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Sweets, confetti and streamers
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| To celebrate the mayhem of Carnival, it is a must to accompany lunches, dinners and afternoon tea with one of the many traditional sweets that have been created especially for the occasion since medieval times. In Italy there are many variations, almost all of which are based on fried batter such as chiacchiere and tortelli, and including regional specialities such as Friuli's castagnole or mistocchini from the Emilia region. |
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Tortelli, frappe, castagnole, chiacchiere. There are dozens of traditional sweets with which Italy has celebrated Carnival for centuries, consuming them alongside masquerades, float processions and the popular celebrations that have always brought this period of the year to life.
Today, the windows of patisseries display chiacchiere and tortelli from the Epiphany onwards, although until a few decades ago the traditional Carnival period was respected. This peaks between the Thursday and Shrove Tuesday, the last day of celebrations before Ash Wednesday, when the fasting for Lent begins. It is for this reason that the Shrove Tuesday lunch, the last occasion in which a lavish meal was permitted, heavily featured meat dishes and other sumptuous delicacies, including the special sweets that almost always have ancient origins. It is to these sumptuous feasts that the origin of the word "Carnival" is owed, which derives from "carnem levare", or eliminating the meat with the start of the period of penitence that precedes Easter.
In Italy, the origin of Carnival dates back to the feasts that the Romans organised on the occasion of the March calends, when the arrival of spring was celebrated. From the culinary point of view, the feast reached its peak during medieval and renaissance times; many of the traditional recipes actually date back to this period, along with the arrival of masks. These occasions, which brought great crowds of people together, forced cooks to invent new, low-costing sweets that could be quickly prepared. The frying of batter seemed the best solution; this therefore explains the origin of fragrant, fried sweets and which are still the real protagonists of Carnival time.
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FRIED SWEETS OF MEDIEVAL ORIGINS |
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Occupying first place amongst Carnival sweets, in terms of diffusion and fame, are chiacchiere. The simplest and most famous recipes are proposed all over Italy, with minimal variations in the preparation and ingredients, but with names that vary from region to region. In the Veneto region, they are known as galani, in Tuscany cenci, in Friuli grostoli, in Liguria bugie, and in Emilia they are called sfrappole whilst in the Marche region they are known as frappe. The main variation lies in the form that is given to the batter, rolled out thinly with a rolling pin and then cut into rectangles or ribbons, and the use of different liqueurs to add to the basic batter, ranging from Marsala to brandy, according to the geographical area.
Castagnole, which originate from the Friuli and Le Marche regions are also widely available. The tradition of preparing soft and fragrant fried balls sprinkled with sugar is centuries-old; in the rest of Italy, they are also known as tortelli. There are many variations: empty or filled with jam, pastry cream or candied fruits, or even fresh ricotta as is traditional in the Lazio region.
One of the oldest and most famous recipes is that for Neapolitan zeppole, the origins of which probably date back to ancient Rome when the Liberalia were celebrated in honour of Bacchus by drinking wine and frying fragrant sweets. Another version of the story has it that they were invented in the Nineteenth century by Neapolitan fryers that produced their specialities for special feasts, placing the steaming pans in front of their shops.
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THE REGIONAL SPECIALITIES |
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Struffoli, one of Carnival's most spectacular specialities, are also very typical of the Campania region; prepared with dozens of balls of fried batter they are then rolled in honey and decorated with coloured sugar strands known as "cannulli" or "diavolulli". The name of this sweet, which also features in the Parthenopean Christmas, derives from the Greek "strongulos", meaning a rounded body, which refers to the shape of the batter before it is fried. In Central Italy a similar sweet, the cicerchiata, is prepared. Here, the abundant use of candied fruit, almonds, sugared almonds and honey reveal the ancient roots of this recipe.
In the Romagna region, Carnival time brings a number of delicacies, from sweet tagliatelle to mistocchini, fried then soaked in orange juice. In the region of Le Marche, small balls of dough are prepared; this is aromatised with cinnamon and lemon rind, and are first boiled in water and then fried before being sprinkled with sugar and alkermes.
Even the islands have made their own contribution to Carnival delicacies, such as the Sardinian brugnolus, made with flour, eggs and potatoes, and orillettas, similar to chiacchiere but plaited and covered with honey. Last but not least is the Sicilian pignolata, a black and white sweet made with fried dough covered with a lemon and chocolate glace, and the fragrant fravioli, stuffed with pastry cream or ricotta.
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