Because the pasta are cut from a sheet rather than extruded through a die, spaghetti alla chitarra are square rather than round in cross-section.

It gets the name of tonnarelli in Lazio, torchioli, troccoli, or truoccoli in Basilicata and Apulia, or cirioli molisani in Molise.

[citation needed] In Abruzzo, maccheroni alla chitarra are most typically prepared with a ragù of pork, beef, and lamb.

In particular areas of the Abruzzi (for example Teramo) the traditional condiment is tomato sauce with beef meatballs, so-called pallottine.

[citation needed] A dried variation, without egg, is often marketed as spaghetti or maccheroni alla chitarra both within and outside Italy.