Marille

Marille was a designer dried pasta from 1983. Car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro drew it for Pastificio Voiello. In cross section it looks like a figure eight with a curled tail, or a wave. The ridges sit on the inside of the curves, to trap sauce. Giugiaro took the idea from cross sections of foam gaskets. The original die was four centimetres across. The design won a Compasso d'Oro in 1984.

Voiello was based at Torre Annunziata near Naples. The pasta drew hundreds of press articles, but it sold poorly. The joints between its three parts cooked more slowly than the thin edges. The result was uneven texture. Production stopped and the shape is no longer made. A chef's recipe, Marille alla 33, won a professional cooking prize in 1984.