Sweet Easter Pizza from Umbria, Terni, Marche, Rome, Abruzzo

A showcase of the best Italian leavened Easter sweets

Have you ever heard of sweet Easter pizza? Well, it is a very simple preparation and very widespread throughout central Italy. Among the sweet Easter recipes, you will surely think of the famous Colomba, the Crescia dolce, and the inevitable Easter eggs. And among the savory preparations? Certainly sweet Easter pizza. According to legend, this dessert has its origins in the Middle Ages and was invented by the nuns of the convent of Santa Maria Maddalena, located in the province of Ancona in the locality of Serra dè Conti. Imagine that the traditional recipe called for sweet pizza to contain as many as 40 eggs, a symbolic number that recalled the days of Lent. Sweet Easter pizza was prepared and then blessed during the Easter vigil mass. Those who tasted it or still taste it today should make the sign of the cross before trying it.

But putting aside history and legend, you should know that today there are many variants of sweet Easter pizza: they are regional variants that differ from one another by an ingredient or even a minimal detail, which nonetheless becomes characteristic. Thus, there will be sweet Easter pizza from Terni, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, Rome, and so on.

Very well-known in Calabria is the Squta, a dessert that features hard-boiled eggs in the center and, according to tradition, also provided an opportunity to hide a sort of coded message for the recipient. In Campania, the Casatiello is a must, which seems to have its roots even in the 1600s. The Casatiello is not sweet, but savory, and contains cheeses, diced cured meats, and, on the surface, hard-boiled eggs held in place by a cross of dough, in a clear religious symbolism. In Tortano, also from Campania, we find crumbled hard-boiled eggs inside the dough, while the sweet is twisted upon itself, symbolizing the crown of thorns of Jesus.

In Lazio, we find sweet Easter pizza in the Civitavecchia version, with wine, anise, and sheep ricotta, sometimes with the addition of dark chocolate. It is prepared for Palm Sunday and then enjoyed on Easter morning with coratella, artichokes, and hard-boiled eggs. Still in Lazio, we find Roman Cresciuta Pizza, also sweet but not too much, with anise and other ingredients. It is consumed on Easter morning in Rome.

In Abruzzo, two types of Easter pizzas are prepared, the Easter pizza and the Pizzacola. The Teramo Easter Pizza contains anise, raisins, candied fruit, and chocolate. Not everyone prepares it the same way: each family has its traditional recipe. It is a dessert very similar to Christmas panettone, both in flavor and shape. On Easter morning in Abruzzo, typical Abruzzese products such as wines, cured meats, and cheeses are enjoyed: a tradition known as Sdijuno.

If the Teramo Easter pizza is very loved by adults, the pizzacola is instead prepared for children: a small Easter pizza with an egg inside. Not by chance does the egg always take center stage: because it is a symbol of rebirth.

The Marche Easter pizza is called Crescia. You can find it in Marche but also in Umbria, Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise. It is not a sweet pizza, but rather savory. In Marche, it is enjoyed with ciauscolo, while in other regions, it is also taken on outings during Pasquetta, along with cured meats and hard-boiled eggs.

Now let’s mention the Pigna di Pasqua from Molise, which is once again prepared with anise, boiled potatoes, and a sugar glaze on top. You can often find it in Marche, Umbria, and Abruzzo, and here too the variants abound: you might find the Pigna di Pasqua with candied fruit or without, for example.

In Tuscany, we will find the Sweet Schiacciata and the sweet pizza from Tuscia. The latter has a round shape reminiscent of a mushroom and is yellow in color: it contains local liqueurs, cinnamon, and citrus fruits. In Tuscia, it seems that this sweet pizza once contained pecorino, to further flavor the dough! The sweet schiacciata is not at all flattened, but is a bundt cake made with fresh eggs that is still generously dipped in vin Santo, as is done with cantucci.

In Emilia Romagna, sweet Easter pizza is called Pagnotta dolce: the sweet pizza from Sarsina is very famous, celebrated during the Sagra della Pagnotta which takes place every year during the two Sundays preceding Easter in the area of Cesena and Forlì. It is a tasty dessert, not too sweet, made with lard and raisins.

As for the sweet pizza from Trieste, we mention the famous Pinza Triestina and the Presnitz: the former is round, while the latter is crown-shaped, symbolizing the crown of Christ.

There are also 3 types of unleavened Easter Pizzas in Italy. Until now, we have mentioned all the leavened variants. Among the unleavened ones, we certainly mention the famous torta Pasqualina, typically from Liguria but widely prepared even outside the region. It is made with puff pastry, herbs, and eggs. We also mention the scarcella from Puglia, a type of cookie decorated on the surface, with an egg in the center, and the Cuddura, very similar to the Scarcella, but of Sicilian origins.