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Bread in Italy

Maria Tescione

Bread in Italy is the basic food which is prepared by cooking some leavened dough, made of flour, water and salt (and sometimes of corn, oat, barley and rye). Contrary to Germany, Scandinavia, Russia, where bread is mainly made of rye, or Hungary, where it is made of mixed corn and potatoes, bread is an aliment that is always found in Italian meals. One of the characteristics of traditional Italian family life is the meal time, which depends on the different working conditions and village daily routine. In the centre-south of Italy, where villages are composed of a cluster of the farmers' houses, families usually gathered only in the evening, since farmers used to leave early at dawn to go to work in the fields, and came back at sunset. In the north, where houses are in the fields, the two main meals reflect the farmers' habit of waking up early and going to work in a place close to the house.

We can depict home cooking around the domestic fireside, starting from the preparation of bread and cakes. There are various beliefs about the preparation of bread. Prayers and invoking formulas are used to make bread rise and cook well. The loaf must not be put on the table upside down, since only on the top of it is there a cross; anybody who throws away bread crumbs will be forced to pick them up in hell with a burning fork and a basket without the bottom. In Germany, ovens must be constructed only in specific periods of time and while reciting invoking formulas. Corn is personified as the "mother of corn" who chases children running through the fields and scolds them.