What local meat sauce is used on Naples’s lasagne di Carnevale?

Naples’s lasagne di Carnevale uses Neapolitan ragù as its local meat sauce.

Neapolitan ragù is a slow-cooked meat-and-tomato sauce central to Campanian cooking. During Carnival, it is used to sauce the layered baked pasta known as lasagne di Carnevale, alongside ricotta, mozzarella, sausage, fried meatballs and hard-boiled eggs.

Neapolitan ragù is not simply interchangeable with ragù alla bolognese. The two sauces belong to different regional traditions: Bolognese ragù is commonly paired with tagliatelle and béchamel-based lasagne, while the Neapolitan version is associated with long cooking, substantial pieces of meat and a tomato-rich sauce.

Another distinctive feature is how the sauce can serve two courses. In traditional Neapolitan meals, the sauce may dress pasta first, while the cooked meat is served afterward. That practice helps explain why the ragù used in Carnival lasagne carries both a sauce-like and deeply meaty character.