Panettone

Cut into the bread that rises in a dome above its paper mold, and raisins and candied citrus appear among air pockets stretched vertically. Panettone, associated with Milan, is a leavened Christmas sweet made with plenty of eggs and butter. There are also low, wide versions and versions topped with a nut-studded glaze, and the custom of giving and sharing these large baked sweets has spread to many places.

Lightness Created by a Natural Starter and the Order of Mixing

Lievito madre is a natural starter maintained by refreshing it with flour and water so that yeasts and lactic acid bacteria remain active. This starter is refreshed repeatedly and then added to a dough rich in sugar and fat. The yeasts in the starter produce gas, which makes the dough rise.

After the first dough has risen sufficiently, fresh flour, sugar, egg yolks and butter are combined with it. Even dough that looks slack just after the ingredients are added comes together as it is mixed and regains its elasticity and extensibility. Alfonso Pepe refreshes the starter 3 times on the day of production, incorporates the butter and egg yolks in several additions, and lets the first dough ferment until it has tripled. In the next kneading as well, flour is added and kneaded first, sugar and fat are added in stages, and the dough is finished so that it resists tearing even when stretched thin.

The fruit is added after the dough has been thoroughly kneaded. Rehydrated raisins are drained well and mixed, together with candied citrus, into the elastic dough. That the texture turns out light despite the large amount of fruit is due not only to the fermentation time but also to the order in which ingredients are added and the work of kneading and conditioning the dough each time.

Shaping, Scoring and Hanging Upside Down After Baking

The divided dough is given surface tension through pirlatura and placed in paper molds. It is left to rise fully in the mold as well, and then the top is scored in a step called scarpatura. Some methods cut a cross into the top and place a small amount of butter in the center.

The tall, soft dough must be cooled after baking so that it does not collapse. In Pepe’s method, metal skewers are passed through the panettone and it is immediately hung upside down to cool for 1 night. This step lets it cool while keeping its risen shape. The paper mold supports the dough from baking through cooling and is left on during wrapping and boxing.

The Etymology “Big Bread” and Two Origin Legends

The name derives from the Milanese panatton. The Accademia della Crusca explains that its original meaning was “big bread” and regards the theory that it derives from a person’s name as a story that arose later.

In the legend of Toni, at a banquet held by Ludovico Sforza in the late 15th century, a young kitchen worker assigned to keep watch falls asleep and burns the dessert. When it is remade by adding butter, raisins and candied fruit to leftover bread dough, it delights the duke and comes to be served every Christmas.

In another story, a young man in love with Adalgisa, daughter of the baker Toni, enters her father’s shop and improves its poorly selling bread. This young man, called Ugo or Ughetto, adds raisins, sugar, eggs and candied fruit, revives the shop’s business and wins his love. There are variants in the characters’ names and the details, and the similarity in sound to ughetta, the Milanese word for raisins, has also been pointed out. Two legends recounting the birth of panettone have thus been handed down: one about covering up a mishap at a banquet, and one about reviving a sweetheart’s family business.

From Records of Festive Bread to Today’s Tall Form

In 1599, the Collegio Borromeo in Pavia supplied a baker with butter, raisins and spices for 13 large loaves to be given to students at Christmas. These differ from today’s tall panettone, but they show a custom of giving bread made with generous ingredients on festive days.

In the 3rd edition (1853) of Giovanni Felice Luraschi’s “Nuovo cuoco milanese economico,” the entry “Dough for making panattoni” lists starter, flour, melted butter, sugar and raisins, and does not mention eggs. The dough is shaped into large and small pieces, placed on buttered paper and left to rise in a warm place; once risen, a cross is cut into it and it is baked, then served with foreign wine. Using paper and scoring the top were part of the process even before the modern tall form emerged.

Angelo Motta, who opened a workshop in Milan in 1919, reworked the sweet to be taller, softer and richer in raisins. Production expanded from the shop to a factory, and in the 20th century large, wrapped gift panettoni came into wide circulation.

