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Dish · Alghero
Aragosta alla catalana
Cooked lobster served cold in pieces, with ripe tomato, raw onion, olive oil and sometimes lemon. It is the dish that best symbolizes Alghero, a city of Catalan heritage in northwest Sardinia.
Flavors · Verona
Pandoro
Tall, soft sweet bread shaped like an eight-pointed star, with a yellow, butter- and egg-rich dough, dusted with confectioners’ sugar when served. It originated in Verona at the end of the 19th century and is one of Italy’s two traditional Christmas sweets.
Traditional sweet from Verona, Vêneto
Also known as: pandoro di Verona, pan d'oro
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Pandoro — Verona, Italy
Pandoro is made with flour, a lot of butter, eggs, sugar, and yeast, in a dough that undergoes several fermentations. Baked in a tall mold shaped like a truncated cone with an eight-pointed star cut, it comes out of the oven golden on the outside and yellow and tender inside. It contains no candied fruit or raisins. It is served with a small bag of confectioners’ sugar; you put the sugar in the bag with the cake and shake it to cover the whole surface, imitating snow.
The date considered its birth is October 14, 1894, when a confectioner from Verona received a patent for a soft cake with this shape. The star-shaped mold was designed by Veronese painter Angelo Dall'Oca Bianca. The name recalls the bread covered with gold leaf served at feasts during the time of the Venetian Republic.
The sweet did not appear out of nowhere. It derives from the nadalin, a traditional Veronese Christmas cake, also star-shaped but lower and less leavened. Over time, several manufacturers in Verona and the surrounding area began producing pandoro, and it became, together with Milan’s panettone, the Christmas cake of Italian households.
Pandoro is served in horizontal or vertical slices. A common way to serve it at parties is to cut it into horizontal slices and stack them in the shape of a Christmas tree, dusting sugar on top.
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Where it comes from
Verona , Vêneto
A Christmas cake patented in Verona in 1894, derived from the Veronese nadalin.
Ingredients
Flour, butter, eggs, sugar, yeast and vanilla; confectioners’ sugar for dusting.
How it is eaten
Sliced, dusted with confectioners’ sugar; sometimes served with mascarpone cream or chocolate cream.
When it is eaten
Christmas and year-end.
Your questions
Questions about Pandoro
What is the difference between pandoro and panettone?
Pandoro, from Verona, has a star shape, a yellow soft dough and contains no fruit. Panettone, from Milan, is cylindrical and contains raisins and candied fruit.
Why is pandoro star-shaped?
The eight-pointed star mold was registered along with the cake’s patent in 1894 in Verona.
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Dish · Florence
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Dish · Florence
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Dish · Genoa
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Sweet · Milan
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Dish · Milan
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Sweet · Palermo
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Sweet · Sardenha
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Sweet · Siena
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Bicerin
Hot drink served in a small glass cup, in three unmixed layers: thick hot chocolate, espresso coffee and heavy cream. It is Turin’s typical drink, linked to the city’s historic cafés since the 18th century.
Drink · Turin
Vermouth di Torino
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