{"id":8282,"date":"2026-10-19T15:18:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8282"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:26","slug":"cannoli","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/cannoli\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannoli"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sicilian cannoli are pastries made by filling fried, tube-shaped shells with sweetened ricotta just before they are eaten. A single pastry is called a cannolo, and more than one are called cannoli.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave the gun. Take the cannoli.\u201d in The Godfather<\/h2>\n

\u201cLeave the gun. Take the cannoli.\u201d Clemenza speaks this line in Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s The Godfather (1972). The film tells the story of a family with roots in Sicily, but this scene is set in the United States.<\/p>\n

As Clemenza heads out, his wife asks him not to forget to buy some cannoli. Later, Clemenza drives Paulie out, and Rocco, the gunman assigned to the job, shoots him dead. As they walk away from the car, Clemenza speaks these two short sentences to Rocco, telling him to leave the gun behind and take the pastries. The wife\u2019s request from the beginning of the scene has not been forgotten, even after the killing.<\/p>\n

The scene sets sweet pastries brought home against the job of killing a man. That contrast makes the line hard to forget. The husband who does the shopping his wife asked for and the man who directs a killing are the same person. In the brief exchange over retrieving the box of cannoli, we see a man in whom home life and criminal violence calmly coexist. ACMI, a museum of the moving image, also reads the scene as black humor built on the contrast between violence and domestic food.<\/p>\n

According to the American Film Institute, the second half of the line, \u201cTake the cannoli,\u201d was an ad-lib added by Richard Castellano, who played Clemenza. The wife\u2019s earlier request became a line that takes on meaning at the end of the scene. Accounts differ on the details of how the wife\u2019s line came about.<\/p>\n

In the film, cannoli are a family food and, at the same time, a prop that leaves a strong impression in a scene of violence.<\/p>\n

\n\"Cannoli\n
Cannoli packed in a box (December 24, 2020; location unknown). The filling peeks out from both ends of the tubes. Photo: Quinn Dombrowski from Berkeley, USA \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping on our part.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Ingredients from across Sicily and the festival seasons<\/h2>\n

Along with cassata, cannoli are one of the pastries that symbolize Sicily. They were originally associated with Carnival and were eaten in farming and herding households and at festive tables. Even today, when they are sold year-round, they remain connected to local dairy products, festivals, and a way of life in which sweets are shared.<\/p>\n

In the area around Trapani, a version has been handed down in which a shell made of flour, water, Marsala, and lard is filled with sheep\u2019s milk ricotta, sugar, and vanilla. Records state that farming and herding households ate them at Carnival and Easter, and that they also appeared in pastry shops to coincide with the ricotta production season.<\/p>\n

The cannoli that artisans are working to revive in Piana degli Albanesi and Santa Cristina Gela use stone-ground flour from Maiorca, a Sicilian soft wheat, and honey instead of sugar. The shells, made with wine and lard, are filled with drained, sieved sheep\u2019s milk ricotta mixed with honey, and pieces of chocolate are added just before filling. In this area, the traditional pastry is being re-created with care given not only to its size but also to the wheat and honey used.<\/p>\n

Records from this area also indicate that cannoli were on the Easter and Christmas tables of residents of Albanian-language heritage, and that they later came to be widely eaten except during the hot summer. Today they are sold throughout the year, but they were originally a pastry tied to the seasons of ricotta production and religious festivals.<\/p>\n

Wrapping dough around a core and frying it into a tube<\/h2>\n

This Sicilian pastry is made by preparing the dry shell and the moist filling separately and combining them at the end. The shell dough is wrapped around a reed or metal core to create a hollow, and the cream is made smooth after the whey is drained off. Preparing the two separately keeps the shell lightly crisp at the first bite.<\/p>\n

The name comes from canna, meaning a reed or tube. Originally, the dough was wrapped around a piece of reed to form a tube, and the core was removed after frying. With today\u2019s metal forms, the principle is the same: the shell sets around a core, leaving a hollow center.<\/p>\n

The shell is made with ingredients such as wheat flour, lard, and wine or water, and some recipes (the proportions of ingredients and the method) also add egg, sugar, and cocoa. Cocoa is not essential; a small amount also serves to give the shell a darker color. The dough is kneaded until firm and cohesive, rested, and rolled out thin. It can be rolled from circles, ovals, or diamond shapes, and the short edges are overlapped to close it; one method uses egg white to seal it.<\/p>\n