A Christmas Sweet Spread by Mass Production and Sales Networks

Following Motta, Gioacchino Alemagna also pursued mass production. Starting from a bar in Melegnano in 1921, he expanded the business to a shop in central Milan and then to a factory. During the postwar economic boom, he also opened factories in Cornaredo, near Milan, and in Naples, delivering sweets to shops throughout the country. Motorway shops run in cooperation with his competitors Motta and Pavesi also increased the opportunities to buy panettone while traveling.

Milan’s festive sweet, once chosen at city pastry shops, also became a Christmas product wrapped in factories and delivered to households everywhere. In the 1970s, Motta and Alemagna both came under the control of SME, the food holding company of the state-owned IRI group. Expansion through competition was followed by corporate consolidation.

Meanwhile, artisan workshops continue to make panettoni one at a time. The “traditional Milanese artisan panettone” mark, promoted by Milan’s chamber of commerce and other bodies, stands for fresh handmade products made without preservatives and connects the city’s bakeries and pastry shops. While factory-made products circulate widely, panettoni made in local workshops are also sold.

Pinerolo’s Low Panettone with a Nut Glaze

The panettone made in Pinerolo, Piedmont, is low and wide and is topped with a hazelnut and almond glaze. In addition to the fruit mixed into the dough, it offers the crunch of the thin glaze on the surface and the aroma of the nuts. It is sometimes served with Asti or Moscato wine.

Panettone Shared on the Feast of San Biagio

In Lombardy, leftover Christmas panettone is eaten on February 3, the feast of San Biagio, and linked to prayers to the saint who protects the throat. A 2025 record from a church in Seregno describes how, after throats were blessed with crossed candles, a piece of panettone was handed out in a bag. The festival in Monza also includes servings of panettone, so the Christmas sweet is also shared at gatherings celebrating the saint’s day.

Serving and Storage After Cutting

Sliced panettone can be eaten as is or enjoyed with fruit or whipped cream. For the Muzzi product featured by Eataly, the suggested pairings are berries and whipped cream, afternoon coffee, and after-dinner wine. The flavors of fruit and dairy served alongside layer onto the raisins and candied fruit in the dough.

The shelf life of an unopened product and the period during which its flavor is maintained after opening are separate matters. Bonci in Rome gives, as guidelines for its own panettone, about 30 days from production for unopened products stored properly, and about 3–5 days for flavor and softness after opening. After opening, it advises closing the original bag tightly or wrapping the panettone in food film and keeping it in a cool, dry place away from heat sources. These periods are guidelines for that company’s products and are not time limits that apply to all panettoni, including those filled with cream.

Panettone’s Spread in Peru and Brazil

In Peru, panetón appears on family tables at Christmas and as gifts in the workplace. Following the low fruit bread introduced by Ligurian immigrants, the tall Milanese style spread from the mid-20th century, and industrial production brought it to many households. Some versions use quinoa, local cacao or dried goldenberries (physalis).

In Brazil, doughs from Italian immigrant families spread, and Bauducco continues to maintain a mother starter brought from Italy in 1952. Alongside versions with fruit, chocottone, which has chocolate mixed in, is also popular.

Naming Regulations That Define Shape and Formulation

Italy’s 2005 naming regulations set a natural starter, a round base, a cracked top and vertically elongated air cells as the basic features. Together with the 2017 amendment, they set minimums of 4% egg yolk, 16% milk fat derived from butter, and 20% raisins and candied citrus.

Under the calculation method in the annex, egg yolk and milk fat are based on the dry weight of the dough just before dividing, excluding fruit and similar ingredients, while fruit is based on the dry weight of the entire dough. The basis therefore differs from that of the nutrition labeling for 1 slice.

There are also naming conditions for versions without fruit, with cream fillings and with chocolate coatings. Some panettoni contain no fruit, but they are a different sweet from Verona’s pandoro. Pandoro has an 8-pointed star shape, an even, fine crumb, and the aroma of butter and vanilla. Even as the fruit and surface finishes change, the custom of sharing a round bread made with generous amounts of eggs and butter has been carried on.

Glossary