The boundless Veronese pastry tradition has been able to enrich the panorama of the typical sweets of the holidays not only at Christmas, but also during the Easter period. The weeks of Lent in fact represent a very good time to take a tour of the pastry shops of Verona in search of Easter doves made with traditional recipes, guarded by pastry chefs for over a century.

The tradition of the city of Verona of producing sweet breads during Easter has spread over the centuries, since the spread of Christianity throughout the medieval period. The revolution, however, arrived at the end of the nineteenth century when the Veronese pastry chefs experimented with brewer's yeast instead of natural one, creating a dove-shaped cake enriched with almonds, hazelnuts and candied fruit, obtaining what is still commonly served on our tables during the period of Easter.

You can find a whole series of qualities of the Veronese colomba, that make it unique and that are worth a visit among the pastry shops of the city: among this the softness resulting from long leavening and kneading processes. A true Verona dove follows a very specific procedure: when tasting it, fresh butter, honey, vanilla and the use of hazelnuts are strongly felt. The ingredients are worked three times before the dough takes the typical shape of the Colomba, is left to rest for half a day and finally baked.

On the table of the Veronese families, together with the traditional colomba, there are also Brassadele Broè, dry biscuits seared in boiling water, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Another reason to discover the specialties of local pastry shops during this period.

 

A land to discover:

Food and wine: A slice of dove during Easter

History: A tradition of the late nineteenth century that continues.

Territory: The traditional pastry shops of Verona and their shop windows to be admired.