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FOOD AND DRINK

Chiacchiere, castagnole, graffe: Six of Italy’s most popular carnival sweets

Italy is known the world over for its dazzling carnival celebrations – but its traditional festival sweets are just as exciting.

Published: 1 February 2024 16:22 CET
Italy, pastry
A variety of sweets can be seen inside an Italian pastry shop. Photo by Valentina Locatelli on Unsplash

Spending carnival in Italy is not just a chance to dive into a variety of exciting masked revelries and flamboyant parades, but also a golden opportunity to feast on a number of traditional sweets that are in no uncertain terms a fundamental part of any respectable carnevale experience in the country. 

Each Italian region has its own carnival desserts, but there are some treats whose scrumptiousness has long been known well outside of regional borders, becoming popular in multiple parts of the country.  

Chiacchiere 

The chiacchiere are possibly the most ‘ubiquitous’ of Italian carnival pastries as the sweet can be found in most regions at carnival time. 

Though they’re known under different names (for instance, frappe in Rome and cenci in Tuscany) and recipes tend to vary slightly from region to region, chiacchiere (literally meaning ‘chatter’) are thin strips of crisp, deep-fried dough sprinkled with a generous amount of icing sugar and occasionally flavoured with orange or lemon zest.

The origins of this sweet are believed to date as far back as Roman times, when they were known as frictilia and prepared to celebrate popular pagan festivals such as the Saturnalia and Bacchanalia.

Castagnole

The castagnole are a popular carnival sweet in multiple areas of central and northern Italy which are believed to have been first created by Carlo Nascia, chef for the Farnese family in Parma, in the late 17th century.

They are fried dough dumplings flavoured with lemon zest and served with icing sugar or honey.

Occasionally, you’ll find them filled with custard, cream or chocolate.

Cicerchiata

The cicerchiata is a popular carnival dessert in Molise, Marche, Abruzzo and Umbria. 

It consists of small balls (around one centimetre in diameter) of fried dough arranged in a circle and then ‘glued together’ with honey. 

The sweet is then sprinkled with toasted almonds or candied fruit.

Graffe

The graffe are one of Naples’ most famous (and beloved) Carnival sweets along with the migliaccio (semolina and ricotta cake) and sanguinaccio dolce (blood pudding).

They are sugar-coated rings of fried potato dough similar in shape to ordinary doughnuts.

The origin of this dolce can be traced back to the 18th-century period of Austrian rule in the region, with the graffe being a reworking of German Berliners.

Pignolata glassata

Originally from Messina but now popular elsewhere in Sicily, the pignolata glassata consists of fried oval-shaped dough balls (similar to pigne, or pine cones) covered in chocolate and lemon-flavoured syrup. 

A different version of the sweet is popular in Calabria, where the pigne are glued together with honey and occasionally topped with crushed almonds or hazelnuts. This is known as pignolata al miele (‘honey pignolata’). 

Tortelli

The tortelli milanesi are fluffy balls of fried dough served plain or filled with custard or chocolate cream.

They are a staple of Milan residents’ diet over carnevale but can be found elsewhere in northern Italy. 

The original tortelli recipe is believed to date back to the Middle Ages.

This is a non-exhaustive list of popular carnival sweets. Have we missed your favourite delicacy? Let us know in the comments below.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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