Il Panettone
Le origini del Panettone
There are several legends about the birth of this hugely popular sweet milanese. The two best known have as background the Court of Lodovico il Moro in time where, along with the likes of Leonardo and Bramante, was stomping the streets a man named Toni.
The first legend speaks of love. The young Ughetto belonged to one of the noblest families of Milan and held the coveted post of Falconer. His father was Giacomo degli Atellani; the Moor itself, as a sign of friendship, had donated to his family one of the most beautiful palaces in Milan. The young man, however, was desperately in love with Adalgisa, a humble Baker’s daughter Toni. Tariq arrived to get hired in disguise as an apprentice Baker just to be near her. When the family of Adalgisa found himself in financial difficulties due to the great competition between the ovens, the young man decided to an extreme action: he stole two Falcons of the Duke to buy butter to add to flour. The plan succeeded, with the new Tone went to bread dough steals and the fortunes of Baker is elevated. Under this special Christmas Ughetto reshuffled bread by adding sugar, eggs, candied Citron and raisins. The NAP of the tones so edited he obtained an extraordinary success. The Baker became so rich that Tariq’s family did not oppose more to marriage between two young people. Panettone was born and Ughetto and Adalgisa they married.
The second legend instead gives Toni the role of a busboy at the Court of Lodovico il Moro. For Christmas day the Duke had prepared a lavish banquet. Toni the night before, between a thing and the other, had scraped together some leftovers from the pantry (butter, eggs, sugar, some citron peel and raisins) to put together a cake to take home. Preparations for the Royal banquet Meanwhile proceeded the frenetic head chef forgot the dessert for the Duke in the oven, causing it to burn. Needless to say the desperation in the kitchen in front of that disaster. It was then that Toni came forward with the sweet bread that had prepared, proposing to bring that to the table in the absence of better. The Cook had no choice and while concerned accepted the offer of an apprentice. Was a success: the Court said he was thrilled with the new recipe and the Duke himself wanted to know what it was. “This is the pan of Tones,” replied the Cook that question and the name stuck forever and was crippled in Panettone.
In reality, these and other legends surrounding the Panettone come out between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to enrich the already very popular sweet charm. The true origins of the Panettone lie in medieval traditions, as the ancient one to celebrate Christmas with a bread richer than usual. Until 1395 to most Milan bakers were forbidden to produce wheat bread (white bread) which was reserved for the nobility; they could knead only millet bread for sale to the public. Exception on Christmas day, when all the bakers were allowed to offer white bread to customers. To consume a richer bread at Christmas was a tradition of many Italian and European cities. In our this became the Panettone.
