here is a casatiello!

Casatiello is the typical Easter bread filled up with salami and cheeses while whole eggs are embraced by laces of bread that hold tight to the main body of the bread. Casatiello is full of symbolism both religious and cultural. The salami represents an antique pagan ritual where pigs were sacrificed in exchange for fertility of women and the land. Pecorino cheese represents the milk of the lamb or the innocence of Christ. A meal unto itself, this bread is a must in southwestern Italy at Easter. It is very good warm or cold, great for a picnic on Pasquetta day.

The picture below is actually a picture that we took last week, while we we were traveling with my parents in Spain...my parents brought it with them from Naples to Madrid. If you know Italian parents, you know that they will bring special treats and make you it all the time. "Mangia, mangia, mangia!" = "Eat, eat, eat", my dad's favorite words!


For more info about this great food from Naples, I found a very nice webpage interely dedicated to it: http://www.casatiello.it/
This webpage is all in Italian, but if you are interested and don't know Italian, I will be happy to help you translate it.