Traditional Italian Desserts

Italian cuisine boasts a rich tradition of classic and regional pastries. Sicilia, Piemonte, and the Veneto, in particular, are well known for their extravagant dessert cultures. Most of these pastries are purchased in pastry shops (tiramisù and bomboloni are exceptions), and most are associated with a particular holiday. This chapter covers some of these traditional preparations.

Italians enjoy fruit for dessert, often simply served fresh. But fruit is also baked (peaches are baked with an Amaretto filling in Piemonte), roasted, poached in sweetened red wine (see Pere in Vino Rosso), and baked into tarts and cakes. Deep-fried pastries are popular, including a host of sugar-dusted fritters such as cenci, zeppoli, the Sicilian ricotta-filled Cannoli, and the custard-filled Bomboloni. Many of the pastries that feature sweetened ricotta are associated with southern Italy; Pastiera, a traditional Easter pie filled with sweetened ricotta and wheat berries, is a specialty of Naples.