This is a preview of the content in our Italian Food Decoder app. Get the app to:
  • Read offline
  • Remove ads
  • Access all content
  • Build a list of your own favourites
  • Search the contents with full-text search functionality
  • ... and more!
iOS App Store Google Play

Norma

Sicilian pasta dish

Pasta alla Norma, with a sauce of aubergines, tomato, ricotta salata and basil, comes from Catania. So does composer Vincenzo Bellini, and the story says that the dish was named in honour of his opera Norma.

Of course, some pasta scholars maintain that the dish was so common in 19th-century Sicily that people began to call it 'normal' pasta. Similar controversies rage over whether it should be served over maccheroni or spaghetti.

Pasta Shapes and Dishes

Sicily

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by Stacy