- More than a quarter of the artisan confectionery market during the holidays is represented by traditional sweets whose origins date back over the centuries.
This was revealed by a survey by Cna Agroalimentare conducted among members of the sector in the National Confederation of Crafts and Small and Medium Enterprises.
A survey which records a significant leap in one year: twelve months ago, in fact, the turnover of typical traditional confectionery did not reach 20 per cent (it stopped at 19.5 per cent), this year it broke the barrier of 25 per cent one hundred.
An economic and social phenomenon.
According to Cna Agroalimentare estimates, the turnover of traditional sweets during the Christmas period overall exceeds 40 million.
The Cna Agroalimentare survey testifies to the state of health, after the bad blows dealt by the confinement in the Covid era, of these activities guaranteed by a number of companies now exceeding 30 thousand: over 14 thousand bakeries that directly produce and sell sweets, more than 12 thousand between pastry shops and ice cream shops, at least 3 thousand pastry shops that work for third parties.
Even the artisan confectionery market is dominated by panettone and pandoro but the surge in typical productions photographs a change in national food habits that are more attentive to local specialties.
In particular, the setback in the homologation process, also culinary, which began in the 1950s and strengthened in the following decades, under the powerful push of the diffusion of TV and the growth of advertising which led to the dominance of the panettone-pandoro combination, by now national sweets to all effects.
A change in habits registered in the last year pushed predominantly by the younger ones, for whom the typical product often represents an authentic discovery.
But what are they, region by region,
the traditional desserts that are the most popular during the festive period between Christmas already over, New Year and Epiphany coming, panettone and pandoro excluded?
According to the survey by Cna Agroalimentare, starting from the far north, we pass from the Valle d'Aosta Lou mecoluen (a sweet bread originally from Cogne) to the Piedmontese bonet (in Italian hat, because the original mold resembled the tricorn) and Christmas log, of pre-Christian origin , although today's chocolate version has nothing to do with the ancestor's recipe.
From the Ligurian pandolce, a leavened focaccia rich in raisins and all kinds of candied fruit, to the Valtellinese bisciola, made with rye flour.
From South Tyrolean zelten, a fruity bread whose name derives from the German zelte (which means 'once', precisely because it is not an everyday food),
to the Friulian gubana and potiza.
Among the desserts of Emilia-Romagna, the Certosino also known as spiced bread stands out (whose recipe is certified and deposited at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna) and the Panone di Natale, similar in substance to the Certosino but more caloric and widespread above all in the countryside.
The main Tuscan specialties such as panforte, already recommended by the father of Italian gastronomes Pellegrino Artusi, and ricciarelli have long been appreciated even outside the region.
In the Marches, bostrengo and cavallucci di Apiro, made with grape must, are widespread.
In Umbria it is time for panpepato and torciglione, made with almonds;
in Abruzzo di parrozzo, a sweet version of the rough corn bread, so baptized by Gabriele D'Annunzio in 1920;
in Molise mustacciuoli, derived from mustaceus, the ancient Roman wedding focaccia.
Sardinia is the land of papassini, large biscuits whose name derives from papassa or pabassa (the sultanas of which they are rich), and of seadas, ravioli filled with pecorino cheese covered with strawberry tree honey.
The pangiallo is a traditional Christmas cake from Lazio, so called for the icing that covers it, with a filling of ricotta and saffron.
The centuries-old offer from Campania is particularly rich: struffoli, roccocò, susamielli, zeppole, stuffed calzoncelli, also common to many regions of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, represent an authentic triumph worthy of the descriptions of Rabelais in his Gargantua and Pantagruel.
The Apulian pasticciotto and carteddate are famous, from the sauce to the vincotto, the latter also widespread in Lucania and Calabria.
Just as Calabrian are specialties such as figs chino,
dried figs stuffed and stacked two by two to form a cross, and the petrals.
To finish triumphantly in Sicily among the very rich buccellati, cannoli and cubaita, essentially a crunchy made with dried fruit and honey.
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