National Ravioli Day
Pasta pillows filled with mouth-watering surprises. Every bite of this Italian classic is a tantalizing journey for your taste buds.
Drive March foot traffic and online orders by positioning ravioli as a heritage Italian comfort food worthy of celebration—from restaurant specials to home-cooking kits and travel packages.
- Share ravioli-making tutorials and heritage stories (Venice 1300s origin) to engage foodies and home cooks
- Partner with Italian restaurants for limited-time ravioli specials and reservation promotions
- Promote Italian travel packages and culinary experiences tied to ravioli's birthplace
- User-generated content campaign: #MyRavioliDay featuring homemade and restaurant ravioli photos
This delicious stuffed pasta can be traced back to its first recorded mention in the 1300s by a merchant from Venice, Francesco di Marco.
By the 16th century, ravioli has made its way to Rome where it is mentioned as being made by Bartolomeo Scappi, who served them to a gathering of cardinals from the Catholic Church.
It was about this same time that ravioli began to be paired with tomato sauce. It then continues on its journey through other mentions and in cookbooks when the dish was first prepared for the upper classes. Eventually, it trickled down to those of humbler means and became a national favorite.
While ravioli can contain meat, on certain religious holidays meat was often not eaten, so many ravioli recipes are prepared with vegetarian ingredients such as cheese, mushrooms, pumpkin, or even almond (amaretto) biscuits.
Most people eat ravioli just after boiling, like most other kinds of pasta. However, in certain regions of Italy, ravioli is actually boiled first and then baked in a cream sauce for a richer texture and flavor.
Toasted ravioli is a more modern invention and seems to have happened by accident. Legend has it that in the 1940s, in St. Louis, Missouri, some ravioli just happened to fall into the fryer at Oldani’s restaurant (now called Mama’s).
Instead of wasting the deep-fried pasta pillows, they were sprinkled with parmesan and served at the bar. The people loved them even though, technically, they are not toasted at all. The name “toasted ravioli” just seemed a bit more attractive than “deep-fried ravioli”.
While ravioli has been around for several hundred years, it has never gotten old. Now, this beloved pasta dish has an entire day devoted to celebrating it!
Stop into an Italian Restaurant
Grab a few coworkers and head over for lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant that has ravioli on the menu. It might be wise to call ahead of time to see if any of them offer specials in honor of the day–and be sure to set a reservation because they may be a little busy due to the holiday.
Take a Trip To Italy
What could be better than celebrating National Ravioli Day in the home of the delicious pasta dish? Of course, a trip to Italy wouldn’t necessarily need to coordinate with this day exactly because any day spent eating pasta in Italy is certainly a day to celebrate. Grab a plane, train, car, or boat and head on over to this hospitable land to enjoy a plate of ravioli, a bottle of wine, the lovely people, and breathtaking scenery. While there, don’t forget to pick up an Italian flag as a souvenir so that it can be hung proudly on the next National Ravioli Day! Pop over to Venice and enjoy a plate of ravioli at a cafe overlooking the canals, grab a table at a sidewalk cafe in Pisa with a view of the Leaning Tower, or head down to Rome where rooftop restaurants with 360-degree skyline views await!
Make a Ravioli at Home
It may seem daunting to even consider making ravioli from scratch; and indeed, there are many good ready-made versions available for those who are pressed for time or lacking in confidence. However, it isn’t completely necessary to have a pasta maker in order to make a nice raviolo (a large, single, filled pasta shape) for a scrumptious dinner. Simply roll out the pasta dough very finely on the worktop, fill with a filling of choice (meat and cheese are popular), seal with a top layer of pasta, and then drop in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Serve with a tomato or cream-based sauce–and don’t forget the garlic bread–for a lovely, memorable meal on this day where it’s more than appropriate to give a salute to all things ravioli! Don’t worry, even those people who aren’t into cooking don’t have to be left out on National Ravioli Day. Some Italian restaurants sell their pasta fresh to be carried out and cooked at home. If that’s not an option, frozen ravioli is often very tasty. And if none of those work out, there’s always the option to heat up a can of Chef Boyardee, the company famous for making canned ravioli a standard convenience food in the US.