When the tubes are placed in hot lard or oil, the dough around them fries into a shell. The key points are to secure the overlap so that it does not open, and, after frying, to drain off the oil and remove the form inside without breaking the shell. Unlike a tube of baked laminated pastry, the shell is made by frying a single thin sheet of dough, which produces small bubbles and an uneven surface.<\/p>\n

Draining the ricotta and filling just before eating<\/h2>\n

In Sicily, sheep\u2019s milk ricotta is the classic filling. Excess whey is drained off, and the ricotta is pressed through a fine sieve and mixed with sugar and vanilla. The aim is not to whip it vigorously but to smooth out its grains into a silky cream. Ricotta is a dairy product made by reheating whey, and it differs from cream cheese in both its ingredients and how it is made.<\/p>\n

Adding candied orange or other fruit, or chopped dark chocolate, gives the ricotta aroma and the bite of small pieces. A finish of pistachios or similar nuts on the ends adds a granular texture and color separate from the filling. Differences between makers also show in the smoothness of the ricotta, whether fruit is included, and the size of the chocolate pieces.<\/p>\n

Cannoli are filled just before eating to keep the fried shell from becoming soggy. If the moist ricotta goes in too early, the shell absorbs moisture and loses its crispness. If the shells are made in advance and cooled, and the filling is prepared separately, the cannoli can be filled after an order is received.<\/p>\n

\n\"Colorful\n
A shop display published as Sicilian cannoli (February 4, 2005; location unknown). Tube pastries with fruit and green pieces decorating the ends are lined up. Photo: Stefano Mortellaro from Catania, Italy \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping on our part.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Origin legends of courts and convents, and records from the towns<\/h2>\n

One story holds that in Caltanissetta, during the period of Arab rule, the women of the emir\u2019s court competed in making sweets and invented the long, slender tube. Some versions go on to say that after the Norman conquest, these women entered a convent and passed on the recipe. Other tellings, however, say that nuns themselves adapted an older tube-shaped pastry for Carnival, so the versions differ on where it was invented, who invented it, and whether it was passed on from the court. These are several legends presented by the ethnographic museum in Floridia, and no recipe from the time of invention survives.<\/p>\n

A dictionary by Michele Del Bono, published in 1751, includes a pastry made by filling a thin tube with a white milk-based filling. In the 19th century, Giuseppe Pitr\u00e8 recorded the custom of making cannoli in shops and homes at the end of Carnival and giving them as gifts. Convents of nuns in Palermo also made sweets and sold them to townspeople through a revolving window. In this way, festive sweets made in convents were also sold to people in the town. By the end of the 19th century, decorating the top or ends of the tube with candied orange peel had also become widespread, making the pastries seen in shops more elaborate in appearance. It is not certain whether today\u2019s cannoli originated in convents, or when they originated.<\/p>\n

Cannoli spread by emigrants and changes in the United States<\/h2>\n

In the 20th century, people who emigrated from the island brought cannoli to shops on the Italian mainland and in the United States. At the Termini Brothers shop, which opened in Philadelphia in 1921, ricotta-filled tubes were sold alongside wedding pastries. In shops in their new homes as well, the shells are kept dry and the ricotta cold, and the two are combined at the time of filling.<\/p>\n

Simone Cinotto, who studies the food and narratives of Italian Americans, discusses the sharing of food in connection with family and community bonds and with memories of the homeland. Viewed against the background of this food culture, the cannoli that Clemenza brings home also convey their meaning as a household sweet. The scene in the film and the history of pastry shops that took root in their new homes show connections to the homeland in different ways.<\/p>\n

\n\"Cannoli\n
Cannoli from Angelo Brocato in New Orleans (December 18, 2019). They are filled with a white filling and dusted with powdered sugar. Photo: Infrogmation of New Orleans \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping on our part.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

In Boston, some shops use shells that differ from the traditional kind. In a 2023 kitchen report by the broadcaster WBUR, JoJo Bova of Bova\u2019s was making cannoli not with a fried flour tube but with a thin florentine<\/a> shell. A batter of almonds, sugar, honey, cream, and butter is baked flat, wrapped around a wooden rod while still soft, and filled with ricotta. In this example, the method of wrapping the dough around a core is the same, but the texture of the shell itself changes.<\/p>\n

