I love bucatini. It’s so fun to say. Let’s give it a go: boo-kuh-tee-nee. (It helps if you use your most exaggerated Italian accent.) See, fun! But it’s even more enjoyable to eat.

Also known as perciatelli, bucatini is a thick, long pasta similar to spaghetti but with a hole running down the centre. Italian dried pasta artisans have been making the shape since around the 16th century, and it became particularly popular in Rome, where it is the characteristic pasta served with Amatriciana sauce, starring tomatoes and guanciale.