Pagan holidays, epiphany, before becoming the day of adoration of the Three Kings and matching with the arrival of the Epiphany, represented for many ancient peoples with the beginning of the new year. And the rites were wasted: some populations burned a piece of wood to exorcise the privations of the past, others sat at the table keeping their farm animals close to prevent them from learning to speak. For the Romans, however, between the end of December and January 6 the goddess Diana he flew over cultivated fields to make them fertile, bringing old fruit or sweets as a gift to the little ones. It is clear, therefore, that food has always played an important role for the celebrations of this festival. And what do you eat today on January 6 around Italy?
Northern sweets
In almost all regions there are traditional recipes that continue to live. And many are linked to inevitable desserts on the tables of the Italians. In Piedmont, especially in the Cuneo area, there is never a shortage of Fugassa d’la Befana, a soft dough with a shape reminiscent of a daisy, which, like all ancient legacies that are respected, retains a very original tradition: a white and a black bean are hidden inside. Those who find them, however, do not win anything, rather they pay a pledge for everyone. The unfortunate who pecks there broad bean white, in fact, is the one that must pay the expenses of the focaccia, the one to which the black bean touches, offers a drink. In Tuscanyinstead, they continue to prepare for the arrival of the Three Kings in the nativity scene i Siena horses, soft biscuits with water, sugar, honey, candied fruit, anise, nuts and yeast, and the so-called befanini, shortbreads based on citrus fruits and rhumcovered with colored grain, typical of the areas of Lucca and Viareggio.
Venetian typicality and not only
Staying in northern Italy, in the kitchens of Veneto here is Epiphany grip, a kind of polenta pizza made with corn flour and dried fruit, while in Lombardy, in the province of Varese, there are i camels of puff pastry, are covered with sugar before being baked. Going to the Liguria you come across traditional anicini (anexin in dialect) ancient biscuits served during all the Christmas holidays accompanied by a sweet wine in which they dipped, and in the donut of the Three Kings, covered with candied fruit, raisins and sugar. Typical of the Ancona area, in the Marche, instead, are pecorelle, puff pastry cakes of various shapes and stuffed with jam, dried fruit, chopped walnuts or dried figs.
The Epiphany at the table in the south
Gliding south, in Abruzzo Epiphany rhymes with pepatelli, biscuits similar to the cantucci typical of the province of Teramo (and of Molise) prepared not only for January 6, but during all holidays, starting from Christmas. Their name derives from the recipe, as among the ingredients there is black pepper, accompanied by honey, flour, cocoa, almonds and orange peels. In Campania the preparation of the is traditional first pastiera of the year, and stuffoli, sweet is composed of numerous balls of pasta (made with flour, eggs, sugar and aniseed liqueur), fried in oil or lard, wrapped in hot honey and served together in a plate forming a donut, to be finally decorated candied fruit or colored sugared almonds. In PugliaFinally, there are i Salento purcidduzzi and Bari cartellate, made with a mixture of flour, oil and dry white wine from which strips of pasta are obtained which are shaped to compose a spiral, with a design reminiscent of a rose, full of small concavities and interstices which, after frying must collect the cooked wine (or must) or cooked figs. In Salento, with a similar dough, purcidduzzi, called anchestrufoli, are obtained in the shape of small gnocchi or cavatelli, with smooth or wrinkled surface, which after frying are immersed in boiling honey and subsequently placed on a plate and sprinkled with colored sprinkles.
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