Even within Boston, some shops buy in traditional shells and fill them with a different cream, while others make their fried shells in-house and fill them after an order is placed. Crispness depends not only on the type of shell but also on when it is filled.<\/p>\n

A short film column: the cannoli in The Godfather Part III<\/h2>\n

Note: The following includes details about the ending of The Godfather Part III (1990).<\/p>\n

In the third film, cannoli become an even more direct instrument of murder. Near the end, at a theater in Palermo, Sicily, Connie gives poisoned cannoli to her enemy Altobello. Altobello eats the pastry and dies.<\/p>\n

In the first film, they were a household sweet taken home after a killing; in the third, they become a gift that disarms the target\u2019s suspicion. Placing the two scenes side by side reveals different ways in which a familiar food is used in a story of violence. This is the role given to cannoli within the films, and it does not directly represent actual Mafia customs or the lives of people in Sicily.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Ricotta<\/strong>: A dairy product made by reheating whey, mainly from cheesemaking, and gathering its proteins.<\/p>

Marsala<\/strong>: A fortified wine produced in western Sicily. Used in the shell dough.<\/p>

Lard<\/strong>: A fat obtained from pig fat. Used both in the dough and for frying.<\/p>

Maiorca<\/strong>: A soft wheat variety grown in Sicily. Used in the cannoli shells of this area.<\/p>

Piana degli Albanesi \/ Santa Cristina Gela<\/strong>: Towns in the Province of Palermo where residents with an Albanian-language culture are linked to the cannoli tradition.<\/p>

Carnival<\/strong>: The festive season preceding Lent. In Sicily, it was also an occasion for making cannoli.<\/p>

JoJo Bova<\/strong>: A pastry maker at Bova\u2019s in Boston who makes cannoli by rolling thin florentine shells.<\/p>

Michele Del Bono \/ Giuseppe Pitr\u00e8<\/strong>: The former described the tube-shaped pastry in a dictionary published in 1751; the latter wrote about Carnival tables in the 19th century.<\/p>

Francis Ford Coppola<\/strong>: Director of The Godfather film series. The first film portrayed a Sicilian-American family living in the United States and a criminal organization.<\/p>

Clemenza \/ Paulie \/ Rocco<\/strong>: Characters in the first film. Clemenza directs the killing of Paulie and tells Rocco, who carries it out, to leave the gun and take the cannoli.<\/p>

Richard Castellano<\/strong>: The actor who played Clemenza in the first film. AFI notes that he added the ad-lib \u201cTake the cannoli.\u201d<\/p>

American Film Institute (AFI)<\/strong>: A U.S. film culture organization. This article refers to its explanation of the ad-libbed line.<\/p>

ACMI<\/strong>: A museum in Australia dedicated to screen culture. This article presents its interpretation of the contrast between food and violence in the film.<\/p>

Connie \/ Altobello<\/strong>: Characters in the third film. The cannoli that Connie gives Altobello are tied to the ending of the story.<\/p>

Simone Cinotto<\/strong>: A researcher who studies Italian-American food culture and has discussed the links between sharing food, family and community bonds, and memories of the homeland.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. \n

    Accademia Italiana della Cucina, Civilt\u00e0 della Tavola, no. 335 (2021), pp.14\u201315, Nicola Nocilla, \u201cCannoli e cassata siciliana\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Pastry-making in convents and among the nobility, the spread across the island in the late 19th century, and an example of an emigrant\u2019s pastry shop in Milan. It does not establish a year of origin or a direct causal link between institutional changes and any particular recipe.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    I Segreti del Chiostro, \u201cChi siamo\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An account, by those carrying on the tradition, of how convents of nuns in Palermo made sweets and sold them through a revolving window. It is not a source that establishes the year modern cannoli were invented.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    The Termini family\u2019s own history, with its timeline of emigration to the United States in 1919, its reputation in 1924, and shipping in 2005, has been reduced to the key points in this article in order to explain how shells and filling were handled in the new country.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    Treccani, \u201cCann\u00f2lo\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The name\u2019s derivation from canna, and the definition as a rolled, fried shell filled with ricotta.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Visit Sicily, \u201cCannoli siciliani\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Resting the dough, oval shapes and sealing with egg white, frying and removing the forms, sieving the ricotta, decorations, and the shift from Carnival to year-round availability.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Regione Siciliana, Schede PAT Sicilia 2023, two cannolo entries<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients and seasons in Trapani; Maiorca wheat, honey, the whey-draining step, and filling just before eating in Piana and Santa Cristina; records of festivals and seasons.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    Sicilia in Rete, \u201cCannolo alla ricotta\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A reproduction of the regional traditional food entry. Used to check the text on Trapani\u2019s ingredients, reed cores, sheep\u2019s milk ricotta, and occasions.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Visit Piana, \u201cIl cannolo\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An effort by a community formed by local artisans to revive the old style made with heritage wheat and honey.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Museo etnografico Nunzio Bruno, \u201cSua Maest\u00e0 il cannolo\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Presents the definition in Del Bono\u2019s 1751 dictionary and Pitr\u00e8\u2019s records of Carnival, and gives the storyline of the legend in which the pastry passed from the court to the convent. The original pages have not been consulted.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \u30fbTermini Brothers Bakery, \u201cOur Story\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The family history of emigration from Enna in 1919, saving money while working at a hat factory, and opening in 1921, as well as the company\u2019s own account of ricotta-filled cannoli in 1924 and shipping in 2005.<\/p><\/li>

