What is calamaretti pasta, and how do you cook it?

Calamaretti are short, wide rings of pasta. The name is Italian for "little squid", because the rings look like sliced squid. The calamaretti we stock are made by Pastificio Gentile in Gragnano, near Naples, from durum wheat semolina and water, and they cook in 18 minutes.

What is in the pack?

• Pasta di Gragnano PGI, the protected name printed on the front of the pack.
• Ingredients: durum wheat semolina and water. The pack says the wheat was grown and milled in Italy.
• Bronze-drawn: the dough is pushed through bronze dies.
• Dried at a low temperature by what Gentile calls the Cirillo method.
• 500 g, with a cooking time of 18 minutes.

Allergens: contains gluten. May contain traces of soy and mustard.

Who makes it?

Pastificio Gentile was founded in 1876 in Gragnano. The back of the pack calls it one of the historic pasta makers that made the town famous for its pasta. Pasta di Gragnano PGI is a protected name for pasta made in Gragnano, and Gentile prints it on this pack.

How do you cook calamaretti?

Boil them in plenty of salted water for the 18 minutes given on the pack. Taste a ring a minute or two before the end and drain when it is cooked the way you like it. Each ring is open at both ends, so a sauce with small pieces in it gets inside the pasta as well as around it.

What to serve them with

• A tomato sauce with seafood. The name suggests squid, cut into rings about the same size as the pasta.
• Gentile's ready tomato sauce with anchovies, warmed while the pasta cooks.
• A simple sauce made with tomatoes from Gragnano in juice.
• A yellow tomato sauce, from one of the three jars in our guide to yellow tomatoes.

For long pasta from the same maker, see what is spaghettone?

Where to buy calamaretti in the UK

Crema Aroma stocks Gentile calamaretti in 500 g packs, with the rest of Gentile's Pasta di Gragnano PGI on our pasta page.

Reviewed 27 September 2026.