What’s the plural of cannoli?

…or why you cannoli eat multiple Sicilian pastries…

Yes, if you order “one cannoli”, they’ll still hook you up. Probably even if you’re in Sicily. Because you didn’t know better…but you’re about to:

Two cannoli, one cannolo. Really. You can confidently order un cannolo and not come across overly fancy. These are professionals and this is their art. They know what it’s called.

Except like, you’ve done the effort and are standing there, so you might as well get at least one more for later. Which is probably the reason you’ve never heard the word cannolo, because everyone is ordering multiples for sure – that’s the beauty of these little guys!

For word nerds like me:

• canna is Italian for reed or cane (like sugar cane tubes)
• cannolo is diminutive Italian for “a little tube”
• cannoli is plural of cannolo – we add an “s”, they switch to an “i”. Like tutti frutti means all fruits!
• cannelloni are a tubes of lasagna generally served baked with a filling of spinach and ricotta and sometimes minced beef and covered in sauce
• cannellini are white kidney beans

Now if you cannoli keep them all straight…my best advice is the more you order all of them the better off you’ll be!