Colomba is a typical Italian sweet bread traditionally consumed during the Easter period and is made with flour, butter, eggs, sugar, yeast, and candied fruit, flavored with citrus zest such as lemon and orange, and decorated with sugared almonds and glaze.
The sweet bread is associated with the Easter period because it symbolizes peace and rebirth. Furthermore, its shape – which also resembles a cross – represents one of the most important symbols of Easter in Italy and has deep religious significance.
Let's discover its origins and interesting facts about this famous, distinctive, and traditional sweet bread.
The “legendary” origins of the Easter Colomba
The Easter Colomba represents one of the most famous recipes in our tradition and has a dual origin: one legendary and one historical.
According to legend, during the Lombard siege of the city of Pavia, which lasted about three years, King Alboin received a dove-shaped sweet bread as a symbol of peace from the local population just before the Easter period.
According to another traditional account, the creation of this sweet bread is attributed to Saint Columbanus, an Irish monk who founded numerous monasteries throughout Europe, including the famous one in Bobbio, Italy.
The true origin of the Easter Colomba
The invention of this distinctive sweet bread actually dates back to 1930 when advertiser Dino Villani, working for a Milanese confectionery company, thought of launching a typical Easter sweet bread on the market, but with an eye on savings; he came up with the idea of using the same machinery and the same dough as Christmas panettone, but changing the shape to that of a dove, also adding an amaretto and almond glaze.
As can be imagined, this new creation met with great commercial success.
Since then, the colomba has become the ultimate symbol of the Easter period and today we can enjoy a great variety of versions of the same sweet bread; in fact, in addition to the classic one, colombe with different recipes have also been created, filled and covered with different creams than the traditional ones.
Chiostro di Saronno: for quality Easter Colomba
Within our online shop, it is possible to choose between traditional and non-traditional colombe: the Easter colomba, besides being delicious, embodies an intrinsic meaning of hope; do not miss the opportunity to purchase this very special sweet bread and contact us if you want to know more about the taste and beauty of our colombe.