Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Fettuccine alla Papalina
A refined Roman pasta of fettuccine with prosciutto, egg, and Parmesan, created for a pope.
Roman (Vatican) · medium · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~912 cal · 54g protein · 88g carbs · 38g fat · 4g fiber · 5g sugars · 21g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Fettuccine alla papalina, "the little pope's fettuccine", was created in Rome in the 1930s for Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, who is said to have wanted a more delicate, refined version of the robust carbonara-style pastas of the city. The result became a small classic of papal Rome.
It reworks the Roman formula into something softer and more aristocratic. In place of guanciale and pecorino it uses sweet prosciutto cotto and Parmesan, with a little onion sweated in butter, and it is bound with egg into a silky, gentle sauce; fresh peas are often folded through. Egg-rich ribbon pasta, fettuccine, carries it rather than spaghetti.
Where carbonara is sharp and rustic, the papalina is buttery, mild, and elegant, a dish from the cultivated tables of the Vatican and the cardinals' Rome. It endures as a quietly grand alternative, the same city's cooking dressed in its Sunday best.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 lb fresh egg fettuccine
6 oz prosciutto, chopped
3 eggs (for the sauce)
1 cup Parmesan
3 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup peas (optional)
to taste salt and plenty of black pepper
Instructions
1
Soften the finely chopped onion in the butter (or plant butter), add the prosciutto (or mushrooms) and peas if using, and warm through.
✎ Chef’s note
Papalina is carbonara made aristocratic, reputedly for Pius XII, who found carbonara too heavy: prosciutto crudo in place of guanciale, parmigiano in place of pecorino, egg pasta in place of dried, and onion softened in butter, which is the addition that binds it and makes it creamy. Peas and cream are later liberties.
2
Beat the eggs (or blended tofu) with the Parmesan (or nutritional yeast) and a little pasta water.
3
Cook the fettuccine until just done and drain, saving some water.
4
Off the heat, toss the hot pasta with the ham mixture, then the egg-cheese sauce, until silky (never let it scramble).
5
Loosen with pasta water, grind over plenty of black pepper, and serve at once with extra Parmesan.
Roman / Vatican tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Vatican City. The kitchen here is Roman and nothing else, which is the honest thing to say about it. Nothing on the plate is papal by design: the pasta, the pecorino and the seasonal vegetables come from the same markets and the same suppliers as everything on the other side of the wall.
🗺️
Vatican City. Roman dishes are what appear on the table, and they are worth naming precisely. Saltimbocca alla romana is veal with prosciutto and sage, and it is genuinely Roman; cacio e pepe is pecorino romano and black pepper emulsified with pasta water and nothing else. Carbonara, often reached for in this context, is a post-war dish with no papal or ancient lineage at all.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Vatican City
Maritozzo con PannaA soft, sweet Roman bun split and filled with a thick cloud of whipped cream.
SupplìFried risotto rice croquettes with a molten mozzarella centre, the Roman street snack found around the Vatican.
Crostata di Ricotta e ViscioleA shortcrust tart of sweet ricotta and tart sour cherries, the classic Roman-Jewish dessert of the old Ghetto.
Browse all Vatican City recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
Make it a Vatican City meal
Crostata di Ricotta e ViscioleDessert
SupplìLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Fettuccine alla Papalina?
A refined Roman pasta of fettuccine with prosciutto, egg, and Parmesan, created for a pope.
Where does Fettuccine alla Papalina come from?
Fettuccine alla Papalina is a Roman (Vatican) dish from Vatican City, Vatican City.
Can Fettuccine alla Papalina be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fettuccine alla Papalina recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Fettuccine alla Papalina safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Fettuccine alla Papalina take to make?
About 35 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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