Today on Monday Mysteries we explore an Easter food called l’Intagliata. It was almost my Food on Fridays post last week, but there was unexpectedly a bit of a mystery surrounding it. Therefore, this food has waited until today … and become a Monday Mystery.
Before I talk about this, though, I should first explain that in Italy there is a typical Easter-time sweet bread, la Colomba, which is akin to the Christmas-time panettone sweet bread. The Colomba is shaped like a dove (colomba means “dove” in Italian), has whole almonds in addition to the dried fruit, and is covered in bits of icing. It’s packaged by all the usual firms that make the panettone at Christmas time, and also made (and sold) fresh in bakeries. The one below is a gift we got from our friends M&S, who live near Verona:
Box for La Colomba
La Colomba Easter Pastry
However, in addition to the Columba, Chris and I ran across another pastry, called l’Intagliata, at the De Rossi bakery here in Verona. It’s a place that is smack-dab in the middle of Verona’s centro storico (“old city center”), and has always seemed to be a bakery that is patronized by locals, as well as tourists. The fact that they do cater to tourists probably explains why their sign about l’Intagliata is in multiple languages:
DeRossi bakery sign for L’Intagliata
On the sign it explains that this is a Veronese tradition at Easter time to symbolize Christ’s crown of thorns. However, it’s not clear that this is an actual Verona tradition. While we saw the Colomba at all the bakeries, we only spotted l’Intagliata at De Rossi’s.
And consider this: Chris, who is a true master of finding things on the Internet, he couldn’t find much of a mention of this l’Intagliata concoction at all, uncovering only a mention of it on a forum where two women claimed that they were from Verona, and they had never heard of it. They were rather disparaging about the idea that it’s really a long-standing traditional baked good in this area at Easter time.
But then again … what’s the definition of a tradition, anyway? The De Rossi Bakery has been in Verona since 1947. So if they’ve made l’Intagliata at their bakery since they first opened, that would make the l’Intagliata a Veronese tradition since then, at least at that bakery. Not quite what you expect as a tourist reading that sign, of course … but still, the sign doesn’t exactly lie, either, I suppose, just claiming it to be a tradition of some sort in Verona.
Of course, I should point out that I don’t know for sure that the De Rossi sign is pure marketing, of course, but all the indications seem to be pointing in that direction, at least for now. Ah well.
BTW, we tried one. After all, we’re tourists who will try any food, real or made-up tradition or no. 
It was surprisingly light and airy, with a faint anise flavor. Tasty and not too sweet.
L’Intagliata
L’Intagliata (detail)
What would be interesting to know, of course, is if there are other kinds of similarly De Rossi-only Veronese “traditions” throughout the year, and if any of them use the same dough – but a different form factor – as l’Intagliata. I’ll let you know if we spot anything that looks promising … until then, I guess that part will remain an unsolved part of this Monday Mystery.