COLOMBA PASQUALE: EASTER BREAD WITH A PEDIGREE

I am amazed how there is a special bread, biscuits, tart or sweet cake for every single national holiday in Italy! And now, as Easter is coming, the windows of local bakeries have all been decorated with special versions of the traditional Easter treat: la Colomba Pasquale.  This delicious sweet bread tastes a little bit like panettone at Christmas time, but it does not contain raisins.  Instead, there are small pieces of candied peel, such as orange. The cake is topped with sugar and almonds before being baked. It is soft, buttery and rich in taste - but surprisingly light in texture. Traditionally this sweet bread is supposed to look like a dove, but the ones I have seen here are more in the shape of the cross, rather than a bird.

Colomba Pasquale is now on the official list of traditional Italian food and it is eaten all over Italy around Easter time.

  There are many stories and legends about the origins of la Colomba Pasquale, which was first created in Lombardia. According to one story, this cake was offered as a sign of peace to the king of Longobards, Alboin, who was at war with the city of Pavia in the middle of the sixth century. 

   Another legend gives the honour to the Irish missionary St Columbanus, who arrived to Lombardia towards the end of 5th century.  He and his fellow monks were invited to a great feast by the King of Lombardia, Agilulf and his wife, Queen Theodelinda, who was a devout Roman Catholic. A big banquet with many dishes were prepared, including meat, but since it was still Lent, St Columbanus and his fellow monks did not think it was appropriate and they refused to eat meat.  did not want to offend the hostess, Queen Theodelinda, and said that they could eat meat if it was blessed. St Columbanus then raised his right hand to do the sign of the cross. The food was immediately transformed into white doves of bread. The Queen was so impressed that she decided to donate a piece of land to honour the occasion and St Columbanus founded a monastery, Bobbio Abbey, in this place.

   However, history tells us that it was actually the King who gave St Columbanus the land: he converted to Catholicism and as a thank you gave ruins of an old church and some land to St Columbanus, where he was able to build the monastery in 614. Umberto Eco's novel, Name of the Rose, is based on Bobbio Abbey.

   Sadly, the origins of Colomba Pasquale may not be so mysterious after all. It is said to have been invented by a business man from Milan, who simply decided to modify the same dough used for panettone to create an Easter bread in 1930s. It was an instant hit and was rapidly adopted by bakeries in all over Italy. Sicily has its own version of Colomba Pasquale and in the past, the cake was exchanged as a gift between lovers on Easter time and during other festivities.

  Nevertheless, it is delicious!