[1] According to one hypothesis, the name of the dish derives from the Romanesco word gricio.

In papal Rome, the grici were sellers of common foods,[2] and got this name because many of them came from Valtellina, at that time possession of the Swiss canton of Grigioni.

Another theory about the origin of this dish claims that it was invented in Grisciano, Lazio, near Amatrice.

Buccini (2007) argues that this theory is more probably correct, citing a name spaghetti anna machiciana from the 1920s, referring to the neighboring region of Le Marche.

[3] It should be also noticed that in Amatrice as late as the 1960s amatriciana sauce was prepared without tomato, therefore coinciding with gricia.