A Harte Appetite: The legendary bread of Italy

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Back in the 15th century in Milan, Italy, there lived a young nobleman who wished to marry the girl in the bakery next door run by her father, Tonio. He would secretly visit his sweetheart at the bakery at night while she prepared bread for the next day, and before long he began helping out. As an experiment, he created a rich bread laced with candied fruit that became so popular that Tonio became a wealthy man who in gratitude allowed the wedding to take place. Among the guests at the ceremony was Leonardo da Vinci, who at the time was painting "The Last Supper" in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie across the street from the bakery. And the concoction that made all of this possible was christened by the appreciative groom as pan de tonio (Tony's bread), known today as panettone.

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