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But, do you know where the Pesto word comes from?

Pesto word comes from the Italian verb “pestare” which means to crush, to trample, to pound.

In fact, it derives from the old method of preparation, through the pounding of basil leaves inside a mortar made of marble with a wooden pestle (pesto: a diminutive of the Italian name of pestare-in English to crush). After crushed the basil leaves inside the mortar (hence the name of pesto – to crush) add a mix of pine nuts, garlic, salt, ligurian olive oil, pecorino and parmesan cheese.

Keep it pesting (hops) I mean crushing, until from all the crushing (lucky you) of the herbs compound you have done, you’ll get a fine source, and here you have it…the Pesto’s sauce.

All along the Ligurian Riviera we combine this unique and delicious sauce with different types of pasta. These kind of pasta have ligurian origins and they perfectly match with the green genoese sauce!

Trofie Its name “Trofie” maybe derives from “strafuggià” (rubbing) movement used to make this kind of pasta. In Liguria, trofie with Pesto is traditionally served with cooked green beans and potatoes tossed in.

Lasagne, which do not have ligurian origin, marries well with pesto sauce. It’s easy to make this dish. Repeat the recipe for classic lasagna and just replace meat sauce with genoese pesto sauce!

Mandilli de sea meaning “silk handkerchiefs”. They are small squares of pasta. Its name emphasizes how thin, almost transparent, the pasta must be.

Testaroli: they derive their name from the testo, a flat or slightly domed cast iron or stone griddle that they’re cooked on, and are quite ancient (they were known at least in the 1300s). They are an unusual type of fresh pasta made from an eggless dough that is briefly plunged into boiling water before serving.

Trenette Pasta is similar to linguine and tagliatelle. It is relatively thick compared to those two, but thinner in width than linguine.

Croxetti this kind of ligurian pasta originated in the Middle Ages, when cooks of noble Ligurian families would press a thin sheet of pasta between two wooden molds engraved with the family’s coat of arms on one side and symbols on the other. Quite often the symbol stamped on the second side was the Christian cross, thereby giving the pasta its name.

Taglierini are thin flat ribbons of pasta. This type of pasta is the narrower version of the flat pasta belonging to the tagliatelle family.