Easter in Italy and Around the World

For us, Easter Sunday might bring thoughts of egg hunts, Easter bonnets and chocolate bunnies, but the holiday has a different feel in other parts of the world. Marked with the solemnity of its religious origins and the lightheartedness of spring’s rebirth, Easter has a long and colorful history that even retains elements of ancient Roman festivals.

Russia and Eastern Europe

Russian and Eastern European countries’ Easter celebrations are most famous for their incredibly detailed decorated eggs. These aren’t the simple hard-boiled and dyed eggs most of us know for Easter; these works of art are often meant to be displayed for years. The eggs are a hold-over from the earliest celebrations of spring’s renewal. They represented new beginnings and fertility, and adorning them with festive decorations is a practice that predates not only Christianity but also recorded history; no one’s quite sure when the practice began. However, the Romans almost certainly contributed to the custom, carrying it to all corners of the far-flung Roman Empire.

While Easter Sunday is solemn, the Monday afterward is celebratory throughout Eastern Europe. It’s tradition to spank others with decorated willow switches – think of the friendly swats you might get on your birthday or the affectionate pinch you’d get if you forgot to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. Water-fights are also common, especially in Poland.

The dinner table almost always includes a ham, eggs and bread, often marked in the shape of a cross to honor the religious roots of the celebration. Some traditions also include cracking boiled eggs with a nail to symbolize Christ’s suffering.

Greece

Greek Orthodox traditions start with celebrations on Great Thursday with eggs dyed red and placed on altars or ikons. Easter is a more solemn holiday than it is elsewhere; traditional and devout households consider the next few days a period of mourning. On Holy Friday, church bells toll in funereal tones and flags fly at half-mast. Saturday’s observances have a distinctly modern twist; the Eternal Flame travels to Greece from Jerusalem by jet, a trip that used to be considerably longer. Each church gets its own flame that remains lit throughout the remainder of the week.

On Easter Sunday, the somber tone of the holy week is transformed to a joyful celebration. Whole spit-roasted lamb is a traditional centerpiece to an Easter feast, but any kind of lamb dish can work for those who don’t have time or space for a whole lamb. Heaps of delicacies grace every table, and the retsina and ouzo flow freely throughout the day. It’s no wonder, then, that Easter Monday is a time of restful contemplation in the Greek tradition.

Italy

The home of the Roman Catholic Church and of pre-Christian Roman celebrations of spring naturally has its own rich Easter traditions. It’s second only to Christmas in its importance socially, and for many devout Italians, it’s the most solemn feast in the liturgical calendar. Good Friday is filled with more solemn observances, including blessings from parish priests and meatless Lenten meals, but Sunday is a day for celebration.

Easter Sunday is for feasting on pork, lamb and veal as well as sweet treats in the shape of eggs. Chocolate eggs are as beloved in Italy as they are here for Easter, and the Italians have turned decorating the candies into an art form. Bakeries try to outdo each other with lavish confections and iced cakes. The colomba pasquale, or Easter dove, is a special sweetened, yeast-leavened Easter bread that is Easter’s counterpart to the traditional Christmas panettone.

Florence has a unique tradition, the Scoppio del Carro, loosely translated as the Bursting of the Cart. A cart filled with fireworks is paraded through the streets and set alight with flints from the Holy Sepulchre, bringing together a religious tradition with one that predates Christianity in a unique event that celebrates spring with a bang.

Whether you celebrate Easter as a traditional Christian holiday or as a celebration of spring’s arrival, Carlino’s wishes you Buona Pasqua!

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It’s Carnevale Time Again!

Do you know what’s special about February 12? It isn’t just another Tuesday; millions of Italians mark it as Carnevale, the last day of feasting and celebration before Lent. The French call it Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, but its roots are deep in Italian soil, particularly in Venice. The Venetian version of the holiday is one of the most spectacular and elegant affairs anywhere, and it’s recently enjoyed a resurgence.

The traditional Carnevale di Venezia is a day for masks, feasts and parties. What sets it apart is its age; as one of the first carnival celebrations in Europe, it’s a tradition almost a thousand years old. The first recorded Carnevale in Venice was celebrated in 1162 as a party to commemorate a victory on the battlefield that kept the region, then a republic, free. As people gathered in the Piazza San Marco, they brought their favorite delicacies and wore their brightest colors, turning the party into a memorable feast.

