Christmas food in Italy

On Christmas Eve, Italians traditionally do not cook meat, only vegetables, fish and seafood. Once it was necessary to serve 13 dishes on the table, but now even in the south of Italy, where the influence of Catholicism is still very strong, it is limited to cooking four or five. But the next day, on the holiday itself, culinary fantasies are not limited by anything. 

In Valle d'Aosta, the Italian region, Christmas is served with carbonata valdostana (in the picture) - meat marinated in wine and herbs, with corn polenta, valpellinentze - soup made from colored and ordinary cabbage, and sweet dolce di sciroppo di pere (in the picture) - pie with pear syrup. In Trentino, they prepare saederli - large dumplings of rusks, dried-smoked meat, brisket and sausage, salsicce e crauti - hunting sausages with stewed cabbage, dessert served with zelten - pie with candied fruits and dried fruits. 

In Piemonte, agnolotti is preferred - large ravioli with meat and vegetables, bollito misto - assorted variety of boiled meat or cappone - capon in sauce, and torta di nocciole (in the picture)- nut cake or nougat for dessert. In Lombardy eat agnelloni alla zucca - tortellini with pumpkin or gnocchi di spinaci - spinach dumplings, cappone ripieno con Mostarda di Cremona - stuffed capon with Cremona mustard, dessert is served by torrone lombardo - Lombard nougat or Pan di Toni - Christmas cake. 

In the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, a trippa is prepared with a tomato sauce and cheese, brovada e muset - turnip soup and pork sausage and capon, dessert is served with a gubana cake with nuts, raisins, pine nuts, sugar and liquor. In the south of Italy, in Apulia, fish or chicken soup with homemade pasta is cooked, for the second - fish, turkey or lamb dishes, and sweet-fried balls (in the photo) from dough purrcedruzzi are served on sweet.