Bigoli

Today we talk about Bigoli, one of the most famous fresh pasta in the Veneto region. They look like a thick spaghetti but, are quite rough on the outside, which means they hold sauces well. They originate from the Veneto region. The bigoli dough is made with semolina flour, eggs, salt, and a little bit of water.


HISTORY
Bigoli have been made and eaten here since the time of the Venetian Republic. In 1604 Bartolomio Veronese (nickname "Abundance") a pasta maker from Padova, applied to the city council for a patent for a machine he had invented which made long pasta ("bigolaro"). This machine was made of cylindrical and wood shape. It allowed the pasta dough, which was inserted from above, to be compressed using a piston and then passed through a perforated filter. The result was a long pasta similar to Neapolitan spaghetti, but much larger (2.5 mm in diameter) and quite coarse on the surface.

The name ‘Bigoli’ derives from the Venitian dialect word ‘bigat’, which means caterpillar. Other historians think that the ‘bigoli’ refers to the curved rod with a hook at each end, which was carried on the shoulders and used to transport buckets of sweet water.

The bigolaro or torchio (the pasta bigoli extruder) is fixed to a stool on which the person operating the bigolaro would sit.

Buon Appetito!