Experiment with Ravioli Fillings
People who are feeling a bit adventurous in the kitchen may want to use the above Raviolo idea and get creative with the fillings. And the options are practically endless! (Most fillings are mixed with egg to thicken them as they cook.) Take a look at these items, from the standard to the exotic, that can be made into a delicious filling for pasta: Prosciutto (Salami, or other Smoked Meats) with MushroomBeef and Spinach with ParsleySausage and Romano CheeseAsparagus with Mushrooms Beetroot and CashewBrown Butter with LobsterCreamy Crab and Wine SaucePear with Gorgonzola Cheese
And for Dessert:
Chocolate with Cream CheeseRicotta Chocolate Chip Carrot Cake Filling with SpicesNutella with Cream CheeseCheery Cherry with Almond Extract These are just a few of the many ideas that make ravioli a favorite dish, especially because it can so easily be customized to personal tastes and preferences. Use the ideas above for inspiration or feel free to get even more creative by mixing ingredients and flavors! National Ravioli Day Timeline14th century (c. 1340s)Ravioli Appears in Italian ManuscriptsEarly Venetian cookbooks, such as the “Libro per cuoco,” record recipes for “rafioli,” small pasta parcels filled with herbs, cheese, and eggs, boiled in broth and spiced, indicating that stuffed pasta was already established in northern Italy. [1]Late 14th centuryFrancesco di Marco Datini Mentions RavioliMerchant Francesco di Marco Datini wrote from Prato about ravioli filled with herbs and cheese and cooked in broth, giving one of the earliest clearly dated descriptions of the dish in everyday use. [1]14th centuryRavioli Reaches England as “Rauioles”The English royal cookbook “The Forme of Cury,” compiled for King Richard II, includes a recipe for “rauioles,” a stuffed pasta dish closely related to Italian ravioli, indicating the concept had spread beyond Italy by the late Middle Ages. [1]1570Scappi’s “Opera” Elevates Stuffed PastaPapal chef Bartolomeo Scappi publishes “Opera dell’arte del cucinare,” with detailed recipes for ravioli- and tortelli-style pasta filled with spiced meats, cheese, and herbs, codifying stuffed pasta as a centerpiece of Renaissance high cuisine. [1]18th–19th centuriesRegional Ravioli Traditions Flourish in ItalyAcross regions such as Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont, local versions like agnolotti and pansotti emerge, filled with greens, meats, or cheeses, embedding ravioli-style pastas into distinct regional identities and holiday meals. [1]Early 20th centuryCanned Ravioli and Mass ProductionItalian industrial canning and later brands like Chef Boyardee brought meat-filled ravioli into cans for armies and households, turning what had been a handmade festival food into a shelf-stable, everyday convenience meal. [1]1940sToasted Ravioli Is Created in St. LouisIn Italian-American restaurants on St. Louis’s “Hill,” a cook accidentally drops ravioli into hot oil; the deep-fried pockets, later known as toasted ravioli, quickly become a bar snack and regional specialty.
Ravioli Appears in Italian Manuscripts
Early Venetian cookbooks, such as the “Libro per cuoco,” record recipes for “rafioli,” small pasta parcels filled with herbs, cheese, and eggs, boiled in broth and spiced, indicating that stuffed pasta was already established in northern Italy. [1]
Francesco di Marco Datini Mentions Ravioli
Merchant Francesco di Marco Datini wrote from Prato about ravioli filled with herbs and cheese and cooked in broth, giving one of the earliest clearly dated descriptions of the dish in everyday use. [1]
Ravioli Reaches England as “Rauioles”
The English royal cookbook “The Forme of Cury,” compiled for King Richard II, includes a recipe for “rauioles,” a stuffed pasta dish closely related to Italian ravioli, indicating the concept had spread beyond Italy by the late Middle Ages. [1]
Scappi’s “Opera” Elevates Stuffed Pasta
Papal chef Bartolomeo Scappi publishes “Opera dell’arte del cucinare,” with detailed recipes for ravioli- and tortelli-style pasta filled with spiced meats, cheese, and herbs, codifying stuffed pasta as a centerpiece of Renaissance high cuisine. [1]
Regional Ravioli Traditions Flourish in Italy
Across regions such as Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont, local versions like agnolotti and pansotti emerge, filled with greens, meats, or cheeses, embedding ravioli-style pastas into distinct regional identities and holiday meals. [1]
Canned Ravioli and Mass Production
Italian industrial canning and later brands like Chef Boyardee brought meat-filled ravioli into cans for armies and households, turning what had been a handmade festival food into a shelf-stable, everyday convenience meal. [1]
Toasted Ravioli Is Created in St. Louis
In Italian-American restaurants on St. Louis’s “Hill,” a cook accidentally drops ravioli into hot oil; the deep-fried pockets, later known as toasted ravioli, quickly become a bar snack and regional specialty.
Try Making Homemade Pasta
Those ravioli fillings will need something to house them! Making pasta at home is a little time-consuming, but it’s not complicated. All it takes is some flour, eggs, olive oil, salt, and water made into a dough. The dough is then kneaded until smooth, then rolled into thin pieces of pasta that become the outer layer of the ravioli. Fill, boil, and enjoy!
Ravioli Guinness World Record
Set in 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia, the longest ravioli in the world was recorded to be 96 feet and 1 inch long, although only 6 centimeters wide. It was made with a chicken and onion filling.