Amatriciana: The History of the Pasta from Amatrice

Amatriciana is a pasta sauce of tomato, cured pork cheek (guanciale) and pecorino cheese, named after the town of Amatrice in the mountains of Lazio. It grew out of an older tomato-free dish, pasta alla gricia, and went on to become one of the classics of Roman cooking.

Behind that simple description sits a long argument about ingredients, a handful of competing origin stories and a town that takes its recipe very seriously.

From Amatrice to Rome

Amatrice is a small town in the province of Rieti, in the hills of northern Lazio. In Roman dialect the dish is often called matriciana, dropping the first letter, and you will see both spellings on menus in Rome.

The name points to the town, and Amatrice is proud to claim it. One Italian food writer offers an alternative: the name may come from Amatrice's guanciale, long regarded as some of the best, rather than from the dish being invented there.

Rome adopted the dish so thoroughly that many people now think of it as Roman. Wikipedia records a lane in central Rome called Vicolo dei Matriciani, documented as early as the seventeenth century, along with an inn of the same name.

Before the tomato: pasta alla gricia

The older ancestor is pasta alla gricia, made with guanciale and grated pecorino and no tomato. According to Wikipedia, that tomato-free method was still in use in Amatrice itself in the 1960s.

Where the word gricia comes from is unclear. One theory links it to the grici, food sellers in papal Rome; another points to Grisciano, a hamlet near Amatrice. Neither has been settled.

When did the tomato arrive?

Tomatoes reached Europe from the Americas, but they took a long time to become a sauce. The first written record of pasta with tomato sauce is usually dated to 1790, in a book by the Roman chef Francesco Leonardi, and Wikipedia gives the late eighteenth century as the likely point when tomato joined the gricia. Treat that date as an estimate rather than a fact.

The name itself turns up in print surprisingly late. The earliest known recipe explicitly called amatriciana appears in a 1914 Italian cookery manual, and it used pork belly rather than guanciale. A 1911 mention of "spaghetti alla matriciana" describes a dish of only pepper and pecorino, and one linguist argues that was really closer to cacio e pepe. By 1930 the dish was in Ada Boni's well-known book on Roman cooking.

The ingredient argument

Few pasta dishes generate as much debate. The version associated with Amatrice uses tomatoes, guanciale, pecorino (romano or the local pecorino di Amatrice), black pepper, dried chilli, olive oil, dry white wine and salt.

Onion is the flashpoint. Several classic Roman cookery handbooks include it. Amatrice does not: a former mayor of the town was quoted as saying there should be no garlic and no onion. When a well-known Italian chef proposed a clove of garlic as a secret ingredient in 2015, the town council responded by restating its official list of ingredients.

The dish now has formal protection too. Wikipedia reports that "amatriciana tradizionale" is registered as a traditional speciality guaranteed in the EU and the UK, and Italy lists it as a traditional food product of Lazio.

Spaghetti or bucatini?

In Amatrice the dish is traditionally served with spaghetti. In Rome, bucatini, a thick hollow spaghetti, has become the more common choice, and rigatoni is popular too. Both traditions are part of the dish's story, so neither is wrong.

A dish that helped a town rebuild

In 2016 an earthquake devastated Amatrice. Afterwards, restaurants across Italy served amatriciana to raise money for the recovery, turning the town's best-known dish into a way of supporting it.

At Bigoli

Our Amatriciana is made with pancetta, chilli, tomato, Pecorino Romano and onion. That makes it a different take from the Amatrice recipe above: we use pancetta rather than guanciale, and we include onion, which the town would not. We would rather tell you that plainly than pretend otherwise. Our sauces are made in-house, and most of our ingredients come directly from Italy.

The pasta is extruded on site every morning, in six shapes: penne, rigatoni, spaghetti, fusilli, bigoli and fettuccine. Choose your sauce, choose your shape and add extras; your plate is cooked to order and ready in minutes. Spaghetti gives you the Amatrice pairing and rigatoni a Roman one, but any sauce goes on any shape. Every pasta dish except Dello Chef can be made with our gluten-free penne. Some add-ons, such as meatballs, contain gluten. Not a gluten-free kitchen.

We are at 123 City Road, by the Old Street roundabout, about a minute's walk from Old Street station.

Frequently asked questions

Where does amatriciana come from?

From Amatrice, a mountain town in the province of Rieti in Lazio, though it is now closely associated with Rome.

What is the difference between amatriciana and gricia?

Gricia is the older dish of guanciale and pecorino without tomato. Amatriciana adds tomato.

Does amatriciana have onion?

It depends whom you ask. Some classic Roman handbooks include onion; the town of Amatrice rejects it.

What pasta is best for amatriciana?

Spaghetti is traditional in Amatrice, while bucatini and rigatoni are common in Rome.

Come and taste our version: plan your visit or browse the menu.