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There are many different varieties of pasta, a staple dish of Italian cuisine.
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Some pasta varieties are uniquely regional and not widely known; some types may have different names in different languages, or sometimes in the same language. For example, the cut rotelle is also called ruote in Italy and wagon wheels in the United States. Manufacturers and cooks often invent new shapes of pasta; or may invent new names for old shapes for marketing reasons.
Italian pasta names often end with the masculine plural suffixes -ini, -elli, -illi, -etti or the feminine plurals -ine, -elle etc., all conveying the sense of "little"; or with -oni, -one, meaning "large". Many other suffixes like -otti ("largish") and -acci ("rough", "badly made") may occur, too. In Italian, all pasta type names are plural.
Long pasta
Long pasta may be made by extrusion or rolling and cutting.
Ribbon-cut pasta
Ribbon style pasta are often rolled flat and then cut. This can be done by hand or mechanically.
Miniature pasta
These are small types of pasta, mainly used in soups.