Easter in Rome Italy

Chocolate Easter Eggs

Easter celebrations here in Rome started a month ago with supermarkets selling a wide variety of chocolate Easter eggs and a typical Italian cake called colomba.

Although Easter is a religious festival, the commercialization of Easter in Italy has resulted in many children associating Easter with chocolate eggs. However, the religious celebrations in Rome kicked off on Good Friday with the Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) starting from the Colosseum that evening. The procession is lead by the Pope to the Palatine Hill. Then on Easter morning, the Pope holds a mass at St. Peter’s Square at noon.

Our Easter celebration was low-key as we just had lunch at home with family. However, Easter lunch in Italy is a long-haul event which for us just ended this evening at 7pm. While others also had Easter breakfast we were fortunate enough to be spared that meal.

We had the typical dishes such as roast lamb and potatoes, pizza formaggio (cheese pizza), corallina (a type of salame) and an Italian Easter dessert from Naples called pastiera and of course, chocolate Easter eggs.  Yesterday I made my second pastiera of the week!

Homemade Pastiera

Earlier that week I had made a pastiera because a friend had said it was his favorite Italian dessert. Since I only make it once a year I thought it was best for me to try making one first to make sure I would succeed in making it for the family lunch. The recipe I have for the pastiera is a family recipe which was given to me by my sister-in-law. As the family is from Naples, it an outstanding recipe even though it doesn’t have a few ingredients which are commonly found in a pastiera just as candied fruits. The pastiera was definitely a hit with my friend’s family and of course with our family.

Exhausted after the Easter feast , I am ready to call it a day. Thank goodness tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday which is called “Pasquetta”. Many Italians take advantage of this day to go on a day trip with friends or stay outdoors to celebrate the start of Spring.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope it gives you a sense of our Easter celebrations here in Rome!