Carnival, here are the main typical sweets in Italy

When you think about the Carnevale it’s easy to immediately think of the costume party, the masks, the floats and the music. But like many other celebrations in Italy, Carnival also has a very rich tradition in the kitchen. THE typical sweets of the Carnival they often vary from region to region and from province to province, with different names and preparations in a real one gastronomic galaxy difficult to encompass in full.

Typical sweets of Carnival in Italy: chiacchiere

In fact, when one thinks of Carnival, one cannot but think of Chatter. With their dough cut into strips and fried, chiacchere are one of the typical desserts that cannot be missing on tables during the carnival period. Talk takes different names depending on the region with endless variations in preparation: in Piedmont, for example, they become liesin Central Italy they become instead struck.

But, as often happens in our country, each city ends up having its own version, in Brescia they are known as lettucesin Bergamo instead are the jump up. In many places in the Veneto they are crostoli but in Venice they are the gallon. In Vercelli instead they are not lies, but gale. In Alexandria it is alley. I’m in Florence Cenci but in Bologna sfrappole. Whatever the name or preparation, their simple goodness makes them a popular dessert throughout Italy.

Inevitable at Carnival: pancakes

A situation similar to that of gossip can be found for the fritters, another of the typical classic desserts of the Italian Carnival. Also in this case, traveling along the peninsula, one can find one endless variety of recipes each with its own name and tradition. In Venice, for example, they are called fritters, served with raisins and pine nuts and filled with cream. In Vercelli are the to fail, and look more like small loaves. In Emilia Romagna pancakes take the form of sweet tortelli but, always in Emilia we also find the damselfish which, unlike pancakes, do not contain butter or milk and are generally not filled.

Fried sweets: the typical Carnival sweets

Fried desserts certainly take the lion’s share during the Carnival celebrations. In addition to the infinite variations of chiacchere and frittelle, widespread in central and southern Italy are also the donuts. Originally typical of Campania this dessert becomes an inevitable presence at Carnival. The leavened dough, closed in a ring to form a donut and then fried, usually contains custard, a sprinkling of icing sugar and sour cherries in syrup. Unless you’re into Sardinia where then at Carnival you can find the tzipulas (o frill them in Northern Sardinia) where custard and black cherry are replaced by liqueurs, citrus fruits or even potatoes and mozzarella and where the shape often remains a simple spiral.

No cream or cherries even in the Marche variant where instead arancini are in vogue for carnival, to which egg pasta is added grated orange peel before frying. A touch of honey completes the dessert. Always in the Marches but also in Abruzzo, Umbria and Molise, the carnival cannot be missing circled another sweet fried with honey similar to Neapolitan strufoli (typical of Christmas) with local variations that include butter, liqueurs or lemon juice.

Carnival sweets not fried

But the typical desserts of the Italian Carnival aren’t just fried. In Tuscany for example we find the Florentine flatbread, a cake similar to the paradise cake but with a recipe jealously guarded by Florentine pastry chefs. Still in Tuscany we also find the berlingozzo, another dessert without butter enriched with citrus or aniseed. Another non-fried sweet typical of the Carnival is the Turkish head Sicilian in which the pastry similar to that used to prepare chatter is alternated with milk cream.

Always in Southern Italy we also find the taralli Sweetsor moving into the Neapolitan, the Migliaccio made from semolina with the addition of candied fruit and cinnamon. To the North instead we find the pull in the province of Asti, a simple and tasty wheat-based cake, or even the tortionata, typical of the Lodi area made with almonds. Did you also know that the donuts South Tyrolean was actually born as a typical carnival dessert? But it is so good that as it spread to the rest of the peninsula, it is now eaten all year round.