Carnival, unlike Christmas or other festivities, does not have a fixed date: it generally falls between February and March and reaches its peak in the days between Shrove Thursday and Fat Tuesday, so renamed precisely because of its diffusion of culinary specialties, primarily sweet and not exactly dietetic.
They are eaten in turns in the days which precede Ash Wednesday and therefore at the beginning of the Lent.
It often happens that, despite the absence of a precise tradition, many recipes are inspired by traditional characters, Arlecchino in first place since he is the king of this festivity.
In a previous blog of mine I had talked about ‘le chiacchiere di Carnevale’ (Carnival’s gossips) and even shared a recipe for them but there are more sweets inspired by Carnival characters worth-mentioning.
The Arlecchino cake, for instance, is a Carnival themed cake made with short crust pastry and apricot jam decorated with multi-colored button-shaped chocolate pralines on top.
Arlecchino cake
Other typical sweets include “I capricci di Arlecchino” (translated as Arlecchino’s whims), sweet handmade fritters made, according to tradition, on the third Sunday of January, in honor of Sant’Antonio, with a yummy filling.
They usually contain raisins, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, nutmeg and jam.
When homemade, the filling is processed about 24 hours before the baking, in order to mix all the ingredients well and give the fritters an incredible flavor.
“I capricci di Arlecchino”
The Carnival tradition is so strong in Italy that every zodiac sign has its own Carnival character to match with. I’m a Gemini and mine is Pierrot.
Pierrot is a character with disarming innocence, a bit naïve and always cheerful.
He doesn’t have any sweets with his name though.
Some other characters which are assigned to zodiac signs and which have sweets named after them are Rugantino and Stenterello.
“I dispetti di Rugantino” (Rugantino’s pranks) are sweets consisting of two semi spheres of sponge cake joined together by a chocolate cream, custard or jam. These sweets, after being stuffed, are dipped in a liqueur which is made with sugar, cochineal (to give them their red appearance), rose water, vanilla, cinnamon, coriander and cloves. As the last step, they are rolled in granulated sugar to obtain the appearance similar to that of the peel of a peach and that’s why they are referred to as ‘peaches’ too.
Rugantino’s name originates from the term ruganza = arroganza meaning arrogance.
Rugantino's costume includes a gendarme hat, a red tailcoat, a waistcoat and red pants.
His character is described as cheeky, straightforward and a bit arrogant perhaps.
“I dispetti di Rugantino”
“Gli intrighi di Stenterello” are puff balls filled with custard.
Perhaps not everyone knows that originally they were not sweet but were a dish made with savory ingredients.
According to some, in fact this type of dish was nothing more than a type of dry bread which was given a spherical shape, whose filling was either meat or truffles.
These puffs, once made, were dipped in a broth and served hot.
Stenterello is talkative, fearful and impulsive but he is also wise, ingenious and ready to take the side of the weak.
Stenterello's costume has a black tricorn, a light blue jacket or a gilet over a petticoat, a yellow waistcoat, black shorts (sometimes black and green) and red socks.
“Gli intrighi di Stenterello”
In Liguria we used to celebrate with traditional events such as the Carnival of the ugly and the beautiful where the protagonists are the ugly and the beautiful, the categories in which the traditional masks of this ancient carnival were divided symbolizing good and evil.
We also used to have parades with floats and a parade of flower floats which always concluded with a ‘floral battle’ but unfortunately since Covid started all events have been canceled.
