Italy
Italian regional traditions are varied. They are polarized in two areas: Northern Italy and Southern Italy (from Rome southwards). Moreover, often the Christmas Eve Supper is more important than the Christmas Dinner, because the Holy Mass is celebrated at midnight.
The primo is usually a kind of soup made with pasta (usually filled pasta, like tortellini) boiled in meat or capon broth.
The secondo is very different in the two areas. In Northern Italy they usually eat poultry, often filled, or roasted or boiled and seasoned with sauces, like mostarda. In Southern Italy they eat the fried capitone eel, which is typical of Christmas Eve, because this is a fasting day. On Christmas Day they could eat roasted lamb or fish.
Christmas sweets are really varied and every region and sub region has its own. Generally speaking, in Northern Italy they eat a cake enriched with candy fruits, raisins, pine nuts, whose most famous type is panettone, followed by torrone nougat and nuts. In Southern Italy instead of one cake they serve many kind of marzipan, biscuits, zeppole, cannoli, candy fruits, fresh fruits. In the last few decades, panettone has become popular as a Christmas sweet all over Italy.
Read more about this topic: Christmas Dinner
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