National Tortellini Day and National “Italian Food” Day in USA

Typical from the Emilia Romagna region, tortellini is the world most famous filled pasta. Before the 19th century, tortellini was a dish often served only to the rich. One legend says that tortellini were created to look like turtles instead of navels. Tortellini is sometimes called ombelico pasta because they're shaped like a navel. Refreshingly, the person actually credited with inventing Tortellini, a man named Giuseppe Cerri, said he modelled the pasta after a woman's navel.

Tortellino comes etymologically from tortello, a diminutive of torta, which means pie in italian. Tortellini are called so because they are filled just like little pies. They are often served in broth, rather like little dumplings.