Pasta lovers will enjoy a traditional stuffed pasta during National Tortellini Day on February 13!
Tortellini is a signature dish from the Italian region of Bologna, where they claim to have created this stuffed pasta packed with flavor. Ravioli, tortellini and tortellacci are all part of the same family of stuffed pasta. The most common fillings for tortellini are ham, white meat and Parmesan cheese.
- 1500s – According to one legend, the shape of tortellini pasta is inspired by the navel of the goddess of love, Venus.
- 1570 – Bartolomeo Scappi’s recipe for a dish named ‘torteletti’ appears.
- 17th Century – Vincenzo Tanara’s writings may be the reason for the pasta’s renaming to ‘tortellini.’
- 17th Century – Three legends about the creation of Tortellini
- The dish was created in Castelfranco Emilia when Lucrezia Borgia stopped by an inn, and the host was so taken by her beauty that he peeked into her room, saw her belly button, and made pasta shaped like her belly button.
- Pretty similar to the first legend, except this time it was an innkeeper in Bologna who saw Venus’s belly button when Venus and Jupiter stopped by.
- Now a 180-degree turn and instead of belly buttons, the third story says that tortellini was made to look like turtles, a common motif in 17th-century buildings.
- 18th Century – Napoleon’s invasion of Italy in the late 18th century inadvertently shaped tortellini’s story. French officers stationed in Emilia-Romagna were so impressed by the pasta that they requested it be shipped to France. Over time, the dish gained popularity across Europe. This early exposure helped tortellini transition from a local specialty to a widely recognized delicacy, influencing its modern reputation as a gourmet food
- 19th Century – Up until the 19th century, tortellini were confined to the tables of the more affluent members of society or were served up only on holidays.
- 1965 – Bologna is home to the Dotta Confraternita Del Tortellino, “Learned Order of the Tortellino” (singular of tortellini), an organization founded in 1965 and dedicated to the preservation of this dish in its most traditional form—meat filling served in meat broth.
- members wear red and gold hats that are shaped like tortellini.
- A yearly tortellini festival, Sagra del Tortellino, with costumed characters re-enacting the legendary creation of tortellini, takes place every September in the town of Castelfranco Emilia
- 1974 – The official recipe for the tortellini is registered at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna. The “Dotta Confraternita del Tortellino” is a Bologna-based guild dedicated to preserving the authenticity of tortellini.
- 1994 – Tortellini made a surprising appearance in the 1994 movie True Lies. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character famously orders tortellini while discussing espionage, sparking curiosity about the dish in American audiences.
- 2018 – chefs in Bologna set a Guinness World Record for the longest handmade tortellini. The pasta stretched an incredible 120 meters (393 feet). It took dozens of chefs several hours to craft the record-breaking piece.
- 2020 – Some 12% of Americans have even served this pasta to impress someone, which is up from 7% last year (2020).
- 2020 – An additional 29% say eating tortellini makes them feel fancy, even if all they’re doing is adding sauce.
- Tortellini is a signature dish from the Italian region of Bologna, which claims to have created this stuffed pasta packed with flavor. Ravioli, tortellini, and tortellacci are all part of the same family of stuffed pasta.
- Tortellini are small ring-shaped pasta stuffed with meat or cheese.
- Like tortellini, tortelloni is a stuffed pasta shaped into a circle and stuffed with warm cheese. Tortelloni are larger.
- The traditional filling includes pork, prosciutto, and Parmesan, but many chefs today experiment with unique options.
- They are called “umbellico” pasta due to their belly button shape.
- The “tortellini” is quite rightly the symbol of Bologna’s cuisine because it combines the inimitable fragrance of rolled pasta with the flavor of a rich filling: all the specialties of Bologna’s cuisine are captured in a single mouthful.
- About 39% of Americans believe tortellini is fancier than other pasta.
- For two years in a row, Americans have picked cheese as their favorite tortellini filling (24% for 2020, up 4% from last year).
- Nationwide, 78% of Americans are all about cheese when it comes to tortellini fillings.
- In the town of Valeggio sul Mincio, a variation of tortellini called “Nodo d’Amore” (Love Knot) carries a beautiful legend. It tells of a forbidden romance between a water nymph and a mortal man. Before vanishing forever, the nymph left a golden scarf tied in a knot to symbolize their love. Inspired by this, the local pasta-makers shaped their tortellini like delicate knots. The town celebrates this romantic tale with an annual festival where thousands of tortellini are served on a long table spanning the town’s bridge.
- Serving tortellini in broth, especially during Christmas, is a deeply rooted tradition in Emilia-Romagna.
- In some Italian households, it’s believed that the first tortellini of the season should be eaten in silence to ensure good luck.
- It’s also thought that biting into a perfectly folded tortellini on New Year’s Day will bring prosperity throughout the year.
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