[Jamestown1630]

I think the anchovies are what gives the Pasta Puttanesca its name.

We made it once. Didn’t like it enough to make it again.

-JT

[Eric in the Ozarks]

You are right on...the anchovies make the dish.
Wife chops them into almost nothing before adding to the sauce.

[dainbramaged]

I think the anchovies are what gives the Pasta Puttanesca its name.
Spaghetti alla puttanesca literally means "spaghetti of the whores". It's a pantry dish so they didn't have to shop after a long night.

[SAJ]

That's a rather whimsical view. Sugo puttanesca both can be and is prepared with and without anchovies, the latter in and around Naples and the former in Lazio and in Sicily. Oddly, most Neapolitan recipes don't even use garlic(big mistake, in my view).

The entire point is to make a dish that is quick, salty, and filling. Olives, capers and/or anchovies certainly fill the bill here.

The 'puttanesca' derives from 'puttanata' (stuff; garbage; something worthless), as supposedly originally conceived by the restauranteur Sandro Petti in the 1940s or 1950s at his place in Ischia. The tales about ladies of the evening don't really hold water, but are entertaining stories.