  11. \u30fbLynn Jolicoeur \/ Lisa Mullins, WBUR, \u201cHow iconic bakeries in Boston\u2019s North End have made their beloved cannolis for generations\u201d (2023)<\/a> \u2014 On-site reporting on Bova\u2019s production of florentine shells and ricotta filling, the difference between shops that buy fried shells from wholesalers and Mike\u2019s, which makes its own, a current Bavarian cream product, and filling after an order is placed.<\/p><\/li>

  12. American Film Institute, \u201cAFI Movie Club: THE GODFATHER\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The first film and the ad-libbed second half of the line. Because accounts of how the wife\u2019s suggestion came about differ from the director\u2019s recollections and other sources, the details are not stated definitively.<\/li>
  13. UC Berkeley, \u201cLeave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Hit Man as Family Man\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The structure of the scene, from the wife\u2019s request to the line after the killing, and the juxtaposition of home and crime.<\/li>
  14. ACMI, \u201cThe Godfather: Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An interpretation of the work that sees black humor in the contrast between violence and domestic food. It does not indicate permission to reproduce the images or embedded videos it contains.<\/li>
  15. Atelier Bijoux, \u201cCannoli | The Sweet That Appears in the Film The Godfather\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The characters and their roles in the first film, and the scene in the third film involving Connie, Altobello, and the poisoned pastry.<\/li>
  16. Revista de Medicina y Cine (2016), a paper on The Godfather series, Table 2<\/a> \u2014 Lists poisoned cannoli as Altobello\u2019s cause of death. The table is not reproduced; it is cited to corroborate the scene.<\/li>
  17. Inagara Cinema, \u201cThe Godfather\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The theater in Palermo in the third film. Confirmed from text retrieved through search; direct retrieval of the page returned a 403 error. The theater\u2019s name, the version of the film, and timestamps are not added to the article.<\/li>
  18. Dario Mangano, \u201cHow Sicily Made Its Sweet Symbols\u201d (2020)<\/a> \/ Full-text PDF<\/a> \u2014 The cultural symbolism of the cannolo and cassata, their relationship to festivals, and the associations they carry after becoming available year-round. It does not claim that they hold the same meaning for every islander.<\/li>
  19. Simone Cinotto, \u201cFood and Ethnic Identity in Italian-American Narrative\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The relationship between sharing food, family and community, and memories of the homeland, as confirmed in the abstract. Because the full text has not been retrieved, it is not used as proof about any specific household or of a universal custom of bringing cannoli.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Cannoli are a Sicilian pastry made by wrapping thin dough into a tube, frying it, and filling it with sweetened ricotta. White cream peeks out from both ends of the brown shell, so the fried shell and the dairy filling come together in a single bite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6740,"menu_order":37,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Cannoli","subtitle":"A Sicilian pastry of fried tubes filled with ricotta","topics":"Sicily \/ Fried shells \/ Sheep\u2019s milk ricotta","country":"Italy","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cheese","cream"],"texture":["smooth"],"occasion":["easter"],"method":["fried"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[164],"class_list":["post-8282","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"manual","sweetlore_related_articles":[8283,8272,8273,8280,8281,8290,8310,8322]},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t