Between parades, celebrations, and religious services, Eater is a serious holiday for the Italians, and extended until the Pasquetta
Buongiorno amici:
Let’s begin by saying that the Italian word for Easter is “Pasqua,” and it’s one of the Italian calendar’s most significant holidays. Easter in Italy may look somewhat similar to Easter celebrations you’re used to – you’ll see colorful displays of chocolate eggs in windows on every shop and bakery. Still, there isn’t an Italian-speaking Easter Bunny, I can assure you.
Easter, as you know, is a time of religious parades and celebrations, and often the focus is a statue of Jesus or the Virgin Mary that gets carried through the city streets. One of the largest and most famous processions is in the Sicilian town of Enna on Good Friday, where more than 2,000 friars parade through the city. One of the oldest Good Friday liturgical procession takes place in Chieti, Abruzzo. Traditional Easter foods in Italy include eggs, artichokes, roasted lamb, special sweet bread, and chocolate eggs, which almost always are hollow and have a special prize inside, especially for the little ones.
There’s something to be said about the grandiosity of experiencing a Catholic mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the middle of Vatican City, but every church throughout the country in normal times are open for services on Easter weekend, and there’s nothing quite like the charm of a small neighbourhood church service (even if you’re not religious). And then there is the day following Easter. So what is Easter Monday anyways?
Most of us are accustomed to Easter Sunday being a holiday. The more religious among us are also used to Good Friday being a recognized holiday, two days prior – but what about Easter Monday? In Italy, that’s called “Pasquetta,” or “little Easter,” and it’s an equally big deal. Easter Monday is a national holiday in Italy.
A saying in Italian goes, “Natale con I suoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi” – which means spend Christmas with your immediate family and Easter with whoever you like—practically speaking. However, Easter Sunday is still a time when people often get together with family. Easter Monday, on the contrary, is entirely about spending time with friends.
A prevalent Easter Monday tradition is to pack a big picnic and drive out into the countryside with a group of friends, enjoying what you hope will be nice weather. Some cities will hold special events on Easter Monday, including concerts and games, so not everyone abandons the towns for the hills.
The games often involve eggs, like the egg races tradition held in the town of Tredozio. Another unusual Pasquetta game takes place in the Umbrian town of Panicale, where the goal is to roll giant wheels of cheeses around the city walls in the quickest time and using the least amount of strokes.
The dove is a Christian symbol representing the Holy Spirit, announcing the reconciliation between God and man or, more simply, heralding spring’s arrival. Food, of course, holds center stage in this holiday, from a dove-shaped cake called Colomba to Pastiera from Naples, made with wheat, ricotta cheese, and orange water. Those are just two of the essential sweets, but there are many more to choose from throughout the country. Many baked savory dishes also appear on this holiday. One that comes to mind is a multilayered baked pasta filled with hard-boiled eggs, greens, and scamorza cheese, with tomato bechamel, but the selection is endless.
From my hometown of Mosciano Sant’Angelo in Abruzzo, I am offering the Easter Pizza di Pasqua also known as Spianata. Watch the video of a traditional ritual in Sulmona, featuring the “Run of the Blessed Mother” during the morning of Easter in Piazza Garibaldi.
The Easter or spianata pizza is an ancient dessert of the Teramo tradition. With a few simple ingredients, you can create an absolute delight reserved for a festive time like Easter. Its preparation based on aniseed has remained unchanged through time, except for the optional addition of candied fruit and raisins, which changes from one family to another. My mother prepared it during Holy Week, and then we brought it to the main church for a blessing during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. I remember the Spianata covered with an elegant mother-made crocheted linen draped over the basket, which contained hardboiled eggs and parsley and other succulent goodies.
As a tradition, the Easter blessed pizza is the basis of the Easter day breakfast and homemade salami, hard-boiled eggs, and mazzarelle (lamb innards with greens). For the little ones, however, it can also be accompanied by chocolate eggs. Traditionally it is a great moment of conviviality for relatives and friends who visit to break the Easter fast (known as “sdiuno”), which began on Good Friday.
Pizza di Pasqua or Spianata
Ingredients for the leavening
1/2 cup of 00 Italian flour or all-purpose
Five teaspoons of fresh brewer’s yeast
Six ounces of lukewarm milk
One teaspoon of granulated sugar
For the Spianata
Five teaspoons of fresh brewer’s yeast
Eight ounces of whole milk
1-1/2 cups of sugar
Six large eggs
One cup of extra virgin olive oil
Two + pounds of 00 Italian flour or all-purpose flour (approximately)
Anise seeds, raisins, and candied fruit to taste
Procedure
Step 1) First, prepare the yeast by combining yeast, milk, and a teaspoon of sugar to activate the leavening. After about 10 minutes, add the first part of the flour and let it rise well covered.
Step 2) After about two hours, dissolve the yeast in the milk in a bowl. Then combine eggs, sugar, oil, anise seeds, candied fruit, and raisins. Add the remaining flour, form a soft dough and leave it to rise overnight, well covered in the oven that is off.
Step 3) The following day, mix and put in a high-sided pan or panettone mold to make a second leavening for about 4 hours until doubled in volume—Bake at 335 ° F for about 1 hour.
Thanks for reading. Eat safe and wear a mask! Ciao Chef W
Tune-in to our latest Flavors + Knowledge Podcast
Subscribe to the Italian version SAPERE + SAPORI
Subscribe to News you can eat 24 Video-Cast on YouTube
Support Chef Walters Children’s Diabetes Foundation
For recipes, visit the chef blog.
