Italian pastries tradition goes from cornetto usually ate for breakfast to custard pies with fresh fruit and Panettone for Christmas.
Italian pastriesWhen you enter in a bar in the morning, especially between 8.00 and 9.30am, you may find yourself surrounded by the wonderful aroma of freshly baked pastries.
There are many different shapes and stuffing, often depending on the local pastry tradition.
It is pretty simple, but needs ample preparation time. The bars often buy them from a typical bakery or, sometimes, frozen ones that are baked in the bar.
The difference between Italian cornetto and French croissant is that the Italian recipe contains eggs and the French only butter.
They are usually displayed in a small open shop cabinet on the counter and you’re free to choose yours without asking to be served.
The most common one is cornetto presented in three main versions: unfilled, with cream or with fruit jam. Another choice is the ciambella, the Italian fried bagel, and some bars offer a brioche with raisins.
Some pastry shops do not offer bar services, but most bars offer pastries.
The pastry shop usually sells daily breakfast pastries and take orders for cakes and pasticcini (small sweet pastries used for small parties). They usually close on Mondays and are opened during Sunday morning.
Italians have many customs and it’s often difficult to find Italian pastries in a bar during the afternoon, even if they would be wonderful for a quick snack.
Italians consider them as breakfast, and so the bars buy or bake the quantity that serves for the morning. So, remember, you’ll find always fresh ones, but if you arrive around 11.30am you may find them finished!
I personally love to have breakfast, all kinds of breakfasts and so I can say that the Italian one, comprising cappuccino and cornetto is really good. The “not so sweet” taste of the cornetto is perfectly matched with the cappuccino and gives you that feeling of satisfaction.
As for salted recipes, pastries also vary according to the region or city in Italy. Even if some popular ones (like amaretto) can be found everywhere, their recipe vary from soft ones to small and hard ones.
The Panettone, the so well known Christmas cake is originated from Milan city. It is a raised dough stuffed with raisins and candied peel.
The other famous Christmas cake is Pandoro, soft dough rich in butter that has its origins in Verona, the Romeo and Juliet city.
During Easter time, the typical pastry is Colomba (pigeon) that has a dough similar to Panettone.
In Tuscany, you can’t miss the cantucci, hard almond biscuits that should be dipped in Vin Santo (sweet wine) before each bite, as I was doing in this photo aside. Just delicious.
In Sicily, the most typical pastry is the cannoli. It is a handmade fried dough stuffed with ricotta cheese and candied peel. There is also the cassata siciliana that is a rich mixture of sponge cake, ricotta cheese, sugar, vanilla, liquor and chocolate chips.
In Naples, the most famous pastry is for sure the baba al rum. Fried dough that is dipped into rum and served with a fork.