Eating in Rome at Christmas: Our Guide
As December begins, Rome transforms into a winter wonderland, with twinkling Christmas lights and glittering decorations adorning the city’s streets, monuments, and piazzas. The festive season kicks off with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, a public holiday when Italian families traditionally dress their Christmas trees, signaling the start of the festivities that conclude with Epiphany on January 6th.
In true Italian style, Christmas in Rome is a culinary celebration, with seasonal specialties making appearances in bakeries, pastry shops, and delis. Locals meticulously plan their festive menus, embracing the flavors and traditions of the season. Here’s the Local Aromas guide to eating like a Roman this Christmas:
Seasonal Sweets: Panettone, Pandoro, Pangiallo, Torrone
Italian Christmas sweets are rich with dried and candied fruits, nuts, and spices. The most iconic are the hefty, dome-shaped panettone—a sweet dough studded with raisins and candied citrus fruits—and the lighter, star-shaped pandoro, sprinkled with icing sugar, both hailing from northern Italy.
For a distinctly Roman treat, try pangiallo (literally ‘yellow bread’). Dating back to the Roman Empire, this dense cake made with mixed nuts, fruit, and honey is covered with a saffron glaze, giving it its distinctive yellow hue. No Christmas meal would be complete without torrone, bars of nougat made with egg whites, honey, and sugar, and flavored with nuts or chocolate.
La Vigilia: Christmas Eve Fish-Based Dinner
La Vigilia, or Christmas Eve, is a significant feast in the festive calendar. According to Catholic tradition, no meat is consumed, so a lighter, fish-based dinner is prepared. Roman families often start with frittura mista, pieces of fish and vegetables battered and deep-fried until golden. Typical fritti include zucchini, eggplant, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, potato, anchovies, calamari, shrimp, and even apple and sage leaves. This is generally followed by a seafood-based pasta such as spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams), zuppa di pesce (fish stew), or whole baked fish.
Christmas Day: Lasagne and Seasonal Sweets
There is no single traditional dish for Italian Christmas lunch, but it often features hearty, indulgent dishes after the previous evening’s lighter fare. Common primi (first courses) include meat-filled pasta such as ravioli, cappelletti, or agnolotti cooked in broth.
Baked pasta dishes, like the classic lasagne alla bolognese, with its layers of rich meat ragù, creamy béchamel sauce, and fresh pasta, exemplify festive extravagance. This is usually followed by a second course of roasted meat and vegetables, with lamb and potatoes being a popular choice in Rome. The meal concludes with the ever-present panettone, pandoro, and torrone, alongside mandarins and nuts.
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