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Carnival Sweetness

In Naples there is a dessert for every holiday: is actually time to chiacchiere – a sweet crispy pastry sprinkled with powdered sugar and sanguinaccio – black chocolate pudding!

A period of gastronomic liberation before the arrival of Lent, which is all about abstinence, Carnival is an invitation to be a glutton. In Naples, the festivities traditionally begin on January 17, the feast day of Sant’Antonio Abate, and end on Shrove Tuesday, which falls on February 25 this year.

The rich pudding can is made with an extra-bittersweet chocolate cream flavored with vanilla and cinnamon; some pastry makers also add candied fruit. be eaten by the spoonful but more often we eat it spread on the typical Carnival biscuits: chiacchiere.

Chiacchiere means chatter in English, which is what your mouth will be doing as you bite down on these delicious strips of crispy dough that are generally fried and covered with icing sugar. 

All the Neapolitan pastry shops prepare sanguinaccio and chiacchiere during Carnival.

Don’t miss the opportunity to taste it!

April 1st and Chocolate Fish in Napoli ~ no joke!

We’re all being careful not to fall for any April Fool’s jokes today – and there’s no escape from the pranksters’ favourite day of the year in Italy. Here, it just has a cuter name: April Fish. That comes from a common joke that involves sticking a drawing of a pesciolino (little fish) onto the back of an unsuspecting victim. Then, everyone else asks if anyone has seen “April’s fish” and makes jokes about that person – when, of course, the victim doesn’t know it’s them.

Chocolatiers deliciously get into the spirit with fish-shaped goodies. Schools of fish of all sizes fill shop windows, the larger ones often filled with smaller treats. To a chocoholic, fish never tasted so good! Since Easter usually falls around the same time, fish feature predominantly in shop windows through that holiday as well.
Here would be a good excuse to buy special chocolates on this day over. Not that we ever really need an excuse for chocolate…

Wherever you are, have fun on April 1st and enjoy some chocolate.