Italian Christmas Food (2024)

FAQs

What is a traditional Christmas food in Italy? ›

In Southern and Central Italy, baked pasta is a must. In Northern Italy, Lasagne Bolognese and filled pasta like manicotti and ravioli are traditional Christmas fare. Next comes the main event, the meat. Roasted veal, baked chicken, sausages or braised beef are common Natale entrées worth celebrating.

Another highlight at the Italian Christmas markets is the food. Some of the typical specialities that can be found at the markets are “panettone” (sweet bread with candied fruits), “pandoro”, (star-shaped cake with powdered sugar), “torrone”, (nougat with nuts and honey), and “panforte”, (dense and spicy fruitcake).

In Modica (in Ragusa area) the most popular recipe is “cacate lasagna” with pork ragù, fresh ricotta and grated pecorino. Christmas Pasticcio or Pasticcio di Noto, is another typical first course, composed of a very stuffed dough, so much so that it can be considered a single-course meal.

That's why Italians celebrate Christmas Eve with a large feast known as La Vigilia on December 24th. Traditionally, Italian Christmas Eve dinner is a meat-free meal. According to an old Catholic tradition, it's meant to purify your body ahead of a religious celebration.

In Italy, the Christmas Eve dinner is typically meat-free. It consists of seven different types of seafood – known as the 'Feast of the Seven Fishes' in Italian-American culture. Seven is a number with tremendous significance in numerous cultures; it symbolizes completeness, flawlessness and solidarity.

Since Christmas Eve dinner is part of the celebration, the traditional Italian breakfast items for this time of year include leftover pandoro, a sweet bread, or panettone and panforte, two types of fruit bread.

Panettone. This holiday favorite is originally from Milan but you can find it at many specialty markets and bakeries these days. The raisin-studded sweet bread even doubles as an edible Christmas gift. Get the Panettone recipe at Preppy Kitchen.

Some Italians start celebrating with a nice dinner on December 24th, while others prefer a light meal — preferably without meat — and wait for a huge Christmas lunch, the day after. However, the midnight Mass at the local church is a tradition from the North to the South.

One of the most common drinks to be sipped at Christmas is Mulled Wine. Since medieval times, good old Mulled Wine has been the drink to warm up the body at winter time. In Italy, this drink is also known as Vin Brulé, although depending on how you take this drink, there's are difference.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is the annual Christmas Eve vigil and epic seafood feast that has grown into the most beloved meal of the year in Italian-American households. Steeped in tradition, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is the centerpiece meal of the entire holiday season.

What do Sicilians do on Christmas Eve? ›

Besides the evenings at home, in Sicily people have fun also in the squares and in the streets that, in this period of the year, are enriched by wonderful and elaborated illuminations. In some cities of the island are organized real shows, such as "Lo Zucco" (U Zuccu): Lo Zucco is a huge bonfire on Christmas Eve.

Christmas traditions in Sicily

Outside churches, bonfires are lit to keep baby Jesus warm, and during processions such as the one dedicated to Santa Lucia in Syracuse (13 and 20 December), streets are aflame with candles and the fiery red leaves of poinsettias.

Italy is famous for their big Christmas spread for the whole family to enjoy. Italian children call Santa Claus 'Babbo Natale'. He is becoming more popular in Italy for gift giving on Christmas Day but La Befana, the old woman who delivers gifts on Epiphany on 6th January, is still more common.

Christmas in Italy (Italian: Natale, Italian: [naˈtaːle]) begins on 8 December, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day on which traditionally the Christmas tree is mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with the Epiphany (Italian: Epifania, Italian: [epifaˈniːa]), and in some areas female ...

The Christmas' Eve dinner

On Christmas Eve, in some regions of Italy, there's the tradition not to eat any meat but fish instead.

One of the most common drinks to be sipped at Christmas is Mulled Wine. Since medieval times, good old Mulled Wine has been the drink to warm up the body at winter time. In Italy, this drink is also known as Vin Brulé, although depending on how you take this drink, there's are difference.

Some Italians start celebrating with a nice dinner on December 24th, while others prefer a light meal — preferably without meat — and wait for a huge Christmas lunch, the day after. However, the midnight Mass at the local church is a tradition from the North to the South.