Ragù all'anatra is an Italian meat sauce that's usually prepared with a combination of duck, garlic, onions, carrots, celery, guanciale, tomato purée, red wine, and herbs such as sage, parsley, bay leaves, and thyme. The vegetables are chopped and sautéed with the guanciale over high heat, followed by the duck, herbs, red wine, and tomato purée.
The combination is left to simmer until the duck becomes fully cooked. The duck is then removed, the meat chopped and placed back into the pot, and the sauce is later filtered to remove large quantities of duck fat. Once done, this hearty duck sauce is typically served with pasta such as pappardelle or tagliatelle.
Pesto Genovese is a sauce with origins in the Italian city of Genoa. Traditionally, it consists of basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, and cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino. Its name stems from the word pestare, meaning to pound or crush, referring to the original method of making the sauce with a mortar and pestle.
It is said that pesto originated from the ancient Romans who ate a paste called moretum, made by crushing together ingredients such as cheese, herbs, and garlic. Pesto is usually used with pasta, traditionally with trofie or trenette, but can also sometimes be served with sliced tomatoes or boiled potatoes.
MOST ICONIC Pesto Genovese
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Ragù alla Bolognese was invented in the late 18th century by Alberto Alvisi, a chef of Pope Pius VII. The base of this classic is made with beef, pork or a combination of both, as well as ripe, fresh tomatoes or tomato purée, red or very dry white wine, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Common additions may also include Italian pancetta and milk or cream. Traditionally, ragù alla Bolognese is served with tagliatelle pasta, and it is an essential part of lasagne alla Bolognese. It can also pair well with pappardelle, fettuccine or homemade farfalle.
Named after Amatrice, a provincial town in the Sabine Hills northeast of Rome; the iconic Amatriciana sauce is often considered a part of the "holy trinity of Roman pasta", together with carbonara and cacio e pepe. Amatriciana was invented in the 17th century by adding tomatoes to the already famous gricia sauce – diced tomatoes are sautéed in fat rendered from juicy bits of guanciale (cured pork jowl), then tossed together with grated pecorino cheese and either spaghetti or bucatini pasta.
The first recipe for Amatriciana was published in the 1790 cookbook L’Apicio Moderno by Francesco Leonardi, a renowned Roman chef and author. Over time, this classic Italian dish became so popular it was featured in several movies, from Alberto Sordi’s 1954 film An American in Rome and Luciano Salce’s 1978 Where Are You Going on Holiday? to Ryan Murphy’s Eat Pray Love, in which Julia Roberts joyfully wolfs down a portion of spaghetti all’Amatriciana while sitting on the terrace of a typical Roman osteria.
MOST ICONIC Amatriciana
View moreThis traditional Italian meat sauce consists of ground beef, pork, or a combination of both, that is sautéed alongside a sofrito of onions, carrots, and celery, a splash of red wine, and canned tomatoes. The mixture is traditionally seasoned with salt and pepper, and it can optionally be enhanced with tomato paste and porcini mushrooms.
Sugo di carne is typically enjoyed over pasta dishes such as penne, rigatoni, tagliatelle, fetuccine, or pappardelle, which are often sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan cheese on top. This traditional meat sauce is also frequently used in the preparation of lasagna.
Sugo alla Genovese is a traditional sauce that, despite its name, originates from Naples, but it was likely brought over to the city from Genoa by Genovese immigrants during the Renaissance period. The sauce is prepared by sautéeing veal or beef in olive oil with large amounts of onions, carrots, and celery for a long time, usually from 2 to 10 hours.
White wine or stock are often added to the sauce to enrich its flavors. Once done, sugo alla Genovese is served either as it is or the meat is served separately from the sauce. It's traditionally paired with pasta types such as ziti or rigatoni, and the dish is then garnished with tomatoes and topped with grated pecorino.
MOST ICONIC Sugo alla Genovese
Ragù Napoletano is a traditional meat and tomato sauce originating from Naples. In the past, it was prepared by the portinai or doormen who sat while observing the comings and goings of tenants as well as the sounds of the barely simmering dish, hence its other name, ragù guardaporta.
This ragù is cooked very slow and long over very low flames. Unlike the famous ragù alla Bolognese, the Neapolitan version doesn't start with a battuto (carrots, onions, celery), includes huge amounts of tomato sauce, and incorporates whole cuts of meat instead of ground or chopped meat.
MOST ICONIC Ragù Napoletano
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Salsa di noci is a flavorful Ligurian sauce made with walnuts, garlic, butter, cream, olive oil, and cheeses such as Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano. The creamy, nutty sauce is often made in a mortar, just like the popular basil pesto. Traditionally, the sauce is served with pansotti, which are filled with ricotta and spinach, but it can also be paired with other pasta varieties such as fettuccine.
It is recommended to pair the dishes with fresh Ligurian red and white wines.
Serve with
Ragù di cinghiale is a traditional meat sauce hailing from Tuscany, but it's also prepared in other Italian regions such as Veneto and Umbria. The ragù is made with a combination of cinghiale (wild boar) meat, tomatoes, red wine, carrots, onions, celery, garlic, olive oil, and spices and herbs such as bay leaves, sage, and rosemary.
Once prepared, this hearty meat sauce is traditionally served with pappardelle pasta, and not that often with tagliatelle. The pasta and the suace are tossed together, then sprinkled with grated cheese.
MOST ICONIC Ragù di cinghiale
Marinara is a red sauce consisting of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, and herbs. Onions might sometimes get added to the combination of these ingredients, and marinara might be transformed into another sauce such as arrabbiata or puttanesca with the addition of different ingredients.
Due to its simplicity, marinara acts as a versatile base for many Italian dishes. It originated in Naples in southern Italy, its name derived from the Italian word for sailors (marinai). Some say it was named after the sailors because marinara's ingredients didn't spoil easily, and the sauce could be prepared quickly, in about the same time it took pasta to cook, so the two made a flavorful and cheap meal for sailors on their voyages.
MOST ICONIC Marinara
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 57 Italian Sauces” list until February 13, 2025, 2,910 ratings were recorded, of which 2,337 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.