Pandoro is an Italian sweet bread, most popular around Christmas and New Year. Typically a product of the city of Verona, Veneto, pandoro traditionally has an eight-pointed shape. It is often dusted with vanilla scented icing sugar, which is said to resemble the snowy peaks of the Alps during Christmas.
Fruitcake or fruit cake is a cake made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and optionally soaked in spirits. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated.
Christmas cake is a type of cake, often fruitcake, served at Christmas time in many countries.
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.
Cozonac or Kozunak is a sweet yeast dough that can be used to make different traditional holiday breads and cakes. Often mixed with raisins, it can be baked as a loaf or rolled out with fillings like poppy seed or walnuts. It is common throughout Southeastern Europe in countries such as Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece. Rich in eggs, milk and butter, it is usually prepared for Easter in Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and in Romania and Moldova it is also traditional for Good Friday, in a simplified version with vegan ingredients, without eggs or milk - named Cozonac de post - to be eaten by Christians during lent. The name comes from the Bulgarian word for hair-коса/kosa, or Greek: κοσωνάκι, romanized: kosōnáki, a diminutive form of κοσώνα, kosṓna.
Genoa cake is a fruit cake consisting of sultanas, currants or raisins, glacé cherries, almonds, and candied orange peel or essence, cooked in a batter of flour, eggs, butter, and sugar.
Colomba pasquale or colomba di Pasqua is an Italian traditional Easter bread, the Easter counterpart of the two well-known Italian Christmas desserts, panettone and pandoro.
Pan de Pascua is a Chilean cake traditionally eaten around Christmas time. Although "Pascua" primarily means Passover and secondarily means Easter, it also may mean Christmas and Epiphany. In Chile both Navidad and Pascua are used to refer to Christmas. Despite its name, it is a cake made from batter, and not a true bread. It is similar to a sweet sponge cake flavored with ginger and honey. It usually contains candied fruits, raisins, walnuts and almonds. Pan de Pascua was originally introduced to Chile by German immigrants. The Chilean version combines characteristics of the German Stollen and the Italian Pandoro.
Bauli S.p.A. is an Italian food company of bakery products such as pandoro, panettone, colomba and croissants, founded in Verona in 1922 by pastry chef Ruggero Bauli.
Angelo Motta was an Italian entrepreneur, and founder of the food company Motta. He is associated with the commercial production of the sweet yeast bread panettone.
Lombard cuisine is the style of cooking in the Northern Italian region of Lombardy. The historical events of its provinces and of the diversity of its territories resulted in a varied culinary tradition. First courses in Lombard cuisine range from risottos to soups and stuffed pasta, and a large choice of second-course meat or fish dishes, due to the many lakes and rivers of Lombardy.
The holiday of Easter is associated with various Easter customs and foodways. Preparing, coloring, and decorating Easter eggs is one such popular tradition. Lamb is eaten in many countries, mirroring the Jewish Passover meal.
Easter cakes (breads) are cakes prepared and served during the Easter season. Sharing a cake with family for Easter is an Easter tradition in many denominations and countries.
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.
Bisciola is an Italian sweet leavened bread originating in the Valtellina Valley of Lombardy, Italy. It is typically prepared for Christmas, during which time it is an essential component of Christmas festivities.
The pizza dolce di Beridde, also known as the pizza ebraica or diamanti romani, is an unleavened sweet bread associated with the city of Rome, in the Lazio region of Italy. This traditional dessert is prepared by the Roman Jewish community on the occasion of a Brit milah.
Easter in Italy is one of the country's major holidays. Easter in Italy enters Holy Week with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, concluding with Easter Day and Easter Monday. Each day has a special significance. The Holy Weeks worthy of note in Italy are the Holy Week in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and the Holy Week in Ruvo di Puglia.
