.<ref>{{cite book |last=Oseland |first=James |title=Saveur: The New Comfort Food - Home Cooking from Around the World |date=2011-04-20 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-0811878012 |page=[https://archive.org/details/saveurnewcomfort0000unse/page/74/ 75] |authorlink=James Oseland}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Lidia's Italy in America | author1=Lidia Matticchio Bastianich | authorlink1=Lidia Bastianich | author2=Tanya Bastianich Manuali | authorlink2=Tanya Bastianich Manuali | publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | date=2011-10-25 | isbn=978-0307595676}}</ref> The version eaten in Naples, {{lang|it|ziti alla sorrentina}}, is less dense than the baked ziti popular in America.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Arthur |title=Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1998 |isbn=0-06-018261-X |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/naplesattablecoo0000schw/page/190/ 190]}}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery widths="140" heights="140" perrow="5"> File:Ziti top (cropped).jpg|alt=Long, hollow pieces of pasta|Uncut ziti File:Flickr - cyclonebill - Kylling og pasta.jpg|Uncut ziti being set into a pot File:RecipeoftheMonthNov SJ (10807432016).jpg|alt=|Cut ziti in a strainer File:Baked Ziti (cropped).jpg|Baked ziti with tomato sauce and cheese </gallery>
==See also== {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Portal|Italy|Food}} * List of pasta * List of casserole dishes
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Pasta}}
Category:Cuisine of Sicily Category:Types of pasta Category:Casserole dishes Category:Pasta dishes