The triathlon in the Disney and Pixar film Luca sandwiches a carb-packed “sport” between the swimming and cycling legs: pasta eating. The pasta? Trenette.
While it’s served plain during the competition, trenette also appears by the bowlful, prepared with pesto sauce on several occasions by Massimo, the fisherman father of Giulia, the friend to the title character and his fellow sea monster Alberto.
Narrow, flat, long, and thin, trenette resembles linguine and often, the two pastas are used interchangeably. Holding them side by side reveals that they're practically the same width, trenette just a smidgen wider. Though when it comes to girth, linguine is flatter and the trenette is thicker. If you hold a strand in each hand, you can feel the difference.
Trenette al pesto, usually served with green beans and potatoes that are boiled in the same water as the pasta, is etched into the menus at Genoese trattorias. Beyond, it’s safe to say around 99% of the trattorias in Liguria offer a version of pesto pasta with or without trenette — often with trofie, a short, rolled Ligurian pasta variety. American food writer Waverley Root mentions the preparation in his 1971 tome, The Food of Italy, and legendary Italian gastronomic critic Massimo Alberini discusses it in his 1965 guide, Liguria a Tavola (Liguria at the Table), describing trenette al pesto as non sono piu solo il piatto della domenica ma cibo usuale (it’s no longer just Sunday food, but everyday food.)
Trenette al pesto with potatoes and green beans prepared at home by the author.
In his 2016 book, La Pasta in Liguria, Ligurian food historian Sergio Rossi discusses Liguria’s pasta-making history, noting that the first mention of pasta in Liguria dates back to the 13th century. Though it tends to get overshadowed by the dry pasta of the south, Liguria’s centuries-old traditions are just as noteworthy, a good part of which is rooted in Genoa’s maritime, seafaring history.
In regard to the pasta’s name, Rossi references two theories. Some believe it has ancient roots, evolving from the word tria, a derivative of itriyya, the Arab word for pasta, specifically the thin noodles that the Arabs brought to Italy that serve as the ancestor of pasta as it’s known today. The second theory seems the more likely explanation.
In the early 19th century, teacher Giuseppe Oliveri, a Genoa transplant who couldn’t understand the dialect spoken by his students, penned a Genoese-Italian dictionary published in 1851. He describes trenette in a manner that suggests the pasta name derived from the word trenna, or strings.
Nowadays, trenette al pesto with potatoes and green beans is enjoyed year-round, and Rossi notes how the dish “evokes a plate that brings you back to the trattoria, the specialty of the season when ripe green beans are at their most tender, and the early potatoes.”
In fact, seasonality is what brought the dish to life. He writes, “In preparing trenette with pesto, it is good to remember that the association with green beans and potatoes derives from a condition and a time in which seasonality was simply natural: without refrigerators or other methods to preserve fresh products, there was nothing else to do. The first crops have always been there, of course, but forced cultivation in heated greenhouses spread very late and even pesto was a seasonal condiment because fresh basil needs night heat and even on the coast the production was limited to the beautiful season.”
To confirm this, he cites 19th-century writer Michele Covasco, who wrote that it was commonplace to combine these seasonal vegetables (the green beans and potatoes) with pasta – dry versions during the winter and fresh during the summer.
Although pesto’s first written reference appears in Emanuele Rossi’s 1841 guide, Vera Cuciniera Genovese (True Genoese Cook), where it’s called pesto d'aglio e basilico (garlic and basil pesto), the condiment is believed to have been around for centuries longer, having evolved from agliata (aggiada in dialect), a garlic-based sauce that dates back to Ancient Rome.
There are hundreds of pasta varieties — some sources say 350 while others say there as many as 600 — and Luca has thrust this lesser-known variety into the global spotlight. Trenette holds a special place in the hearts of the Genoese, Ligurians, and those who spend a lot of time in the region, and it’s gratifying to see it garner some much deserved attention.
Cover photo: DarioEgidi/Getty Images