Thompson, when I make pasta e fagioli, I use any beans I have handy and any short pasta ditto. It comes out as a variant of minestrone.

Cook half a pound of beans (I do this in an Instant Pot).

Take a large soup pot and put two to four ounces of diced bacon or pancetta in the bottom and start it cooking out. Add chopped onion (at least one medium) and/or garlic, celery (2 or three ribs, chopped) and carrot (2 or 3, chopped quite small but not grated). Add oregano and thyme, dried or fresh, as you will, with black pepper from the mill and a few crushed chillis. Cook until the onion looks done. Then add a large tin of tomatoes (28 fl oz in these parts) and about a quart (US or Imperial, your choice) of decent stock, followed by the cooked beans and about half a pound of short pasta. Stir it up, and add more stock if you think it necessary. Bring to a boil and simmer until the pasta and the carrot have achieved a good texture. If you like kale, add it now and cook about another 10 minutes, then add salt (if necessary) and chopped basil.