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Holiday Sweets
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Italy - There's no end to the quantities and type of holiday sweets that are available, and consumed, only over the Christmas and New Year holidays in Italy. This period consists of meal after meal shared with friends and family, and no meal is complete without these special treats, nor does one accept an invitation to a home without bringing at least one of these as well as a bottle of prosecco, a light bubbly white Italian wine from the Veneto area in North-Eastern Italy.
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This shop's two windows are perfect as they contain most of the traditional ones: panettone, pandoro, pangiallo, panpepato, panforte, parrozzini, spongata, marzapane ripieno, amaretti, panetto, etc. each of infinite varieties, fillings, sizes, toppings, etc. Then there are the numerous torrone varieties: soft, hard, brick, loaf, covered in white, milk, or dark chocolate, with or without pistachio crumble, and again hazel nuts and chocolate only varieties, of all sizes and types once again!
With the number of them turning up at each dinner, you would think it would be hard to work your way through them all . . but they get eaten. Remember meals are 4-5 hour affairs, ending with quite a few rounds of traditional holiday card and board games. All the time in the world to over-indulge in sweets for now . . . there's plenty of time before New Year's resolutions!
--contributed by GB (see bio), owner of Welcome Home, quality expatriate housing in Rome since 1984.
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