In this picture our Papà del Gnoco riding a mule. He’s the symbol of our Veronese’s carnival.
No recipe this week but some pictures taken on Friday the 12th of February during the Venerdì Gnocolar parade. I followed the whole parade and had so much fun. While I was busy throwing confetti and clapping at the parade participants, my husband Michael was running up and down the street trying to take some pictures. Continue reading
Papà del Gnoco 2009
Carnival finished last Tuesday the 24th and like every year I attended the parade on Friday. As you might know the last Friday of carnival in Verona is called “Venerdì Gnocolar” (Gnocchi’s Friday) with a famous parade and when it’s a must to eat gnocchi. The lucky ones can enjoy them at home those at work can find them at a bar or restaurant. Schools are closed so the little ones can participate in the event. Early in the afternoon a big parade starts from Corso Porta Nuova and crosses the center of the city ending up in Piazza San Zeno. Music bands, majorettes, decorated floats cheerfully entertain the public until late evening.
The king of our carnival parade is Papà del Gnoco (father of the gnocchi) and instead of a scepter he carries a huge fork topped by a big gnocchi. He’s a real institution and has a costume of antique origins. His clothes – there are at least different sizes depending on the papà del gnocco’s build – are made by Casa d’arte Fiore in Milan, famous for making costumes for the main opera houses and theaters. Continue reading
It’s carnival season in Italy it starts right after the Epiphany and lasts until Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). Pastries stores are filled up with carnival sweets: crostoli, frittelle and all the local specialties. Every place in Italy has its own traditions and some of them known worldwide. I feel lucky to live in Verona because we are famous for Venerdì Gnocolar (Gnocchi Festival) and its parade and also because I’m really close to Venice where I frequented a lot of carnivals. This year my mother in law and my niece are coming from the States to visit us and they chose this period of the year just for carnival, so I’m planning a lot of short trips and one or two of them are certainly dedicated to Venice.
Carnival in Venice is an event you should attend at least once in your life. I’m not partial when speaking about Venice because I consider it not only to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world but its carnival is truly spectacular as well. Continue reading
In December stores are buried with goodies of every kind either you have a precise idea of what to buy or you’ll get lost in them for hours, picking, choosing and changing your mind about a hundred times. There’s one thing that all the Italians will buy and that is pandoro or panettone, our Italian Christmas cakes. They’re mostly industrially produced but still using simple and natural ingredients and artisan methods.
Pandoro is a specialty from Verona, my hometown. It’s a natural leavened cake, simply made with natural yeast, flour, eggs and butter. It takes up to 50-60 hours to become a pandoro and when ready is about 8 inch. high and shaped into a star, a homage to Christmas. You can sprinkle it with some vanilla scented powder sugar and serve it with cream. I also love to eat it plain to savor it better to smell its vanilla and sugar scent to be lost in its buttery flavor and softness. My forbidden dream is to dip it in cold milk and don’t say anything before you try, it’s really good but I allow myself to have it once a year because this is a rich cake. Continue reading
December has arrived and Christmas is definitely in the air. Christmas lights are decorating Verona and few days ago the Nativity set International Exhibition that takes place inside the Arena di Verona has been inaugurated. The exhibition hosts more than 400 nativity sets from all over the world. The famous comet star has been built up as every year and now it seems to fly out from the Arena. This year Verona celebrates its 25th year from its first appearance. It has now become a symbol of our city. Continue reading
