Verona
The Pandoro of Verona, history and origins of the emblem of a city
Verona, Romeo, Juliet, the Arena… and Pandoro!
The city of Verona, a few minutes from Lake Garda, certainly needs no introduction, and neither does its most famous dessert .
Beautiful to look at, soft as a pillow, scented with vanilla and with a splendid golden color... But what are the origins of Pandoro?
According to some hypotheses, pandoro dates back to ancient Roman times: it seems that already in the times of Pliny the Elder bread was cooked with flour, butter and oil. Another thesis would trace the birth of pandoro back to the intersection of the thirteenth-century recipe for "pan de oro", served on the tables of Venetian nobles, and Nadalin, a sweet that Veronese people ate at Christmas since the Middle Ages.
Another legend tells that a shop boy, taking a slice of Pandoro illuminated by the sun in his hand, exclaimed "it really is a pan de oro!".
But its modern history certainly has a fixed point in October 1884, when Domenico Melegatti, founder of the homonymous confectionery industry, filed the patent for this sweet with the typical eight-pointed star shape. The creation of the now iconic mold was entrusted to Angelo Dall'Oca Bianca, an impressionist Veronese painter.
The success of Pandoro was immediate, which prompted many to try to reproduce and imitate the recipe. Domenico Melegatti therefore decided to launch a challenge: if someone presented himself with the official recipe of the dessert, he would win 1000 lire. Needles to say, nobody passed the test.
Although the ingredients are among the most common (flour, sugar, eggs, yeast, butter), the process is complex and takes a long time, just think about the leavening, which involves four phases.
Although pandoro is delicious eaten on its own, there are many combinations - from creams to bubbles - that go perfectly with this dessert.
One of the great classics is the combination with zabaglione, Chantilly cream or mascarpone cream, inevitable during the Christmas holidays.
As for the wines, fortified reds and white straw wines are ideal, but also a champagne to toast at midnight.
In Italy pandoro (and its eternal rival Panettone) have become to all intents and purposes the sweets of Christmas, even if it is known that Domenico Melegatti's idea, in creating this recipe, was to give life to a sweet to eat yes during the holidays, but throughout the year.
During a holiday on Lake Garda, it is worth committing a sin of gluttony and paying a visit to the nearby Verona, to taste the real Pandoro in one of the local pastry shops that still celebrate its taste!
