Pappardelle are widish pasta strips, often with ruffles on one side or both. Because the pasta is so big, it is good for heartier sauces.
In Tuscany, there are two traditional dishes made with Pappardelle: one is Pappardelle served with a stewed rabbit sauce (Pappardelle sulla lepre); the other is made with a stewed duck sauce (Pappardelle al’anatra.)
Often, the Pappardelle are cooked until just 2/3 of the way to being tender to the bite, then dumped into the sauce to finish cooking in it while they absorb some of the flavour.