New Year

Appears in
The Italian Regional Cookbook
The Italian Regional Cookbook

By Valentina Harris

Published 2017

  • About
La Festa di San Silvestro is celebrated on 31 December, New Year’s Eve. As with most Italian festivals, food plays a major role, and families and friends get together for a feast. The star of the dinner is a dish of lentils, representing money and good fortune. Traditionally, the dinner also includes cotechino, a large spiced sausage, or zampone, which are stuffed pig’s trotters. These symbolise the richness of life that is wished for the coming year.

Sicilian Easter bread reveals the island’s Greek religious roots, being topped with hard-boiled eggs in the same way as those from Greece.