<P> This sauce is widely used in Italian - American cuisine, which has diverged from its Old World origins . </P> <P> Italians refer to marinara sauce only in association with other recipes . For instance, spaghetti alla marinara literally translates to "spaghetti mariner's style" (from the adjective marinara with the feminine suffix - a pertaining to salsa, Italian for "sauce", and also to maniera, Italian for "style"), but tomato sauce alone in Italy is called sugo / salsa al / di pomodoro or pummarola (the latter being Neapolitan language). </P> <P> This is not to be confused with spaghetti marinara, a popular dish in Italy, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa where a tomato - based sauce is mixed with fresh seafood . </P> <P> Several folk theories exist as to the origin of this sauce: One version states that cooks aboard Neapolitan ships returning from the Americas invented marinara sauce in the mid-16th century after Spaniards introduced the tomato (a central Mexican "New World" fruit) to Europe . Another theory states this was a sauce prepared by the wives of Neapolitan sailors upon their return from sea . </P>

Where did the name marinara sauce come from