Panettone For Valentine's Day

We all know and love panettone as a decadent treat for the Christmas and holiday season – but it might just be a perfect symbol for the holiday of love, too.

It’s just not an Italian Christmas without a panettone in sight, ready to be sliced open for guests. However, according to its origin story, we have a new tradition in mind: panettone for Valentine’s Day! 

Like many Italian dishes and foods, the story of how panettone came to be is oft argued over, and there are quite a few myths surrounding its origin. However, our favorite version of the tale stars a noble Milanese man named Ughetto, who used panettone to win the affections of his unrequited love. (More people should use panettone to pursue their love interests, we think. 😉) 

Ughetto loved Adalgisa, the daughter of the town’s baker, from afar. She worked laboriously in her father’s bakery, and as an effort to make her life easier, Ughetto posed as a peasant and offered to work at the bakery at no cost. While working there, he had the idea to enrich their breads with eggs, butter and sugar – all very expensive ingredients at the time – so he purchased the ingredients himself and saved the bakery, ultimately winning Adalgisa’s affections and eventually the two of them wed. Romance at the hand of an Italian pastry – what’s not to love?

Is the tale true? We don’t know – there’s another delightful story depicting a man named Toni who created the famous bread, which apparently earned its name: pane-Toni. All we know is that the tale of Ughetto and Adalgisa gives us enough of an excuse to eat Panettone well beyond the Christmas season and enjoy it as a Valentine’s Day delicacy! Why not?

We’ll be celebrating with famous Italian confection-maker Giuseppe Gobino’s classic panettone, which has an incredibly rich, perfectly sweet flavor and texture. You can get in on this celebration and start a tradition a la Ughetto & Adalgisa, too – just tap the link below to purchase!