Mafaldine
ma-fal-DEE-nay (per DeLallo's product page; Wiktionary carries no IPA)
Also known as reginette, mafalde, mafalda.
What it is
Mafaldine belongs to the ribbon pasta tradition of Naples. De Cecco records an older local name, fettuccelle ricce, and The Pasta Project notes the shape may have circulated earlier as manfredine. The familiar name arrived with a royal birth. Princess Mafalda of Savoy, second daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III, was born on 19 November 1902. Pasta makers claimed a new shape to mark the occasion, though renaming an existing one seems more likely. The alternate name reginette, little queens, carries the same courtly nod. The princess's own story ended in tragedy. Detained by the Germans, she was deported to Buchenwald, where she died on 28 August 1944 after an Allied bombing raid, as Wikipedia and The Pasta Project record. The pasta keeps her name on shelves worldwide. Gragnano makers such as Garofalo still present mafalde as an old Neapolitan specialty, and De Cecco, Rummo, and DeLallo all cut the ruffled ribbon today.
Wiktionary defines mafaldine as a narrow form of mafalde and lists reginette, Italian for little queens, as a synonym. The naming for Princess Mafalda of Savoy is carried by Wikipedia and by De Cecco, Garofalo, Rummo, and DeLallo, but The Pasta Project notes the shape likely existed earlier as manfredine, so the royal christening is a strong and widely repeated tradition rather than a documented coinage.
What sauce it wants, and why
The build is a contrast machine. A smooth flat center cooks tender and sheds thin sauce, while the tight ruffles on both edges hold it. De Cecco notes the curls retain more sauce than the smooth sections, so one ribbon eats two ways. That mix of textures lets mafaldine swing between meat and cream. Rummo points it at ragu alla bolognese and shellfish. De Cecco pairs it with Neapolitan ragu finished with ricotta. DeLallo backs Alfredo and chunky tomato. Pick sauces that reward an edge that grips.
Classic plates: Mafaldine con ricotta in bianco (Naples; sheep's milk ricotta, lardo, and pecorino), Mafaldine con ceci (Naples; chickpea sauce), Mafalde con la zucca (pumpkin; Garofalo's stated traditional pairing), La barba di San Giuseppe (Puglia, St Joseph's Day on 19 March; the ribbons stand in for the saint's beard), Sicilian baked timballo with swordfish, anchovies, pine nuts, and raisins.
No mafaldine? Use these
Closest swaps by sauce behavior, not by looks. The ones most easily confused with mafaldine, and how they read.
Mafaldine vs Tagliatelle·Mafaldine vs Fettuccine·Mafaldine vs Pappardelle·Mafaldine vs Tagliolini
Easy to confuse with
Flat ribbons told apart by width: maccheroncini di Campofilone is the finest, almost thread-thin, then tagliolini, with tagliatelle and fettuccine medium (tagliatelle Bolognese, fettuccine the slightly wider Roman cut) and pappardelle the broadest. Mafaldine is a medium ribbon with ruffled edges.
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