What do Italians eat at Christmas? The answer is simple, as with everything else, it depends.
In short, it depends on the Italian region we are thinking about. The Italian gastronomic tradition varies, from region to region, indeed.
Without a doubt, Christmas is the most important holiday in Italy. Full of religious but also and above all, social significance. It’s the time of the year when you embark on a journey. Not just a journey of fun, but a real journey of the heart. For those who live abroad and work abroad, it’s time to return to their hometown, or where their grandparents or friends live.
At Christmas we meet up with old friends, often from childhood, cousins, and relatives. For better or for worse, we get together at Christmas. To exchange gifts, as per tradition, but also and above all to share a good meal together.
A meal full of dishes that can remind you of your childhood. Dishes that are prepared only at this time of the year. Traditional and heartfelt recipes that make us go back in time and still feel like children.
Region you go, Christmas you find
Let’s take the city of Rome, for example. In a condominium of twenty apartments, you can be sure that the Christmas recipes will all be different. Because if you can’t go back to Puglia, or Sardinia, or Veneto, to say, physically, you can always do it with taste. And every family, rest assured, will celebrate Christmas with traditional recipes. Even at the end of the world.
Who do you spend Christmas with?
The first of the questions we ask ourselves in this period is precisely where and whom?
The second question will certainly be “Do you celebrate the 24th or 25th?”
Sure, because in some regions Christmas Eve is celebrated on December 24th, and in others on the 25th. Even if those who celebrate the 24th will surely celebrate the following day as well. Usually in the south the tradition of Christmas Eve is more heartfelt.
Christmas Eve
It is the eve of lean, in which you eat above all dishes based on fish. But don’t imagine a frugal dinner. On the contrary, it is almost always a sumptuous banquet. Which starts in the evening late enough to be able to arrive, without boredom, at midnight.
In families on Christmas Eve, in fact, the gifts are unwrapped at the stroke of midnight.
In other families it is preferable to send the children to bed, waiting for Santa Claus (or Jesus Christ if religious). Because, as is well known, the gifts are only to the good children who sleep in their bed. December-25th-families, therefore, usually get up early and the Christmas banquet is eaten for lunch.
Those, who celebrate both dates, are therefore candidates for a sleepless night and gaining a couple of kg in weight. Situation that occurs punctually every year.
Favourite regional Christmas dishes
The Christmas banquet, therefore, is the richest meal of the year, second only to a wedding banquet. It includes appetizers, first courses, main courses, side dishes, desserts, fruit, and various desserts.
Nothern Italy.
In the north, boiled meat seasoned with various sauces and mustards, filled pasta such as ravioli and agnolotti are mainly consumed. In cold regions there are also turnip and meat soups, while in Trentino is the time for canederli.
Which are bread dumplings that are also found in other European countries.
Central Italy.
In Rome, on Christmas Eve, soup with broccoli and sprightly is traditional. While the first course of Christmas lunch sees the derby between tortellini in broth or lasagna. For the second course, stuffed turkey, or lamb chops. Served with various side-dishes. In Tuscany and in Umbria and mountainous Abruzzo, meats and preparations based on chicken and duck livers. As well as roast guinea fowl and lamb.
Southern Italy
In Naples, Christmas is a big thing. You can eat the capitone, or eel. Fried or stewed is a must there.
In the other southern regions people eat seasonal vegetable soups and roasts. Triumph of cured meats in Calabria. In Sardinia they eat the famous calurgiones al sugo, ravioli filled with cheese, while in Sicily, pasta with sardines.
Christmas cakes in Italy.
The list of desserts for each region is virtually endless. Of course, the sweet symbol of the Christmas tradition is panettone. Followed by pandoro, nougat, panforte, gingerbread, and thousands of other delicious recipes. Panettone, despite being a recipe originating in the north, is now prepared throughout Italy. Indeed, the recent competitions between pastry chefs often see the victory of the south. The skilled Southern pastry chefs have in fact been able to exploit local ingredients to create increasingly sought-after variants of this very expensive Christmas cake. The winner of the 2022 Panettone Artists contest is in fact Sal(vatore) de Riso, a pastry chef from Campania. Followed by the Mantuan Andrea Tortora and the Tuscan Cantarin. But in every city, hundreds of small artisan pastry shops bake panettone which also serve as a classic Christmas gift.
Let’s toast and remember to match the wine with your recipes. Learn more here
Whatever your Christmas tradition, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from Gourmetaly.
