Panettone is an Italian type of sweet bread and fruitcake, originally from Milan, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Western, Southern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as in South America, Eritrea, Australia, the United States and Canada.
Pane carasau is a traditional flatbread from Sardinia. It is called carta da musica in Italian, meaning 'sheet music', in reference to its large and paper-thin shape, which is said to be so thin before cooking that a sheet of music can be read through it. It is typically paired with pecorino cheese and wine.
A zeppola is an Italian pastry consisting of a deep-fried dough ball of varying size but typically about 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter. This fritter is usually topped with powdered sugar, and may be filled with custard, jelly, cannoli-style pastry cream, or a butter-and-honey mixture. The consistency ranges from light and puffy, to bread- or pasta-like. It is eaten to celebrate Saint Joseph's Day, which is a Catholic feast day.
Focaccia is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread. In some contemporary places, such as Rome, it is a style of pizza, also called pizza bianca. Focaccia may be served as a side dish or as sandwich bread and it may be round, rectangular, or square shape.
A buccellato is a Sicilian circular cake made from pastry dough filled with figs and nuts. In Sicily, it is traditionally associated with Christmas.
Kifli, kiflice, kifle, or kipferl is a traditional yeast bread roll that is rolled and formed into a crescent before baking.
Torta is a culinary term that can, depending on the cuisine, refer to cakes, pies, flatbreads, sandwiches, or omelettes.
In many European countries, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, there are various traditions surrounding the use of bread during the Easter holidays. Traditionally the practice of eating Easter bread or sweetened "communion" bread traces its origin back to Byzantium, Eastern Catholicism and the Orthodox Christian church. The recipe for sweetened or "honey-leavened" bread may date back as far as the Homeric Greek period based on anecdotal evidence from classical texts.
Stracchino, also known as crescenza, is a type of Italian cow's-milk cheese, typical of Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, and Liguria. It is eaten very young, has no rind and a very soft, creamy texture and normally a mild, slightly acidic flavour. It is normally square in shape.
Piadina or piada is a thin Italian flatbread, typically prepared in the Romagna historical region. It is usually made with white flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water. The dough was traditionally cooked on a terracotta dish, although nowadays flat pans or electric griddles are commonly used.
The tramezzino is an Italian sandwich constructed from two slices of soft white bread, with the crusts removed, usually cut in a triangle. Popular fillings include tuna, olive, and prosciutto, but many other fillings can be used.
Sgabeo is a food typical of Lunigiana, an Italian historical region now divided between Liguria and Tuscany. This is leavened bread dough, cut into strips, fried and salted on the surface that is traditionally eaten plain or stuffed with cheese or cold cuts. Lately, however, it is not uncommon that the sgabeo is also proposed as a sweet, filled with pastry cream or chocolate.
Pane di Altamura is a type of Italian naturally leavened bread made from remilled durum wheat semolina from the Altamura area of the province of Bari, in the Apulia region.
Pane sciocco is a variety of bread commonly found in Tuscany, Umbria, and the Marches, three regions of Italy. Sciocco means "without salt", but is also a synonym for "stupid" in Italian.
Tu proverai sì come sa di sale lo pane altrui, ...
You will experience how salty is the others' bread, ...
Bread is a staple food throughout Europe. Throughout the 20th century, there was a huge increase in global production, mainly due to a rise in available, developed land throughout Europe, North America and Africa.
Christmas in Italy begins on 8 December, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day on which traditionally the Christmas tree is mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with the Epiphany, and in some areas female puppets are burned on a pyre, to symbolize, along with the end of the Christmas period, the death of the old year and the beginning of a new one. 26 December, is also a public holiday in Italy. The Italian term Natale derives from the Latin natalis, which literally means 'birth', and the greetings in Italian are buon Natale and felice Natale.