Eating well before Lent was a tradition even before the Venetian celebration, but the coincidental timing of the victory and the feast day transformed it into something special. Italians don’t need many reasons to celebrate with wonderful food, free-flowing wine and fancy clothes; having two great reasons to throw a party made Venice’s Carnevale an irresistible attraction.

As the party grew into an ever larger social event, the elegant clothes evolved into masks and costumes. Eventually, masks became a way to move beyond the bonds of social hierarchy, letting people from every walk of life celebrate the final day of feasting before the austerity of Lent. Mask-makers held high status; if painters were the rock stars of Renaissance Italy, then Venetian mask-makers were the back-up singers, earning invitations to all the best parties. Today, the masks Venetians and visitors wear are just for fun, although the crowning of the year’s most beautiful costumes has become an event for fashionistas worldwide.

Over the years, traditional mask styles became especially well known and are still visible on the streets of Venice during Carnevale. The traditional square bautta covers the whole face, while the delicate columbina hides only the eyes and is almost exclusively worn by women. Dama masks look like the serene face of a beautiful woman, and gato masks transform their wearers into cats. Other popular styles resemble traditional comedy and tragedy masks or jesters.

The food of carnevale is right in the name: meat, and plenty of it. The “carne” in Carnevale means meat, and for two weeks before Ash Wednesday, meat is a mainstay. Beefy meatballs, pork sausage and tender veal dishes are favorites for Carnevale. Anything creamy, rich or luscious also fits the celebratory theme, so cream-filled pastries and rum-soaked cakes have a place on the holiday table. Wine and spirits flow, keeping the party atmosphere lively well into the night.

However revelers call it – Carnevale, Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras – it ends sharply at midnight. For all its excesses, Carnevale has a solemn heart, marking as it does the last farewell to feasting and frolics before Lent.

You don’t need to observe Lent to enjoy the festivities, though. Make February 12 special with a feast of your own at Carlino’s. Why have just another Tuesday when you could have a party instead?

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The Joys of Garlic

What percussion is to music, garlic is to Italian food. It’s the driving beat that you don’t immediately notice, but would certainly miss if it weren’t there. Earthy and pungent, garlic’s rarely in the spotlight, but it underlies everything else in the dish, pulling it together into a harmonious whole. Garlic has had a place on the dinner plate since ancient Egypt, but Italian culinary ingenuity elevated garlic dishes into art.

As its taste will tell you, garlic is a member of the same Allium family of plants as onions, leeks and shallots. Raw garlic is so pungent, it tastes fiery; roasting or sauteing it turns it almost sweet. The volatile flavors of garlic lend themselves to cooking in olive oil or butter, making it a perfect companion for buttery shrimp scampi and flavorful spaghetti puttanesca.

Italian diners eat about 110 million pounds of garlic a year, according to the Italian farmer’s group Coldiretti. For a nation of about 60 million people, that’s a hefty dose of the fragrant bulb. However, garlic doesn’t overwhelm a great Italian sauce because chefs use it with discretion. Brighter flavors like lemon, basil and oregano act as a balance to garlic’s earthiness, while acidic ingredients like balsamic vinegar and tomatoes bring out its sweeter nature. You’ll find garlic if you’re looking for it in a bite of a perfect marinara sauce, but it won’t be all you find. Italian food is anything but timid, so its robust flavors stand up beautifully to garlic’s power.

New studies suggest that garlic might even be good for you. It appears to be good for your digestion, your heart, your cholesterol and your blood sugar levels. You could buy garlic capsules to get all those health benefits, but eating extra garlic on your pizza sounds like much more fun. Some people even say it’s good for the common cold. A hot bowl of minestrone with garlic may not cure your sniffles, but it’ll certainly make you feel better.

If garlic has a single drawback, it’s that pungent aroma. Nibbling a bite of parsley or drinking something with lemon can eliminate it. A light dessert after dinner can also help clear your palate, especially if you pair it with a lemon-kissed espresso. Carlino’s also offers complimentary mints at the bar, so you can enjoy plenty of guiltless garlicky goodness for lunch or dinner.

Sincerely,
Carlo, Wali and all your friends at Carlino’s

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