''Spaghetti alla puttanesca'' () is a

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...

dish invented in the Italian city of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in the mid-20th century and made typically with tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, '' peperoncino'', extra virgin olive oil, and salt.

Etymology

Because ''puttana'' means roughly 'whore' or '

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

' and ''puttanesca'' is an adjective derived from that word, the dish may have been invented in one of many bordellos in the Naples working-class neighbourhood of Quartieri Spagnoli as a quick meal taken between servicing clients. Alternatively, food historian Jeremy Parzen suggests: "Italians use ''puttana'' (and related words) almost the way we use ''shit'', as an all-purpose profanity, so ''pasta alla puttanesca'' might have originated with someone saying, essentially, 'I just threw a bunch of ''shit'' from the cupboard into a pan'."

Origin

Various recipes in Italian cookbooks dating back to the 19th century describe pasta sauces very similar to a modern ''puttanesca'' under different names. One of the earliest dates from 1844, when Ippolito Cavalcanti, in his ''Cucina teorico-pratica'', included a recipe from popular Neapolitan cuisine, calling it ''vermicelli all'oglio con olive capperi ed alici salse''. After some sporadic appearances in other Neapolitan cookbooks, in 1931 the Touring Club Italiano's ''Guida gastronomica d'Italia'' lists it among the gastronomic specialties of

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

, calling it ''maccheroni alla marinara''. The dish under its current name first appears in gastronomic literature in the 1960s. The earliest known mention of ''pasta alla puttanesca'' is in Raffaele La Capria's ''Ferito a morte'' (''Mortal Wound''), a 1961 Italian novel which mentions "''spaghetti alla puttanesca come li fanno a Siracusa''" ().The dictionary entry is cited in Jeremy Parzen
‘The origins of Sugo alla puttanesca?’
, ''Do Bianchi'', 13 January 2008, an article which supplied a number of the sources used here. The sauce became popular in the 1960s, according to the Professional Union of Italian Pasta Makers. Nonetheless, the 1971 edition of the '' Il cucchiaio d'argento'' (''The Silver Spoon''), one of Italy's most prominent cookbooks, has no recipe with the name ''puttanesca'', but two recipes that are similar: the Neapolitan ''spaghetti alla partenopea'' is made with anchovies and generous quantities of

oregano Oregano (, ; ''Origanum vulgare'') is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It was native to the Mediterranean region, but widely naturalised elsewhere in the temperate climate, temperate Northern Hemisphere. Oregano is a ...

, while ''spaghetti alla siciliana'' is distinguished by the addition of green peppers; still again, there is a Sicilian style popular around

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

that includes olives, anchovies, and raisins. In Dom DeLuise's 1988 cookbook, ''Eat This... It'll Make You Feel Better!'', he offers a recipe named "Puttanesca Sauce (Harlot Sauce)", which he explains was introduced to him by Caterina Valente during the filming of '' The Entertainers'' in 1964. DeLuise's recipe calls for both olives and capers, along with red pepper flakes, but no anchovies or oregano. In a 2005 article from ''Il Golfo''—a daily newspaper serving the Italian islands of Ischia and Procida—Annarita Cuomo asserted that '' sugo alla puttanesca'' was invented in the 1950s by Sandro Petti, co-owner of 'O Rangio Fellone, a famous Ischian restaurant and nightspot.

Basic recipe

The sauce alone is called ''sugo alla puttanesca'' in Italian. Recipes may differ according to preferences; for instance, the Neapolitan version is prepared without anchovies, unlike the version popular in the Lazio region. Spices are sometimes added. In most cases, however, the ''sugo'' is a little salty (from the capers, olives, and anchovies) and quite fragrant (from the garlic). Traditionally, the sauce is served with

spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Una ...

, although it is also paired with penne, bucatini, linguine, and

vermicelli Vermicelli (, ; , literally "little worms"), is a traditional type of pasta round in section similar to spaghetti. In Anglosphere, English-speaking regions it is usually thinner than spaghetti, while in Italy it is thicker. It is typically made ...

. Garlic and anchovies (omitted in the Neapolitan version) are sautéed in

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

. Chopped chili peppers, olives, capers, diced tomatoes, and oregano are added, along with salt and

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

to taste. The cook then reduces this mixture by simmering and mixes it with the spaghetti

al dente In cooking, al dente (, ; ) pasta or rice is cooked to be firm to the bite. The term also extends to firmly-cooked vegetables. In contemporary Italian cooking, it is considered to be the ideal consistency for pasta and involves a brief cooking ...

. The final touch is a topping of parsley.

Notes

References

Bibliography